Latest Fieldnotes

We visited on 9th November – very interesting site, though the trees make it difficult to photograph, and the shade of the trees adds to the problems. Just NE of the site are the remains of 2 small cairns, robbed-out to help build a nearby wall, and largely ruined by foresting machinery. One of the pictures illustrates the southernmore cairn.

This is not exactly in the place indicated by Canmore, though it is rather difficult to miss. Easily visible from the road, a couple of hundred metres in, a small knoll with a very prominent stone on top. This has several cup marks on it, one being very large. They are all quite weathered.

Visited by the Scottish Megaraks on 9th November 2003, as part of a day out. This extremely large stone sits just beside the road, acting as part of a cottage’s garden wall. There are supposed to be cup marks visible on the top, but it was almost completely covered by ivy, so this could not be ascertained.

I have read your fieldnotes regarding Carn Llechart. I love to visit this site and do so regularly, since being shown it by some local people some time ago. The alter stone, or flat stone from the top of central chamber now lies about 100 yards away from stone circle. Unfortunately, this was apparently removed by the gas board a few years ago. If you look in the farm field to the south west of circle, you will see another stone circle with much larger stones. This was constructed by the gas board to stop the farmers cows from rubbing against the machinery that was stored there. This was going to be the use for the large flat stone. This circle is often mistaken for the original stone circle by many people. I have actually been toying with the idea of setting up a project to return the stone to it’s rightful place. Another interesting thing is that the lady who took me there remembers going to the circle as a child and the centre chamber had a sulphur spring underneath. She recalls the strong smell of sulphur that used to be all those years ago.

Visited 24th August 2003: More of a drive-by than a visit. I planned to come back later on our holiday to climb Cronk Sumark, but access to the hill from the southern end of the island is hindered by the TT course, and with races on we ran out of time.

The elevated position of this sculptured rock overlooking the lower reaches of Glen Lochay leads one to think of similar places like Dunadd and Dundurn. It certainly is a commanding location for a place of power on this sun-drenched day. Cup and ring marked rocks are close by. Moirlanich longhouse is a mile down the glen and the delights of Duncroisk await upriver.

To the South of the road this stone stands on a small mound called Tom a’ Mhoid or Moot hill. Christianised by the incision of crosses on both sides, the Northern face has a distinct cross whereas on the Southern face it’s less obvious. I didn’t spot it at first whilst there, as the fantastic face in evidence is dominant. Take a look at the picture and you’ll see the branding on the forehead.

[visited 7/11/03] A possible site, not 15 miles from Medway, how could I refuse! This site is a touch tricky to find, however I eventually located it behind a disused battery chicken farm.

Now on an astonishing birthday weather wise, after an amazing summer, I wasn’t that surprised to find the ruins of the church completely overgrown. Trouble being, so overgrown as to make it impossible to ascertain the presence or non-presence of any sarsen stone(s).

Anyone wanting to attempt this one should wait till January or turn up with lots of people prepared to clear a lot of foliage...

A ring of 6 stones measuring about 10 metres in diameter.
Strange how people’s perceptions of a site can be so different, everybody else who has visited this site seems to have loved it. Maybe it was because it was getting dark and cold, maybe it was having to jump the wall and the feeling of trespassing or maybe it was the decayed whole sheep remains and bits of bones, but I only stayed long enough for a quick look round and a few photo’s. I do have to agree about the largest stone though, it looks like a natural boulder that is partly covered with grass to the south and with a flat front facing into the circle, almost like it was addressing it – could explain the orientation of the site. I found it interesting that the fine views to the south that can be seen from the road are just about hidden at the circle with only the tops of the distant hills still in sight – was this circle meant to be hidden from those approaching from (or living in) the south?

