Latest Fieldnotes

Nunwick Henge (Saturday, 22.11.03)
The three Thornborough Henges are aligned NWSE and that alignment, if extended more or less south, should pass through Nunwick Henge in an NWSE direction too. However, unless I was in error, I dowsed the energy line as taking an NS route along the western portion of the circle. Further investigation will have to follow.
The henge itself is almost invisible from the ground. It does not, for instance, appear on the 1854 map (whereas the even more invisible Cana Henge does). It took air photography in 1951 to discover it, and if you log on to old-maps.co.uk (feed in co-ordinates 432500, 474500 – then press the View Aerial Photo instruction on the lower toolbar when the old map appears) you can just make out a circle in the Getmapping plc. aerial photo, half in the green field to the west and half in the dark field to the right.
When we visited, the wheat had long ago been harvested, so we could make out the occasional bump in the field nearer the road (the westerly field). This I dowsed, finding the rather unexpected NS energy flow at 14 paces wide (= about 7 yards). I didn’t want to invade the field to the east as it contained green shoots, so do not know if there are any energy indications there or not.

(See Hutton Moor Henge for a note on Dowsing.)

Hutton Moor Henge (Saturday, 22.11.03)
This is a beauty. If approaching from the north, you can drive some way up the farm track which starts at Hutton Moor House, till mud takes over. Then, on foot, bear left past the silage tank, and the grass track (mostly following the energy line) will take you to the henge.
On high ground and with a backdrop of woodland, Hutton Moor Henge stands wide and noble, protected by wire fences but with easy access by gate. The banks are low nowadays but they are green and shapely.
Using a pair of dowsing rods, I found the main energy line runs right through the centre in a NNWSSE direction, 18 paces wide (= about 9 yards). It seems to colour the grass along its route in a sandwich pattern, making darker tracks along its outer portions and a lighter track between them. It avoided the apparent entrances (extended dips) because they were aligned NS.
However, there was a strange little extra energy line, only a foot or two wide, running through the north entrance, making a light coloured track. I did not follow this (nor the main energy line) to the southern part of the henge as somebody with a very loud gun was killing things in the woods and a stray bullet did not seem impossible. (Is November 22nd special? There seemed to be distant guns going off in all directions.)
The apparent effect on the grass, by the way, has an approximate parallel at Thornborough Henges, where the energy line, on leaving the central henge in a NW direction, cuts a channel (sheep track?) through the grass as it goes. This track, though very narrow, seems precisely at the centre of the energy flow.

A Note On Dowsing
Anyone can dowse. Hold two bent metal sticks (cut, say, from a coat hanger) one in each hand and walk slowly, pointing them forward like six shooters, till they decide to cross of their own volition. You have then found an energy line.
After a number of paces (say, seven or ten or sixteen) the sticks will uncross, and you have then found the width of the energy line.
Try the same procedure at a few other points and, with luck, you will have found the direction of the energy line, which can then be checked with a compass.
The good thing about energy dowsing is that we are able to connect with the minds of the Old People. Neither brutal nor ignorant, they aligned their monuments meaningfully, and with a pair of bent metal rods we can follow their thinking.
We can connect with the same energy they did, and by so doing, we can connect with them.
This feels good: real field work.

Is it a dolmen/quoit/cromlech? Or is it safer just to call it a burial chamber?

Having been there I’d JUST come down on the ‘dolmen’ side, but am willing to be persuaded....

(Proper fieldnotes to follow – eventually!)

Best approach from the north-west side. There are a number of spots to park a car on the road in the glen, but the one by the disused mineworkings is easiest. The ground is dense heather, so not easily accessible to those with mobility issues. The fortlet wall is clearly a discernible oval, about 20m on its longest axis. I was confused that I couldn’t work out where the entrance had been. Excellent views all round, particularly to the south, where ancient field patterns and drove roads are clearly visible.

I posted this up a while ago and then removed it..because it didn’t really go along with what Barnatt had written... and who am I to nay-say the mighty Barnatt... it’s back now though.

