Latest Fieldnotes

Barossa Barracks Barrow – 31.5.2003

I tried to find a barrow that was marked on the map but which I suspected would be part of an army barracks. A spotty 17 year old on guard duty with an SA80 couldn’t confirm or deny it’s whereabouts but I think this is within an army barracks, and that the area will be strictly off-limits to general visitors. Either that or it may be slightly further south and may not being off limits.....

The site of the Barossa Barracks (see below for some of the history) is now taken up by the amorphous Montgomery Lines barracks, which includes 4 separate barracks; Arnhem Barracks, Bruneval Barracks, Normandy Barracks &, Rhine Barracks.

Judging for the map the barrow seems to be just off the road called ‘Pennyfathers Rd’ on the street map, possibly part of Bruneval Barracks?

Frensham Common Barrows – RB’s – 31.5.2003

The common is full of well marked and maintained footpaths, so you can get to these wonderful barrows from many directions.

One simple and charming walk, is to park at the large carpark for Frensham Great Pond (which includes toilets, shop and free ‘Walks Around Frensham Common’ leaflet) and walk east around the north of the lovely pond, which is complete with sandy beach and good looking women. Then follow the yellow marked footpaths across the main A287 road, and up to the ridge ahead of you (‘The King’s Ridge’). This will take you straight to the edge of ‘Barrow 2’ where a really nice info board tells you about all four barrows.

The OS map shows 3 substantial barrows but in reality there is a lone barrow (‘Barrow 1’) 150m to the north of a tight cluster of three barrows in a row (Barrows 2, 3 and 4). Barrows 1 and 2 are very substantial, with barrows 3 and 4 being a smaller size. ‘Barrow 1’ has an info board again – a repeat of the one at Barrow 2.

Thankfully a lot of work has been recently done to reduce further erosion to these barrows, with cyclists and horse riders now forced to go around the barrows. The view from the ridge / barrows is spectacular, and there is an abundance of wildlife in the area (birds, lizards).

Bourne Wood Barrow – 31.5.2003

A lone barrow lies in Bourne Wood, which is part of the Foresty Commisssion’s ‘Alice Holt Forest’, just off a minor which runs from Farnham Train station to Tilford.

There are many ways into the wood but a simple one is to turn off the main road at the north east cornetr of the wood, into ‘Dene Lane’. There’s no official parking place but the lane is wide enough at this point to park., whereas it’s much narrower further down. Walk 150m down the lane, where multi-million pound houses doeminate the north side, and a small footpath starts at a wooden railing thingy and takes you up into the wood. After about 200m take the first footpath to the right (opposite the rear of Lobswood Manor) and about 150m further on the barrow lies on the right of the track. Or, I presume it does! A soory looking mound definitely stands out a little at this point and has a severely dug into top – the most dug into I have ever seen. The land confusingly drops significantly away to the north side; but it still looks like a barrow….just.

Heath Brow Bowl barrows – 31.5.2003

Not that far from Caesar’s Camp Hill Fort four ‘tumuli’ are marked on the map just to the SU822493. At a quick look this may also be ‘sensitive’ ground and there was no obvious place to park. I’ll hopefully return another day and take a closer look.

Caesar’s Camp Hill Fort – 31.5.2003

Caesar’s Camp is a fantastic Iron Age hill fort with stunning views all around, but I’m not convinced about access to it. “Access prohibited – Water Catchment Area” signs are dotted everywhere to the West and North; presumably due to the reservoirs to the West, and the general proximity to the heavily militarised area of Aldershot and Farnborough. However, I saw several people in the area, most at the summit of the fort, so either there is some permitted access somewhere (maybe from the South?) or maybe we were all just ignoring the signs!

After approaching from the west (‘accidentally’ ignoring the signs) and leaving via the north, I’d say that the simplest way to get to the fort without going beyond too many signs is to park at the large but rough car park at SU831510. Apart from here, there is supposed to be no parking just off the main road – there are lots of forest tracks/roads but all say ‘No Parking’ and other various warnings. From here, walk South East through the woods staying just north of the road, and then cross the road somewhere around SU836807. In this area several paths lead to towards the hill fort, which is clearly visible due south.

The hill fort itself is excellent, especially its large and doubled ramparts on the south side. It must have been a brilliant site; a hill with steep sides for defence but a huge flat interior, about 500m across its longest parts. The Surrey / Hampshire border cuts right through the fort. The view stretches for miles across the forest all over the north and west, cut only by the Farnborough Airfield site to the north east, and Tweseldown Race Course to the north west. The space age reservoir cover (?) can be seen from the north side, like a mini Eden Project dome.

Cockadobby Hill barrow – 31.5.2003

Aka – Queen’s Roundabout Barrow

If you want an example of a barrow taken over by modern life, look no further than this large barrow that is now part of the busy “Queen’s Roundabout” where the A3011 and A325 meet between Farnborough and Aldershot. Parking is obviously a bit of a problem, but there are several side roads within a 5 minute walk, or try the Holiday Inn; just off the roundabout.

