Latest Fieldnotes

As in Holy’s misc. post, the site has been sometimes referred to as a stone circle......I wonder if this is down to the 1:6250 O.S map where it’s marked as a “circle of stones”.

The cairn has recently been cleared of the Silver Birch that were growing on it’s banks. Apart from some compass work, the stacks of logs are among one of the few distinguishing things to look for when trying to find the ring cairn.

The rubble ring that is left is not very well defined but can be over 10ft wide in places.

I travelled down after reading the reviews, looking forward to seeing the site, which didn’t disappoint.

Although the church has somewhat taken over the site, the fact that it’s also in ruins just added to the atmosphere at the site, suggesting that no belief is constant...

I’d expected to see the two magnificent yews flanking an entrance from the entries here, but the placement of the trees is more in line with the church than the henge, which is unbroken by the trees (see photo)

Dropped by the Tor on our way home, and were surprised to see the tower swathed in scaffolding (see photo). It seems the tower is undergoing renovation and repointing.

Baza pointed out the following link that mentions the work:

A visit here is a must if you are in Southwestern Cornwall.If you are following your map you will have turned off the main road,you will come to a wooded valley with an old mill,don’t ask here but carry on up the hill.
You can park at the end of the farm drive,the farmer will give you directions and ask you to keep to the edge of the fields.After a stroll of about half a mile you come to this wonderful tranquill other worldly haven,Wash your arms and feet and the aches vanish like magic.On a warm summers day it is easy to get lost in time and find it very difficult to leave.

If you turn off the main road into the B 3087 then go into the Co-op car park,drive to the far end and walk along the river path you will see these stones on the left.Behind the stones there are large stones lying about.I am sure these are the remains of the Stone Circle said to have been on the land of the Rectory.The Old Rectory is nearby.

Using the GPS co-ordinates from TMA I took myself off to Felton Common in search of this Longbarrow. The GPS guided me to roughly the position as suggested, and after the best part of what seemed like an half mile walk through scrubland, I couldn’t see anything about so a little searching led me too what I can only think is, or was, a derelict Longbarrow. IF this is the longbarrow, and I’ve every reason to believe it is, then it’s probably in one of the worse conditions I have seen. The stones that are in the field would have made for a large Longbarrow in it’s day. Felton Common is quite large and seems to be favourite for dog walkers. it’s not a place where you should go to far out of your way to see though.
I will go back oneday because the common hold a secret that very few people probably know, until now, in that it’s a very good place to watch planes landing because one is directly under the flight paths of very low incoming planes. Now what can be better to waste some time on than that!!!

Came across this wandering across the moors, wet and windy I had an idea it was in the vicinity. An iron Age settlement thats been left to the cows (mind the shit its everywhere), the remains of the roundhouse’s walls are easily spotted, as is the ‘pound wall’ that surrounds the settlement. Very interesting place which stirrs one to ponder on the life of the ancient celts. Follow the yellow marked posts to find the ‘Roundhouse’, several fields away built on the site of a former iron age roundhouse is a complete full size one!, thatched roof and all the ‘mod cons’ inside!!, open fire and wooden beds!!..luxury accomodation eh!. An amazing reconstruction if ever!, used regulary by individuals/groups it seems id say, they ask for donations instead of an entrance charge.
I took a walk back to the ruinous remains of the old village, found a wind-free spot and closed my eyes...the village came to me in its former glory, beautiful.

Worthy of another visit definitely!!

This huge stone stands just a field away from the Backhill of Drachlaw circle. Like those stones it has large veins of white quartz running through it, making a thick stripe around the bulk of the rock. Rather than being placed as an outlier to the neighbouring circle it is suggested that the Carlin Stone could itself have been the recumbent of a circle, although the sheer size makes this seem unlikely. There have, however, been Bronze age finds around the stone which would seem to back up the RSC idea.

I had heared of this Stone/Stones but at a different map ref:SP265288. I found these Stones not far from the road side.These are obviously fallen and I couldn’t find anything standing. I shall try the reference Jane gave next time I am in the area.

After visiting The Hanging Stone carry on south down the road to Woodborough, there is a cross road with the left turn to the village. Just round the corner on the right is the stone. In front of the stone is a small plaque with a dedication. I have no information on this stone but am sure it qualifies.

Sited at a crossroads aptley named ‘Longstone cross’, i pass this diminutive bugger most days whilst working, surrounded by tarmac and having a bustop for a companion, i once noticed someone leaning over it in a drunken state, im sure you can guess what happened next...years of exhaust fumes has taken its toll.

Standing Stone near Ingoe, Northumberland approximately
six feet tall.

