There’s no missing this landmark stone as it can be seen from a great distance across the moor standing above a wall that runs south, up from Intake Beck, past Silver Wells Cottage before bearing to the west and continuing to Silver Wells itself. Probably the easiest way to get to it is to walk up Keighley Road until a track leads off to the west and almost directly to the stone.
For such a prominent rock it has only a few possible cup marks, as do 2 of the large rocks next to it that make up part of the wall. It is possible that as the large flat side of this stone faces to the north across Ilkley and does not face the sun as the Badger stone does, that it was not deemed suitable for use as a carving surface by the inhabitants of the moor.
Some interesting sightlines include the Badger Stone,(east-south-east), Willy Hall’s Wood (east) and Weary Hill (north-east)..
Latest Fieldnotes
April 1, 2003
Very late addition here (it’s about six months since my visit), and I don’t know why I haven’t posted notes yet... here goes then:
The path leading to these stones can be found by following the sign posts up to Carnasserie castle. While here it’s a good idea to take a look around the castle – the reason being, it’s possible to see the stones from the SW tower, and it’ll make the journey much easier than plodding round the fields aimlessly!
When I visited it was raining, not very hard, but enough so I had my hood up. As I explained above, I worked out the direction to these stones by looking from the castle tower. The castle was very atmospheric, and in the rain it’s open roof led an eerie atmosphere to the place. Excited by the sight of these two stones, I span round quickly, ready to jog back down the wet spiral staircase steps. A lintel, unseen due to the peak on my hood, blocked the way. Crack! I smashed my head on it and tumbled down a few steps. I landed with a thud and a very sore head. A bit dazed, I shakily proceeded down the steps. Now this castle is in the middle of nowhere really, and I began wondering if I’d been knocked out, or anything more serious had happened, who’d have found me? Once I reached the bottom I sat down, stars spinning before my eyes, rubbing the nasty lump which had by now appeared on my head.
I soon decided to carry on regardless and made my way to the stones – they were wonderful and I soon stopped feeling sorry for myself as I became acquainted with this pair of fine standing stones. Anyone visiting the Kilmartin valley would do well to track these down – it’s roughly a 3/4 hour round trip on foot from the car park, just off the main Kilmartin valley road. Carnasserie cairn lies just above the stones, and as a wise Welsh farmer once advised, it’s best to follow your nose to find it. Once you do, and if it’s clear, you’ll be blessed with a stunning view down the valley to the Nether Largie cairns. This cairn is almost in the same line as these, and if you look behind you you’ll see the huge cairn Càrn Bàn on the horizon.
I’d definitely recommend this site, just watch for stray lintels would be my only advice.
Visited 9th March 2003: I trudged out into the drizzle to try and find this obscure stone, having seen it listed in the Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust (CPAT) records. I didn’t find a standing stone, but I found what looked like a fallen standing stone, with some exposed packing stones. I took some photos and a grid reference (SN8558575847), and decided to find out more from CPAT.
After quite a few emails back and forth I confirmed that the stone I’d found was the same stone that CPAT had on their records. The stone was listed after a report from one of the Elan Valley wardens in 2001. I wanted to be 100% sure I had the right stone, so I contacted the warden to check. Based on my photos, he confirmed that this is the same stone he reported to CPAT.
What we still don’t know is whether this is a fallen Bronze Age standing stone, or just a random lump of rock. The area that it’s sited on is known as Maen Hir (meaning Long Stone, so the likelihood that a stone had once stood there is high. I’m hoping that CPAT will now do some further investigation and find out more.
[visited 30/3/3] Another tree clad hillfort imperceptable as such unless you look closely. There is a sort of bank-ditch combo kinda encircling the hill, but not cared for and in one place replaced by huge girt concrete steps. The ever present distant roar of the M25 / M3 / Heathrow really detracts from this otherwise pleasant little retreat from North Surrey.
The best viewpoint in the place affords a nice view of a couple of rivers / lakes in the foreground and Heathrow just past them. We can only imagine what it was like even 100 years ago compared to now, I’m guessing somewhat more relaxing...
