Latest Fieldnotes

A small hillfort near Devizes with two round barrows to the south-west.

Ooo, I like these! A line of three round cairns that are worth investigating while looking at the Wheeldale Stones. To the north of Collier Gill (no relation) and the west of a Julian Park and a Randy Mere, they can be seen from the road but are best approached from the track that leads southwest from NZ797012. The track is blocked to vehicles by a steel post but it’s an easy enough walk to the mounds. They are aligned roughly southwest-northeast and follow the contours of the moor, the middle one is slightly offset to the south and to the west and is also quite a bit smaller than the other two. The north and south mounds look to be about the same size, the one to the north perhaps being a little larger, both have flattened tops when viewed from the side and on closer inspection this turns out to be the result of robbing or excavation, the northern one in particular has a large volcano like crater in it’s top. Although scheduled as round cairns they seemed to me to be more earth than stone or rubble, looking round the base of one of the mounds however did reveal a small cut-away area that showed a couple of stone slabs placed at right angles to each other. Although they could be part of the mound they may have been placed here recently for some unknown purpose (probably something to do with shooting, no doubt).

Just to the northeast of Breckon Howe and a little lower down the northeast slope of Sleight’s Moor are a pair of barrows which can best be seen from the cattle grid on the road that links the A169 via the Bridestones to Grosmont. Parking by the side of the A169 would be a bit risky, it’s a very busy road. The barrows look to be heavily overgrown with heather and I didn’t walk up to them but it would have been fairly easy to follow the line of the fence leading southwest to reach them. I’m not sure whether the name Pen Howe applies to one or both of the barrows.

I took a wrong turn when heading to the High Bridestones and spotted this barrow to the right of the road. I recognised it immediately as one I had visited and photographed some 10 years ago while on the way to Whitby but had since forgotten where it was – it was nice to put a name to it at last. The barrow is easy enough to get to, park just to the west of the cattle grid on the open road that leads from the A169 to Goathland and follow the line of the fence north before cutting across to the barrow. The barrow itself stands on the highest point of this part of the moor with a spot height of 297 metres and the land slopes away gently on all sides. It is about 2-3 metres tall but the top has been badly bashed about/excavated/pillaged and it now has a boundary stone on top. There are also several medium sized boulders scattered around that could have formed part of the barrow, a couple near the bottom looked like they may have been part of a kerb, I had a look for cup marks on them but couldn’t spot anything. On the other hand they could just be the result of field clearance.

I was here beginning of September,a beautiful day.The last time I was here,some years ago, it looked different then I realised,as Nick reported,no Rhododendrons.This is a must for a visit,wonderful atmosphere and quiet but for the rustling of pheasants and other things.
Access is easy,park next to the stile pull out the top bar and step into heaven.

I took a while to locate this,the stones can be quite difficult to see amongst the trees. I was walking through the under growth and vanished into a hole much to the hilarity of my companion, nothing broken but my dignity. The two main stones are massive, I didn’t look for any others as the bracken and brambles were rather thick.

We thought we’d tackle the other side of the valley today and take a trip up to Middleton Moor, as there was a number of cup n’ ring marked stones noted on the OS map. So we descended into Ilkley and spent a little while by the river behind the museum, which stands on the site of the old Roman fort.

Middleton Woods is a bit of an uphill slog and we got lost on the winding paths a couple of times. We eventually found a style over into a field of horses, past Middleton Hall an on to the tarmac road leading up to a farm track and eventually the moor.

Lots of wildlife here (Ilkley Moor can be a little barren besides Grouse and the odd small flock of Sheep), rabbits, lapwings and loads of lambs all frolicking around like some forest scene from Bambi! The view across Wharfedale to the Cow n’ Calf rocks was truly wonderful.

The first carving we found was a beauty! Three cup n’ ring marks on a small boulder, the largest with at least five rings at Dryas Dyke. Nearby on Foldshaw Ridge is the Lattice Rock, another small boulder set in a slight rise under the path. The area a round here has a number of marked rocks, but these are well hidden in heather and bracken and require a bit of searching.

From here take the path west until you reach an old milestone, turn left and follow the hill downwards, over a boggy stream and just beyond are a number of small boulders set low, which bear faint cup, ring and groove marks.

The weather had been fantastic until now. As we reached this cluster of rocks, the heavens opened and we got drenched on the long walk back down to Ilkley. We were forced into a number of pubs to find the warmest place to dry off in!

Sandstone, very weathered, probably due to effluvia from the nearby, but now defunct, Blyth power station.
The stone is on the NE edge of the caravan site. Nearby beach has many unusual lumps of rock, and the erosion of the coast may throw things out of the fields onto the beach.
In terms of disabled access, they don’t come more accessible than this, it’s tarmac all the way.

