Latest Fieldnotes

Saturday 6th October, 1330hrs – a beautiful day with a slight south westerly breeze. Slight cloud cover and a milky sun (important fact-wait and see)The collie dog from the nearby house was there again and showing interest in our sandwiches – very placid and acts as if he owns the site – probably a reincarnated celt.
There were only 2 other visitors and the site was dry and clean.
The fougou was as peaceful as ever and the beehive had obviously been the subject of a ritual, as the scamps had left their tea light cases all over the inside of the structure, along with sprinklings of fresh earth.
As I started to sketch I saw glowing from the walls of the beehive. As I moved my head I could see green phosphorescence all around me. Looking closely I saw that it seemed to come from a greenish moss or lichen. The effect was like fibre optic decorations.
I wondered if it was residue from the ritual but then found it extended the length of the fougou.
A man with a digital camera tried to photograph the phenomenon but the camera couldn’t quite adapt to the conditions.
Very magical. The sun was shining through the door to the beehive from the empty door space opposite, which added to the magic.
Carn Euny is a very peaceful place, very calming feel., far better than Chysauster and also delightfuly hidden away. Chances are if someone finds it, they’re an enthusiast too.
Spent two hours there before walking over the fields to Boscawen Un to top up my batteries for the walk back to Sancreed.

After reading the posts in the forum about the Redland park stones, I set off with me camera to record them. I lived in the area for many years and never gave them a glance. There to my surprise was a Sarsen. I looked for more and on the far side of the park is another recumbant stone. The photo of this stone is not yet developed.

Here are the two pics, at last, of the other large stone in Redland Park. It is at the St.Oswald road end of the park just under the hedge. It has been spoiled by graffiti drilled into it.

Stumped for somewhere to go at the weekend, someone suggested Hengistbury Head. Should have known it was going to be swarming with people considering it’s surrounded by Christchurch and Bournemouth (and the sea). But go on a cold day and I expect you could have most of the paths to yourself, and the beach. It’s a sandy promontory, falling into the sea. The site’s been occupied for 12,500 years! and some important mesolithic evidence has been found there. Neolithic tools have been found, though they don’t think there was a settlement. Also there are Bronze Age barrows, and some pretty enormous Iron Age double dykes cutting the point off from the mainland.
All the people almost spoiled it, but I should have expected them and it was a lovely day anyway. There are some massive concrete paths for the masses, but if you wanted to stray down the smaller tracks I think you’d get some peace. Most people were as usual 100m or less from the car park and the caff.

Visited 6th October 2002: We decided to get as close as possible to the Penlan Stones by following a footpath to the north of them, approaching from the west. We had in mind a nice little loop that would take us back down to the road. After a short walk it was pretty easy to see the stones from the footpath, even though they have been disguised by the farmer who has put a large sheep feeding trough between them.

When we got to the bit where the footpath forks, we headed south and found ourselves in the same field as the stones. Rather than do the law abiding thing, we deviated from the path to get a closer look. Approaching the stones there were loads of sheep gathered around them (the trough is definitely adding to the soil erosion around stones). Even though we walked slowly the sheep were really jumpy, and made off to the far side of the field (soft southern lowland sheep!).

The stones are excellently placed, with beautiful views out to the south towards the mountains. The sunlight was only getting through the cloud in patches and the haze stopped the view prematurely, but this made landscape look even more strange and beautiful than usual.

After this we tried to get down to the road but we couldn’t find a way across the barbed wire boundary fence. We ended up retracing our footsteps rather than doing the ‘loop’. Later when we drove down the road we saw no sign of a stile crossing the fence. Another footpath bites the dust?!

The third stone that is associated with the Penlan Stones, to the south and on the other side of the road, is called Pen-Lan-Tre-Haidd (SN09043543). This stone has the alternative name of the Penparke standing stone. It’s marked on the latest edition of the Landranger, but not on older versions. From the road, I scrambled up a really steep bank to get the photo that I’ve posted. There is definitely no other public access running close to this stone.

The photos submitted above are from my second visit to Achnabreck. There had been some discussion previously as to what the artwork would look like in the rain and I got to find out this time as it was chucking it down. I can report that the surface of the rock takes on a sheen that does reveal the patterns to a slightly greater degree than on a dry day. The only problem was that the gradual soggy feeling I had was interfering with my contemplation of this amazing place. I don’t think though that you can come here (even in the rain) and fail to be impressed.

I think that one of the best ways to see the tombs and stones at the top end of the valley is to walk past the museum and down to the bottom of the road. Cross the field diagonally and you will find a stile onto a path which takes you to each of the cists and then onto Temple Wood and the great cross.