Rooke noted in the 1780’s that 3 stone circles and an augurial seat stood at Durwood Tor to the west of The Stride.

Barnatt made mention of Rooke’s lost circles in his book of 1990 and had them as being in the area of Dudwood Farm on Dudwood which is to the south of The Stride.

There is no trace of the circles today, but under the south side of Durwood Tor is a stone shaped like a chair?...is this what Rooke was referring to?

A similar ‘augurial seat’ was said to have stood on Strawberry Hill in Leicestershire.

This barrow, topped with tall thin conifers, is very visible from the road. The barrow was excavated in 1964, and found to be the final stage in a series of monuments. At its heart were four cremations (dated to c.2860 BCE) in a rectangular stone enclosure, and two ramped stone or wooden post holes. The cremations and holes were inside a penannular ring-cairn, over which the turf and stone barrow were built. On top of the barrow is a standing stone, under which a fifth cremation was found (dated to c.2270 BCE).

The perimeter of the barrow was originally bounded by a dry-stone kerb, but this has now been confused by ploughing and field clearance. On the south side of the barrow is a large square recumbent stone which isn’t mentioned in the CANMORE report, and so may also be field clearance.

I tried again to locate this circle today, and once again failed – perhaps! There’s a stone standing in the centre of Kenmore golf course which looks suspiciously like one of the stones drawn by Fred Coles in 1910, and it’s in the right general area to fit his description. The golfers I spoke to didn’t know anything about the stone, and the clubhouse was shut, so I’m planning to write to the owners and ask if the stone has always been there, and if anyone knows anything about it.

This is a cracking wee stone which sits close to the old railway embankment, at the bottom of a field on the haugh of Grandtully. The stone is 1.4m tall, and approximately 1.0m wide and 0.5m thick at the base, rising to a point. It has thick veins of sparkly white quartz running through it.

“The stone circle is of comparatively recent construction, but of stones found in the vicinity which correspond in type to a cornerstone underpinning the medieval chapel here. By implication these stones were part of a much older pre-Christian circle which was located where the Chapel now is. As you know it was frequently the habit in medieval time to “claim” a pagan circle for Christianity by including a stone in the foundations for the new christian chapel.“.....“Stones have been re-located here in the last 30 years or so, I believe”

With many thanks to John Weaver, Administrator of the Stonor Estate for these observations.

The Estate re-opens in the Spring so any investigations as to stone type and source must wait till then.

stonor.com/

Cholesbury Hill fort.

Situated in the village of Cholesbury on the north side, a late iron age plateau fort exists.Termed a plateau fort as it lies on level ground.
Known locally as the Danes camp.
Excavated in 1932 by Mr Day kimble, He surmised that the main occupation is dated to the 2nd and 1st Centuries BC.
The site was in use prior to that in the earlier Iron age as a more cruder hand made pottery was found.
Pottery evidence suggests the site continued into the Roman period as some samian was found in some of the hearths.
The excavations cut into the banks and ditches in several places and a trench was cut across the middle of the interior to determine any occupation.

The defences:
The main defences of this oval fort contains 11 acres.
Three quarters of the defences are intact but has been destroyed nearest the village.
The destroyed defences that were filled -in can still be detected in the gardens of the grange and the priory.
In most places where the bank is complete it rises 13 feet above the bottom of the ditch in a ‘V’shape.
The opposite bank being almost of equal height.
The bank and ditch was constucted in the Glacis fashion, meaning that the steepness of the bank was deemed sufficient defence.
A second bank and ditch was under construction but never was completed.
This second defence which is inferior circles approximatly half of the primary defence.
Duel defences have been thought to be a defence against sling warfare which came into fashion late in the Iron age.

The gate:
No definable gate remains today, it is presumed to be at the entance to the church which sits inside the defences of the fort(St Lawrence).
There are gaps in the banks but none are defined as a gate..

