Latest Fieldnotes

Where the signpost points to Kemyal there is a house, park opposite and look through the field gate – the stone is in the middle of this field. The approach to the gate is very muddy so be careful. I spoke to the farmer at Kemyal Drea farm about stones in the area, and he said there were a lot of scratch posts but they were grey granite and new looking.

Was here May 20th, farmers were all too busy to worry about me, so I got as close as I could and took my photo. From where I stood it looked very neat with its hat of bluebells. It is not the easiest thing to find but can be approached from where the road bends to go to the farm.

Felt rather sorry for this stone as it is miles from any (known) companion and is leaning badly. Asked at the local farm for permission to walk on their land and was asked for a contribution to the Devon Air Ambulance Service! Pretty cool and no prob. The farmer said that a dowser had found several lines emanating from it but was a bit vague about the details.
There are simple crosses carved near the top on all four faces and the top. I couldn’t see or photograph this as the top of the stone, even in its leaning condition, is 2M+ in height but it can be felt easily enough. The crosses are just two lines at right angles but do I detect a circle round the one on the W face?
The stone doesn’t seem to have been worked, except for the top which is fairly flat. To judge by the debris in the field, the local stone may split naturally into this form.
BTW. The stone is about 50M to the W. of the location shown on Streetmap, across the road somewhere about the “g” of “Long Stone”.

Disabled: Parking on verge opposite stone. Field was/is ploughed.

Chunky stone by the oak and just outside the churchyard. Usual stories by the locals about the Devil trying to throw/carry it elsewhere. Also said that it is a “Sarsen” ie. a foreign stone and not from the immediate area. I’m not a rock expert but it looks to me as being a granite with a pinkish hue. Are there any sources close by? The oak is pretty venerable and has been looked after well including the rotten core being filled with concrete.
Apparently it takes about a dozen guys with crowbars to flip the stone on Nov. 5th.

Disabled: Parking next to stone.

I was looking forward to visiting this site, it looks good on the map, it dominates the Northern side of the Honiton by-pass and A30 and is crowned by some noble trees.
What a disappointment! Parking is up a short,steep track with only room for a couple of cars and the NT sign baldly states its name with no other info.
Following a steep track up, I reached a flatter, semi-mown path which seems to encircle the lower slopes. Following this for a while and not getting any closer to the top, I struck off up hill through waist high bracken to be greeted by a wire mesh fence below the first, rather small, rampart. Scrambling over a broken bit and ducking and diving through the scrub and lower tree branches, I came to another fence on the second rampart. Following this I found a field gate which led to an open field with the Trig Point.
Where’s the view? To the S. the scrub and smaller trees block any sight lines and to the N. and W. the way the hill slopes doesn’t give any sense of this being a commanding defensive site. Somewhat miffed, I negotiated even more fences and scrambled back to the car.
Some sensitive scrub clearance and the removal of at least the lower fence (Does a farmer use the field for pasture?) could make this into a much more visitable site.
Of course one always has the awful thought that just round the next bend in the road is the proper access point with all the info one would need!
Disabled: Drive-by, steep tracks and fences.

What kind of strangeness is THIS?!

Five cist-like chambers arranged like the spokes of a wheel, in varying states of disrepair, some with capstones, dolmen-like, some with only three sides of their chambers remaining, overlooking Dinas Head. A real mish-mash is all that is left. But what a mish-mash!

A decidedly weird place and like NOTHING I have ever encountered before. At its widest point it must’ve measured 30 or 40 metres across. It lies only 10 metres away from the main A487 Fishguard to Cardigan road and can be clearly seen through a small gate in the hedge.

I tried to make sense of it… was it one almighty barrow-like structure at one time? It showed no hint of hump or raising as many still do. Treaclechops noticed there was a standing stone in the same field, but as we were already trespassing, and the field was very wet and full of bullocks, we didn’t venture too far further.

A large standing stone, about 8 feet high, on private land, but only 15 ms from the road. On a steep hillside, this menhir is in a very dramatic position being overlooked by Mynedd Carningli. Very stately.

The fallen Maen-y-Parc stones are bit hard to find… One stone is only a 50 or 60 metres away from Maen-y-Parc ‘A’ so hidden as to be imperceptible. Now firmly integrated into the hedge/field/lane boundary and hidden under a hawthorn bush, my son Rupert noticed the top of it just peeping up.

Suddenly it became easy to see how a 6 foot tall menhir could become ‘lost’.