So in all, very nice I’m sure for the residents of Chertsey, somewhat less appealing for those of us who entered this area just for this experience. Go to Oldbury instead, you’ll be glad you did!
I was up here on Sunday as part of the Yeavering conference.
The day started with a visit to Maelmin which set the context of Yeavering bell being a sacred hill to the people of the neolithic. The Coupland henge being orientated towards the twin peaks of the Bell. Clive Waddington and Paul Frodsham explained how the Bell was the most nothern most hill of the Cheviot Massif and how it stood apart from the rest of the hills.
From Maelmin we were bussed to Ad Gefrin at the foot of the Bell. This is the site of King Edwins palace and the place where Paulinus converted and baptised the Northumbrians in the River Glen.
Following a look around the site we proceeded up the Bell via the tumble down barn known as the Old Palace which was probably a bastle.
The woodland on the north face of the Bell is last piece of ancient woodland in the national park.
Yeavering means place of the goats and you can still see wild goats and their kids chilling out in the valley below the footpath. As you follow the path around the back of the Bell you can see evidence of field systems with low walls still intact.
The Hillfort itself is huge, the stone walls, although collapsed, are still huge and completely encircle the twin summits for 950m enclosing an area of 13.5 acres. The walls in some places were 8m thick.
Once inside the fort there is evidence everywhere of hut circles, there are at least 125.
The eastern peak has a modern walkers cairn on top of it but there was originally a neolithic burial cairn on this site.
The views from this place are fantastic. The Millfield basin, the sandstone fells, the coastal plain and the Cheviots can all be seen in a wonderful panorama. We could see the crop marks of at least two of the Millfield Henges and aparently when the crop in the field at the foot the Bell is growing you can see the henge there too.
All in all a crackin’ day and an excellent site.
Get yersel’ there.
Thought to date from the Iron Age. A roughly circular enclosure, a 5m wide rock cut ditch surrounds the site. Natural outcrops of stone are used in the construction as additional boundaries.
Building platforms have been identified within the enclosure.
A better view of the ‘enclosure’ can be seen from Robin Hood’s Stride.
March 31, 2003
Visited 9th March 2003: Llanwrthwl Churchyard is a fat monolith, dominating the south entrance to St Gwrthwl’s church. It seems likely that the stone was erected long before the church. Apart from anything else, it bears no resemblance to a cross shaft, and looks rather more like a ruddy great big standing stone (Rhiannon’s word ‘stout’ sums it up). I can confirm that the churchyard isn’t circular any more, just a bit rounded.
We visited on a Sunday, and there was a service going on in the church (shame because I wanted to see inside). I wonder how many people in the congregation realise how long the site has been in use for ritual purposes. I’m guessing at between 3000 and 4000 years!
St Gwrthwl’s church is easy to get to (the only church in the village so you can’t miss it).
Out for a walk on Mother’s Day we were a potentially short dash across a seedlinged field away from this round barrow. The footpath we were on isn’t marked as a public one, but the plantation it skirts is the Longleat Estate, and people seem to walk about pretty freely there. The barrow is crowned by a selection of well-grown trees and shrubs: it looked a shady haven in the bright sunshine, a kind of island in the middle of the flat field. Curiously next to the footpath was a sofa and two armchairs pointing in the barrow’s direction. I wondered if there would be a fitted kitchen or a bathroom suite round the next corner. Mr Rh (a local lad) said he had heard ‘from several people’ that it was called Hangman’s Copse but only had a very vague story about it being haunted by a swinging corpse. Maybe the name’s even ‘Hanged Man’s Copse’. I’d be interested if anyone knows any more.
The site probably doesn’t look like much but I liked it; it looked like a friendly oasis, not a spooky place. If you could cut down the plantation you could probably see Cley Hill easily, and the hillforts of Battlesbury and Scratchbury are probably in view in any case.
(The next week we passed it in the car, and Mr Rh’s brother said, quite unprompted, that he wanted to live “on that island”. For a round barrow in a field with trees sprouting out its top it’s really quite nice).