This is a site that has puzzled the antiquarians for at least a hundred and fifty years, mainly because of it’s famous pits, but we come to that presently.
To get there you should park up in the Scaling Dam Sailing club car park, walk back out of the main gate, turn left past the wee clump of trees and then turn left again along the bridleway (quarry road). Follow the footpath over the various bridges and duckboards past the Boghouse beck and the end of the reservior. Turn south and head up onto the moor. You will see a number of prominant dykes and ditches along the way. I dont know the age of these features but judging from the standing stones along their margins, some of them are ancient.
The standing stones are marked on the map as BS, boundary stones, but unlike typical NYM boundary stones they are unworked natural monoliths with no markings upon them. Follow this track as it turns west and crosses the Bella Dale slack.
Presently you’ll come to the Long Stone, a handsome 3 1/2 -4m stone with some weathered lettering on the south face (the letter ‘c’ I think).
400m to your south you’ll see the Three barrows of Three Howes Rigg. I recommend you wander over to them and check out the famous pits.
Basically what you’ve got is a double alignment of circular pits bounded by a low dyke. The pits run in the same NNE SSW alignment as the barrows.
There is no sign of spoil around the pits and they are 3-4 m apart so I don’t think they are the result of mining activity. If anyone did want to mine the thin iron stone bands, they would have worked the two valleys that bound the area and I could find no evidence of any such activity. The pits are circular, about 3m diameter and ‘flush’ with the ground. About 200m from the eastern end of the pits is a large mound which I presume is another barrow. The theory that these pits were habitations seems a little bizzare, they seem more defensive, but defending what?
Beats the hell out of me!
Anyway check it out ,its a lovely place and the area is covered in barrows and lovely stones.

Gerrick Moor is one of those busy little sites with something for everyone.
Park up on the layby on the northern side of the A171 and then cross the road and walk back down the bank. You’ll come to a gate, this leads you onto the ancient Siss Cross pathway , which was an ancient pannier route.
Turn left up onto the moor and head for the prominent Herd Howe barrow. If you glance behind, you will be rewarded with lovely views of Freebrough Hill (who needs to build a Silbury when nature has provided one ready assembled!).
There are numerous earthworks and barrows in this area indicating it was a busy little spot. Although it’s not mentioned on any map, there is a beautiful standing stone about 200m north east of Herd Howe. Its a typical North York Moors stone, about 3m tall. Also check out the enclosure 200m north west, its a rectangular enclosure with a low bank and ditch approx 50m across.
The proximety of this site to the road makes it a nice little place to spend an hour. I’d recommend it.
Theres a pub at the bottom of the hill too.

This is not easy to find, but once you have found the farm ask the land owner for permission. There are guardian geese here who do not like intruders. The farmer/wife said they get a lot of “dowsers” there who report all sorts of results. It seems to align with Wimblestone, the lost circle of Chew and eventually Stanton Drew.

On Your return it’s well worth having a close look at the stone above the street name sign . There is an ancient carving of a hand on this stone . The carving is on the face of the stone nearest to the road , Enjoy .

Had fun finding this in the end asked the landlord of “The Star”. He was less than helpful, saying such things as, “it has probably moved” and “you’ve got to be quick to find it”. One local drinker when asked where is the Wimblestone said, “Thats where they play tennis in’t it?“. Eventually they told me, and here are the pictures.

We visited St.Katherine’s Well today, the 6th October 2002. A small spring bubbles up into a tiny pool, yet a slightly curved stone wall remains behind, set into the hill. It’s not on an official path, so you have to have a reasonable map to find it, but it lies directly below the Bredon Hill Tower (Folly), on the corner edge of a wood.
Mindful of the folklore that this well has healing properties, we splashed some water on my husband’s tennis elbow and we will wait for results!

Just head for Five Wells Farm and Five Wells is clearly signposted from the drive of the farm. Great views with one exception. They certainly knew how to pick their final resting place. Worth a visit.

Fearby in North Yorkshire has a couple of interesting features. A field called standing stones and, very close to this is a hil called How Hill. Fisher, in his “History of Mashamshire” c.1850 remarks that circles of upright stones existed close to Healey, and goes on at some length about Healey Baal, and the possibility of this being related to the god Baal.

“There are three fields behind Fearby called “Standing Stones”(1), and although there are no traces now it is possible that this may have been the site of one of these temples (comparing to Thornborough). Mr Fisher in his History of Mashamshire of 1865 talks of circles of upright stones having recently existed near to Healey.” – Susan Cunliffe Lister – Days of Yore, 1978.

