Latest Fieldnotes

The field containing the two large stones has been densely planted with some sort of crop and I found it impossible to get to them. Even from a distance, though, they are an awesome sight and well worth a visit.

- Visited jubilee w/e -
I visited this site the same w/e as Arthur’s stone (near Dorstone) and Harold’s Stones, and I have to say this was my clear favourite.
The stones are indeed massive, being over 4ft in width at their base, which my meager maths tells me is over 12ft in circumference. They sit by the edge of a field in a plain surrounded on all sides by hills, which provide a beautiful setting.
I checked all the stones for markings, but I wasn’t able to discern any, unfortunately :-/ Also someone appears to have dug underneath the fallen stone (presumably why it fell...)
This site is the sort of place one could lose oneself for several hours, just sitting peacefully reflecting the insolubles of life.

A circular bank about 40’ across made from earth and stone; standing stones within; remains of some other structure within that.

The (sand stone?) standing stones are of varying sizes, three larger and the rest smaller of similar size. of those three, one remains upright (and potentially has cup marks), another (the tallest and slimmest of all) at a 45 degree angle (which also potentially has cup marks) and the other flat. Some stones stand, others are being buried by grass and moss. Much of the outer bank is covered by grass.
The structure within the circle itself has an earth and stone bank (an almost rectangular oval) and a circle of stones within that. there are two slender stones layn flat amongst this, one about 3’ tall, the other about 2’.
A flat grassy area, a peak of land looking out for half the skyline at low hills, and behind the land soon rises a little more.
A lime green lizard slithers around in the gaps between stones.

About 6’ outside the circle are three stones just sticking out from the grass, tracing a line in from roughly the northeast. about 12’ and 15’ out to the south are two outlying stones about 9” and 1.5’ tall and about 12’ apart on an east-west axis.‘

1 June 2002

This site was occupied in several periods, originally late Bronze age between 700 – 500BC. Firstly a simple farmstead which expanded to a blockhouse (fort) and then by a huge circular brock. A population of around 60 lived in this little fortress. Later, 2nd century occupation is shown when a wheelhouse was added.

Kilmogue dolmen, known locally as’ Leac an Scail ’ stone of the warrior, this portal tomb has been constructed using a large capstone resting on two large portal-stones and a pillow stone resting on a backstone. The portal stones are around 14 ft high and the capstone reaches approx 18 ft. The entrance faces NE. This is one of the largest dolmens in Ireland and if you are in this area then Kilmogue dolmen is well worth a visit. This Dolmen is well signposted, but under the name Harristown Dolmen, about a kilometre from Harristown Crossroads you take a left down a country lane and the Portal tomb is hidden behind some bushes at the bottom of the laneway.

On my first visit here I failed dismally to find any of the barrows, second time round I got hold of the OS map beforehand and it still took me a while to find them!

Take the road from Pocklington to Millington then continue until it splits into two (both roads join the A166 a mile or so further on). This triangle of land contains 3 remaining barrows of an original 18 of the Callis Wold group, 2 are badly ploughed down, but the northern one with it’s nearby mystery earthworks is well preserved. Continue on to the A166 and turn left, there are several further barrows beside the road, but take care – car drivers and motorcyclists treat this road like a racetrack…

This must once have been an important part of the Gypsey Race landscape, but plough damage means there is now nothing to be seen at ground level – just how do you plough out an entire henge?
Anyway, while you are at Rudston, take a look for yourself. Follow the road north out of Rudston village towards Burton Fleming, the field where the henge stood is on the right, a short distance after the second right turn.

Heston brake Dolmen is situated on the brow of a hill near Black rock,and consists of the remains of nine upright stones.

Wish I had looked at the fieldnotes before i went up to Leskernick last weekend. I was begining to think that the OS map was lying!
Did not find any trace of the circles, mind you it was not a day for standing around looking too hard.
Will try again when the weather improves.
Great hut circles on the hillside.

Knocknashee was not identified as a hilltop fort untill 1988, the fort covers 53 acres and has two earth and stone ramparts surrounding the area, inside are two cairns and the remains of about 30 house sites. Access is across a  friendly farmers land and it is a very very steep climb to the top, but well worth the effort as the fort has a wonderful view of the Connaught plain.

I had expected more here. The cairn is pretty small, and lies scattered. The eery sci-fi TV station aerials dominate the immediate area. The view from here is quite something though, stretching from the Lancashire coast over to Bury. Local landmarks within view include Darwen Tower on Darwen Hill(itself once a beacon hill), Rivington Pike, Round Loaf and the Anglezark & Belmont reservoirs.