20th July 2005

Still not fallen over.

Closer examination of the bluestone outside the pub is starting to convince me that it might be an artificial cup mark, but the stone is seriously igneous, so I’m not 100% convinced.

6th May 2004

May Day inspection of this thing showed it hasn’t fallen over yet.
This time I think I can state that despite the lack of professionally countenanced provenance, it’s not a medeival boundary marker.

It may have been used as such, and is still only a few yards away from the county border, but close inspection of the marks leads me to think that it has been pounded with stones, not with metal tools. It also has a shoulder, and is not regular all over. I suspect that these marks, and the rectangular cross section, may have led it to be discounted as a megalith by any surveying archaeologists.

There is another stone very similar to the bluestone (see the nearby pub), at the SE edge of the field. Like the bluestone,his igneous looking stone also shows signs of extreme heating, and has a shallow, 6” wide depression pecked into it. Curious, but not really proof of anything at all I guess

18th Sept 2003

The upright stone is clearly visible from the Blyth-Whitley Bay road. It’s about 2m high, easiest way into the field is to park in the Deleval Arms and use the gate in the NE corner.

Disabled Access poor as the gate is wired shut and ground is rough and uneven.

The blue stones are in front of the Pub and in the carpark behind it.

Some general waffle about the surrounding landscape:-

Anyone interested in the neuro-electromagnetic aspects of prehistoric sites should out the area, as this stone is rather close to a heavy-duty faultline which emerges into the sea at nearby Collywell bay, causing lines of lava intrusions that have warped the rocks into strange formations. (This bay may once have been held special due ti the crystals found in the cliff, digging of which has now resulted in the bay being visually marred by the protective concrete).

The nearby natural harbour would have long been recognised as a place of much worth to sea-faring folk, and there is a possible causewayed enclosure a mile or so to the north of the Hartley stone, and another closer circular(ish) earthwork of ancient, but unsecified purpose. The ridge upon which the former enclosure sits also has the particular silhouette view of the Simonside hills that is often associated with prehistoric sites in this end of Northumberland.

Add to this the island with St. Mary’s lighthouse, and the local landscape, though much ravaged by millenia of constant human activity, is still capabe of betraying the occasional hint of ancient activity.

I’ve previously been up onto Brow Moor but had no sucess at finding any of the rock art that’s been reported here. This time I was armed with a bunch of references from the SMR and a gps so I expected to have some success.
I parked up in the car park close to the radio mast on the coast road.
From this point I could see south along the coast past Scarborough to Flamborough. The radio masts of Seamer Beacon were very visible. It was also possible to pick out Shooting house Rigg – site of the Old Wifes Neck and Standing Stones Rigg, home of the Ramsdale Stones.
Using the references from the SMR I tramped onto the moor. The references took me to a stoney area of the moor just south of the trackway. The heather is quite high and due to the recent hot weather the moss and heather were stuck to the rocks like superglue resulting in a total inability to ‘peel’ back the moss from the rocks. I felt that it would be extremely irresponsible to start digging the stuff off the rocks so I left the area without seeing one piece of rock art.
As I was moving over the moor I noticed two fellas mooching about , cameras in hand and heads down. I wandered over towards them to ask if they were familiar with the moor and had they come across any rock art. I was greeted by a friendly “Howdo, are you looking for cups?”
It turned out that one of the guys was very familiar with the moor and it’s rock art, his mate was just along for the ride and to take a few photos. We soon slipped into a conversation about local sites and other rock art folk. I told him of my lack of success in finding any of the art, he said that they were leaving but he would show me a few of the examples in the immediate vacinity.
He showed me four lovely examples, all of which had been covered over to help prevent erosion. These were fine rocks, he also told me where to find other examples including some of the more complex motifs. He warned me that they were in deep heather and on rocks that were at ground level making them very dificult to spot.
The guys then took off for their pub lunch and I mooched across to the area he had pointed out. I found the landmarks he had described and started systematically moving through the thigh high heather trying to find the rocks. Unfortunately after an hour and a halfs searching I came up with nothing apart from scratched shins and ankles so I decided to call it a day and return in winter when the vegetation was a bit lower.
The Brow and Howdale Moors are a lovely place with some stunning views including some fantastic seascapes. There are also a number of barrows and earthworks scattered across the moors. Even though I only found a few rocks I still had a great time up there and would recommend the place for the views alone.

Hackpen Hill affords glorious views from the top where the Ridgeway intersects the road. I came here in 1991 with my then-husband and then-baby daughter the morning after a crop circle had appeared the night before. You can see why the circle makers would choose this place to practice their art, the views down into the field below are clear and close.

Today, we saw the remnants of a harvested crop circle and went down to investigate the white horse, carved in 1837 to celebrate Victoria’s coronation.

