Latest Fieldnotes

Duloe Stone Circle – 24.12.2002

Duloe seems to be pretty much open access. Although it is on private land it seems that as long as visitors act properly we should be able to enjoy this lovely lowland circle. The circle is actually close to the church at the South end of the village and is now signposted from the road by a small wooden signpost.

A small lane, next to a barn being converted, leads up to a gate and into the field. As the field in which the circle stands often contains livestock it’s very wise to keep dogs on a lead and beware of the lambing season etc.

Next to the hedge, behind the circle, there is a lovely little info board which has been photographed by Phil and posted on this great website. Enjoy!

Pleased to see that Stubob’s put this site on the map. I’ve visited this place a couple of times but sadly have no photos to post here.

A strange place this – I recollect that the air was very still last time we visited, almost oppressive. Visually this is similar to a scaled down version of Cheddar Gorge but, thankfully without the tourist coaches parked at the bottom. The caves are largely fenced off from the public but a winding walk around the valley floor takes the visitor past each fancifully named cave.

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Whilst you’re in “the Dukeries” pop into the grounds of nearby Rufford Park for some food and a look at the gallery. I’ve posted up a review on the facilities section.

Visited 20th July 2002: We had a some trouble finding this circle, so here are some directions. Approaching on the A488 park at the anonymous little hamlet near the junction that leads to Hemford (the hamlet) and the village of Shelve (SO327995). Resist the temptation of driving towards the hamlet of Hemford as you can’t get to the stones from the north*. We parked on the A488 in a slither of a lay-by just to the south of the junction.

Access to the stones is down a driveway that has a green wooden sign with Graham Radley TRADITIONAL FURNITURE KITCHENS & JOINERY on it. From this point you’ll see three gateways (one with no gate that leads to Mr. Radley’s house). Take the middle gateway (the gate with a sign saying Holly Bank on it) and follow the drive down the side of Mr Radley’s land until you come to another gate. Go through this (and the next one if it’s closed), and keep going in the same direction following the perimeter of the field (heading west). If you look north you can just make out the circle.

In the furthest corner of the field where the footpath meets the boundary fence, you need to change direction and cross the little bridge (two railway sleepers) over a drainage ditch, and then cross the stile. Judging by the OS map you’re leaving the public footpath at this point. Mr Radley told us that taking this route wouldn’t be a problem, but I gather he’s not the land owner, so tread carefully.

Follow the perimeter of this field (heading approximately north west) and when you reach the next perimeter keep going (through the gateway). You’re now in the same field as the circle, but this field is farmed so try and avoid damaging any crops. We visited when the hay had just been cut, so we had no difficulty getting to the stones. I’ve said so much about getting to the circle that I won’t bore you with too much detail about the stones themselves (the plethora of photos is enough).

* See Reg’s post ‘cos it looks like you can get to the stones from the north.

The boiler had broken at work and we were sent home, so I thought I’d take the opportunity to satisfy my growing curiosity about this place. Last time I was up here it was raining and the visibility was very poor, so it being a clear and crisp winters day I just had to come. It seems to me that Winter Hill and Rivington Pike are the focal point for most of the monuments in this area. Cheetham Close and Round Loaf have an uninterupted view, as would Pikestones if it wasn’t for the forestry commission trees. Other cairns and stones dotted all around are either in plain site of the hill or actually on it.

This visit was excellent, a friend from work came with me, and we strolled around the top of the hill, looking at all the TV masts. As much as they definitely ruin the hill, a part of me can’t help digging the Star Wars feel they bring to the place, especially in the snow. I even got to thinking about the unbroken lineage of this place – from neolithic sacred hill (if my thoughts are correct) through to beacon hill and on to TV broadcasting... a definite thread there I feel!

While walking around the top we couldn’t help noticing a hang-glider hovering around between the masts. One time as we walked past the guy, we were close enough to see his face, he shouted down to us:

“What time is it?”

“Half past three”, I replied.

“Cheers!“, he responded.

We had a good laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation. Only round Bolton, we concluded.

Stubob and Ironman are right, you should see these fellas, they have just been dumped.
The works and the railway make a surreal backdrop.

One of the many stones in the area with the title Thunder Stone.
This fella is a great big Shap granite boulder perched on the edge of a small quarry just beside the Shap to Crosby Rasvensworth road.
Shap Granite is a beautiful stone either polished or raw. Its pink colour comes from the feldspar within it’s matrix and the large feldspar crystals, plagioclase feldspar I think.

