Visited 11th January 2003: Parc Garreg Lwyd is still standing, but only just. It leans alarmingly to the south. The stone is on private land with no public access across it, but you can get a good view of the stone from the road.
There’s enough space to park a car adjacent to the stone, but there’s a surprising amount of traffic running along here, so we didn’t stop for long. Parc Garreg Lwyd is marked on the Landranger, so it’s easy to find.
The Pipers – 23.12.2002
These huge stones can be seen from the B3315 road. No official public footpaths close by. Presumably on the land of Boleigh Farm.
HOW TO GET THERE
From Berwick Upon Tweed Head towards the A1 (Southwards) Before you reach the A1, turn left towards the village of Scremerston. Immediately turn left again and follow the road round. At Borewell Farm (offering farm shop etc) take another left. cross the railway and continue along the road until it falls away into disrepair. park up below the “pill box” and walk through the nature reserve part of the dunes. you will come to a fence, climb it and follow the path down to the beach. It is pretty rough and steep going, but soon you will be on a sandy beach. Keep close to the dunes and look out for rocks that are submerged at high tide. These are the ones you need to examine.
Apologies if the grid reference is not 100% correct.
If you have any problems finding it – give me a shout!
Moey
ART IMITATES LIFE
This area was something that caught me by surprise. On the beach at Cocklawburn near Berwick-Upon-Tweed Lie some excellent rock formations that look similar to cup and ring marks.
I used to walk my dogs here a lot and had never noticed them beforee, but one day I was walking with my head down and say one of the ring formations. I couldn’t believe it – didn’t know if they were natural or man made.
I looked around and there were loads of them. Some qute large, but many were huddled together on rocky outcrops like so many limpets hanging on for dear life. Many are flat to the surface of the sand, but others are vertical on the rocks.
I formulated a theory about sandstone and volcanic rock fusing, but this doesn’t seem to be quite right.
Through the wonders of the community that is Head Heritage, I got talking to Fitzcoraldo about rock art, I sent him the pics and he showed them to the resident geologists on his oil rig. I hope Fitz doesn’t mind me reprinting his reply, but this is the current thinking on the formations.
“I have a name for your bizarre rock formation and can tell you that your half baked theory was only a quarter baked.
I’ve consulted the afternoon shift geologists and the consensus seems to be that they are a phenomena called MUD VOLCANOES, in fossil form of course.
Apparently you get mud volcanoes in areas like large river deltas, where you get a large amount of sediment deposited quickly, this mud is then overlain by slower deposited sands which compress the mud causing it to flow upwards inna volcano stylee. So there you go.”
The Shrewsbury Tumulus, the sole survivor of 6 siblings... Nestles comfortably between roads and houses. Enclosed by a wiry metal fence, it nevertheless retains a certain power over it’s surroundings, subtly deforming the tarmac.
The closeness of the modern trappings gives this mound an especially eternal quality.
It seems all the ancient sites In this city have been moved, contained or otherwise diminished – an acknowledgement of their potency perhaps...
Despite being opened in the past, what it ever contained (or still may contain) no one knows...
Visited August 2002. As you approach Cleeve Cloud from Cheltenham the sheer size of the escarpment is amazing. The ridge rises sheer from the Severn Valley floor up to over 300 metres (the highest part of the Cotswold Hills). This is why I have defined it as a sacred hill, there seems to be real reverence for it in the landscape. The sense of peace you have whilst walking round and taking in the view and the landscape is almost to see the world as the ancients saw it. The modern world can try to interfere, note the numbly positioned golf club nearby, but on Cleeve Cloud I felt the atmosphere of a different time.
Visited Winter 1999 (I think): The climb up to Dinas isn’t quite as bad as it looks, but you’d be hard pressed to get a pushchair up there. Approaching from the south you can park at the gate just to the north of the bridge (SN741827) and there’s a public footpath that goes east, then north, passing to the east of the hillfort. Obviously there’s no point in sticking to this path because you’ll miss the views to the west, and any chance of identifying the ramparts of the fort itself.