We could clearly make out the field to the west in which Winterbourne Bassett stone circle lies in the distance. Everything here is interconnected.

Curious, indeed.... couldn’t get my head around this one at all. A great outlier at the corner on the road tells you something great once stood hereabouts, but enter the field and prepare to be initially underwhelmed. But give it time, walk around the fallen remaining stones and you’ll soon feel that this was once *massive*. To me it felt like the gigantic Avebury-sized megaliths hadn’t just fallen – they were pushed! They didn’t sit on the ground, they were now almost flush with ground level and it felt like at any minute the earth could have swallowed them up again.

A whopping great outlier to the east hints at something else going on here...

Moth and me had the place completely to ourselves. It seems to be quite forgotten for a site so close to Avebury.

The gentle rise of the hill gives you no clue as to how far up you actually are when you get to the top, and it won’t make you break into a sweat either. What a great place to blow the cobwebs away! A series of earthworks, round barrows, saucer barrows and a cracking bell barrow set in a hummocky landscape and all the while one’s gaze is pulled towards the looming figure of Silbury Hill....

Mmmmm... groovy! Ooooh.... smooth!

This big old rock is so soft to the touch and worn so completely smooth it’s absolutely staggering! To consider just how many people’s actions upon this stone created the way it is today makes my head spin.... But why this stone and why here, exactly? I wondered has it fallen or been moved or was it always thus? (I now see from baza post below that it has indeed been moved)

I lay in the sunshine pondering these questions and drew a complete blank. This is a stone with secrets never to be revealed.

It’s a bit of a hike up to find it but with good directions is actually pretty easy to find. (Moth used me as a guinea pig to test whether his written directions were clear or not. Well, I found it, which either proves I’m not as stupid as I thought or Moth writes well. Or possibly both.)

If you can find it, see this! But take your time once you have. It’s very rewarding.

As Arthur Atkinson would say, “How queer!”
I have to agree with Moth on these stones, the ones with the holes just don’t look old at all – they almost look like modern stones cut to look like old stones. The flat faces are just too flat for my liking as well and the stones don’t seem to be eroded to any great extent, in an exposed place like this they should be weathered stumps surely, and look more like mini Devil’s Arrows, but they just don’t. The rectangular holes are just too perfect, although of course they could have been cut much later.
The stone at the south, which is a tall slender thing could be older than the others but I’m still not convinced. I did like the third stone from the south though, a large flat thin slab that stands face-on to the road and does have a megalithic air about it but again an almost complete lack of weathering on the top and sides says ‘modern’ to my eyes. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed visiting these stones, Murk Mire Moor is a great place and all the stones have a lovely view down to the sea, I just don’t think they are more than a couple of hundred years old at most. I’d love to be proved wrong though ! (And I probably will be)
As for the holes? My guess is they could have been for placing lamps in, or for hanging lamps from either side.
Further south down the road where it passes by the side of the woods on Pickering Moor there are some more stones, a set of three, one of which forms a gatepost and a little further along is another pair in some long grass behind the fence, probably all just old fence posts but pretty none the less.

I visited the stones in 1985 when I was 8. In ten days will be going back for the first time since then and am anticipating what it will feel like. The legends and ambience of the area back then fed my imagination, I am curious though as to what my reaction will be now, being all grown up ‘n all!
It seems ridiculous in some respects that we can feel emotion simply by being near some stone that was positioned by people over 4000 years ago when we are surrounded by rock that was positioned by nature itself. I suspect we sometimes need a key to unlock ourselves though.
Anyways...regards to other readers of this site.

I first visited this site in February of this year, but heard about more circles within a few hundred yards of this so decided to come back but the grass was so much longer this time.

There are apparently three circles in this area and all of them very hard to find. I did find one though and I believe this to be the remains of Worsthorne Hill Stone Circle. There is another stone circle on the O.S. map (apparently next to it) that I could not find, although there was a fenced off area circular in shape and mowed in the first field to the left of the footpath (any ideas guys?).

Crossing into the 2nd field looked more promising a series of banks and ditches appeared although on further inspection this turned out to be the remains of an old rubbish tip, complete with two ruined tractors (lovely!). Worsthorne Stone Circle is in this field, but it’s hard to see when the grass is long because the stones are very low.

Anyway I’ve posted photos of the circular enclosure and the remains of Worsthorne take a look and see what you think.