Yesterday I (and 50 others) had the privilege to be shown around Maelmin by it’s creator, Clive Waddington. The henge is based on the excavations at the Coupland henge.
There is now a Mesolithic hut on the site which is based on a hut that Clive has excavated at Howick.
[visited circa 16/3/3] Unmarked on the main notice board & without an OS map of the area, these proved a tricky find. After coming down off the hillfort, walking through the village and failing to find the Cob Tree public house mentioned by Dyer, I asked a very helpful local. Luckily the first and easiest to find was 10 minutes walk up a path...
I recommend parking in the Hillfort carpark and walking counter clockwise around the ramparts of the fort, until you reach the edge of public access. Then turn right and head off the fort, down some very muddy steps and the shelter is off to the left, past a fallen tree. Not that much to see but enough to see it would have been cold, wet and not that much of a shelter...
By the side of the steps is a very curiously carved rock, from when I have no idea, anyone out there that can help??
Other shelters are accessible but I had run out of time. If I recall correctly, turn around and head back up the steps. You’ll meet an apple orchard on your right, head down the side of it till its end and then turn left, the other shelters are thereabouts (ps you will need to trespass to do this).
March 30, 2003
In the summer of 2000, I was lucky enough to take part in an archaeological dig at the Beckhampton end of the Avebury Complex.
Pressure of work meant that it was only for one day and most of the work involved pushing a wheelbarrow but hey, I got my trowel dirty at Avebury.
This stone is set on a N-S axis, and stands around 7 feet tall. It is of local red sandstone, and there are some possible cup marks on the top – not clearly defined in the photograph I took!
No sign of the boulders Landells mentioned, though the cup marks are very prominent if rather badly weathered. The farmer here leaves a really wide space around the stone unploughed, which is a good thing to see.
This stone is a slab of red sandstone, around 4-1/2 feet tall, and lies on a NNW-SSE axis. It was apparently dislodged by ploughing many years ago but replaced in situ. The ENE face has a ‘girdle’ across it approximately half-way up, but doesn’t show too clearly in the photograph. No other markings appear.
This stone is a block of sandstone, around 4-1/2 feet tall, oriented approximately E-W. There are no visible cup marks on it.
A site with fine views over the Lune Valley and towards the three peaks of Yorkshire and the Howgills. The site consists of a circular enclosure; two ditches form concentric circles around the central area, in which a couple of hut circles are evident. The outer ditch is incomplete. There appear to be two entrances – one to the south east, the other to the north west. From the latter, a steep track (or hollow way) leads down the hill towards Claughton village. It’s quite easy to work out what’s what at this site, although none of the ditches is particularly deep.
There’s a great walk up the hill towards the Caton Moor wind farm, from which views over the Lakeland Hills and over the Irish sea to the Isle of Man and (on a really clear day) the mountains of North Wales are really spectacular.
[visited circa 16/3/3] Finally I made it back here during the day & it was well worth the visit. A fairly large fort on top of a heavily wooded hill, the single bank-ditch combo is clearly visible and a well trodden path is available either at the top of the bank or the bottom. The trees (whilst nice for hugging et al) did iritate slightly as I’d have liked to have actually seen the view, but other than that they added very nicely to the general ambience.
Half of the fort is under cultivation, seemingly with apple orchards, but ‘apparently’ the farmer doesn’t mind people walking on it. I didn’t try this out however!
Park in the main car park & follow the hillfort bank counter-clockwise to get to the mesolithic Rock Shelters.
March 29, 2003
Best way to access these fellas is to take the john Breckon Road and then walk up the Skinner Howe Crossroad. You’ll see the stones on the hill above you.
You need to leave the path to access the stones. I was only there for five minutes and a keeper came zooming over the moor in his eight wheeler. I was well impressed with his vehicle it looked like a big green banana split’s car but with an extra two wheels and a rifle. We had a brief discussion over the state of the grouse and how much grit he had to leave on the moor every day ‘because grouse have no teeth’, then I asked him about the marks on the stones. He confirmed Graeme C’s theories and deflated my dreams of finding new cup marks.