The henge sits on a small plateau of land with Wharfdale to the west and Hebden Beck to the east. To answer Stu’s question about views, it’s mainly hills in the near and middle distance with a gap to the east and a larger view down towards the south across the Grassington area. The henge itself is a tiny little thing, English Heritage give it’s measurements as a 20-22 metre internal area surrounded by a 3.5 metre wide ditch and then a 3-4 metre wide bank. The bank is made of stone and earth and covered with turf with a single causeway to the southeast. As Stu notes there is a large area that has been quarried away in recent times but considering the amount of mining close by and the fact that the henge is so small and seemingly forgotten about it’s done well to survive.
Crossing over the wall and into the field I had to disturb a flock of sheep to get to the henge, these critters and the position of the site with hills around gave me the idea that it could well have formed a local meeting point for stock trading and well as other ceremonies that we might expect at such places, but only serving a small local community. I couldn’t really picture people travelling great distances to get here – definitely a local henge for local people.

On a recent visit to the Nympsfield long barrow, I noticed this one marked on the OS map, so decided to pay it a visit.

Shortly after turning onto the minor road leading to the village of Nympsfield from the B4066, I drove into a National Trust car park on the left which serves Woodchester Park (you have to pay to park here, although I didn’t notice until I was leaving).

The footpath from the car park leads you down into a wooded valley. Where the path turns to the right, along the valley, I carried straight on up the other side, through the trees and out onto the end of a gliding club’s airstrip.

The barrow lies at the western end of this grass airstrip. It’s been ploughed over, in the past, and is now no more than 2 metres high, with no visible stones.

Very little remains of this long barrow, which was nearly completely destroyed in the 19th century AD.

All that’s visibly left to see are two parallel slabs, set into the ground 6ins apart, and rising maybe 2ft above the ground, presumably part of a burial chamber.

They’re not easy to find, despite standing barely ten feet from Hayhedge Lane, a minor road running from the village of Bisley, one mile away.

I entered into a field on the northern side of the road through a metal gate and walked westward to the corner of the field where they stand in the undergrowth.

GPS: SO 91783 06122

I visited Avening in Sept 2003 in an attempt to find these burial chambers. After trespassing all over the site someone appeared and asked me what I was up to. On being told of my quest, they informed me that there’s been a lot of changes in the area and the burial chambers have gone.

Update:

I revisited this site on 30/5/04 and, I’m pleased to report, the burial chambers are still there, although they are very neglected and appear to be disappearing back into the earth, with only the tops of the chambers still visible.
This time, instead of approaching the site from the village, I parked my car in Avening and walked north along the B4014 until I came to a private, unmetalled road going south-east up a hillside. Within 100 yards I could see the chambers, behind barbed wire and set within a steep bank on the right-hand side of the track.

Visited 24th August 2003: We approached the stone from the north west(ish). It’s just about visible from the footpath, but I made a slight deviation to get a closer look at it (not a very accessible site).

Magher ny Clogh Mooar is a beautiful and strangely shaped monolith. Strikingly it has a large bulbous protuberance at its base. On the south side are diagonal stripes, which appear to be the natural strata of the stone. Magher ny Clogh Mooar stands on relatively flat land in the shadow of Slieau Curn between it and the sea. Not far from the standing stone lies a smaller flat rounded stone, severely damaged by ploughing. Whether or not this bears any relation to its neighbour I don’t know.

A number of cup and ring marked rocks and prehistoric walling on the hill behind Ilkley Crags, between Backstone Beck and Green Gates.

Green Gates is the area around the Badger Stone, from Grainings Head to Cranshaw Thorn Hill along which and ancient trade route was thought to cross the moor. This area has a number of carved rocks, the majority of which appear to be on vertical surfaces. If the theory that carvings on vertical surfaces equal male and horizontal surfaces equal female holds true, maybe this area could have been reserved for male activities? It is not uncommon for tribal societies to have separate areas for each gender, such as areas for menstruating women etc. Hell, even my Dad’s Working Man’s Club still has a Men’s room (although women are allowed in to watch football if they wish!!!!).

The Badger Stone is thought to have been the site of an ancient market, possibly ‘Badger Men’ (millers or grain men) selling grain at the equinoxes. This is supported by the nearby spring heads named ‘Grainings Head’. The nearby 12thC market cross called ‘Cowper’s Cross’ was said to have replaced and older market nearby.