No mad sheep today, just a padlocked gate with a barbed wire fence enclosing a poorly repaired stone wall, this sad little circle deserves a little tlc. The sooner the farmers catch onto the custodian tip, the better.

I’ll start this by telling you that I didn’t find the circle but I’m posting this so that you don’t make the same mistakes as me. I do know where the circle is, I spotted it half a mile away as I was returning home but the weather was coming down and the light was fading so it’s one for next time for me.
I parked up at the cattle grid on the Orton to Shap road at NY601091 and followed the bridlepath north. Check out the mighty Thunder Stone that has been built into the farm wall (look at both sides!). The path follows the course of a Roman Road. My tip to find this circle is to forget the cairns and look at the field boundary walls. Once you clear the first rise and can no longer see the road there should be high ground with cairns to your left, look right and keep an eye on the wall across the valley, this will lead you to the circle. The OS map has wicker street and white hag marked, these are limestone pavements and not as obvious as the map implies (they may be more prominent once the snow has cleared).
I stopped a couple of gamekeepers and asked them if they knew the whereabouts of the circle, their reply ..“what circle?” To their credit they did tell me about a local barrow and the Century Tree.
So in summary, keep you eyes on the field boundaries, take the multimap aerial photo, the rectangular plantation is not marked on the 2002 O/S OL19 map so don’t let that throw you, don’t bother asking the gamekeepers. Happy hunting pilgrims.

This was first stop on todays tour of the Howgill Fells.
I parked on the roadside and walked the few yards up the lane. As I was pulling my boots on the farmer, a very pleasant bloke who looked about 200 years old, pulled up for a chat. He asked me where I was walking to? I explained that I was just going to see the stones and he told me of some folk who had stopped him on the fell to find out where the stone were, “daft buggers were looking right at ‘em!.
The fells and the Lune Valley were looking spot-on with a covering of snow and the lovely sun shining upon them. The only thing to spoil the scene was the airforce putting itself on war footing by screaming around in their Tornado jets.
The field with the stones in was full of sheep so I walked to the next field along to use the gate, as I opened the gate, hundreds of black and white faced shep ran towards me “oh shit, cumbrian fighting sheep” they were obviously expecting me to ladle out a few bales of hay. Needless to say I beat a hasty retreat.
Maybe I should suggest to the generals that they forget the Tornados and just drop a few flocks of hungry Cumbrian fighting sheep on Saddam.
Summary – A lovely big Cumbrian Circle in a lovely setting.
Get yersel there!

Round Low is a bit tired looking and doesn’t really stand out amongst all the old lead workings it lies in. Be careful if you leave the path here or on Carsington Pastures some of the old shafts are only covered with wooden boards and grass.
The Hopton Works spoil the view to Harboro Rocks which, in itself, is well worth a sniff around.

This ring cairn is quite near to the road but is still tricky to find. A bit more visible(??) than the Birchen Edge South ring cairn, but also not very impressive.
At around 20x20m the 2m wide banking is just about covered by peat, grass and heather.
A cairn is built on to the NE corner of the bank (.....no really).
Excellent views across Ramsley and Big Moors. Nelson’s ships on Birchen Edge itself are visible quarter of a mile away across the moor, to the South(ish).

Castallack Carn Menhir – 23.12.2002

SW4474/2537 (8 digit reference taken from Ian McNeil Cooke’s book)

I couldn’t find this despite being in the right area. As you come into the hamlet of Castallack you can just about park just before the road turns sharply to the right. The bridleway up to Castallack Carn is poorly marked. I got the feeling that house next to it wants to ‘own’ it (or disown it!). Look for the modern wooden gate. This is the rather posh entrance to the bridleway (as if you’re going into someone’s back garden or driveway). I didn’t have the grid reference at the time and was merely following the map. It was hard to see exactly where it would be on the map and thus it was hard to know exact where to look. I looked in the fields I could, which was not always easy as the bridleway is often sandwiched between 2 fields with trees and brambles on each side. Once at the top there were many huge quartzy stones in some serious gorse and bracken but nothing to suggest it was a (the) menhir.

In Ian McNeil Cooke’s ‘Standing Stones of the Land’s End’ (1998 – Men-an-Tol Studio) he says that it’s 1.8m tall and “stands in an overgrown area close to the footpath West of the Iron Age round”.

With the exact grid ref and the dusk not falling so fast, maybe someone can find it (or me next time I’m down that way!).

Castle-an-Dinas (Restormel District) – 24.12.2002

SW945624 – Not to be confused with the Castle-an-Dinas in Penwith (Land’s End) this magnificent hill fort is well signposted from the road that runs past it, just West of Providence (Cornwall has some great hamlet names). From this road, a steep-ish rough lane takes you up to a rough car park. Then it’s a short walk up to the hill fort.

