Latest Fieldnotes

This lovely henge is in almost complete disgrace. The perimeter is treat like a rubbish dump, yet the interior seem well looked after. A cricket pavillion sits at one side of the henge – couldn’t the people there spend a little time looking after this amazing site right on their doorstep?

Wading through thigh high wet grass, soaked through to the skin, the approach to this site was exhilarating. As I reached the circle a couple of rabbits scattered from it’s centre into the long grass. Looking back round, my route here was clearly visible in the tall grass. This all added a unique quality to my visit. The site was completely peaceful and teaming with wildlife.

Glassonby circle lies pretty close to Long Meg and Little Meg and is definitely worth a visit for it’s remoteness in this Cumbrian backwater.

thursday 23rd may
castlerigg today was very wet and windy! despite the atrocious weather, there were stacks of people coming to and fro, nobody staying very long.. i stood for a long while at the outlying stone by the wall and marvelled at such a grand setting.. i found it to have a wonderfully communal vibe, but yet quite formal at the same time.. very much hope i get the chance to go back again so i can sit awhile on a clear sunny day! the circle seemed to be about the same size as the rollrights, but such incredibly different places.. much much bigger wider stones and a much more open feel framed all around by the mountains.. the rain got a bit much so i stayed and had my birthday lunch in the van, the cake was delicious and for a brief moment before i left, there was a gap in the cloud and the stones lit up like candles! till next time... x

wed.22nd may 02
got unnecessarily lost on the way here from stanton moor! stupidly left my camera in the van too! never mind, a majestically wild and windy early evening spent here was well worth it.. i was overwhelmed by this place; in stark contrast to the nine ladies , arbor low is awesomely free; beautiful big sleepy grey stones set in a surprisingly large henge .. the skies were sweeping so quickly across as i sat there, i forgot all sense of time..the way the bank rises up so steeply almost makes you feel as though you’ve gone down into the hill whilst still being aware that you are on top of it! i wondered whether the stones might have stood upright at some point, but somehow it seemed wholly appropriate that they were recumbent, almost echoing the land spread out before them. as i stood on the hill behind looking down at the henge and stones, it struck me that it looked utterly perfect just as it was! gooorrrgeous.... x

wednesday 22nd may 2002
my first stop on the long trip to callanish..
passed the remains of the protestors’ camp on the way up; seemed very deserted.. when i reached the stones, i didn’t feel very welcome, the place was a sad mess, rubbish all over the place, ashes and debris from several big fires, and a generally unhappy atmosphere.. no wonder!! some bloke apparently from the camp totally off his nut collapsed on top of one of the stones.. in fact the whole place seemed to be screaming out to be left well alone, even by those with supposedly good intentions.. abused and misrepresented i felt.. the stones themselves too damaged and the genii loci of the place too angry to show what the nine ladies once stood for.. how very sad to have ruined such a lovely place.. didn’t stay long.

The OS calls this a Hut Circle, I’m going to stick my neck out and call it a stone circle possibly a cairn circle (oh no I’m introducing seeds of doubt!).
No! stone circle it is. Its a neat little circle 18m X 18m with six irregulary place stones, the largest being 1.5m tall. The largest stone has some lovely fossils on its surface. The stones are the local stone.
It has an embankment and no obvious entrance. It resembles many of the other dales circles. It is neat, small and intimate.

A fairly unremarkable low round barrow bisected by a dry stone wall and topped with a OS trig point.
I can’t describe the setting because visibilty was down to 15m. All I know is the moor is very boggy and the rain is very wet.

Amended 11/06/02
The above report is of the How Tallon mound only.
There is a stone circle at How Tallon It is just south of Osmonds Gill. When I visited it was so foggy that I nearly fell over the gill and abandoned the whole thing. There is also a major rock art site centred on this area.

I approached Maiden Castle from Harkerside Moor, the weather was filthy with fog and rain. I was also hassled by screeching peewits who are currently in the middle of their breeding season, the only other sound to be heard was an intermittant cuckoo.
The site is on the north facing slope of Swaledale and quite difficult to spot.
So what is it? I don’t know but it isn’t half impressive and must have took some building.
Firstly you’ve got an tumbled down dry stone avenue 4m wide and 110m long. The avenue runs from the east and appears to narrow to about 3m at the entrance to the enclosure. At the beginning of the avenue is a large mound, which may be a spoil heap but I don’t think it is especially being so close to the entrance. There is a structure built into the avenue but I think this may be a recent grouse butt.
The enclosure it self is a massive wonky pear shape 140m (E-W) X 120m (N-S). It is surrounded by a rubble wall and deep ditch 4m deep with steep sides and 10m wide. The floor is fairly flat with 1 possibly two stone structures built into the southern side of the entrance.
The site is overlooked by the hillside on the southern edge so could not be a defensive structure, the enemy could fire down into the enclosure.
The site does not dominate the hillside but fits neatly into it and cannot be seen from the road which is only 200m away.
The structure seems too elaborate and too large to be an animal enclosure, why bother building a huge ditch and wall when a gorse hedge would suffice. There are a lot of man hours in this structure.
To get a good idea of the site, check out the aerial photo on multimap at 1:10000.
It has the feel of Mayburgh Henge but hmmm.. the wall is inside the ditch....... I just don’t know
If you want to visit, the easiest way is to take the Grinton, Crackpot (really!) road and walk the 200m up the hillside, it’s well worth it.

