Walked down here from the Lordenshaws fort to the south-west of here, passing the cairns. Once again, another Cheviot view! With the town of Rothbury on the hillside.
Bit of a disappointing stone, though! I almost didn’t see it at all until I was on top of it.
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It looks like this must have one been major fortifications, there seems to be remains of another dyke to the left of the obvious one
Further to Purejoys Misc. posting....
The cairn is very close to the Mayon lookout post and has great views along the coast especially toward Lands End.
The remaining stones of the kerb and cist are quite impressive.
I got to this site via Balbirnie Park. I drove up to the Golf Club and parked just beside the first tee.
The walk to the circle is a lovely 10 minute traipse along the beck side path which was covered in snowdrops.
I had mixed feelings about visiting this site, especially after reading the posts here. I needn’t have worried, this is a beautiful site and so what if it has been moved, it’s been moved with love and respect and the reconstruction is beautiful.
I like the urban setting and the fact there are houses a few feet from the site. It’s nice to see people co-existing with a sacred space. I would love something like this on my doorstep.
This circle has everything, lovely stones, cists, rectangular cairn-like thang, and rock art (o.k. its a replica). But surely to have a monument like this out in the open air is far better than in some museum.
I love this stone. I used to pass it once a fortnight , either driving up to Scotland or in the opposite direction. It is the first/last megalith you encounter in England (if you don’t get out of your car).
I passed this stoney chap yesterday and I must say he was looking splendid in the winter sunshine.
The eastern stone of a group of three in this area. It leans to the south and downslope at quite an angle, is four-sided and not loose despite obvious rub marks. It’s four feet in length, with a breadth of 16 in and depth of 11 in, with height from top to ground of 40 in. It aligns NSEW with 27 small cup marks mainly on the North face and one on the east face.(They may be caused by minerals leeching from the stone, but I ain’t no geologist...) The stones in this group are all four sided which may mean that they’re more recent, however, this area is full of energy and bears all the hallmarks of the sacred landscape.
Apart from the other two sites close by, I came across evidence of stones which had been dynamited into oblivion sometime in the past and an alignment of eight stones which may be significant.
If visiting, please be aware that this land is private and is used for shooting between October and February. The gamekeeper was friendly however and although he didn’t know anything about the stones was ok about visits as long as people called at Lyndoch house on the way up.
Ian
An Iron Age Hill Fort, promenent above the River Itchen (a pre Celtic name) and Winchester. Oval in plan with ditch and bank following the contours. The bank originally topped with a timber pallisade and the entrance on the NE was inturned and protected with watch chambers. Nothing remains of the Chapel of St. Catherine except a small mound and a distinctive clump of trees. A Miz Maze (qv) and to the NE (over M3) the Dongas, the prehistoric and mediaeval trackways worn deeply into the chalk. A modern stone obelisk accuses the people responsible for the vast cutting accommodating the M3! This side of the hill is treated shamefully by the motorway but the W. side has better views and is quiet and peaceful with superb collections of wild flowers and butterflies.
Disabled: From the North car park, several hundred steep steps. From the South West, parking across busy road, long steepish climb on narrow track. From the North East, tiny lay-by gives onto short uphill road and across bridge, steep climb to top. Although this does not give access to the top, this route would give a fine circular trip esp for wheelchair users as the track from the bridge slopes gently down Plague Pits Valley to meet the level path alongside the Itchen Canal which ends at the North car park.
Visited 9th February 2003: We were on our way from Llanidloes to Machynlleth, so we stopped briefly in Staylittle to see what we could find of the barrows. We were short of time, so it was a superficial visit. The easiest barrow to get a good look at is the one just north of the forestry plantation (the grid reference above is for this barrow). It strikes me as pretty unusual to find a barrow cemetery in a valley like this, at least in these parts.
The mountain road between Llani and Mach is really beautiful, with fantastic views of Snowdonia as you head north. It’s well worth taking this route if you’ve got the time. We stopped off at Maen Llwyd on the way.
The northern chamber I’ve recently carried out *subtle* restoration work to!. A gap had appeared between two of the three roof slabs. I feel prior to me discovering this wonderful place it may have been in this state for some time. The hole in the roof I re-constructed with what was used originally, and looking at the exterior of the mound you would never know it had ever fallen in at all!. Old tea light candles suggest ‘ritual’ has taken place of some form in the past by persons unknown, these have been cleared out.