The Cornwall Heritage Trust took over the site in 1988 and have recently put up info boards at the car park and up towards the fort. They also unveiled a brand new panoramic plate in the interior of the fort in June 2002, which amongst other local landmarks, points out the Nine Maidens Stone Row three miles to the North.

This massive Iron Age hill fort (thought to be occupied circa 400BC to 150 AD) has stunning views all around, excellent multiple ramparts, and stands at 700 feet above sea level. Two Bronze Age barrows are which the interior, the North one of which (near to the panoramic plate) is now a hollow with a stone lying in it.

The Fiddler Menhir – 24.12.2002

Called the Fiddler on the OS map (ref SW939682) but also know as ‘The Blind Fiddler’, ‘The Old Man’ or ‘Magi Stone’. This menhir is 500m to the North East of the Nine Maidens, in alignment. The menhir was broken up some years ago, with part of it lying here.

Call me a conspiracy theorist but I get the feeling that something is up with the public access to this area. A public footpath should lead to the stone but there is no stile from the main road into the first field. If you go over the field gate you are then on the wrong side of a fence and in order to get into the field with the Fiddler in it (which does actually have a stile into it) you have to cross this fence the best you can. Very rum! The field gate also has a sign close-by saying “CASC Clay Shoot. Mondays” which I found less than welcoming. I think what I photographed is the remains of the stone, which is a pretty sad and messed up affair. The field also has several piles of rock in it, along with numerous sheep.

Nine Maidens Stone Row – 24.12.2002

Before the relatively recent discovery of 8 stone rows on Bodmin Moor and one at Lezant, this superb and intriguing stone row was believed to be the only one in Cornwall. Unlike other stone rows these stones are very large, and are aligned on a menhir 500m to the North East known as the Fiddler / Magi Stone (see separate entry for that).

The travel instruction already on this site are excellent, although I would add that t is a small SOS phone, so don’t look for a big public phone box. It is a public footpath to the stones, from the stile, which is an interesting up and down affair, rather like mini ramparts of a hill fort. The field was very very sodden when I visited and full of sheep.

The northern most stone has amazing streaking of quartz across it.

This is a probable ring cairn, it is very irregular in shape and it becomes hard to follow the line of the bank in the South. It lies next to a cairn field and old field systems.
The site is tricky to find as the overgrown bank is very low and narrow.

Visited 20th July 2002: Having approached from the Chirbury direction we headed towards Mitchell’s Fold from the north west. There’s a footpath onto the common that follows a farmer’s track from this direction. In our ignorance we drove up this track to the edge of the common without realising that we would land up almost right next to the circle.

I wouldn’t drive this route again, armed with the knowledge that once you’ve started it you can’t easily park up or turn around until you’re there. Also anything less than a 4x4 would have trouble with it, and it’s embarrassing enough having a 4x4 without parking it next to a stone circle like some sort of klutz. Next time I think I’ll try approaching from another direction on foot!

Mitchell’s Fold is a very calm circle, and the views are spectacular. While we were there it threatened to rain really hard, and we had the pleasure of watching an enormous rain storm gentle roll towards us from Wales.

This is a pretty unremarkable round barrow. It is however significant that it was one of very few barrow that have been found in the vale of Cleveland. The hills and moors around the area are dotted with barrows but the lowlands contain very few. This could be due to the ploughing- out of sites. There is evidence in local place names that barrows did exist elsewhere in the Tees valley e.g., Ingleby Greenhow, Sexhow.

I parked up at the Lord Stones cafe and followed the bridal way up onto Bilsdale West Moor.
Today I thought I’d go and hunt out the Three Thumb Stone and the Raven Stone. When I got onto the moor it became obvious that today was not the best day to search for stones basically it was a beautiful day with clear skies and very little wind. The problem was a foot of snow covering everything, the moors are especially beautiful following snow, the subtlties of the landscape are revealed but many other features become hidden, such as the stones I was seeking.
Stone Rook is a loose collection of large boulders set around a mound and topped by a cairn, a Tor in minature. I will need to return after the snow has melted to collect further details.
I then crossed the shallow valley and headed north west towards the OS marker, on looking back I noticed a fairly well defined rectangular ditched enclosure on the hillside just below Stone Rook, adjacent to this was another area that appeared to be a field system.
The enclosure looks very similar to the Ayton Moor enclosure.