The stones are about three feet high and command lovely views over Westerdale and Baysdale. One of the stones is covered in ‘pseudo-cups’- bullet wounds to you and me, apparently they used ‘em for target practice in the war.
This fella sits beside the Castleton to Kirbymoorside road on the low mound of Little Blakey Howe. It’s marked on the map as a boundary stone but you just have to look at this lovely, slender six footer to know that he was here long before Lord Snot and his grouse moor.
You pass this fella on the Three Howes Rigg to Commondale road.
The whole thing is in poor nick and If it wasn’t for the stone on top of the thing you probably wouldn’t give it a second glance. It’s called a cairn on the OS map. I’m not sure if it is a cairn, the rabbits have just about collapsed the whole structure so I guess it’s not made of stones. There are a number of large stones scattered and semi buried around it’s periphery. I’m guessing that these could be the remains of a kerb.
In Summary, a messy site but the rabbits seem to like it that way. I like it too.
This one is a bit of a mystery. Julian mentions it, as do several other sources but they give no details, while Burl ignores it and I have never seen any pictures of it or any solid information about it. While I was at the Badger Stone chatting to a knowledgeable local I asked him about this site – his opinion was that it is a fake, the stones having been placed there recently by persons unknown and as this particular area was formerly mined for rock there would have been plenty of stones lying about for them to choose from. The situation is also confused by the remains of some kind of (recent?) settlement building that seems to cut right through the circle, as well as the whole site being very overgrown.
This site is fairly easy to find if you follow the course of Backstone Beck after it crosses a track leading south-west from the Cow and Calf, the settlement is on the east of the beck.
It consists of 2 possible hut circles at the south end that have been somewhat restored and part of a curved low rubble wall that has also been restored (Ilkley Archaeology Group 1982-87). A suggested date for the earliest use of the site is around 3000BC, with the hut circles dated much later at somewhere between 800 and 500BC
There are also said to be 3 carved rocks within the enclosure but as I was short of time that day I didn’t have the time to find them.
Drove to Gunnerkeld after Shap and managed to gain access to the farm, on my first visit. Excellent. The famer was in the driveway playing with his tractor, he was polite and showed me where to park and the way to the circle. There is a standing stone just in front of the house, (though I didn’t look, as it felt like walking over their front garden) and a few small stones barely sticking out the ground on the way to the circle, (could be old kerb stones?), which all seemed to line up, though there is a wall in the way so I couldn’t get a full view.
I had already read about the close proximity to the M6 but I really wasn’t ready for just how close.
The circle itself has an inner and outer ring with only a handful still standing. On approach It’s hard to get a grip of what’s going on as the stones seemed scattered but a formation soon appears when standing in and around the circle. There is also what appears to be a cairn in the center and one of the entrance stones has a big piece of flint in it. There are a lot of stones remaining and some of fairly good size.
A friendly place – the sheep were mellow and even the motorway drivers were tooting their horns as they drove by.
March 28, 2003
Not sure what the name of this one might be, or even if it has a name. To get to it follow the track north from the Badger Stone a short distance until you reach an east-west track that crosses it. Turn right and walk for a short distance looking to your right for a stone partly topped with white lichen.
Because of the light it was hard to make out the carvings, but they seem to consist of a cup with four or five concentric rings. Coming from the right hand side of this motif there appeared to be several wavy lines, making the whole pattern look like a medieval drawing of a comet.
My GPS reading was SE11147,46138
SE10617, 46591
This medium sized toblerone chunk of rock is low to the ground and partly overgrown but as Stubob says it is fairly easy to spot if you know where you’re looking. It is quite badly worn but about a dozen cups are still clearly visible, four of them have rings, two of these having grooves running from the rings.
If you haven’t visited this part of the Moor before, don’t be fooled by the map into thinking that Keighley road is in fact a road. At the turn for Silver Well Cottage it is blocked for traffic and any anyway it soon deteriorates into a gravel track suitable only for four wheel drive vehicles. No doubt Sir Mortimer Wheeler would have given it short shrift though!