Latest Fieldnotes

‘like a tree trunk. stone like like old wood. and huge cracks from bottom to top add to its weight of years. this huge trunk reaches nearly straight to the sky. views of 270degrees of seas, inlets, isles. whether intended as such or not this stone is alter-like. faces east-west; flat side east. (pity its right beside the road).
all the stone that seems to have come out of the ground here has the same wood effect, and judging from the stone used in the walls around, appears to split readily into small versions of the elongated standing stone.
The other stone, a couple of fields down and across to the right (assuming the one I found was the right one), is only a wee slip of a stone, about 2.5 feet tall. stands between furrows in a cultivated field, seemingly fallow at the moment, on a small untouched patch, surrounded by smaller stones and other odd detritus. by its size, barely believable as a standing stone.
there possible remains of building footings further down the same field as the larger standing stone, of unknown age.‘

- 26 March 2002

when I was here there were cows all around the stones
but at that time none were inside the ring, that was the first thing I noticed and my most enduring memory.......

These mazes were hard to find. The directions in my book were sparse. This was back in 1989 so the Modern Antiquarian was not published then, but after persevering we found them, small about four inches across. Why has it taken so long for us to rediscover the maze?

Pottery shows that people were here in Neolithic and Bronze Age times, but the defences are probably Iron Age. Now the site is quite wooded and encloses a country house. In the summer it’s quite busy with be-ice creamed visitors, but it’s really quite nice for a stroll.
Lethbridge was positive he’d found a chalk hill figure of a goddess on the side of the slope here. His explorations are described in: The Wandlebury Giants, in Folklore, Vol. 67, No. 4. (Dec., 1956), pp. 193-203.

A tranquil, calm spot for this site. The capstone of the standing chamber is supported by a wooden structure, which whilst not the most beautiful thing is a slight improvement on the brick and mortar solution used at Ty Newydd. The walk to the site was made all the more rewarding by a small wood with a floor covered in bluebells.

Do not pay to visit this site!
As already mentioned, entry to the grounds of Plas Newydd, does not allow access to the site. Park up on the visitors car park, ignore the ticket office, and walk down to the picnic bench beside the fence. The site is visible over the fence. To gain access, I presume it’s a case of ringing/writing for permission OR going on one of the guided archaeological tours. It’s £3.00 and takes two hours, so some of the walk probably takes in the gardens, which may or may not be of much interest!

A great setting for these two enigmatic standing stones. The view out to sea, and of Snowdonia, is only partially obstructed by the nearby farmhouse. If only the other sites (Trefignath & Ty Mawr) were in such unspoilt locations. As I was leaving the stones four horses, one very young, came from the farmhouse to play. They ran wildly round the stones a few times, jumping and kicking, then finally stopped at the stones to rub against one another.

This fine stone, 3m high and over 2m wide, stands in a field close to the road on the edge of the village.

To reach the stones do not be put off by the lack of a signed footpath. We struggled with our bearings at first, the OS map clearly showing a path by the side of a house. A guy was out cleaning his car and he kindly pointed out the path – it runs by the side of his garage and was partly obstructed by some planks of wood which he promised to remove. The stiles leading to the site are also partly obstructed by barbed wire.
It is worth the hassle as the site is in a great position, and cannot get many visitors – so privacy is almost guaranteed.

This fallen burial site lies in the middle of a field adjacent to Cromlech Farm, and as far as I could tell there is no right of way, so the site must be viewed over the wall.

A cumbersome, partly subterranean site. From the outside the huge bulky capstone appears to have pushed it’s low kerbstones down into the ground – this isn’t the case as the interior is hollowed out. To gain entrance to the sites chamber requires a vault over the fence – be warned it has large, sharp spikes and the glossy green paint can be quite slippery!

Trefignath is a great site, spoilt by the view to the aluminium works. The site was built in three stages, and these are still clearly discernible, the latest stage being the large chamber, which it is possible to crawl inside. One of the two stones marking this entrance shows signs of quite a large fire being lit there recently, causing some damage to the stone – blackening from the fire and worse a chip out of it’s surface.

Worth visiting en-route to Trefignath. This standing stone is signposted from the road and can be clearly seen in it’s field. The stone is surrounded by a series of wooden posts holding up a damaged wire fence. The purpose of the fence, it would seem, is to keep the sheep away from the stone – the fact that the fence is damaged makes it pointless and so just adds to the ugly intrusions all around.

