Latest Fieldnotes

I visited this amazing site in January, and after a chat with the very friendly farmer I followed Martin’s directions. Someone (the farmer – I guess) had put in a lot of care and effort to clear the site of weeds and cut down the trees. The stumps being left in the ground. So it is possible to get a clear impression not only of the size, but also the complexity of the souterrain. If Scottish souterrains are your thing then dont miss this one ... its very special, just go and sit inside for a while.

Whilst there had obviously been a few visitors as the grass was trampled there was no litter around..so nice one visitors. Also worth wondering why no evidence of big trees growing at the site?

Nine Maidens of Boskednan

Got abit lost in September 2000 trying to find these Ladies.

Tip: once you get to the Ding Dong (Julian’s name) copper mine, just follow the main miners path that goes off to the North-west & they’ll appear out of no-where.

Very peaceful site. Loved it.

September 2000 – wasn’t tooo happy seeing this chambered-cairn, which has been f**ked over by road builders. Still it has faired alot better than similiar examples in Ireland.

Got some weird looks from folks wondering why I was looking around what they thought was a pile of useless stones, considering that The Merry Maidens were sooo nearby. Well, I thought the entrance was impressive & there’s still plenty of room to get inside.

September 2000. These guys could give ya a complex. I’ll say no more on the subject.

They are short distance over the hill from The Merry Maidens. The fiist thing ya’ll see is their HEADS pokin’ over the hedges below.

Had a great chat with an old local chap who was full of stories about witches & the Fogou in the nearby village of Boleigh. He knew loads about the sites, deserted villages & what-not in the area.

The Merry Maidens.

September 2000 ..Yeah!

They certainly do hit ya like a rock as ya drive towards them- don’t they.

The Land’s End Peninsula is blessed with such a concentration of site & a greater proportion are in excellent condition. But these young girlss take the biscuit. When I have children I will bring them there & let them play until they’re done. It’s that kind of place!

Lanyon Quoit

Another vist from our September 2000 Cornwal trip. It is a bloody cartoon Cromlech...yer right Julian ya know!! Not much more to say about such a famous MEGAlith.

Loads of tourist there at the time...including Herr & soon to be Frau Schlager. Gonna make sure i’am there for early morning next time.

Became aware of this site for the first time, like alot of folks, when Julian sent out one of his irregular post-cards in the early 90’s. The Black & White photo on the other side was amazing.

So I was very excited about finally getting the chance to see this baby in September 2000... but god it’s alot smaller than I had thought... wasn’t disappointed though.

The Wife hasn’t had a baby – yet after the nine-times cermony – but she certainly hasn’t had rickets either.

Go... & Viel Spaß! As they say in German.

Another visit before Easter 2000. One of the best sited Megalithic tombs I’ve certainly ever seen. Very dramatic to say the least as you look out across the bay and off into the Irish Sea.

What’s with the concrete dome and can ya ever get access through the steel gates? The stones that line the entrance are impressive, but inside is very dark but beautiful temple.

Ty Newydd

Visited just before Easter 2000. It is a wonderful Dolmen...but I do agree with Julian, it’s repair is simply a disaster.

Has or will anything be done it at least visually improve this site, which is in one of those few undistrubed corner’s of Anglesey not yet effected by development & road-works?

Knockshee Cairn

Perfect shaped, small round Mountain-top Cairn in Ballintur Upper Townland.

Over 9m in diameter and 1.2m high. It’s been sadly damaged several times over the years by our friends the cross-builders. Last time I looked it had been removed. On one occasion it was burned because it was a Catholic cross...fun..fun...pity about the ancient Cairn.

The Long Stone, Moneydorragh Beg Townland.

As Mourne Folk do it all so easily...This Standing Stone or Single Monolith is called the Long Stone & stands atop a small hill in the village of Longstone, near Annalong.
Turn up the Majors Hill road(C315) as ya come into Annalong from Kilkeel, which soon becomes Longstone Rd...then yer there.

This stone (2.5m approx.) is probally a remnant of a larger chambered-grave site which was destroyed. There is a spoken tradition from the area that there was once at least three other stones at the site.

It is however known that the stone was annually white-washed ( lime mixed paint ) & played a part in the ritual of seasonal mountain assemblies, as were several of the other Standing Stones & important natural boulders in the area.

Note: Today they have another tradition in the area as part of the stupid territorial-pissing that goes on in Northern Ireland. Namely: it’s painted often green-white&gold to signify that it’s in a Nationalist area. Protestant areas are of course red-white&blue – see Annalong for examples.

The Giant’s Grave

In Dunnaman Townland, east of Kilkeel along the Newry Road.

This gallery grave lies behind the Curates’s House at Massfort Roman Catholic Church, beside the graveyard oddly enough. Signposted from the main road.