Acharn Standing Stone
Sunday 19/5/02
Buzzing with energy from visiting the nearby Kinnell stone circle I drive out of Killin just along the road to the west to visit this monolith. It’s been moved from it’s original position, but has now been given a commanding view at the roadside. It’s been built into the banking here, the point of the stone drawing my gaze toward the dark sky above.

19/5/02
An opportunity for a re-visit. After only 17 years or so! Actually we’ve stopped in Fortingall more times than I care to remember, just never got round to the rear burial ground of Fortingall church to pay my respects to this stone. There’s a new path to the Yew Tree which is beautifully carved from grey stone- I follow this path round the Yew Tree and through the gate behind- just next to the wall is the stone which was amazingly found buried at a depth of about 8 foot next to the tree in who’s shadow it now stands. The uppermost flat top of the stone seems to bear about 14 cup marks, but obviously a great chunk of this stone is missing.

Kinnell Park
Sunday 19/5/02
Kinnell! It’s almost stopped lashing down- now a ‘pleasant’ drizzle, but black, black skies all around. I’ve been kindly granted permission to visit this circle despite the fact that there are cows and calves in the field- as long as I stay well away from them they shouldn’t have the urge to trample me to death! The woman at the massive Kinnell House was very charming and even thanked me for asking permission to visit the site- as always (well- nowadays anyway). The fact that there are ‘Danger-Bulls’ signs around the field kinda put me off. What was I saying about the rain? It’s started again with a vengeance. The circle, the stones, the rain. This is a beautifully preserved circle of six huge stones varying in height from about 2m to 1.2m graded towards the smallest stone at the NE. The stone next to this at the north bears about 4 cup marks on it’s inner face. I’m standing in the middle of the circle. The widest faces of all six stones are looking in on me. It feels oppressive (or perhaps it’s the weather). Here in the centre are a small group of stones, though these look like field clearance as the largest one is covered in plough scars. My pen and notepad are soaking and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to write. I guess it’s time for the elements and the stones to take over…

This is a reconstruction of a burial chamber, apparently done in 1736. It’s the spot where the historic boundaries of Somerset, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire meet – perhaps those boundaries really were centred on whatever these stones used to be: presumably a longbarrow. Now there are 3 blocks of limestone supporting a huge (well, relatively) capstone, but overall the feeling is small and cosy. The monument sits right next to the road – the roman Fosse Way – but it was only on my third drive-by that I actually spotted the thing. It sits nestled back, next to a wall. I sat underneath it for ages, it’s very quiet and protective feeling – perhaps the only original stones are the ones underneath that you can sit on. As usual at such places there was litter everywhere – this despite it being apparently miles out, and not all of it could have blown in from the road. Rather fortunately some of the rubbish was plastic bags, so I collected two whole bagfuls and took them back to the car. People eh. It is bound to be the haunt of pissed teenagers but I wonder what they think they’re sitting under. It’s a strange spot because it doesn’t feel quite authentic and you can’t really tell whether anything is original or not. But it’s different.

Wow! What an amazing, atmoshpheric place to be! After a long drive from Newbury with some friends of ours and two lolling dogs in the back with us! We eventually wound our way up to the Kings Men. It was a high climb to the site which was obscured from the roadside by trees. There was excitement as we parked the car on the grass verge and ventured through the gap in the trees and down a little path. To our left was a little hut where you pay a small fee to enter. This, we did not mind as it all goes to the upkeep and care of the site. Once past the hut and to our right was the path leading towards the stones. There were a few visitors but not many. I was suprised on how small the circle was. I was expecting some vast stones equal to Avebury but instead, found a beautiful circle of small stones and the King Stone which was a foot larger than myself. (I am only just touching 5 foot so I was suprised!) I felt so much energy emanating from the circle and walked slowly up the path taking in every sensation as I trod. The air was clean and crisp and the sun was shining. I could feel the build up of energy as I walked closer and the hairs on my body stood on end! I reached the circle in awe but before I entered, I walked around the perimeter clockwise first, touching each and every stone, almost sussing out the place before making the final leap into something unknown to me. Eventually reaching the entrance, I asked permission to enter. I was granted entrance and tentatively took my first step into the circle. Words cannot describe how I felt and past this, I will tell no more as my feelings past this point are sacred to me. So, if you want to make the long trek to the stones I would highly recommend it! Just be prepared not to be there alone as it is a rather popular site. And if you are lucky to get the chance to be alone.....ENJOY! For a small circle, the energy there is intense and will blow your socks off!!! Blessed Be the Rollright Stones

has to be the most beautiful hill in the north. ignore the tree farms and fylingdales big lump of star wars junk on the horizon, and look at the shadow the hill casts all around. walking to the top makes your knees go wobbly. the circle at the foot of the hill is wrecked but still has some lovely big stones, and you can’t help but lean into them like the sheep do. check out the bridestones and hole of horcum too – glaciation was the best thing that ever happened to yorkshire.