I lived nearby in the village for three weeks in January 1993 (house and cat-sitting). Hiked up the hill to the clumps every day, and walked for miles through the woods and fields of winter barley. This is an extraordinary area! Even on damp wet days. That year January saw roses in the Abbey and forsythia in gardens; it had been a wet autumn apparently. I took a lot of photographs (35 mm) and I will try to scan them in and post them at some point...
peg

Perhaps not the quickest or easiest way to get to Kell Well, but certainly the most picturesque, is to follow the trackway along the top of Trent Bank from Julian’s Bower. Immediately on you left will be the west bank of Countess Close. Continue walking for around fifteen minutes until you get to the signpost for Walcott. A short distance further on you will see the land on your right drop away sharply beyond a wire fence, the well is now directly below you. Climb the fence and clamber down the bank carefully – in damp weather you are liable to be pitched headlong into the spring – as I nearly was today ;-)

Stone circle near Pikestones, but not on 1:25000 OS map. The circle is approximately 10 metres in diameter with a central stone of 0.5 metre in height. The locaton is about 300 metres from Pikestones on a bearing of 58 degrees. NGR: SD 630 174. I have no other details at present, I just found it by chance when walking in the area today.

Visiting in June 2002CE you could feel a sense of peacefulness and calm. Also moss lining the wall could be seen to be Luminescent, I have know idea as to what cause’s this Phenomena (maybe radiation!) or if this only occurs at certain times, will update on next visit.

Limited excavations were carried out here in 1924, with little success. (Records of Bucks. Vol XI p.282-288).

The excavators considered that the fragments of pottery found were ‘almost certainly pre-Roman and of the Early Iron Age’. The inner rampart was found to be constructed by the simple dump method. In those days finds of charcoal were undateable and little else was discovered. This appears to be the only investigation ever made of this hill fort, despite its size and location. Its current unspectacular nature belies the way it once dominated the edge of the plateau above the valley of the Alderbourne.

Anybody interested in visiting might like to know that Gerrards Cross station is only about half a mile away, with a very good service to London (Marylebone) and to Birmingham. Also a number of bus routes pass along the A40, and the route 353 along Windsor Road stopping almost at Camp Road.

Many times I’ve stood in the longbarrow and experienced the tangible stillness inside. Once in the early 90s I went with a group of shamanic students and we gathered inside and chanted. The quality of the air seemed to grow thicker and the energy inside seemed almost electric. The accoustics were also marvelous!

I first saw this tomb on Anthony Weirs wonderful site, and as I was in the area recently I had to pay a visit. This site is beautifully situated about six miles south of Louisburgh. From Croagh Patrick drive straight through Louisburg, at Killeen crossroads take a left, after 200yds the roads bends sharp left, about two miles down this road you will come to a fork in the road, the wedge tomb is situated between the fork. I am sorry I did not have some clippers with me as the tomb was beginning to get overgrown by brambles.

Maen Pres..The Smooth Stone
An impressive tall stone near Bodewryd, in a field full of dodgy sheep.

A real strange looking stone, small compared to Angleseys other standing stones. It stands on top of a steep roadside verge behind a hedge and can be tricky to spot........worth hunting out.

Large stone easily spotted from the B5109 Pentreath-Llangefni road.

A little way along the A5025 out of Menai Bridge. Turn right at the first crossroads, parking tho’ is impossible on the road.

This a fascinating place – glimpsing into the subterranean workings of our ancient ancestors. The usual milking of commercial potential at ancient sites like this isn’t as much in evidence here as at some places. There is the usual gift shop and it costs £5 to get in, but you don’t get the feeling you are being herded here. The tour is self guided – so you can take your time, even choose to walk round the tunnels more than once. There are working archaeologists here, who are willing to field any questions.

The large chamber about half way through the tunnels is a real eye opener – the amount of work put into it is astounding, unfortunately it was impossible to photograph.

The remaining bank and ditch of a henge, a farm has been built on the rest....monstrous views into Snowdonia

The large mound of this ruined Cromlech can be seen quite clearly from the Great Orme Mine. The field is private so there is no direct access from the mine, the only way to get here is to go into the village and find ‘Cromlech Road’, which leads to a stile and the Cromlech itself, which is clearly marked open to the public. The chamber is ruined, but enough stones are still standing to make this an impressive monument.

BEWARE On leaving the site we were chased by a huge angry dog, belonging to the people living in the house nearest to the cromlech. They made no effort to contain the beast, so it’s safe to assume that they don’t like visitors!

When following the A4080 down from Llanfair PG instead of turning into the Plas Newydd estate car park (NT sign posted) take the turn just before it. This lets you get right up to the stones.

This stone row isn’t that easy to find – and isn’t really spectacular in itself – the view is however worth it. We had the place to ourselves for 1/2 an hour and on a nice day it would make a welcome rest place after visiting the Great Orme Mine. The surrounding landscape is full of great stones and is well worth exploring.

A short walk from the A4080 thru long grass, follow the hedgerow down to these 2 amazing stones. Thought to be the remains of a large stone circle.