Latest Fieldnotes

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Straight forward to find, cast iron Ancient Monument sign on road next to kissing gate. The capstone is visible from the road beyond a gap in the hedge.
We visited this summer and the gate to those spiked railings was open, so thankfully no vaulting was required.

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There are not one, but three stones in Bradley. They all lie in a line along the road which descends through the village heading south (by heading in this direction you’ll reach the most impressive stone last).
Best place to park is in the carpark of the Red Lion PH in the village.
Best place for information is the church, look for the guide 1000 years of Bradley, which mentions the stones.
first stone: At the entrance to the pub carpark (usually hidden between two A-frame pubsigns), a blunt-pointed stone about 2ft high.
second stone: Turn left from the first stone and walk down the hill, it is on your right. The old post office butts right up behind it. On the side which faces the road it is well worn from the backsides of a milennia of weary travellers. It looks like a medium sized boulder, more wide(2-3ft) than high(1-2ft).
the third stone: this is the Webb Stone. From the second stone carry on walking down the hill, just around the corner is a junction on your right leading to an equestrian centre. The Webb Stone should be infront of you, it now has a flower bed behind it. It stands approx 4-5ft high and it a little to big for a person to put their arms around and touch fingers.
Nearby:127 889190 Littywood farm: circular bank and ditch earthwork now with a house in it, on unclassified road with public right of way around it, large stone (field clearance?) at entrance to property.

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Best approach is from the Mucklestone side off of the B5415. The other approach South of Norton in Hales ends with the footpath/track ending at a farm with two shut gates and a STOP sign beyond because it is a rare breeds minimum disease area.
B5415, heading south, just beyond Napley is a red telephone box set back from the road, opposite is a junction. Turn right into it, about 20 metres ahead on your right is ample parking (the owner of the large house opposite told us we could park there).
Walk along the single lane tarmaced road (lined with young oak), follow this road around a left bend until you see two keeper’s cottages either side of the road.
Just beyond the cottages there is a clearly marked bridleway stile and gate on the right. Cross into the field.
Keep to the hedge until you approach a coppice, which is unfortunately fenced off with new barbed wire. On the other side of the fence are fir tree saplings, some dead, with more mature trees behind them.
If you have decided to trepass, walk through the copice, within moments you should reach another barbed wire fence. Walk along the fence and you will reach the stones, again within moments.
The stones lean, the one without the porthole slightly infront of the other. It is worn with deep vertical grooves from weathering and stands to a height of approx 6ft. The porthole stone is more squat, roughly a little more than half the height of the other. The hole appears intentional, rather than weather worn, and is big enough for me to climb through (I’m 6’5”). A word of warning if you do climb through, remember there is a rusted barbed wire fence behind it.
I found it difficult to imagine the pair of stones in their present position as part of a chamber. The way one stone stands slightly infront of the other gives an impression that they have been moved.
In addition: Norton in Hales church stands in a circular churchyard.

Visited 25th September 2002: The Buwch a’r Llo and Mynydd March stones are very easy to find, but I’ve only just found their neighbour, a small stone called Castell Coch.

Castell Coch means red castle in Welsh, and it seems to be named after the nearby farm (I have no idea how the farm came to get it’s name). Coming from the direction of Penrhyn Coch it’s beyond the cattle grid on the right-hand side of the road, hidden in amongst the reeds. Although it’s near the road, I only spotted it by chance. I’ll not spoil your fun by giving you the grid reference!

Went in search of this place one wet and wild October day. As with others who came before me, finally found it only to realise you had to get permission to gain access. Tried the numbers but no reply, so we decided to go on and had our excuses ready should anyone stop us!

It’s situation was perfect, lying in a copse in a tiny piece of woodland which had been retained in the middle of a field. It was pouring with rain, windy and wild and felt wonderful.

Well worth the trudge through the muddy field!

Visited 25th September 2002: This was my second visit to this hillside, having realised that I had walked right past the Glandwr Stone(s) on my first visit (to the Disgwylfa Fach Stone) without even noticing them/it!

You can easily see the big quartz Glandwr Stone from the road, but it does look a lot like a sheep. You get to it the same way that I’ve described on the Disgwylfa Fach page, except (ironically) it’s a lot easier to see than the Disgwylfa Fach Stone.