Up at the top the views are spectacular, especially to the west and east (towards Pumlumon Fawr). The climb is worth it just for the feeling of splendid isolation, and knowing that you’re slap bang in the middle of an excellent cluster of upland Bronze Age sites.
Visited 29th December 2002: We cleverly ignored the directions to the site in the Modern Antiquarian, and for a short while I thought we wouldn’t be able to get anywhere near the stones. Then I remembered the book, and it turned out to be easy.
There were winter crops in the field surrounding the stones, and there’s no public footpath, so we couldn’t get very close. I’m dying to take a better look, so we’ll be back in 2003 for another try.
[visited 10/1/03] Very ploughed out and not much to see to be honest. In a county deprived of much prehistory, these need to be acknowledged but probably just one for the obsessives...
Only six barrows remain of the presumably seven that once stood here on a low ridge. Of those remaining, one is so denuded it is barely visible, two have been dug into and the other three have been ploughed low.
Its no longer the nicest of locations either; any views that once existed are gone, hidden by the trees...
[visited 10/1/03] Head into Thetford from the direction of the A1075 and you should go straight past this amazing earthwork. I took the road just before it and parked on the road just past it. This site is visually very rich though I believe most of the visible earthworks are Norman. The huge mound is very reminicent of Silbury Hill, though nowhere near as large. Plus this mound is surrounded by buildings and ramparts.
Watch out for the excessive mud in January as it makes climbing the Motte an “interesting” addition to the day.
[visited 12/01/03] Situated on the edge of the A146 just before the Stockton sign as you come from Norwich. This is a sad little stone, missed no doubt by 99 percent of the people hurtling past on a reasonably busy A road.
I noticed there was the remains of an iron nail or something attached to the top of the stone, so it may have been moved from its original location or it may not be a genuine ancient stone at all.
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And I also see from the photos a huge gash in the side. Was this stone moved from a field?
Took some finding this one, and I’m not satisfied. It’s marked on the map as being sandwiched between some houses. Actuallly going up there, it turns out that it’s deep in enemy territory, “GolfLand”. To the east lies the mighty Sunningdale Golf Club, but our quarry is in what is known as “Sunningdale Ladies Golf Club”.
About 100ft wide, this is more like a pitch and putt. To have so much money, but yet be content with being treated like a child, it’s beyond me. Anyway.
There’s no obvious sign of any barrow where it’s marked on the map. I knocked on the clubhouse door, was ignored by two lunching Ladies, had a chat with the kitchen staff, until the Club Secretary arrived. He’s only been in his job for a week, but we spent a happy half hour walking the edges of the course, looking at the map, looking at the terrain, until we gave up. We had our suspicions about the edge of a bunker, but nothing firm. He suggested that it might be in the grounds of one of the houses on the eastern side of the course, and as long as the house wasn’t occupied by an arab family, I’d probably be alright peeking over (the alternative would result in me probably being shot. Apparently).
Couldn’t find it, so I cycled off to Ascot to see the Heatherwood Hospital barrow. Much more entertaining ...
Me and my apprentice dodman set off in search of hut circles. I had read somewhere that there were circles just above Baysdale on Kildale/Warren Moor.
We parked up at Hob Hole and marched up the road to the bridleway opposite to the Sloethorn Park road. The weather was terrible and the path was a mud monsters paradise.
The are lots of rocks and boulders strewn along the hillside that leads down to the beck. We investigated quite a few of these and found quite a few possible cups most of which were fairly weathered. You have to be careful around here because the rocks are iron rich, the iron forms nodules in the rocks which weather-out leaving a ‘pseudo cup’.
The was one distinctive rock that we came across that I’m pretty sure has a genuine single cup. The rock is in a significant spot about 20 metres downhill from the path and directly opposite to the junction of the Great Hograh Beck Valley and Baysdale. The rock itself is larger than most of it’s neighbours and has a large weather-polished upper surface. The cup is right in the middle of this surface. I examined the rock for pseudo-cups and found none. There is also some graffitti on the rock dated 1948. There are other possible cups on rocks opposite to the junction of the little Hograh Beck and Baysdale.