This site is located on the northern edge of the North York Moors escarpment at the northern end of Raisdale.
The site is just beside the Carlton in Cleveland to Chop Gate road in a meadow beside The Lord Stones Cafe.
The site consists of at least three small round barrows one of which is a cairn circle with large prominent stones.
The are also a couple of standing stones on the site. The site has had a lot of disturbance, not least with the building of the cafe. Several large stones have been incorporated into the fabric of the building that may or may not have come from the site.
The site itself is a nice green meadow with nice views across the vale of Cleveland and beyond.
The cairn circle is behind the cafe is on the path of the Cleveland Way and a couple of metres from the road, it is approx 6m across. 4m to the north of this is a barrow that has a turf covering with a few stones ‘poking through and then another 20m North of this is another barrow also turfed and also with a couple of small stones showing.
A few metres to the east of the cairn circle is a single standing stone.
There is another large standing stone on the site, this is a large rectangular block which has been dressed at some point in the past, it is marked on the OS map as a boundary stone. It is much larger than the usual NYM boundary stones so may have been adapted from an existing standing stone.
If you follow the Cleveland Way East from the site you will climb up onto Cringle Moor where you will see two things;
1.A most excellent 180 degree panorama with views to, starting from the west and moving east, Ingleborough and Whernside, Stainmoor, Cross Fell, Weardale, The Penshaw Monument (on a very clear day), Hartlepool, Teesmouth, Upleatham and the sea beyond, Roseberry Topping, Park Nab and Turkey Nab.
I know all this because there is a plaque there that told me so.
2. The large round barrow of Drake Howe NZ539029. A big-un measuring in at 25m across.
All in all, an nice and accessible site.
If you do go up to Cringle Moor, dont forget to wrap up warm.

The Eastern circle is around a 100ft away and is a smaller grass/bracken bump( depending on time of year) badly ruined by a shooting butt. Entrance? can just be made out.

The largest of the two circles, overgrown with heather with maybe one very small stone remaining (covered in heather) in the SE (ish). When viewed from Wet Withens, the 2 circles mark the points on the horizon for the Mid-Winter full moon set and it’s maximum (the eastern circle). Although badly overgrown this and the smaller eastern circle have some of the best views of all the Peak District sites.

No path to the stone but it’s easy enough to find once you see the dry stone wall. Christianised in medieval times when it was used as a boundary marker.
To say how tricky the large circle of Offerton Moor Westcan be to find when you’re right next to it......it’s quite easy to pick out over the wooded valley.

Found a few mentions of Drumsturdy / Laws fort, Lucas’ 1803 and Groomes 1901 Scotland gazetteers mention the site as a vitrified fort. In an obscure little pamphlet published by the Arbroath Herald and written by Rev Thomson of old church Arbroath around 1890 which is called ” Hill forts of Angus” he tells us that the parish accounts of 1842 mentions cists being found there in the 1700’s. Also a rumour of 2 workmen finding some gold there. Thomson mentions finds from the “sheep pen” site..querns, iron axes, iron sword, stone cup, coin, armlet, human and other bones, charred wheat and barley.

He talks of this site being a remnant of cyclopian skills ( nice word) and the ” Scottish Pompeii!! His article on white Cathertun also points out that the boulders there must have been carried up hill, rather than using the local stone.

Better known as a local picnic site with good views over Goodwood, the downs and Chichester. The iron-age hillfort dominates the hill profile but there is an internal Neolithic Causewayed enclosure and pits which were excavated in the 20’s.

Ok I’ll bow to the majority and admit this is probably called the Hampton Down Stone Circle..who is this Burl chap anyway, what does he know about Stones Circles. But I think my notes below were added before any reference to Hampton Down on this web site. (No mention of Hampton Down on the O.S)

I found this site having given up looking for the Grey Mare & Her Colts (I was on the wrong Abbotsbury Road). If you stop on the Portesham Hill Road where TMA recommends you stop for The Hell Stone, on the opposite side of the road, take the path through the farm, heading west. The stones are at the top of the hill over to your left, just over a gate marked by an Ancient Monument sign. The circle itself is no more than 6yrds across but spectacular setting. Fine views over the valley to the Hell Stone to the east and St. Catherines Hill to the west. I think the path carries on and crosses the Abbotsbury-Martinsdown Road across which the Grey Mare resides with her Colts.

This 120 metre high volcanic “law” is 3km north of Monifieth and from the top you can see for ever. The OS map describes this site as “Fort & Broch”, it appears however to be a succession of very different things. There is a small round tower of interesting construction but less than 200 years old. There are also two large square, stone flag built structures, which I assumed to be the fort, one was built with a butress on one side.

But the whole site is entirely dominated by a number of underground structures. Whilst these may have passed as ditches associated with the fort, they are very obviously built by souterrain builders. They are boulder and slab constructions, incorporating some wonderful cup stones ( cups big enough to put apples as well as scores of small cups...but no circles). The subsequent structures did cannibalise the earlier ones to a small extent and there are cup stones visible all over the place.