Came here in February 2002 following a footnote from Aubrey Burl and a bad printout of an OS map. Couldn’t work out where the circle was so headed for the top of the biggest hill, demolishing and re-building a wobbly drystone wall in the process. There are so many big stones, weird dips and sheep skulls in the fields around it that it took a while to get there, but what a cool little circle it is. It feels really peaceful and a place to spend some time despite icy cold, bones everywhere and truckers steaming past on the road nearby. Even under a grey sky the stones were glowing.

You’re quite right Mr I, I’m sure it would be very ill-advised to clamber about on the scree slope – and of course utterly illegal to remove anything archaeological you found there. But it’s very nice to be in such a quiet, spectacular and seemingly remote place and know that people were there so long ago making such important things. Well worth a visit to the valley and a pint in the pub afterwards.

A pair of long barrows whoes position and size seems to mirror the nearby Giant’s Hills on the other side of the A1028.
The best way to get here is to take the turning from the main road and drive to the tiny hamlet of Claxby. Take a left turn and follow the winding road until you reach a trackway leading up a hill, just before a farm house.
The grid reference I have given is for the barrow that stands half way along this track, the second barrow is some distance to the south-east across the field.

To the south-east of Ulceby and on the west of the Roman road now known as the A1028 are the remains of one of the Giant’s Hills long barrows. Parking is difficult, but there is a small opening into a farmers field in a gap in the hedgerow that may take a few drive pasts to find. From here the barrow is a short walk down the hillside, and an excellent place to pass a peaceful hour or so.

It was excavated by a C. W. Phillips between 1933 and 1934, who found a large wooden enclosure which contained a small platform of chalk blocks. Laid out on these blocks were the remains of 7 adults and a child – interestingly there was a line of 8 posts across the north-west end of the barrow – were they linked to the number of burials?
In the same way that many southern barrows have large blocking stones at their entrances, this barrow had a façade of huge split timbers arranged in a crescent at its south-east, it has even been suggested that these may have been carved or painted. From this frontage, two lines of posts ran almost the entire length of the barrow and parts of it seem to have been divided up with a hurdling fence.
To the south there was another barrow that has now sadly been destroyed by ploughing.

From the A16, take the turning to Haugham then bear right along the road to Tathwell. In a field to the right is a linear round barrow cemetery along a hillside ridge, six stand close together with one further away to the North-east. Travel a little further down the road to get an excellent view of them along the horizon.
As far as I’m aware, these barrows have never been excavated but I recieved an email from a guy who had a conversation with an old man who had lived nearby. The old farmer described that as a young man he witnessed his father being involved in digs to find out what was in the mounds saying that they found no objects but that they revealed that a lot of burning had taken place on every mound and presumed they were used as beacons.

Little is known about this long barrow although it is one of the best preserved in the area, probably due to its position within Beacon Plantation spinney and the fact that it stands next to a main road. Constructed as a trapezoid mound that originally measured around 78 metres by 19 metres which has been truncated at the southern end. This end still stands to a height of 2 metres and it is probable that it is actually a later round barrow that was built into the long barrow – it is also believed to have been used as a medieval beacon – hence the name.
Unlike many other barrows in the area, it traverses the contours of the landscape, but is similarly oriented in a southeast to northwest direction standing below the crest of a high ridge that overlooks the valley of Great Eau

An easy barrow to find, Beacon Plantation is right next to the A16 between Walmgate and White Pit. – parking is now easy as there a new layby just to the west.

There is no access to this badly dug into barrow, but it can be seen across the fields on the left of the A16 from Partney to the circle at Ulceby cross. It is some distance away though and is difficult to spot if there is a crop in the field!

We found this site more easily than we thought – the farm name ‘Tyfos’ is clearly marked. We asked the farmer for permission to go on to the site and he was more than happy for us to do so. Although they can be seen from the road, it is a pleasure to get amongst the stones. The circle is set on a raised mound & although most of the stones have been pushed or fallen over, it is still a wonderful site. Look out for the outlier in the hedge of the farmer’s garden.