A very very popular site with tourists, and locals, yet many actually miss the original well which lies half a mile from the baptistry, lying in very boggy ground, until recently imposible to reach.The local ‘Earth Mysteries’ group have now though made it more accessible if taken with care!!!.A stone surround now marks the location of the well, also uncovered recently at the site is a green mound, marking the location of ‘St Madderns’ bed, on which pilgrims used to sleep on as part of the ‘healing’ cure.

Called in at these wonderful stones after a ‘cleaning up ’ trip to boscawen un(messy bastards left allsorts of crap, torn t-shirt, masses of paper, uprooted bluebells!!) THERE IS NO NEED FOR ANY OF THIS!!!..anyway back to the stones.It was dark as i jumped over the gate, the wind blowing through the almost ‘knee high’ grass, alike a gateway these stones stand proud, the sparks coming off the stones as i touched them were warm to touch, as were the stones as a whole, i would of savoured the moment a while longer, yet the thought of cold lager overtook my thoughts!, ill come back here and really lose myself to these beauties...

This is said by some to be where Bedwyr (Bedevere) returned Excalibur to the Ladies of the Lake after the death of King Arthur at the battle of Camlann.

One of my favourite memories of it is when I tried to drive a Fiat Panda right down to the waterside and got it stuck.

In my defence I must say that this was a very long time ago

The first time I tried to visit this site I got within about 200 metres then got hit by Dartmoor snow storm and had to shelter in the lee of a stone wall for 30 minutes.

The Grey Wethers is a double stone circle with the two circles side by side instead of concentric.

The path doesn’t strictly go to the stone circle, so it’s best to keep to the wall side.
I reckon the SW stone has around 5 cup marks on it 3 on the outward face and 2 on the inward. The ones on the inward are very worn but one is easy enough to find. The most prominent ones on the outward facing, one slightly worn.

You’ve gotta be a hardcore hillfort fan to visit Markland Grips as what’s visible on the ground is a bit of a let down.

Kinda tongue shaped the fort is protected on two sides by ravines; Hollinhill Grips and Markland Grips the west side by ramparts and ditches. The whole place is overgrown a hedge grows along the top of the banking, and the ditch is near impossible to find.
The entrance in the centre is thought to belong to the fort.
The clearest part of the earthworks is on the otherside of the railway banking, where the ending of three ramparts can be seen.

Access is easy down a dismantled railway....

The smaller circle by the rocky outcrop is used for ‘occult’ purposes ie witchcraft. Eight quartz stones with a cist at the north point, under one of the stones is a bag with drugs in, looking at it closely it looks like speed, its been there a while,its gotten wet and probably of no use, I intend to remove it on my next visit at the end of this week. Maybe somebody thought leaving it there would give it extra power!???, odd people indeed. The rocky outcrop and the circle sit on the path of a wonderful energy line which runs from ‘boscawen un up to bartiney castle. There was at one point some jewellery left in the cist, and more recently lots of colored stones left on top of the cist, these have been removed along with all the crap that is left at ‘Boscawen’. Also close by is a triangular shaped rock which could be what is known as a ‘propped stone’. I’ve yet to confirm with locals.

Visited 14th April 2003: There’s a public footpath to Tre Wallter Llwyd, but don’t be surprised if you have trouble following it. Approaching from the A487, there’s a track leading north to Tre Wallter Farm which is easy enough to find. You need to follow this track to the farm, then pass to the east of the farm house so that you’re continuing between it and the dilapidated corrugated iron barn (you can’t miss it, it groans in the wind).

Just past the barn is where things get tricky, because the footpath isn’t marked. It should branch off to the east between two hedge banks, but the nice farmer has fenced it off with barbed wire. Even if the barbed wire wasn’t there, you’d be hard pressed to walk between the hedge banks because they’re so overgrown. When we reached this point I went and knocked on the door of the farmhouse to find out how we were expected to get to the burial chamber, but sadly there was nobody in.

We decided to keep going, travelling along a parallel route to the footpath in the field to the south of it. This involved carefully moving a single strand of temporary electric fence, then re-erecting it once we were over it (not easy with a baby on your back). We passed through this field until we reached the end of the overgrown part of the public footpath, and guess what, the nice farmer had put another barbed wire fence across this end of the path! Luckily we had already deviated from it, otherwise we’d have been mightily pissed off.

From here we got a glimpse of the burial chamber in the hedge bank to the south east, on the opposite side of the field. When we got close up, we found that the chamber has been fenced of with stock fencing, as if it was just an inconvenient bump in the hedge bank. The fencing looked quite new, and it was pressed right up against the chamber to minimise the amount of grazing that the land owner would loose. It would be impossible to ram a fence post into the ground, as it rested against the stone, without doing some damage. Anything sensitive under the soil would have been skewered by the fence posts.

