Latest Fieldnotes

I visited this on the way back from Mull. The farmer has provided a sort of wire step arrangement to allow those with long legs to get over the fence! This is a big stone – 3.8m tall.

Set in a group of trees around 100m NW of the stone circle, this rather ruinous kerb cairn still retains sufficient structure to make it worth a look. It is about 6.5m across, and has a ‘false’ entrance to the SE. The stones on the northern and southern arcs are still pretty much in situ.

This second outlier stands about 100m SW of the circle, in line with the first. It is over 2m in height but has been broken at some point in the past.

This is the nearer of the two large outliers, which stands around 40m SW of the circle. It is 3m in height, and fairly dramatic!

This circle originally consisted of 9 stones, one of which has disappeared and been replaced with a small boulder. It has a grand total of 3 outliers, the nearest of which lies just to the SE, less than a metre in height. The largest stone is 2m tall, and all the flat faces of the stones face inwards. Set in a natural amphitheatre formed by the surrounding hills, this is a magical place.

This stone stands on its own around 350m NNW of the stone circle here, and about 200m away from the kerb cairn. It is 2m tall, but the top of the stone appears to have been broken in the past.

Just under 2m in height and with a pronounced northerly lean, this stone has a stunning outlook over Loch Tuath and Ulva. Seems to be pretty popular with the sheep, too!

This area is known locally as “Druid’s Field”, and contains a good variety of neolithic remains. Set in a magnificent arena, this place has to be the ‘must-see’ of Mull!

Three stones, aligned approximately NNW-SSE, the most northern of which is now included in the dyke... and used to anchor some wire fencing. These stones are not being treated as well as their kin just up the hill at Cnoc Fada! They lie just a short distance from the new cemetery, on the brow of a ridge.

This stone row sits just inside a wood on the hillside above Dervaig, and is signposted. Originally 5 stones, oriented NNW-SSE, only two are now upright, but it is still quite a stirring sight. Both the upright stones are around 2.5m in height. Looking down the avenue formed by the trees, they are rather evocative.

As can be seen from the photograph, this field was occupied, so I didn’t make an issue of it and took the bull’s photograph along with the stone, which is over 2m in height and very slim.

A magnificent site, though according to Canmore only one stone was upright in 1800, and the others re-erected at a later date. The kerb around them looks fairly ancient but may in fact have been added at the time the stones were re-erected. It does not detract from their setting, however, and this is a site well worth a look. All three stones are over 2m in height, and quite dramatic in effect.

Canmore debates whether this stone is prehistoric, or whether it is merely a way-marker for pilgrims en route to Iona. It certainly looks genuine to me!

Around 2m in height, aligned NNW-SSE, with a slightly sloping top, it has some field clearance boulders at the base and appears to be yet another popular sheep rubbing post.

This stone is in a field just off the Fionnphort road. It is aligned N-S, and has no markings or carvings, and stands just over 2m tall. Magnificent views all around!

The owner of the guest house here has no problem with people viewing the stone – just ask. This stone is over 2m tall, and stippled with quartz.

Park at the Mull Pottery and take the track just north of the buildings which leads west up-hill. The stones are around 400m in, on a raised platform. There are 3 stones here, the centre one being recumbent. The northern stone is the larger, being just over 2.5m in height. The row runs roughly N-S, and the southern stone is well under 2m. The central recumbent stone looks as if it would have been the largest, it’s around 3m long in its current position.

This is a pretty impressive viewpoint, and worth waking up to on a clear day. Unfortunately our view of the Ardnamurchan Peninsula on the mainland was a bit obscured by smoke from burning moorland, which is clearly visible in one of the photographs.

Ask permission at the farm, parking is easy at the road end as there is plenty of room. Not visible from the road from Craignure, you can only see this heading south from Salen.

Set out on a low mound, with a couple of possible kerb stones still in situ, there is one upright stone (about 1.3m tall) and one recumbent here. The ‘kerb stones’ may in fact be other recumbents – it’s a bit hard to tell. Have a look at the photographs and make your own mind up! The stones are aligned NW/SE. There are no significant markings on any of the stones.

Visited 21-3-02 – Just found these pictures, some of the first I took with my digital camera, and before I changed my name to Pebblethief...
Wonderful to visit this site – one of my first.
.o0O0o.

I live 5 minutes away from this “most important henge of its kind outside of Wessex”. Unfortunately, it is most unimpressive but if you walk around the circle in the field and imagine what might have gone on all those years ago you will surely smile.

If you park in ‘The Cock’ pub car park in Old Lakenham and have a drink, and then walk over the river and railway bridges there is a footpath into the field in the direction of the henge. Follow the line of the hedgerow to the South along to towards the house. The henge is between two pylons to the left (east) of the house.