Behind protective fencing, & sadly not often noticed by the locals, but cartainly worth a short visit as the site certainly was originally very impressive. The remaining granite stones are can not be called small. There are four chambers and it’s in total 8m in length, hence the local name for the site, sadly with no surviving facade.

The Mother Church of Mourne

I’am mentioning this because it was the centre for the early Church in Mourne, dedicated to St. Colman in the 6th Century, now derelict.

But more importantly, it was built inside a Rath, of which the remains can still be traced and whose curving wall forces Newcastle street to swing round sharply before it drops to the river crossing.

Note: There is an abundance of Raths or Ring-Forts sites in the plain of Mourne. My count is of 56 sites, although many have been partially or completely destroyed. They are known locally as Forths.

September 2001:

After visiting the Hellstone, an un-named circle (got lost!), and The Grey Mare we found ourselves here.

Stones laid flat in the field, so that’s exactly what we did. Staring up at the clouds for ages.

Lots of flint in the soil turned up by the farmer.

Not the most visually impressive circle, but restful.

Oh yeah, careful when you go down there, lots of maize fields – I kept thinking we were gonna be part of a bad horror film with people jumping out – not paranoid at all :o)

Moey

This is a very odd site. When I was last here (winter 2000) it was the most completely off the beaten track, non-touristy place you could find, and yet the central chamber of the passage tomb is larger than Newgrange! The rock art too is of a standard that could hold its own against the best Brugh na Boinne could offer (especially the weirdly anthropomorphic ‘hag stone’, is-it-or-isn’t-it a portrait of the grinning winter death goddess?). It’s up to your imagination really! The main downside is that the caved in roof has been repaired in ‘concrete pillbox bunker style’ instead of trying to replace the original corbelling. The effect of so much brutally modern building material in such an ancient place makes you wonder if it couldn’t have been done with a bit more sensitivity.

Things might have changed since last time, but you definitely needed a torch as there is no lighting inside. Also as it is usually locked you have to get the key from a local guy called Mr White (if you follow the instructions to his house on the notice you drive down this little side road, it seems to go on for miles and you think you must have gone past his house, but don’t give up! His house has a big plaque with ‘White’ set into the garden wall. I think it’s a tenner deposit for the key.) Anyway, if you like the idea of having an entire neolithic passage tomb to yourself, this is the place, especially in the evenings or out of season.

Ah, childhood memories... (despite being a national monument, the Hill of Uisneach was where farming realations of mine used to graze their cattle.) When I was a kid, long before I knew anything about history, I remember standing on the summit, absolutely gobsmacked by the view. On a clear day you can see landmarks in twenty counties, and many of the locals will claim to have seen the gleaming white Round Tower over O’Connell’s grave in Dublin’s Glasnevin cemetary. This is a nice link to the past as one of O’Connell’s monster meetings for Catholic Emancipation was held at Uisneach (the remnants of an iron flagstaff are still embedded in the catstone).

The idea that the souterrains represent in plan form the stallions of the dagda, I’m inclined to take with a pinch of salt as one of Michael Dame’s more dubious ideas.

For fellow holy well afficionado’s, St. Bridget’s well at nearby Killare Village is a perfect, barely christianised remnant of the sacred landscape.

The Crawtree Stone, Kilkeel

This LITTLE Cromlech, in Kilkeel town, is one of the few in the Kingdom of Mourne to have survived from the hands of the granite stone workers over the years. Not sure as yet how & why it came to be known as The Crawtree Stone, this Smurfer is cute & worth a visit.

Access from Newcastle Street. First out of the town centre, heading of course towards Newcastle, there’s access to a lane on the left just past the mini-roundabout. Just dander up the lane & it’s on the left side in the ditch, or should I say the ditch was built to meet it on both sides....ya’ll know what I mean when ya see it.

The portal single-chambered grave, with it’s entrance pillars, measures about 1.5 x 1.5m. The rounded granite cap-stone is about 2.8m in diameter and rises to a height of 2.5m above ground level.

Kilfeaghan Cromlech

Know this big fella for a long time now. Worth the trip even just for the view down onto Millbay, Greencastle & across the border to Carlingford.

It’s a wee bit up Kilfeaghan Road, Signposted from the Killowen Road (A2), second last road on the left before the turn down the Benagh Road (C316) to Cranfield.

The site is off the road to the left at the second group of houses & farm buildings – It’s a State protected site but in farmland ( The Brennan’s), so if ya see anyone just ask & they’ll say no bother, unless there’s a bull in the field!!

It’s a single-chambered grave with a 40 ton granite cap-stone, which measures 3.4 x 2.5 x 1.5m, & appears to be resting almost at ground level. I believe that previous excavations at the site relieved sherds & stone artefacts of the late Bronze Age.

Megaliths ..oh...Megaliths.. The „Cromlech“ or „Dolmen“ at Goward Townland, near Hilltown, needs to be seen to be believed. Situated at 120m above sea level – alongside the straight road between Hilltown & Castlewellen. Clearly signpost & can’t be missed.