You may say “one cup mark, so what?” but considering that there are huge stretches of the UK that are completely devoid of any rock art , one small North Yorks site, is significant.
We failed to find the hut circles as we spent too much time looking at the rocks in the valley. We’ve saved them for another day, preferably in summer.
25/03/03
Update.
I was back in Baysdale yesterday and found another ‘cup’ but following a discussion with a local gamekeeper I am now less convinced that this is rock art and more convinced that these marks could be bullet holes. Apparently the armed forces used standing stones for target practice during WW2. The bullet hole theory was also put forward by Graeme C on his excellent website.
Don’t let this put you off visiting Baysdale, it’s a lovely spot. There are some rather unsatisfactory hut circles at NZ628078 and although I’m not a big fan of grouse butts, if you up there check out the lovely grouse carving in the butt.
Visited 11/01/03
This stone stood 4ft high and had chains and metal rings visable in living memory . Now the stone is sinking into the field and stands no more than 2 1/2 ft above the surface and no trace of the chains or rings can be seen. This stone has been dismissed as a glacial erratic but it still has a case as the remains of stone circle have been long ago distoryed are still lined up at the edge of the field .
12 jan 2003
Took the route from stannon circle and thought that the Louden circle would appear before us as we reached the crest of the hill.....wrong!
The circle would easily be missed if wasn’t for the map we had with us. There seems to be about 4 what you could call standing stones (stumps) and the rest are more or less stones on the ground.
Had trouble tracing the shape also. Just to confuse things stones seem to stick out of the ground all over the place many are obviously cairns there are also some stone banks that aren’t marked on OS maps. Unfortunately didnt have time to travel down to Fernacre which would have been an circle within easy reach if we had time (maybe another day)
What you found is the Bodrifty settlement and also the reconstruction of the “Beehive Hut” at Bodrifty Farm. You can find my posts on the sites attached to the Wheal Buller Menhir site.
Fernacre Stone Circle – 26.12.2002
From Louden Hill Stone Circle, Fernacre Circle is a pleasant 1½ km walk East. However, on a clear day Fernacre Stone Circle can be seen from quite a distance, and that distance doesn’t seem to get much shorter despite vigorous walking!
Once I finally got to Fernacre it just re-enforced what a fascinating area this is – 3 stone circles, Rough Tor, settlements, huts, cairns, a cist....the lot! I counted 59 stones, again rather more than Craig Weatherhill in ‘Cornovia: Ancient Sites of Cornwall and Scilly’ – Cornwall Books – 1985, revised 1997 & 2000) and The Modern Antiquarian who both count 52, but rather less than Aubrey Burl in his ‘Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany’ (1995), who counts “over 70”. There also seems to be quite a strong ditch/dyke about 40 metres South West of this lovely circle.
As I was leaving the circle I heard a very strange noise, like a moan. With no one else around this entire area this was rather spooky. Logic says it was either a ‘moo’ carried by the wind from one of the cows about 600 metres away, or my shoe squelching as I turned to leave the circle. But sometimes it would be nice to think that for some things in life there are no logical explanations.......
Louden Hill Cist and Cairns – 26.12.2002
Between the Louden Hill and Fernacre Stone Circles there are some interesting cairns to the South of the track. One is totally exposed with the remnants of a cist (map ref approx SX138797) and several standing and recumbent stones around it. After exploring this I walked West and found a cairn about 100 metres away. Then I walked about 7 metres further to the West to some more stones, turned around and found that all of these were aligned to a stone in the background. Within a few degrees this alignment was exactly East-West. Interesting?
If you follow Burl’s directions and drive up Mountain Road to the two pillars, the stones of the Druid’s Circle can just be made out on the horizon.
Louden Hill Stone Circle – 26.12.2002
After finally finding this it then made me realise how pathetic my ‘possible circle remains’ looked (see the sub-site I’ve called ‘Louden Hill 2??’). Although this is regarded as a pretty minor circle (it is only mentioned in passing by Aubrey Burl in his ‘Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany’ (1995) and was not apparently discovered until 1973) at least it is clearly a fallen circle.