The chamber should be a delight to visit. It looks out towards the coast, and you can just make out Carreg Samson to the north west. It’s one of those sites where you wonder why they put it there, right up until you’re standing next to it. Then it hits you just how amazing it is.

Despite the setting, I was quietly seething by the end of our visit, and I’ve since contacted Pembrokeshire County Council and Cadw about the footpath and the fencing. If I get anything back from them, I’ll post it up.

I decided to walk out here from Bath, and since it was raining (I couldn’t stand to stay indoors any more) I had all the footpaths to myself. It was quite a trek, so I expect most visitors would rather park their car in Stanton Prior, the hamlet south-east of the hill, and walk up from there.

It’s an imposing hill really, dominating the local landscape. Next to it is a smaller rounder hill, Winsbury Hill. I tried without much success to see some ‘sleeping figure’ significance to the two hills. Looking back, a ridge forms the skyline on the opposite side of the valley, and I could just imagine a lookout visually scouring it for sneaky attackers (just a flight of fancy). Speaking of defence, I was amazed on the way here by the extreme steepness and depth of the combe? containing the little stream between Stanton Prior and Newton St Loe. Wansdyke doesn’t seem to be fazed by it, but frankly for quite a while I wondered how I was going to cross the gap and felt like I was being funnelled further along than I wanted to be – I could see the hillfort but was basically walking parallel to it.

As I climbed the stile into the wood I was struck by the swathes of bluebells – their vivid blue a shock to the eye after the miles of green I’d walked through. Also there was lovely yellow-flowered archangel – both plants are indicators of ancient woodland. The wood is mostly oak trees. I hastened up to the flat top hoping to get a view of the surrounding countryside – maybe up to Kelston Round Hill and the fort near there. But with it raining, and the not particularly treeless hilltop, I can’t really say what is/was visible and what wasn’t.

I haven’t yet been able to find out much about the prehistory of the site. 7Spring appears to know a lot about the Wansdyke aspect of course. The other side of the hill seems to be a recent spot for crop circle art – ooh and this faces a main road, what a surprise. If you were just passing through this part of the world you’d doubtless want to spend your valuable time at the nearby Stanton Drew or Stoney Littleton: but this place had a special ‘vegetationy’ calm, as I found as I strolled/slipped down the path between the bluebells on the far side.

23.08.06
It’s been raining all afternoon, the sun was really low in the sky and everything was as full of colour as a Jane Tomlinson original, and all contrasty – it looked almost surreal. I’ve discovered the best way to arrive at Stantonbury – from the Keynsham road. It heads straight for the hill and you see it broadside – much better than sneaking up on it from one end because you appreciate its true size. Er, just a recommendation. None of the photos so far do it justice; it’s just smothered with trees and looks rounded and fat.

I didn’t check for alignments when I was there, but I suspect there may be a possibility of a line up with a ‘sleeping figure’ in the hill to the south. I took a picture at the time, I’ll have to dig it out and check.

Has anyone else noticed or mentioned this?

Visited 13th April 2003: By the time we reached the Carn Llidi Tomb(s) the weather was really poor. The rain let up for a bit, and I rattled off some photos. By now William knew the drill, so he just hid behind the concrete bunker to shelter from the wind and rain.

The tombs are slightly overgrown and have a neglected feel to them. I don’t suppose many people visit them, as they’re not on the direct path to St David’s Head. The views were pretty good despite the weather, so this is another site I want to go back to when it’s sunny.

These two tombs are a bit of a climb from the main footpath from the direction of Coetan Arthur. We later realised there’s a very good alternative path leading up to the tombs from the farm to the south (it’s marked on the Landranger as a track). If you wanted to go straight to the Carn Llidi Tombs from the Whitesands car park (the only place you can park around here) then approaching from this direction would be quickest way in.

On our way back to the car we got chatting to the farmer, and he was extremely affable. If I lived in such a touristy area, I reckon I’d be a bit more crabby than that (come to think of it, I already am).

On a recent visit to the Castlehowe Scar Stone Circle, I looked in the next field and was astonished to see what appears to be a stone row! I presume that if this is `really` a stone alignment then we would have known about it by now. If anyone has any thoughts or information about this then please share it with us.

Visited 13th April 2003: I made a very cursory visit to St Davids’s Head Camp as a diversion on our way to Coetan Arthur. William needed a rest from the wind, so Lou hid with him and Alfie behind a big boulder.

I nipped down and had a look at the ramparts of the fort, which are thankfully very easy to spot. They’re ruinous, but still relatively well defined. It’s difficult to judge the scale of them from a distance, but fortuitously a couple of walkers provided scale for my photos. I was tempted to go further down the promontory and explore, but the weather was appalling so in the end I didn’t stop for long.