This area is also the spring head for the waters that emerge at Willy Hall’s Spout below Willy Hall’s Wood Stone and flow down through Ilkley under Brook Street, to join the River Wharfe by the Roman Fort ‘Olicana’. The Church built on this spot houses a Roman Altar stone bearing a carving of the Goddess of the Wharfe; Verbia.

Went looking for this at the top of Coldstone Beck, but I’m not sure if I found it. The ridge of Woofa Bank is littered with boulders and I found a few things that could be, but I’m waiting for verification before I post any images.

This is a fantastic prehistoric walled enclosure, lying below Woofa Bank containing a number of cup and ring marked rocks. The curve of the wall is plainly visible from the hillside above.

A huge cairn on Burley Moor that has been badly damaged by digging. The crater in the middle still houses the (now recumbent) standing stone erected by Walter Hawksworth for his masonic moots in the 14thC bearing the inscription ‘This is Rumbles Lawe’.

Nearby, there appears to be traces of a causeway and a large area of evenly scattered stones, There is also said to be the remains of a stone circle here too.

Although this fallen boundary stone is thought to be Saxon in origin, I’ve included it here for the reason that it occupies the centre point of the long edge of the isosceles triangle formed by the Backstone Circle, Twelve Apostles and the Grubstones and maybe a replacement for an earlier standing stone in this spot. There are also hints of being a sunrise marker.

The Idol Stone lies on the path from the Haystack to Green Crag, just a few feet north of the prominent Idol Rock.

It has been suggested that this maybe a cyst cover, prompted by it’s flat, slab-like appearance and that the rocks that surround it are the remains of a cairn. I’m not quite so sure myself as there is no noticeable spoil around the stone and I think of it as having more in common with the carved rocks at the Backstone Beck Enclosure as they display a remarkably similar style.

The Idol Rock is a natural boulder that lies just south of the cup and ring marked Idol Stone and is a prominent marker visible from many of the other prehistoric sites on this part of the moor.

The rock itself bears no prehistoric markings, although it does seem to bear something akin to a masonic symbol which someone appears to have attempted to grub out at some point (these symbols appear on other rocks elsewhere on the moor).

Nearby prehistoric walling seems to point to this rock being used as a boundary marker and it is clearly visible from the Backstone Circle. West of this point are the living areas of Green Crag and the Backstone Beck Enclosure. East lie the cairns. Maybe this was a division between the lands of the living and the lands of the dead?

The hillside below Green Crag (on which can still be found enclosure walling) bears a number of marked rocks including the Idol Stone.

On top of the ridge is a huge natural boulder that bears a number of large weathered bowls and cups including a peculiar feature which is a large bowl over 1ft in width about the same in depth with a hole through the rock about a third of the way up from the bottom. All appear to be natural but may have held significance in the prehistoric landscape, as it commands extensive views of the northern edge of the moor all over the cairnfields of Green Crag Slack to Woofa Bank. The rock is still used as a boundary stone and bears a number of more recent carvings including a certain W.M 1785 and an old bell shaped carving.

Below is a large cup, ring and groove marked boulder, prehistoric walling, the Idol Rock and the cup and groove marked Idol Stone.

This is a lovely little ring of stones that is recorded in the scheduling information as a small stone circle. Dyer on the other hand thinks it may have been a ring cairn while Burl marks it under ‘uncertain status including misidentified sites and hybrid rings such as complex ring cairns’ in his Stone Circles of the British Isles – I don’t know if he elaborates further in any of his other books. Whichever, it’s in a fantastic position just beside the river which when I visited was in full flow making any idea of paddling across an impossibility but the walk via Yockenthwaite farm and the side of the river is pleasant enough. The first thing you notice going by this route is a large boulder just to the south east of the ring, the scheduling cites this as a possible outlier and mentions a couple of other questionable outlying stones further away to the west, the ring could possibly have had a pair of concentric circles as there seems to be the remains of an outer ring to the northwest.

The fourth moor would be Bingley Moor, Kozmik.

There’s the huge tract of land adjacent to this feature bearing a masonic name too; The Square.