The road, and a brick wall, cut into this bowl barrow on the East side, and a stone fountain / war memorial cuts into it on the North side, but otherwise it’s still a pretty impressive size, maybe 3m high and 25m in diameter, encrusted with large trees all over, and some small but dense pines on the East side.

The Hampshire County Council website says that the barrow is on a natural rise in small clump of trees and is mutilated on the south west by old trench. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument (number 12155) – grid reference SU 8683 5343.

Visited 6th April 2003: Maengwyngweddw is only a short walk from the road, following a rutted ridgeway track that’s used by off-roaders and bikers. There’s a lot of erosion caused by these vehicles, and it’s getting worse because the bikes are making new ruts on either side of the track (presumably as they diverge from the route to avoid the puddles). I’m not a big fan of the 4x4 lot, but I really hate off-road bikers ‘cos they bring erosion and noise pollution! I’ll stop ranting now.

Maengwyngweddw is a small lump of quartz, partially shielded by reeds. Approaching from the west it’s easy to see. For some reason that isn’t entirely clear to me, there are a number of old broken bricks scattered around the area. They’re not modern packing stones, but there are a few around the hollow immediately next to the stone. The hollow is presumably caused by livestock, so perhaps the bricks were intended to stop this erosion. I recently saw a similar thing at Tafarn y Bwlch but done with stones. Maengwyngweddw is a Ceredigion style standing stone – small and squat. It’s worth visiting for the views, but not if you like your prehistoric sites on the big side.

Quite a sad little site this. Follow the sign for the circular walk up the glen, and about 150m in there’s a branch to the left across a wooden bridge. Take the path to the right after the bridge and less than 50m later you pass the outlier. It’s a fair size, around 1.6m in height and 1m across at the base. It stands around 10m from the 3 remaining stones of the circle, all fairly low and half-hidden in the grass. These 3 lie on the NE arc, and the circle probably contained ten stones originally, being around 6m in diameter. 3 stones around the right size and shape lie in or by the burn running alogside, and there is another appropriately sized stone at the foot of the outlier. The whole area’s a bit overgrown and untidy.

Visited 6th April 2003: On our way to Maengwyngweddw I insisted on stopping at Maen Hir to get some decent photographs. This time the weather was much better, with the view to the west relatively clear. The position of this stone at the head of the valley may relate to Afon Ystwyth, which eventually emerges next to Aberystwyth (the town’s name meaning mouth of the Ystwyth).

Visited 17th April 2003: More like a drive-by than a proper visit. The light was fading, and I was under the distinct impression that I was pushing my luck with prehistoric site visiting.

We were heading towards Pembroke on the B4320 and I spotted two large round barrows in the field to the south of the road. They looked quite broad, with shallow sloping sides, suggesting that they were originally large barrows that have been considerably ploughed down.

Visited 11th May 2003: Having visited the Hoar Stone, I drove down the road to Taston to see the Thor Stone. The village is tiny, and parking near the stone without blocking the road is tricky. You can’t miss it though. It’s so obvious that I wondered at first whether this was what I was looking for (should have done some research before setting out).

This stone stands in the graveyard at Torphichen Preceptory, a few metres inside the gate towards the left. It is a re-used neolithic stone, which was turned into a marker for the Preceptory. Canmore states “This square sandstone pillar stands 2 1/2’ high, in Torphichen churchyard. It has been shaped, the sides swelling uniformly from the ground to the top, which is 12 1/2” square. There are 5 cup marks and a 6 3/4” long channel on the E face; on the top is a circular socket 2” in diameter and 1 1/2” deep, connected with a cross-shaped channel, 6 1/2” over the arms. The latter features probably have no connections with the cup marks. It is thought to mark the centre of a privileged sanctuary ground attached to the preceptory.” The cup marks are clearly visible.

Visited 11th May 2003: On my way from a delightful weekend in Oxford, inevitably I popped into a few sites along the way. The Hoar stone was my first port of call.

I’ve visited the site before, but eight years on I had no recollection of where it was, and only some rubbish directions to go by. After driving up and down the road between Enstone and Taston, I realised that the site wasn’t where I’d thought it was (the dot on the map I was looking at was a mile stone!). The memories eventually came flooding back, and I recalled doing exactly the same thing back in 1995.

Just for the record, you need to take the B4022 from Enstone towards Taston, then take the first left hand turn and park immediately on your left. Now turn your head 90 degrees to the right and you’re looking at it. Sounds easier than it is, because the chamber is shielded from the road by trees.

This stone stands around 1.2m tall, and appears to be sandstone. At some point in the past it has been reinforced by cementing in some field clearance stones around the base. It hasn’t been moved, however, as I saw it marked on a map dating from around 1740, in the position it occupies today. Some pretty good views from where it stands.

There are the remains of an old priory a couple of hundred metres WNW, and another nearby hill is called Temple Hill, apparently the Knights Templar owned the area at some point in the past.

I had a good look round at this location today, and couldn’t identify anything as a stone circle or the remains thereof. The hillside is bracken, and doesn’t look to have been cultivated in a long time. There are a few flat platform areas which might (might!) be ancient housing platforms but I’m not enough of an expert to be sure. There certainly doesn’t appear to be any megaliths left. I did spot a standing stone on West Blair nearby, so I visited it instead.