The chamber itself is a wonderful example, I havent yet located the others in the area, the land is thick with gorse (my pet hate!!), damn stuff resembles ‘barbed wire’!!. Respect is due when visiting, you are ‘not’ alone as you sit there...guardians are appointed to such places for a purpose.
Five minutes walk up the road heading to ‘Penzance’ you’ll find the ‘Porthmear’ stone circle (treen common) in a rather dilapidated yet inviting condition!. ‘Carn Galva’ dominates the area, the giant lives on up there!!!...
I know this site as Ballowal Barrow, but whats in a name? This has got to be one of the most perfect spots in the British Isles. What a place to be laid to rest.
This is the Lands End...not that commercialised ediface to the south. On a clear day like what we had last Sunday (9.2.03) when you can look out and see the Scilly Isles....the sea below you white with spray....the sky blue as it can be, you forget all the troubles in the world.
I noticed that the information board has disapeared from the side of the road, shame because it was very informative. I hope it will be replaced soon otherwise the site can look just like a pile of mine waste which it was I believe before it was uncovered.
If you find yourselves in West Penwith and have done all th circles and standing stones...make your way out to Carn Gluze as the sun is setting over the sea.........you wont regret it.
I was born in Colerne, the nearest village to the Three Shire Stones, so I know these stones well as a modern monument to mark the point where three shire counties meet – Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, and Somersetshire. Colerne was spelt ‘Cullerne’ in the Doomsday Book, hence the few genuine Colerne survivors pronounce it ‘Cullern’ whereas the Bath-ites pronounce it ‘Col-arne’. Excuse my bitterness but I am annoyed that there is no way I can afford to live in the village where my heritage comes from (‘Bull’ is one of the traditional Colerne names).
Anyway enough of my soapbox, I hadn’t thought much about the Three Shire Stones possibly being based on an ancient monument until I read the ‘History of Colerne’ (no author) which says the stones are recorded as a burial chamber on an OS map of Neolithic Wessex and that a tentative date may be given of 2,000 BC. I have nothing else to back this up but will start looking. It is not included in Dr Glyn Daniel’s book, “The Prehistoric Chambered Tombs of England and Wales”. The present stones are certainly modern, apparently erected by public subscription in the Victorian era, and the ‘History of Colerne’ says it superseded three smaller stones which were allowed to remain undisturbed beneath the central slab.
Burr Tor is quite a large fort enclosing roughly 8 acres. On the ground there is not a great deal to see, there are faint traces of a bank and ditch toward the eastern edge of the fort.
The fort is now the airfield for the Derbyshire Gliding Club, they’re alright about you sniffing around as long as you ask and stick to where they tell you to walk.
The gliding club offer flights for around £25, should give you a good view of the fort.
Visited 9th February 2003: Maen Llwyd is marked on the Landranger map so it’s easy to find. There’s no public footpath to the stone, but you can see it from the road/track.
The stone is relatively large, especially in girth. Based on a photo I took of Louise standing next to it (unpublished because she’d kill me if I posted it), I’d say Maen Llwyd is about 5ft 10 high. It doesn’t really taper towards the top as is usually the case in the smaller stones further south. It’s a beautiful lump of rock, and well worth a visit if you’re in the area.
The RCAHMW records date Maen Llwyd as post Medieval, but this seems rather unlikely to me given its size. I’m not alone in doubting this date, because Cadw and the Clwyd Powys Archaeological Trust both date the stone as Bronze Age.
As I was short of time I only had the chance to look at three of these barrows but what corkers they are. An ancient east-west trackway across the top of Towthorpe Wold forms the modern boundary between Humberside and North Yorkshire and is the site of a narrow plantation of young conifers and 5 bowl barrows. The 3 I looked at were all large and well preserved – the largest near the B1248 is between 35-40 metres wide and 3 metres high. The next 2 are around 20 metres wide and a still respectable 2 metres tall. This is another site that I will have to return to and spend more time investigating – parking is easy on the verge just before the county boundary sign.