Next to the quartz stone, poking out of the ground at an angle, is a smaller triangular shaped stone that may or may not be a another monolith. There’s no sign of any packing stones around it, so it could be the tip of a natural outcrop.

The eight figure grid reference for the Glandwr Stone(s) is, SN73098359. I’ve posted a photo indicating it’s location in realtion to the Disgwylfa Fach Stone on the Disgwylfa Fach page.

Visited July 1995: I rode to the circle on my trusty motorbike (now long gone) one evening when I was living in north Lancashire. It was only when I got to Bleasdale that I saw the sign about ringing up to get permission to see the circle.

Having come quite a long way to see the site, I decided to walk straight in (I figured it was too late to ring and get permission). It was great being there on my own, and I just ambled around enjoying the atmosphere and wondering what the place had been like originally.

Bleasdale Circle is very different to anything else I’ve visited. Next time I’m up in the north west I’d like to go back and pay it another visit, this time with my family and a decent camera!

Visited August 1997: With all the megalithic action going on in this area, the little old Barnhouse Stone gets a bit neglected, and looks a rather sorry for itself sitting in it’s enclosure.

I’m afraid I can’t remember much about how we got to the stone, or where we parked. I think the visit involved climbing over a gate and wondering across a field. Having looked at the map I’m guessing that there’s no footpath to the stone.

These stones are on one of my routes home, so I see them regularly. They are the best known and most easily accessible of a large number of Bronze Age standing stones in the area.

The Buwch a’r Llo (or cow and calf) stones are on the east side of the cattle grid and the Mynydd March stone is on the west side. All three stones are on the southern side of the road (i.e. on your right coming from Penrhyn Coch), and they are right next to the road.

Watch out for idiots driving scrambler motorbikes and 4x4s in this area. It feels relatively safe walking on the road, but the ‘off-road’ fraternity don’t tend to have their brains engaged when they drive along here.

Yesterday went back to the Apostles for the first time in about 15 years. The surrounding weather is almost always miraculous up on the moors and, as usual, the stones are sited in the best place to capture the surrounding view. Although the cloud was thick overhead the sun flickered over the buildings in the valleys so that they looked like the cooling embers of a vast fire.

I visited this Beautiful place early last year.When you enter the woods you have to look for the stones then they reveal themselves to you.The heap of stones in one of the pictures may be the remains of the Avenue that was once in the nearby field,this was grubbed out by the local farmer.

This is the remains of a chambered cairn.It was excavated in 1888,there were skeletons in the chamber,Tony Robinson would have been ecstatic.

Best to park in the Wentwood carpark, rather than park off the track and be told off by an irate farmer like i did! This time of year the bracken is very high and so the stones are quite hard to find. Basically keep going along the top of the hill until u come to a tiny cairn that points the way, heading towards the river. There are huge huge views looking way across the magnificent Severn. It really is a Goddess of a river!

First u come to an outlier, which guides u towards the circle. Then100 yrds on u come to the circle itself. Most of the stones are recumbent, but u can get a good feel of what it was like. Apparently the circle is surrounded by a D shape enlosure with raised banks and “Ritualistic Items” have been found in the banks. The local archeologists think that this circle is late neolithic, which will be the only one of this age in Wales. It is going to be investigated further next year.

Tuesday 28th May 2002
I could have stayed here for hours! and I did! I couldn’t help thinking that as you began to catch sight of these stones as you approached, that they resembled a group of wise elderly men.. It was pretty boggy in the middle but as the sun was shining , dry enough to sit on the bank looking down on them.. the lichens on these stones are amazing, like long green hair! Never seen anything like them! It felt like a very important site where people would have gathered on the journey into Callanish.. In fact ,from here you really did get a strong sense of how the whole lansdcape was perceived by our ancestors, and how travellers must have journeyed through each site in turn.. a very powerful, and empowering place to be.

monday 27th may 02
this place just about defies description... was fascinated by the two largest stones and how different they are from each other, like the mother and father of them all.
after lengthy chats with margaret, i set out to test out the central birthing stone! i sat there for ages , in the perfect birthing postion looking out across the loch and to the mountains.. unbelievable, all the stones perfectly positioned for hands , back , feet and what a view to greet a new life ! a place like no other, serene, the sound of the water below and the huge guardian stones behind you.. i hope i can take my kids there one day!