There is no public access to Maen-y-Parc ‘A’, but you can see it at the edge of the field, rising sharply up towards a bit of a forested hill. Despite the lack of access, I vaulted over the gate and started trotting towards it around the field boundary in order to get a photo. The stone itself is very lonely but quite grand at about 7 or 8 feet high. Like many round here, it has a square footprint.

According to the map at Tafarn y Bwylch a number of standing stones can be found.

Parking by the cattle grid, we trudged up the bleak looking path, and first came across a pair on the left hand side of the track leaning violently over as if bracing themselves against the wind. The light was low and the mizzle and murk prevented me from sketching but treaclechops liked the moodiness of it and, naturally, got out her camera. The stones stood stoicly together about 4 feet high, and the place felt very bleak.

We pressed on towards an altogether grander affair, the Waun Mawn stone part of the same complex only about 100 bone chilling metres up the hillside on the right hand side of the track…We noticed on our map that there were a number of other standing stones, again part of this Tafarn y Bwylch group, just about 200ms away to the east, but by this time we were so cold, that we couldn’t be arsed.

Late May, and after wading through a sea of bluebells, there it was. Talk about mindblown!! It is truly remarkable. Even my hard-to-please son liked it. My daughter adored it.

The capstone appears to hover over only three of its uprights, looking for all the world like some gigantic aerodynamic cuttlefish with Mynydd Carningli lurking just beyond and away in the distance, the Nevern estuary and Newport Sands. PHWOAAR! I sat and made four quick sketches from various angles just to try to make sense of this magnificent beast and capture the deepening shadows that moved around the uprights.

During the week I had in Newport, I returned here five times.

This is curiously wonderful and though I had seen it before in 1998, I couldn’t wait to see it again.

It has its own little neatly-tended lawn tucked away in its own plot between some very white, middle class holiday chalets. And yet, as soon as you see it, you realise you have entered fairyland, and the encroaching chalets cease to matter.

Enchanting, bewitching and tear-jerkingly cute, this little dolmen stands like a magic mushroom close to the Nevern river estuary, (from perhaps where the bluestones of Stonehenge were once floated down?) and points at the sacred mountain Mynydd Carningli.

I sat and looked and made a rather crappy sketch of it.

Go there. You’ll love it.

What a fine chap Kammer is! About 2kms from Parc-y-Meirw, at a crossroads on the edge of nowhere, just under the rocky outcrop of a high mountain, his car screeched to halt in front of us and he ran out to tell me: “There’s a cairn over there!” Well, I couldn’t see it, but we got out to look anyway.

Indeed, I didn’t see it until he was standing in it. It turned out to be this -Glyn Gath- a small ring cairn, about six to eight metres wide, camoflagued by lowgrowing gorse and heathers, with a ring-effect up to 3 feet tall in places. Not especially worth going out of your way for, (unless you’re really into ruinous ring cairns), but nevertheless certainly worth a shufti if you’re in the immediate vicinity.

Well-spotted Kammer!

This lovely stone row is cunningly disguised as a hedge or field boundary, and in May is replendant with gorse, bluebells, red campion, kek, young green bracken fronds, foxgloves, white campion and buttercups. Really exceptionally pretty.

Visited here with my sprogs and the lovely Kammer and his family.

Scrambling up the steep rocky hedgerow at the top of the field you could clearly see the the stone row pointed at the promentary at Fishguard off in the distance about 5kms away, where a ferry to Ireland was moored up. My son and I walked down the length of the row and counted 4 standing stones, one used as a gatepost and 3, perhaps 4 fallen ones in the verdant undergrowth. But what a view! You could even see over to St Davids, way out to the west. The stone row seems to follow an ancient track, the lane is very sunken, implying great age.

Go to the viewpoint at SN010384 up the hill from Dinas Cross and you’ll see this standing about 9 feet high in a field behind some cottages on the main road. The view from up here is utterly wonderful. I sat on a bench dedicated to the memory of ‘Big’ Glyn Somebody-or-other. The inscription read: ‘If you knew him you were lucky.’ I didn’t know him, but I knew I liked this view, as must he have done. I felt lucky.

This is another site from Barnatts book, and another ring or robbed cairn.
Although it’s buried under thick dead bracken.......I’d go for a robbed cairn, it’s not as tho’ I’m an expert or owt.

This is located on the second ridge that crosses the moor. A large bracken covered lump. Easy to spot on the ridge, when the brackens died down.
Not much to see

A small ring cairn 11m in diameter. Grass covered rubble bank. It has a small stone on the bank in the east, it lays flat in the bank, if it did ever stand it would be under 50cm. Barnatt says it might be a kerbstone or a standing stone.