As Angus souterrains go I havent seen anything quite as complex or extensive as this. I counted four seperate souterrain “units”

The biggest souterrain has at least four concentric tunnels, one of which is forked ( as far as I am aware only Kinord, Aberdeenshire, is built with a “Y” fork in it). The main tunnel is 12 feet across. There are too many signs to mention which suggest that these structures were built by the same folks who built pitcur / ardestie/carlungie etc.(crosslinks between the tunnels, the tunnels curve...cup stones and boulders......) All of the roof slabs were missing..and likely to have been used elsewhere..a likely candidate covers a very old well in the field at the base of the Law....and also shows that there is a source of water at that elevation.

One of the other souterrain structures is probably unique. It looks like an underground sheep pen...a circle of about 25 feet diameter...the main reason it probably wasnt a recent sheep pen is that again it is built with a base course of boulders....and a number of cup marked stones. If this is the case then it would suggest that it shows a not unexpected technical development...if the proto picts could build long curved walls and small round chambers...then one day they may have had a go at a big round chamber..and so get more useful area from their labours.

A third souterrain structure in the middle of the site may well be largely intact with roof slabs still in place and a general bunny paradise.The fourth is smaller and quite convoluted and has at least two concentric tunnels.

The fact that these structures were built with boulders in souterrain style is worth thinking about....this is a volcanic hill with plenty of rock available...but the folks who built these things carried boulders from their source up the hill !

I have found no reference to this site in the ususal souterrain sources, a lady I spoke with at the Laws farm told me the site had never been excavated. So maybe it is possible that it has been overlooked as a souterrain site..the tunnels being considered as defensive ditches...

When looked at from the souterrain angle this is a very special site which from the scale and technical complexity of the structures must represent a major achievement for the architects and builders.

Directions
turn left off the dundee-arbroath road (A92) at the Ardestie earth house signpost ( B962)at the X junction turn left on the drunsturdy road and turn left again after 700metres next to the cottage. Drive up the track to Laws farm..and ask at the farm house..as you have to cross their field of animals to get to the site.

Crow Stones
Monday 15/4/02
Only by the use of the pylons and an old sheep fold was I able to locate this site. With the help of the 1:25000 map I knew that these stones were almost in line with the last pylon before the road. This oval of stones really is huge, but it’s very difficult to perceive the site overall as only four of the about 19 or 20 stones are not hidden in thick heather. This site appears on the OS map as an arc with it’s open side facing NE. This is clearly wrong- there are stones along the NE arc. If anything there may be a gap in the very SE, but I reckon the stone(s) from here have either sunk in the peat, or have been removed. Were this site on a solid grass plain I think it would be of great importance and much visited. However, most of the stones are slowly sinking or have sunk into the peat and practically all are hidden in the dense heather. The site measures 43 m NW/SE by 33 m NE/SW- a fairly large monument- especially considering the other sites in the Whiteadder area.

Kingside Burn Stone Setting
Monday 15/4/02
Bit of a collector’s item this one- another tiny megalithic monument- the tallest upright being only about 35 cm high. I counted 5 stones- 3 of which protruded upright. Next to the largest red sandstone one was a smaller grey stone which had tiny cupmarks all over its inner surface, but these may be natural. Some of the monuments of the Whiteadder area, such as this, are like megaliths-in-miniature! This site is almost directly underneath a pylon so the air really does crackle and buzz with energy.

White Castle Hill Fort
Monday 15/4/02
At the lay-by here is an old triangular pillar with the vertical words’ East Lothian District Archaeological Trail’. On the top is a very old map and this site was apparently Number 1. We’ve traveled here along the most fantastic road from Whiteadder- I use the word ‘road’ in the widest possible sense- single track, fords all the way along it and massive potholes and frost damage. You have to stay away from the edges of the road for fear of driving into the great ditches where the road has just collapsed! The precarious driving is certainly rewarded though- rounding one of the steep hills the county of East Lothian just opens up in front of you stretching all the way in the distance to the Firth of Forth and taking in Traprain Law, Berwick Law and the Bass Rock. Then, in the foreground, is this fantastic hill fort. There’s a lay-by right next to it and the remains of an old notice board. Three defensive ditches on this southern side, whilst the north and east sides fall away sharply to the Thorter Burn. A most fantastic setting.

Nine Stone Rig, Whiteadder
Monday 15/4/02
Nine gorgeous greystones- mostly brilliantly angled, some rounded, one earthfast and one very large recumbent. The recumbent is just over 2 m long by about 1 m wide. The tallest upright to the NW stands at just over 1 m high, whilst a small boulder to the SW is just 25 cm or so high. If anything these stones look to be graded towards the NE as the smaller and more rounded stones are in the SW arc of the circle. The ENE stone appears to have a single cup mark on its uppermost face. High above our heads songbirds are singing- Aed was singing too for a bit, but is getting a bit grumpy- no wonder- stuck in his backpack on this desolate moorland with some old stones when it’s meant to be lunchtime! To the south of us run a line of pylons which even from this distance we can still hear the buzzing and crackling in the damp air.