(1) Fieldnames of Mashamshire 1800

Once you have eventually found the place, asked the land-owner, climbed the gate, avoided the cattle and what they leave on the ground, it is well worth the visit.

If you blink you’ll miss it.This is a strange place,almost like it should not be here.As Rhiannon says it is rather dirty,lots of blown rubbish.

Visited August 1997: We spent a really beautiful and leisurely day on Papa Westray (or Papay as it’s affectionately called), most of it hanging out at the Knap of Howar. It was a warm day, so we just sat there talking for ages, wondering about the houses and looking out to sea.

The Knap of Howar is the oldest known inhabited structure in northern Europe! It’s older than Skara Brae, and a lot less commercialised. It’s hard to believe just how open access the site is, especially considering it’s age. You can just wonder in and take a really close look, which is far from the case at Skara Brae. We were at the site for hours, and we only bumped in to some people as we left.

The whole island is very far removed from life on the mainland (both the Orkney mainland and the British mainland). There’s practically no traffic on Papay, and we saw very few people. Our visit was at the height of the tourist season and the weather had been especially good, so I can’t imagine how quiet it must be off-season!

My only regret is that we never made it to the Holm of Papay to see the chambered cairns there. If you go to Papay, don’t be lulled into such a sense of serenity that you miss the ferry to the Holm of Papay (that’s what happened to us).

Just stumbled across these stones when taking a wrong turn in Pickering and decided to see where the road led, thinking I was completely lost, I spotted them.

The stones looked great looming out of the darkness, and I instantly recognised them.

The stones do look quite odd lined up over such a distance, but they certainly add interest to your jouney. Some naughty people had been there leaving their cheap offerings of pennies (dearest I spotted was a 10p piece!), so I flicked those off, and then watched the daddy-long-legs dance over the stones in my torch light.

Next time there’s a sunny day, I’ll have to pay this lot another visit and see what they’re like in the daylight.

Horncliffe circle is a strange beast and a real bugger to find. In late September 2002 it was badly overgrown with bracken and frequented only by sheep and looked like nobody had been there for a long time. It was so overgrown that I had to walk around it for several minutes trying to figure out if the jumble of rocks was indeed the circle of stones I had seen in a picture (see link). It is hard to work out exactly what the outer ring of stones and the central square stone setting were, many stones are set side by side, in other places stones are missing. It could be that outer stones were the kerb for a central cairn, although I read somewhere that the whole thing may be some kind of iron age settlement building.
Directions to the circle are similar to the Grubstones – set off southwards from the Cow and Calf car-park until you see a hut in the distance. Head towards this, but veer off to the rock outcrop about 20-30 metres to the north. From here a decent track leads south past several grouse-shooting outposts to the right with a fence to your left. After about 20 minutes you will see a dip in the track and a stream a short distance ahead of you. To your left will be an old stone by the fence with the name Thos. Pulleyn engraved on it. From this point you should see a patch of bracken about 30 metres beyond the fence – the stones are hidden deep in this bracken. Walking time from the Cow and Calf if about an hour by the most direct tracks.
GPS Reading SE1333943532

Known as Grubstones circle, it is very unlikely that it is a stone circle in the traditional sense. More likely it is a ring cairn or the kerb of a round cairn, although there are a couple of largish fallen stones in the centre there is very little sign of stone/rubble infill. I estimate the ring is around 20 paces across with about a dozen stones visible, others may well be hidden under a thick growth of heather.
The key to finding the ring is ‘head for the shed’ – a large wooden building that can be seen for quite a distance on the moor. Leaving the Cow and Calf car-park travel in a southwards direction by whatever paths are available, after about half a mile the shed can be seen a further half a mile to the south. Once you get there continue into the heather for a short distance – the photo should give an indication of how far.
The ring may be difficult to spot, and not much to look at when you get there but it is peaceful and sitting in the dip in the centre gives some welcome relief from the ever present wind of the moor.