DIRECTIONS
Taking the road east through the village of Worsthome (TIP: if you go to the first pub on your right don’t make a comment to the barmaid about how quiet the pub is!). The church is on your left hand side of the road. Take the left turn just before the church and follow the road down (it turns into a track). Go down the track a little, brown edge farm is on your right here. Park just after the farm. There is a gate with a stile next to it on your left – this is the first field with the circular ring in it. As I mentioned, this could be nothing, but it’s a good indication that your in the right field. Follow the path into the next field and there’s a blue ruined tractor/roller by the side of the path and also a ruined beige coloured one. Make a line from the blue to the beige tractor and keep going. In the field and you will see the remains of Worsthorne Stone Circle. Happy hunting!

A megalithic mess indeed, it really does look like somebody let a bomb off in the middle of this one. Burl says it could have been a pair of four-posters, but three of the stones on the eastern arrangement are not so much fallen as strewn and look to me as if they’ve been moved making an interpretation difficult – they gave me the impression of having been dumped here during field clearance. They also seem to have a different appearance to the standing stone next to them, it is sandy coloured, smoothish but fractured while the more solid looking prostrate slabs seem a darker colour and are heavily pitted. Perhaps the eroded surface is evidence that they fell a very long time ago though, rather than being toppled recently. A smaller stone stands just to the east.
To the west are the stones of the second setting, for some reason I didn’t go over to look at them, sadly the site doesn’t really inspire you to spend a lot of time here – I’ll investigate the other stones another day.

A small circle of six stones, not tear-jerkingly cute in a Doll Tor way, and not dramatic or breathtaking either, it’s just there, comfortable with itself and it’s rather nice. Cracking views of dales all around, this little survivor is absolutely worth a peep. When we saw it there were patches of blue dye all over them, all at a certain height. Immediately I thought ‘bloody graffiti vandal bastard-types!’ but then I realised that the sheep, sprayed with blue identification dyes cuddled up against the stones as they sought shelter from the wind, which fortunately wasn’t howling the day we went.

A gratifying short walk from the car, this is highly suitable for people who find walking either difficult or rather tedious.

What appears to be a teeny weeny stone circle at Yockenthwaite is in fact the retaining kerbstones of all that remains of a once-impressive cairn. What a great place to just be. Today I had the energy to paint, but not enough time so I only made a really rough sketch. The circle nestles at the bottom of the valley right next the river (just over the wall) and is quite lovely in a ruinous way.

Oooo.... but this is nice! This pretty stone circle has been badly damaged over the years, but such is the feeling for it that people continually re-erect the stones, propping them up with whatever they can find.

I was breathtaken by it and not just cos I’m unfit: bright, lofty ‘John Constable’ skyscapes and a 270 degree view! The Twelve Apostles sit in a green clearing amid the purple heather and sing to the heavens! Flopping down absolutely shattered I opened my flask, lit a fag and thought I had died and gone to heaven. Sadly, I was too pooped to paint anything at the time.* Next time, then!

*though I did make a little study when I got home.

When I started exploring Roslin Glen, the fish carving was one of the things I looked for first. However, as no-one seemed to know where it was, I came to the same conclusion as above – the face below Lover’s Leap.

However, the major problem with this theory is the fact that the face could not really be taken for a fish. It looks more like a monkey.

I’ve come to the decision that the fabled Fish carving is in fact one of the Hawthornden cliff carvings on the other side of the river, just past Wallace’s cave. The only representative carving there is clearly of a fish. See the Hawthornden page for details etc.

Just down the road from the High Bridestones this is a line of stones running north-south across the hillside. The Low Bridestones are marked on the 1:25000 an 1:50000 OS Maps and are even scheduled monuments but there seems to be very little information about them, they appear to form a rough alignment but could be the remains of a field system or something else entirely. How many Bridestones? Difficult to tell, they are partly buried in high grasses and as you approach them 6-8 stones stand clear of the vegetation with the tallest standing about a metre high, but as you root round several more smaller stones are lurking in the grass to extend the alignment to about 20-30 metres in length, the total number of stones is probably between a dozen and 15 in all.

Tanx to ocifant and excellent directions. These stones are really unassuming and a slight breeze whistling across the moor is enough to drown or a least disguise the distant roar of the A30 and you’re deceptively secluded. Spectacular panorama. Not enough time to explore and walk to Stripple Stones/ Henge. Must return.

After a failed attempt a couple of years ago to find the Stone rows at Merrivale (although we did get a good close up view of the TV mast – wrong hill) it was particularly pleasing to be happening across Dartmoor again and have another go. Field notes from purejoy particularly useful, past the pub in Merrivale travelling east and next layby on right. There are loads of laybys and car parks so specific direction was useful. Wifey Deb was satisfied with just being at the rows and lay in the warm September sun with her feet in the stream, and yes when you first arrive at the stream from the climb up the hill it does appear to be flowing uphill ! Explored the rows, the cracked open cist, and not forgetting the circle and Longstone. All in all a great place. A bit crowded (2 or 3 other groups) but all appreciative.