Boscawen-Ros Stones(s) – 23.12.2002

SW428239

Interesting. 2 stones marked on the OS map, but only one remains. Approach from Boskenna Cross at SW426243, where there is a lay-by at the junction of the B3315 and the side road to St.Buryan. A well signposted public footpath leads from here towards the field with the stone in it; which was very very boggy. The remaining stone measures 230cm (H) x 45 (W) x 55 (D) and when I visited had been vandalised by several Christian crosses burnt into the lichen on the stone. This site is not mentioned in Craig Weatherhill’s excellent 1981 book ‘Belerion: Ancient Sites of Land’s End’ (Cornwall Books).

So where is the other stone? In Ian McNeil Cooke’s ‘Standing Stones of the Land’s End’ (1998 – Men-an-Tol Studio) he says that today’s stone was “re-erected in the centre of the field….a second stone (2m) stands uprooted in the hedge to the West”. I couldn’t spot this, but both fields you walk in seem to be littered with large stones in the field walls! So the jury was out for me. I took photos of suspicious stones and have posted above. The one labelled ‘suspicious stones 1’ is of the stones in the hedge on the East side of the field (approx SW429239). The one labelled ‘suspicious stones 2’ is of suspicious stones now part of the West hedge in the first field (approx SW427242) L stone = 225 (W) x 160 (H) – R stone = 205 (H) x 125 (W). The one labelled ‘suspicious stones 3’ is of stones in the hedge right by the entrance from the road layby.

Kerris Menhir – 23.12.2002

SW444274

Follow the long dead end road to Kerris from the BB315. Just before you get to the village there is a small lay-by to your left. 20 metres on there is a small gate into a field on your right hand side (next to a farm field gate). Go through this field (it is a public footpath), over the stile, and into the second field. The triangular shaped Kerris menhir will be visible in the field, which was had the aftermath of a wheat crop in it when I was there.

Ian McNeil Cooke in his ‘Standing Stones of the Land’s End’ (1998 – Men-an-Tol Studios) says that it was “excavated by W.C.Borlase, when only a flint and pebble were found. In Medieval times a cross was supposedly erected close to this stone – it’s base was destroyed in 1864 long after the cross had disappeared”.

Merry Maidens SC – 23.12.2002

After visiting so many lone stones and obscure sites it was weird to visit this ‘perfect’ circle and see so many stones at regular intervals and organised heights. To be honest it felt fake because I just wasn’t used to it!

The field boundary is interesting and quite stunning, heavily made up of stones especially on one side.

A small signpost points to the circle from the North side of the B3315, next to a lay-by for car parking, literally a stone’s throw from the circle.

Gun Rith Menhir – 23.12.2002

This sexy stone is clearly visible from the Merry Maidens and Tregiffian and is probably an outlier for the stone circle. Also know as ‘The Fiddler’ it’s found lurking in a hedge, just off a public footpath that leads from opposite the lay-by for the Merry Maidens. This strangely phallic and leaning monster measures 285cm (H) x 55 (W) x 55 (D).

W.C.Borlase excavated the foot of the stone in 1871 but found only a beach pebble. Craig Weatherhill suggests that Gun Rith (Gun Ruth) means ‘Red Downs’.

Tregiffian Burial Chamber – 23.12.2002

This really shocked me because it really is ON the B3315 road! It’s such a beautiful burial chamber as well and would be even more well known if it hadn’t been partially devastated by the road.

Considering how close it is to the Merry Maidens it’s wise to park at the Merry Maidens and explore the stone circle, Tregiffian, and Gun Rith menhir all in one cracking visit.

There is a steel girder towards the back of the chamber, presumably to help hold up the stone from the pressures of modern life. The amazing cup-marked stone at the front right of the outside is actually an exact copy of the original, which is now in the County Museum in Truro.

Visited 4th January 2003: Llech Bron is on private land, but you can see it clearly from the road. William and I bumped into the woman who owns the land while I was gawping at the stone, and we chatted by the roadside for a while. She was very friendly, but wasn’t keen for us to go up to the stone because there were rams in the field (and it was muddy – not sure why she thought this was problem though). She invited us to come back in the summer to take a closer look.

From our conversation I learned an found out a variation on the legend that Rhiannon has posted (below). Apparently while he was making Devil’s Bridge the Devil threw the stone from “that hill over there” (presumably Trichrug).

Another story she told me is that a local farmer tried digging down the side of the stone with his tractor. Apparently he got 30 feet down, and still didn’t find the bottom of the stone.

I’m a bit suspicious about the tractor story, but the Devil story sounds about right. I was also told that the name Garreg y Big is used affectionately by the locals to describe the stone.