GPS reading SE1365044727

Well worth a visit if you have arrived at Avebury during rush hour, and could do with connecting to the past and the environment and would like to have a one-to-one experience.
If you want to touch the dolmen, you will have to trespass.
Although I have the utmost respect for St. Julian, the MA is quite selective at times regarding condition of sites. This dolmen has some spectacularly intrusive restoration, in particular the large concrete slab which shores up one side of the base of the monument, and that it was re-erected according to Dyer ‘Discovering Prehistoric England’ in 1921.
That said, it is a beautiful, and peaceful location. From reading the posts on this site and my own experience of trying to find a footpath nearby where the land owner(s) had left an overgrown unwalkable 12” death-strip between two barbed wire fences as a sorry excuse for a public right of way, access to our heritage is not high on their agenda.
All that is there now are two uprights and the enormous capstone. On the footpath which runs alongside the field containing the dolmen are several very large stones, which are almost certainly those featured in Stukeley’s illustrations from the 1720s showing the dolmen with 3 to 4 other large stones around it. We stood on the one nearest to the barbed wire fence to get a better look at the dolmen (and possible landowners) and discovered that some delightful soul had thoughtfully cut away a section of barbed wire.
The precariousness of the capstone is wonderful, even though upon closer inspection it is concreted to the supports with no attempt at subtlety. No hint of the earthen long barrow remains. Stukeley’s illustrations show the stones set upon a mound, but this is no longer visible. Intriguingly the site hasn’t been excavated, but it has been plowed level for so many years now I’m not surprised.

114 462669
Fabulous site. Unlike the famous (restored) Anglesey monuments, this one is pretty much ignored in the CADW guide and promotional ‘places to visit’ brochures. The powers that be haven’t signposted it with a ‘this way to the ancient monument’ sign, even though it’s only a minute’s walk from the nearest A road.
From Brynsiencyn on the A4080 heading for Newborough, drive past the layby parking for Castell Bryn-Gwyn. A short distance beyond this, to your right, it is possible to see the stones from the road through a gap in the hedge. Park at the next right. This lane is a overgrown and ends in a dead-end so don’t worry about blocking it. There is a derelict stone cottage in the field. Follow the footpath over the stile and follow the hedge, you can’t miss it.
We approached the stones with the tall hedge on our left, this way you can see only one stone, and it’s an Avebury like stone, much wider and more square than the usual Anglesey stones. It is only when you are almost upon it do you see the other stone revealed at the end of the hedge you are walking along, and it is impressive a massive broad, flat, grey blade.
These mis-matching pair of stones will set your imagination alight. Firstly they are larger than anything else you will see locally (4m x 3m, 3m x 3m) and then after you can think coherently again there is the possibilty that they were once part of not one but two adjacent large stone circles. Then there is the longing for what has been swept away, but comfort at what remains.
A great site. Two stones used as gate posts (although thankfully the gate has gone now) on private land, ignored by CADW and the tourist board, as far as I can find out, an unexcavated site, but maybe the remains of the largest stone circle in all of Wales. Good for the soul, go visit.
Additional: CADW’s guide to Anglesey and Gwynedd(p.38) has an 18th century illustration of the stones when they were incorporated into a cottage, the taller stone apparently still has notches on it, where purlins for the roof were attached.

114 364917
There is combined parking area,picnic benches and children’s play area in the village of Llanfechel.
The standing stone at 114 370917 is worth a look at. The field it stands in has a public right of way through it. I would imagine at one time it would have been possible to stand at Mein Hirion and look down across the hill to it, but the view is now obscured by housing, although it is possible to guess at its location as it stands close to an electricity pylon. The CADW guide to Gwynedd and Anglesey says it is on private land with no access, but footpaths are marked on the OS Landranger map.
Park in the parking area, there is a tourist map showing the location of Mein Hirion, but not the standing stone, or nearby burial chamber. Walk through the village and past the church. As you walk up the hill, take a right for the standing stone, take a footpath that runs along the edge of housing, you should in a minute or two reach a field with a large set of wooden steps and footpath marker, the standing stone is in view in the middle of the field (usual for Anglesey, a grey, broad, flat, blade shape)
For Mein Hirion, go back to the ‘main’ road and continue up the hill through the village and take the next left. A few houses along on your right you will see a house, with adjacent parking, this has a double gate, next to this is a single metal gate, this is the footpath which runs between neighbouring property boundaries.
Follow the footpath into the field and walk down the hill. We visited in August and it was a bog at the bottom of the hill, although stepping stones and planks of wood had been laid, so don’t wear your best shoes.
Walk up the next hill and Mein Hirion will be directly ahead at the top.
Lovely site, very close to a field boundary wall, which hems it in on one side, looks complete with just three stones, all tall and slim.
The council(?) have re-built a handsome boundary wall, with stone steps and cutaway where the public right of way crosses it, but the farmer has (recently) strung several lines of barbed wire across it, so don’t approach the site from the other direction unless you have bought wire cutters. In this field is a burial chamber, we tried approaching it from the road on the other side, but at the footpath marker before we entered the field an aggressive bull came over to let us know what he thought about us, so we couldn’t enter the field.

At the end of the drivable bit of the lane is Murtry Hill Farm,the farmer is happy to let you walk his field edge and chats about the funny folk who visit.