The interior:
Two ponds exist within the fort. One of ponds nearest the church is known as holy pond and is said to never dry up, presumed to fed by a spring.
Seven hearths were found when Day Kimble cut a trench across the interior.
Some of the hearthes contained pottery suggesting cooking fires.
A portion of the hearthes contained Iron slag (Fayalite magnetite) with hard baked clay earth.
It is presumed that some of the hearths were smelting hearths. These smelting hearths tended to be near the revetment or the back of the defences.
The cooking hearths concentrated nearer the centre of the fort.
Of the finds in the Alylesbury museum. A piece of Nieder mendig lava was found which was thought to be a piece of a quern stone.
A near complete cooking pot was found next to one of the hearths..
The interior of the fort was under the plough until the last war then reverted to pasture so no features exist above ground.

Mr Day kimble suggested that the site was in existance prior to new race or tribe taking over.
Crude handmade pottery dating to the earlier Iron age was supaseded by a superior wheel thrown pottery. This is the time the defences went up.
The defences could have been put up to defend an important resourse.
Iron smelting.. The immediate area has a vast resourse of limestone which is the flux ingriedient in Iron production.
The site is likend to an industrial site in the production of Iron artifacts.
Other sites in the area are associated with the production of Iron.
Brays wood moated site close by has evidence of iron smelting..
Some names exist in the region that hint of a wider iron smelting industry.
Ashley green, cindery wood, kings ash and ashridge are all very close to Cholsbury

Sunday 16/11/03
This is one of those sites which I have been meaning to visit for ages, but somehow, I’ve never got round to it. The position of the stone is (was) great (now the view west is marred by the blot-on-the-landscape that is the Cardrona Hotel, plus it stands at the entrance to the new Cardrona village- a disgusting housing scheme for those with more money than taste). To the south is Cardrona forest, the north is the forest of Glentress and to the east the hills of Lee Burn and Lee Pen. The stone itself is around 1.3 metres high and approximately 1.8 metres in girth. It’s now leaning to the north. CANMORE notes that it sits on the crest of a scarp representing the ancient course of the River Tweed, so it would have originally been right next to the water, but now is around 100 metres away.

Saturday 15/11/03
The firetrack next to the settlement is a section of the climb up to some excellent DH biking in this forest. I’ve passed the clearing on many occasions, known about the settlement from the OS map, but never connected the two. On climbing down from the track I notice a wooden post at a corner where the trees stop with the letter ‘S’ on it. Having a look around I can just see in the trees one of these at each corner of the clearing. Looks like FC marked this area out when they planted the forest. From the track you can see the outline of the external wall, but most of this has collapsed down the steep sides of the hill and into the forest. I could only find one stone on the southern flanks (although CANMORE mention three). There are also meant to be eight house platforms within the wall, but these are very difficult to distinguish due to the overgrown vegetation. The occupants of this place must have had an excellent view up and down the Leithen Water and across to Lee Pen, though the position is not a defensive one, unlike the two forts (the Pirn and Caerlee) only a couple of kilometres or so down the glen.

A very curious affair this! I counted six obvious low stones making a reasonably easy to spot construction. But the thing about this one is in the middle of the circle is a large grassy mound – a collapsed cairn with a whopping great deep chamber into which you can walk. It goes pretty deep, maybe 5 feet? I likes this one hugely. It was quirky.

Almost unrecognisable to the untrained eye but nevertheless thrilling to find when one is into this stuff, it lies just off the main path. Now just a low ring of overgrown bank, you have to inspect pretty closely to find the stones. But they’re there! You’d be forgiven for thinking it looked more like a ring cairn.

Even once actually inside the circle, it doesn’t become apparent until pointed out. The low stones, the high heather, deep bracken and the broken outline of the circle all conspire to camoflague the place almost entirely. I was glad I didn’t attempt this one without a stubob! I think even a GPS would find this tough to locate. The views over the surround country are quite lovely.
Access: Impossible except by the hardy and able-bodied!

Now reduced to little more than a big pile of scraggy rocks with a dip in the middle, the only clue to what-it-once-was is the big fuck-off Ministry of Works (who are they exactly?) rusty sign, erected rudely at its periphery. Despite its appalling condition, the cairn is impressive right on the edge of a ridge and with Wet Withens just metres away.