Known locally as Pat Kearney’s Big Stone , Pat lived once long ago in a nearby mountain cottage nearby.

The granite cap-stone is simply impressive – the top rises to approx. 4.5m above ground level, and measures 4.0 x 3.1 x 1.5m and covers a single chamber 2.8 x 0.9m, resting in front, not on the stone which covers a single chamber, but a tall upright, which rests in front of the entrance. There are also flanking uprights on both sides.

Sorry got no digital photos at the moment – try sort something for my next visit.

I visited this last year, and noticed that one of the stones (roughly opposite and to the right of the recumbant) looked slightly carved, or shaped, a truly magical place.

On a clear day you can see forever!!!!!!

Unrivalled Views and nosey cows – See Julio Geordio’s pic for proof.

gotta go back.

Summer 2000

Carrying on my weird weekend, I came to Cairnholy 1&2. Up the narrow track, meeting some hoorahs in their 4WD on the way I eventually got out of the car in Brilliant Sunshine.

What nobody seems to mention is that Cairnholy 1 is in a fantastic position high above Wigtown Bay. The Sea was Sparkling Blue, a cool breeze lapped at me as I lay on the grass chilling.

Cairnholy II is further up the track in an equally cool location, but the nearby farm somehow spoils it for me.

A Cool place. Going Back soon!

Dusk Falling, a warm summers evening in 2000.

The first circle at the start of a strange weekend in 2000. I decided to take myself off after work on the Saturday, not knowing where I was going. I phoned my parents to let them know where in the world I was. I told my mother I had set up camp at Newton Stewart just up the road from the Stone Circle. There was a silence atthe other end of the line.... I asked what was wrong and my mother said it was weird, they had spent their honeymoon at Newton Stewart...... 33 years ago to the very day.

I had no knowledge of that, I didn’t even know it was their wedding anniversary.

I spent a couple of hours here reflecting, and left calmed – and ready for a chinese :o)

Moey

Have just returned from my 2nd visit to Doll Tor and found the usual so-called pagan “offerings”/evidence of rituals etc. But hey, get this, the reef of flowers was adorned by what appeared to be a polystyrene robin (as in the bird). Hardly in tune with Mother Earth is it? When will you fuckwits learn to respect the countryside?

P.S: My visit was on the 2nd of Feb 2002

The Mountains of Mourne, Co. Down – Area Overview

First of my notes on my Homeland (promise).

I’ve been meaning to get around to contributing for a while, considering that I was born and breed in the area (before settling in Bayern, Deutschland) & have started on the research trail. First an overview of this proud & beautiful Kingdom.

These wild steep-sided granite hills, made famous the world over in a Percey French song (...“where the Mountains of Mourne sweep down to the sea”) present an unforgettable aspect. They reach to an average height of about 600m and are largely inaccessable except with a good pair of walking boots, the ring road & one road through the Deers Meadow right in the middle of it all.

Get yerself 1 map... OS of Northern Ireland „Mourne Country – Outdoor Pursuits Map, ISBN 1-873819-07-2. It’s got all ya need a easy to pick up in bookshops in Kilkeel, Warrenpoint or Newcastle.

Lots of sites of interest in the area – from Antiquarian (eg. Kilfeaghan Dolmen with it’s 40 ton cap-stone) through to the early Church & the Norman’s ( Greencastle Castle 1260 CE ) – if ya’ll feel like getting/stayin’ fit it’s got some of the top Hill Walks in Ireland.

So if ya want to explore the Mourne area, i’d recommend that you stay in Carlingford Town, which is just over the County Louth, a day is needed for this place alone. Amazing seafood ....plus 2 castles, Royal Mint, most of the ancient town walls, 2 ancient Churches, lots of character & to top it off the best view of the Mournes....EVER!

Rostrover village is another good option, very charming & bloody great pubs. But don’t stay in Newcastle, it’s the main tourist centre & very tacky, however the beach & Murlough National Nature Reserve do deserve a visit.

The highest mountain in the Mournes & Ulster is Slieve Donard ( 852 m) – safe & easy climb & on a good day you’ll get a view of what looks like the whole of Ireland, West Scotland, Wales, Cumbria, etc.

At one time the mountains were a remote and ungovernable area inhabited by smugglers, now it’s just windsweep & very rugged farmers who you won’t understand as the old Mourne spek ( as we call it ) is absolutly crazy. Theirs hundreds & thousands of miles of ancient tracks going in all directions through open moorland and upland pastures, which make excellent walking country. The upper sections of the Mounrne Mountains are all characterised by wee fields with dry-stone walls – a custom which remains very strong to this day. Check out the Mourne Wall, it’s the largest, 35km long and 2m high, which encloses the water catchment of Silent Valley.

Slán

S