Visited 24th May 2003: We made our way up to this site from the Waun Mawn Stone, but over-shot, and ended up approaching from the north west. The views from up there were incredible, even though the weather was changing from erratic to rainy.

Of the three stones that we could identify, only one remains standing in a circular puddle (yes, another deep muddy puddle for William to play near). Both the recumbent stones were clearly standing at some time, with identifiable holes where they once stood. Two of the stones (the ones to the east) are close together and the third stands a way off to the west. There was quite a good feeling to the place, and I reckon it would be extremely pleasant to sit up here on a nice day and enjoy some solitude.

“Only a few remnants. yet spectacular looking from the road as its the dominant feature in the field. a circular stone earth mound covered by grass with the stones exposed on the top: four flat pieces, three of which are standing, one of which is quite large; a few large stones and smaller ones scattered around. An oak tree and three Hawthorn(?) trees grow around it.

Directions: there’s a lay-by off the road that runs along-side the field and a style to get over the fence”
1 June 2003

“Remains of a circle of large stones layn flat, surrounded by or on raised earth. Most stones are half submerged in grass and there are large gaps in the circle. The ground rises within the circle in which stones poke out a little thru the grass, indicating some remains.

There’s a small long cairn shape close to one side of the circle and an overgrown patch in the otherwise closely mown farm garden that could be worth asking about. I don’t see the outlier in the farm garden hedge mentioned on TMA but I do see a blatant gap and between there and the circle is a long stone layn flat, a stone trough (for holding water for animals) carved out of it.

The point at which Moel-Ty-Uchaf stone circle stands is clearly visible but not the stones themselevs which stand a little way back from the edge.

Directions: There’s a gate into the field off the road or you can pull into the farm and ask there to go in thru their gate.”
1 June 2003

With palettes still tingling from a visit to the nearby cheese making farm, we visited Carreg Samson. Thrilling! The view is awesome, surely one of the finest placings of a dolmen in these parts? It certainly rivals Pentre Ifan for sheer gloriousness. But what of the cromlech itself? Outwardly it appears to be just another typical dolmen. But look more closely and you see a puzzling construction of two kinds of stone. (I’m no geologist, as I’m about to reveal!) One kind is a smooth bluestone type, the other a lumpy-ricepuddingy kind, shot through with stars and splats of quartz, edged with black. The capstone is of the latter and deserves particular observation. I studied it for as long as I could without getting ‘in shot’, as treaclechops was photographing.

Driving out in the blazing sunshine (again! yippee!) towards the soaring, dramatic cliffs of Ceibwr Bay we called in here. It lies up a track leading towards Penlan farm. You have to hold your nerve as you drive up the deeply tractor-rutted track and pray the undercarriage of your car isn’t removed by the central raised strip! Fearing it would be, we parked at a point wide enough to let a tractor through and got out and walked the last few hundred metres. Although it’s on private land, the construction of a wooden stile implied it was OK to go and view it. The great thick capstone, resembling a grand piano, is held up by only three of the five stones and looked a little precarious, but we liked this very much.

If you do get here, I urge you to continue on to Ceibwr Bay, 2 kms up the lane, where we sat blinkingly in the brightness, cooled by the breeze which whipped up great waves crashing into the wild contortions of the black slate cliffs. The cliffs were topped with grassy green ‘icing’ and great patches of pink sea thrift. See it!

The roundhouses blew me away, and the detail of the interiors was wonderous! I loved everything about this place, and apart from the lack of sunshine, it looked and smelled just like being back in an African village: the smoke seeping out through the deep thatched rooves, the inky blackness of the interior of the huts, the smouldering logs, the woven withy fences, the cow shite and mud walls, the dust underfoot, the rough branches holding up essential furnishings, the sense of constant activity needed to maintain the place; rethatching, weaving and so on. I would have been quite happy ‘surviving the iron age’. I felt quite at home here and it rekindled my spirits.

Massive ditches and ramparts enclosed a small interior centre, but a quarter of the earthwork had apparently been ploughed up in the 1950s so its sense of enclosing anything at all was now lost. I liked this place a lot.

As its on private land, ask the farmer before you enter, as you might disturb his bullocks.

...a single menhir about 6 or 7 feet high with her square footprint in a pool of boggy water with marsh grass growing jauntily up against it. Charlie Dimmock couldn’t have produced a more picturesque water-feature. Indeed, so stately and serene was this menhir, in her own little pool, we felt she looked like the lady of the lake.

I was on my way to Waylands and spotted this in Ashbury. I may have got the Ref: wrong, it may be SU265851. I can’t remember where I turned off.Got no info on it at all, have a look when you go through Ashbury.

Visited 10th May 2003: This was the penultimate site of the day, and the folks I were travelling with were getting slightly megalith weary. I hopped out of the car for a quick gander, and tried to look like I wouldn’t take long. What an amazingly enigmatic site this is. I think I need to do it justice with a longer visit when I have time to contemplate (perhaps in another lifetime!).