This is a strange place. As I drove down the A595 the sight of the Sellafield in the distance was enough to make me nervous and I was unsure if I even wanted to visit the circle at all. I drove down towards Seascale and turned off onto the wide and deserted road that leads up the entrance on the southeast side of the works and got close to the main gates while looking for somewhere to park. There are signs warning of no parking on the verges and I got the impression that the road was designed to handle a lot of traffic – but there wasn’t any. Then the penny dropped – part of the purpose of the road was to allow a rapid evacuation of the site in an emergency…
I eventually found a lay-by or passing place on a small road that leads north to Seascale Hall and left my car there, unsure if it would have been towed away while I was at the circle. Walking down the road had me constantly looking over my shoulder – maybe it is just my imagination but this place seems to have a real sense of paranoia about it. You’re conscious of the air you breathe, I found myself sticking a finger in the air to see which way the wind was blowing. Getting onto the public footpath that leads west to the coast gave a little relief – if challenged I could at least wave my map and claim access rights to the path. However once I reached a deserted farm house (why was it deserted?) the path followed around the side of the field that holds the circle and it was necessary to climb the barbed wire fence and walk over the crop which luckily was only a set-aside rough grass (I hope). As for the circle itself it consists of 10 chunky boulders which Burl says average 130cm in height and it has some pleasant views of the sea to the west, but to be honest I had no intention of staying here to investigate any longer than I had to – I took my photos, scribbled some notes and left. I’m probably doing the circle a big disservice but the whole place just gave me the creeps and it’s not somewhere I’ll come back to in a hurry. Sorry Greycroft.

This is a nice little circle on a small plateau with the hill of Blakeley Raise behind it to the southeast. The books say 11 stones, the pictures show 11 stones, but in my notes I’ve got 12 stones (?!) – must have been some kind of cosmic vibe thing going on…
I managed to solve the mystery of the ‘Hounds of Blakeley’ though. As I arrived at the site I noticed a number of cars had congregated over on Low Cock How and there was a loud sound of barking and excited dogs. After a while the dogs were lined up and released – I thought they were just going to race to the bottom of the hill or something but as they disappeared out of sight in a dip in the land for a few seconds I suddenly realised they were probably heading in my direction. And so they were. Now, I’m usually wary of 4-legged beasts, especially when it’s a pack of 20 large dogs which would normally have me diving for cover, but I had no time to move to safety. Sure enough the dogs hurtled across the road and shot straight past the circle (completely ignoring me) and belted up the side of Blakeley Raise, I don’t know how fast they were running but they were over the hill in a couple of minutes at most. I estimated it would have taken me at least a knackering quarter of an hour to do the same climb. About 20 minutes later while I was eating a sarnie I noticed the dogs running down the north side of Flat Fell and back to Low Cock How. After some research I found I had been watching ‘hound trailing’ a 200 year old Cumbrian tradition involving dogs following an aniseed trail over about 7 miles of fells and hills and I have to admit it was a pretty damn awesome sight.

When I’ve visited Castlerigg in the past it has usually been in the late afternoon, evening or at night time. This is the first time I’d been in the morning and despite the steady trickle of visitors who only stayed for a couple of minutes and then left, I mostly had the place to myself. Something wasn’t right though. Maybe it was the nasty wind whipping grit and soil in my eyes and blowing my tripod over. Maybe the morning sun lit the stones differently – the evening sun gives them a deep rich glow. Maybe it was because I had a list of other sites that I wanted to get round, and maybe it was because I couldn’t find the elusive spiral carving – I had the right stone but I only found out later I was looking on the wrong side – the spiral faces into the circle.
It was the first time that Castlerigg had left me unmoved. Next time I’ll be back in the evening.

This was a cleanup day around South London, visiting a few sites that I hadn’t before. I had a good day for it and some pleasant company, so the day was an undoubted success. We did a loop from West to East, starting at Diana’s Dyke, then Gally Hills, Croham Hurst and finally attempted to get onto Caesar’s Camp.

Having done my list within the M25 and it was only 3pm, we headed outside to North Kent. First up was Squyerres Park but another nono, so we finished up at Oldbury again which is rapidly becoming a fav of mine.

All in all a nice productive day.

A quick word though, if you intend to do this South London wander, make sure you take in Morden Park at the start and Chislehurst Caves & Winn’s Common at the end. Actually, depending on your start time, you might want to reverse the route as well. That way you can be first in to Chislehurst caves & set up the day nicely.

This was a cleanup day around South London, visiting a few sites that I hadn’t before. I had a good day for it and some pleasant company, so the day was an undoubted success. We did a loop from West to East, starting at Diana’s Dyke, then Gally Hills, Croham Hurst and finally attempted to get onto Caesar’s Camp.

Having done my list within the M25 and it was only 3pm, we headed outside to North Kent. First up was Squyerres Park but another nono, so we finished up at Oldbury again which is rapidly becoming a fav of mine.

All in all a nice productive day.

A quick word though, if you intend to do this South London wander, make sure you take in Morden Park at the start and Chislehurst Caves & Winn’s Common at the end. Actually, depending on your start time, you might want to reverse the route as well. That way you can be first in to Chislehurst caves & set up the day nicely.

As Broen says try and make time to see the hut circles. It’s a good starting place to walk up to the Caer y Tawr hillfort.
The site is well signposted from the road to the South Stack. There are around 20 ‘huts’ left to be seen at the foot of Holyhead Mountain dating back to the Iron Age.
Some of the huts look to have stone benches and bowls.