The name Wharram Percy is most often associated with the DMV of the same name, but a short distance to the south-west is a collection of at least a dozen round barrows. Most of these, especially the barrows on the plateau of land between Toisland Farm and Wharram Percy farm, have been ploughed away but one survives as a slight bump next to a field boundary that leads north from SE837633. Others are marked on the OS Map running in a roughly east-west line to the north of the crest of Birdsall Brow but as this is private land (?) and someone was shooting game nearby I was reluctant to venture further to investigate. I did however get a picture of what is marked as a barrow as SE835637 although I’m not sure if the raised land it stands on is natural or man-made. There are some spectacular views from the crest of the Brow to the north – those Bronze Age people certainly knew how to site their cemeteries – and the whole area could do with some further investigation.
This hill really has to be seen to be believed! The Scottish Megaraks visited it on 9th February 2003 having been lucky enough to get the farmer’s permission (ScottY knows his daughter), and it is a real megalithic feast – prehistoric barrows, cairns, kerb cairns, hut circles, house platforms, four-posters and a cup marked rock.
There are multiple entries for all of these in Canmore, but the site has not been properly surveyed or excavated. That’s a great pity, as I feel that a lot more could be learned about this area. Strone Hill, which lies just to the NW of Brankam, also has a large amount of sites, and there are many others very close by – Meikle Kenny, Auldallan and Pitmudie, to name but a few.
You can stand at Hanging Grimston and look around you at three and a half thousand years of prehistoric history. There’s the long barrow, the earth works, the round barrows and finally the Roman road. Add to this the probable ancient trackway under the road and you could go back even further.
The long barrow is badly ploughed, standing less than a metre high and doesn’t look like it will last too many more years, many of the round barrows are hard to make out as well although one to the north of the group is still in good condition. What still remains however are the stunning views to the west as the land drops away dramatically down Open Dale and out to the Derwent valley. These views must have been all-important to the people who farmed the area over this vast timespan.
Actual location of two of these outcrops is NU018328.
The large, dark stone had just had the turf removed by an unknown previous (and very recent) visitor. Was it the great Stan B?
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Walked here from The Ringses.
The OS map says this is “rems of” a circle – not fair! There are still 4 visible stones, OK two left standing but it still has the right feel. Lots of stones underfoot too. One of the fallen stones isn’t quite horizontal, you can tell which was the top surface by the characteristic weathering patterns.
Unusually for this area, the Cheviot is not visible! (shock horror) – it is obscured by Doddington Moor. To the east however, Chatton, and Weetwood to the south.
Took a few moments to enjoy the silence and to watch a pale-coloured bird flying around which I’m sure was an owl, but it was broad daylight (?)
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It is best to approach the Quoit from the west, the footpath from the cottage disappears half way up the hill. If you park at the cross roads you can see the main path, it is very rutted and in the rain is a stream, but it is the best way I have found.
Not much to see at this site anymore, most of the barrows are long gone – indeed while I was there a tractor was doing it’s business in the fields. There are two reasonably well preserved bowl barrows behind some farm buildings though, one is around 40m in diameter and about a metre and a half high and stands on the highest point of Acklam Wold. Close by, the other barrow is about half the size and height and now has a triangulation pillar on top of it.
The site is probably one for barrow anoraks only but there are some fantastic views just a little further on. Following the road to Acklam the land drops away to reveal Leavening Brow to the northwest and views to the Derwent in the west.
The 2.5m long, recumbent Cow Stone (or Dead Cow) lies approx 400metres to the NE of Mitchells Fold stone circle, beside the footpath leading from the circle to Stapeley Hill.
In the right light, the stone looks like a resting (or dead) animal when viewed from the west.
GPS: SO 30912 98880
Haven’t been able to find out any history of this one yet. It stands, set in a rough stone base, so may well be of modern origin, although it may be re(z)erected.
A tall thin stone, over 10ft tall, it leans or points quite heavily. Views over towards The Cheviots to the West and Hepburn Woods to the East.
Of notable mention is a bit of modern architecture just oevr the hill – The Hurlstone Tower was built in 2000 by the local landowner and is a round 3 storey castle looking folly.
I found this after looking at the “cupmarked"stone.On the way back to the car I saw through the next field gate this fallen stone,so I went to have a look and take a photo.The field had just been manured,thats what is on the top of the stone.There is nothing marked on the OS map so when I got home I looked in the Old Maps.There was nothing in that field but there was one marked in the field just south,not there now,this may be that stone felled and dragged for what reason who knows.
Visited on my way back from Blawearie, which is the burial ring cairn mentioned by some previous posters.
Tried but failed to find the piggy-looking stone, was getting dark! Very good reason to back again, like I need one :-)
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