It’s situated in a grass clearing in amongst the bracken. On the first low ridge north of the main track across the moor.
Excellent views as with all the Beely sites.

Another curious outcropping of the source stones for Stonehenge and Avebury. This is slightly easier to get to compared withThe Mother’s Jam and The Greywethers as it lies in the middle of the little village. It’s a NT property and there is a small explanatory notice at the entrance.
Disabled: Parking on Road, level access to gate, most can be seen from Rd.

Visited 24th May 2003: While Lou and Alfie dozed in the car, the rest of us hung out at Carreg Coetan. Jane sketched the chamber from the corner of it’s little enclosure, her daughter chilled out and sent some text messages, I took photos and the boys ran around making noise.

We were there for a while (at least, longer than my last visit) and it was good to have the time to explore. The chamber isn’t especially complex, but watching it from different angles gave me some new perspective on the place. Mynydd Carningli is a big focus for sites in this region, and Carreg Coetan is no exception, orientated towards this sacred mountain rather than the sea.

Returned here at Easter and guess what – it was raining again!! Still, adds to the atmosphere, I guess...

I was lucky enought to come across a course at Lancaster University that ran for 2 days in April – Neolithic Stones and Circles – and a field trip to Bleasdale was how we spent the Friday afternoon. It was interesting to revisit the site with an archaelogist in tow.

I would encourage anyone interested to contact the Dept of Continuing Education at Lancaster University – the course usually runs every year and I found it stimulating and interesting. You will get into arguments with peo-ple over the whys and wherefores of it all but it was a good fun couple of days.

Found this place by accident after a visit to Carn Euny in September 2001. We went on a bit of a scenic route home, and spotted the “Holy Well” sign – thought it was “Holy Well Farm” or something! Looks like a garden gate to me... Still – we took the chance, and I am so glad we did! This is the most peaceful place I have ever been to. Every time I visit this place (about 5 times now), there is never anyone else around! It’s a place of contemplation and reflection... Sitting on the steps inside the well, staring into the water, it’s easy to lose track of time... I’m sure I read here that radiation levels are about 200% above normal, which could account for the luminous moss and the feeling of well being! I had a little pray, tied me cloutie, and went away a happy man. Again.

Visited 24th May 2003: We were on our way to the chippy in Dinas Cross (having just left Parc-y-Meirw) when I spotted the cairn from the car. Our convoy ground to a halt, and Jane, William and I went to take a closer look. Glyn Gath is very close to the road, but well hidden under heather and gorse, so it’s a bit tricky to spot (like one of those Magic Eye things). Once you’re up next to it, it’s quite impressive. The ring is well defined, especially on the south west side.

Visited 24th May 2003: This is the first site we visited with Jane and her clan. All seven of us clambered into the field, and sat at the top looking down the row towards Fishguard. The weather was (unexpectedly) great, and it all looked vibrant with the gorse in flower and the stupidly lush pasture.

There are definitely stones hidden in the hedge bank that were once part of the row, but only a couple of likely contenders are visible. The biggest recumbent stone is visible from the lane, and it’s truly whopping. It’s a shame that you can’t really walk around the stones, and get the over-all picture of what the row might have originally looked like.

Original entry: This is incorrectly marked on the OS map as the ‘Refuge Stone’, which in fact is some 2/3 km away. It is a small piece of sandstone, around 3 feet tall and perhaps 2 feet wide at the base, standing in a field a couple of hundred metres in from the road. There are no markings of any type discernible.

On further investigation, this may indeed be one of the refuge stones marking the preceptory of Torphichen. Canmore states:

“This quadrilateral upright boulder stands on the summit of a low flat-topped ridge. Of hard red grit, it is c. 4’ high, 2’ 8” x 2’ wide at bottom, and 3’ 5” wide at top. The ONB notes that the outline of a Maltese cross, almost obliterated, may be seen on the N face of the stone, when viewed from a few yards away. This is one of the stones marking the area of the sanctuary associated with Torphichen Preceptory RCAHMS 1929, visited 1923”

I visited this stone today on the way back from a trip round West Lothian. This is a large block of sandstone, seven feet tall and approximately 3 feet wide, and runnelled in a fashion very reminiscent of the Tuilyies main stone only a few miles away. The field it stands in is usually home to some horses, so ask at the stables here before going into the field. The lady there told me they will soon be erecting a fence around it to stop the horses rubbing on it, at the behest of Historic Scotland.