Probably missed by the copious numbers of ramblers passing this way, this unobtrusive stone circle lies about 10 metres from the main drag along the ridge. Surrounded by silver birches, in the most wonderful setting, the largest of the stones, standing about four feet tall at the southern edge of the ring had a huge weathered dip in the top, which today was full of water and reflected the blue sky.

A clear circle, well defined and peaceful, certainly worth a look and reasonably accessible for those who don’t like or can’t walk too far.

What a fantastic place! Pretty and with small stones, of immense charm in this enormous landscape, the circle looks skyward. It is of a very human scale somehow. We mused as to the weathering patterns on the stones and wondered if what looked like a recumbent had actually been upright once, but our ponderings were conclusion-less and Barbrook I kept her secrets.

It’s a thigh-burning 150m or so climb to the little summit of High Wheeldon; home to the Fox Hole, a small hidden cave, in one of the areas most distinctive hills. The name of the hill has often been mentioned as being named after a stone circle....although no trace of one has ever been found.

It’s National Trust property and the path to the top is by Wheeldon Trees Farm.

The entrance to the cave is hidden away on the NW side of the hill. About a 25m walk down a little ridge from the top.....and as with most of the Peaks caves, archaeologically significant or not, the entrance is gated and padlocked. The entrance is larger today after dynamite was used to blast it out in order to help rescue a dog in the early 20th Century.

The cave has been occupied throughout prehistory beginning in the Paeleolithic, while in the Neolithic it was used to house a burial, the bones being the oldest known bones yet recovered from the White Peak. Some of the finds from the caves are/were displayed at the Buxton Museum.

The views from up here are outrageous thru’ 360’.

A standing stone used to stand in front of the farmhouse at Kinaldie (reported in 1890). It was 3 feet 3 ins tall, 2 feet 10 ins wide and 1 foot thick, and “may at some time have been one of a circle”.

As with Wet Withens this site isn’t that impressive in it’s own right, but is made special by it’s surroundings. On this particular day the contrast between the Autumnal colours of the dead ferns and the stark white of the silver birch trees made for quite a beautiful scene. I was reminded of visits I’ve made at this time of year to the Druid’s Circle of Ulverston. Again the views from here are great, and as pointed out previously, some of the huge stones on the track leading to the circle are also worthy diversions.

I have been here before, albeit unknowingly. I visited a couple of years ago in early summer and think I may actually have walked through the circle without actually spotting it. This time however we were in good company – Stubob led us straight to the spot.

The circle is pretty easy to distinguish (once it’s been pointed out!) – the bank especially. It is quite large despite the diminuitive stones (the highest is 0.7m) and while not majorly impressive in itself, when seen in context with the amazing scenery surrounding the site it becomes well worth the effort.

Curious that this site is not better known as it is at a very public location. Stonor Park is visited by thousands but on the web site no mention is made of this Neolithic(?) monument. The circle is right next door to the Catholic Chapel and does one sense a touch of embarrassment?
I visited this site a huge number of years ago(I used to knock around with one of the younger sons of the family) so the memory is a bit dim but I remember an earthwork and several standing stones. There is a small image available on the Google search but it’s not much help.
I tried trawling through Oxfordshire CC’s Web but couldn’t find much, perhaps someone knows the right site to go to for more information.
Some pics would surely bring this circle back to the prominence it deserves.

According to the OS Name Book of 1858, local residents said there used to be a stone circle here around a central stone, possibly cup-marked. Nothing now remains in situ, but there are apparently about a dozen large boulders in a ditch running parallel to the fence, to the SE of the grid ref.

A standing stone used to stand near here, but it was buried close to its original position in the 1930s. The grid reference given above is where it is now buried. In 2002, archaeologists working on behalf of Historic Scotland excavated and recorded it, then re-buried it. Coles reported in 1911 that the stone was carved with a “’crescent symbol’ of axe-like shape”, but no trace was found of this in 2002. It may be that he was confusing this stone to the nearby King’s Stone (still above ground) also at Denmarkfield, which has an axe-shaped carving on it.