I counted 31 stones, including one double stone and several only just poking through the moor land, but not including probable overgrown stones (humps in the ground), nor possible stones just inside/outside the circle. This is rather strange because Craig Weatherhill counted 16/17 stone in all (see ‘Cornovia: Ancient Sites of Cornwall and Scilly’ – Cornwall Books – 1985, revised 1997 & 2000).
Several other stones seem to be scattered outside especially to the East and North East.
Stannon Stone Circle – 26.12.2002
I thought I would visit Stannon, Louden Hill and Fernacre Stone Circles all in one go. I drove up through numerous lanes and parked just before Camperdown Farm. As I walked past the farm entrance there was actually a plaque saying that the rest of the track is for use only by Fernacre Farm (presumably the buildings at SX151798?). A few hundred metres along the track (i.e. to the East) quite a strong grass/mud 4x4 track ran across the moor towards Stannon Stone Circle. This is quite a good marker, especially in bad weather, and neatly skirts around the marshy ground.
Stannon is a really nice circle but it is now slightly out of place next to the HUGE China clay works. I found it very difficult to count the stones! I counted 89, plus 2 inside the circle, 5 just outside the circle and quite a lot further outside the circle, especially to the South West.
4-8-2002CE
This stone is in Hepburn Wood (Forestry land), which has a good car park and planned walks; the stone is marked on a map at the start, however it’s easy to miss the signs and the path is overgrown.
The setting of the stone is very peaceful, lots of good woodland plants, ferns, mosses, etc.
There is also a replica cist on one of the woodland walks, and you can walk to Ros Castle from here.
.o0O0o.
Ros Castle 11-1-2003CE
It was too good a day to miss, clear day, not much wind, perfect conditions. Glad I took my wellies… nice black bog to cross, still mostly frozen thankfully.
National Trust site, with a replica fort and memorial obelisk for an old politician (?)
I’m glad I went up there… the views today were fantastic. Could see Bamburgh castle and the Farne Islands, Lindesfarne castle and Holy Island, the ridge of Simonside, the snowy Cheviot… lovely.
Didn’t know there was rock art until I came to post these pictures – I looked around, as you can’t help it, and I didn’t see any. Maybe next time.
.o0O0o.
Although this large stone is a couple of miles from White Hag I have included it as it is on the approaches to the site.
The stone is a large Shap granite boulder (as are most of the other Thunder Stones in the Shap area). This chap has been built into the farm wall and lies on the Roman Road just after the junction with the Orton to Shap road.
It’s a sad stone, not only is it built into a wall but it then has the further indignity of having a barbed wire fence built across it and various items of rubbish strewn around it including an old tyre and an abandoned car.
Lesquite Quoit – 26.12.2002
SX071628
This burial chamber is in a field to the North of a country lane that is just West of Tredinnick Farm. The lane is signposted ‘Tredinnick’ from the B3268 below Bodmin, just to the South of where the B3268 crosses over the A30. There is no entrance into the field from the lane so go to the dead end road at SX069627. Opposite the sub-power station a gate leads into the field. As it seemed to be private land and I didn’t have time to find out where to ask I just peered at it from the hedge on the country lane and didn’t actually explore it.
This is what Craig Weatherhill’s excellent book ‘Cornovia: Ancient Sites of Cornwall and Scilly’ (Cornwall Books – 1985, revised 1997 & 2000) says about it. “Also known as Lanivet or Trebyan Quoit, the ruined tomb consists of a fallen capstone 5.3m by 2.8m leaning against an upright 1.9m tall. A second upright, at right angles to the first, is 1.7m high and 2.7m long. The capstone could not have been supported by both, which suggests that the original tomb was a fairly complex one. A pipe-laying trench cut just to the South of the remains in 1973 revealed several stone sockets and a post-hole which were possibly connected with the surrounding barrow of which nothing remains. The monument has been in its present condition since at least 1858.”