We got some directions from the pub owner at the bottom of the waterfall, so we set off on what proved to be the hardest climb we have ever done. We had already walked to the Moel-ty-Uchaf site earlier in the day and thought it would be a perfect way to round off our day. We set off up the mountain, which in a book by A. Burl described as being ‘sherpa like’ (he was right) we then walked across moors, over bogs and across the stream and found the circle by chance. It was great and I even reset one of the stones which had been knocked over by a sheep.

As we were leaving we caught sight of the stone row which we traced all the way to the cairn, we now know after reading Burls book on stone rows that there was even more to see and that the row was even longer and also on the other side, alas we ran out of time and light. It would be great if the grass etc could be cut down so that people could really see the site. Set in a dramitic setting, away from the world, this site should really be famous.

This enormous stone was once part of the capstone of a large burial chamber. It now sits relatively inconspicuously in the centre of Llanbadarn Fawr where it is has been incorporated into the wall behind the war memorial.

It’s very easy to find the Garreg Fawr stone once you’ve found the war memorial. If you don’t know Llanbadarn, then you might miss the centre of the village if you’re driving in, because Llanbadarn boasts a (very small) by-pass road. Once you find a one way street with speed bumps on it, you know you’re nearly there. The stone is behind the war memorial when you have your back to the hairdresser’s (Hayley’s Hair Studio).

Thanks to Toby for consistently pointing this site out every time we stumbled out of the Gogerddan Arms. We took the mickey at the time, but here I am writing about it!

This Iron Age hill fort isn’t far from the Bull Ring in DoveHoles and it’s definitely worth seeing.
After passing DoveHoles Railway Station there’s a single track turn on the left. After a couple of miles there’s a  tall Chapel-en-le-Frith Parish sign, and room for a car. From here it’s a short steep climb up to the fort.
The ramparts and ditch are very impressive and the views are unbelievable. An Iron Age fort it underwent several changes to the fortifications and the stonework in the ramparts is still visible in parts. What a place....

This stone circle is mentioned on the 1998 1:25000 O.S map for Snowdon, but we had real diffuculty in finding it. Is it ruined? There are a lot of stones on the ground where the map says the circle is...

On the 18th September, a stone in the NW(ish) of the circle was on the floor next to it’s socket, 2 other stones were very close to ending up the same way.

I had one of those moments here. Stood in the long spiky grass next to the pile of stones, I saw what I reckoned was the remains of the chamber. But then I talked myself out of it, and didn’t take a pic. Found out later they are! Dog.

Just along the track from Maen-y-Bard, like Ironman says walk along the roman road from the YHA. Gives you a real feel for the place.

Excellent 5 stone ring, I’m speechless, I don’t know what too say....excellent.

Visited 15th September 2002: It was the end of one of those September days when it feels like July. After an afternoon on the beach, William was asleep in the car, and Louise was about ready to join him. Instead of doing the decent thing and driving straight home, I insisted on paying a visit to the Disgwylfa Fach stone (it was on the way!).

I thought I’d seen the stone from the road on a previous visit, and it turned out that I had. There’s no footpath to the stone, but there are also no boundaries between the stone and the road, so I chanced it and walked. Between the road and the stone is a stream and lots of reeds, but I found a crossing point and got over without getting wet (possibly not the case if you visit in the winter).

Approaching the stone this way you head up-hill, and cross a disused medieval leat that looks like an old cart track. Then you pass a number of rocky outcrops before you reach the stone itself.

The Disgwylfa Fach Stone leans approximately east, and has an interesting grain to it, so that the ‘top’ is roughly indented. There are some packing stones visible at the base of the stone, and another small stone lies to the north (possibly a dislodged packing stone).

The views from the stone are beautiful, mainly because there is so little to see (just upland pasture). It took me about 30 minutes to make the journey from the road to the stone and back (Louise was sat in the car waiting, so I rushed it a bit) and in that time only one car came past.

I should mention that, while I had a relatively easy walk to the stone (I’m no Indiana Jones), I wouldn’t recommend my route to anyone who might have difficulties with jumping the stream or navigating tall reeds and uneven ground.

The whole area around the satellite station is covered in these mounds, various sizes and states.