Latest Fieldnotes

Kell Burn Alignment
Monday 15/4/02
As we walked up the small hill to this tiny megalithic monument the sun made a brief appearance from behind the clouds and mist. These 6 ‘large’ stones stand on a mound about 2 m high which for all the world looks very much like the remains of a cairn about 9 or 10 m in diameter. Of the ‘larger’ remaining stones only one is upright and stands a mighty 40 cm tall. This is one of four linear stones running perfectly N/S. The other stones are now (1) earthfast, (2) 20 cm high, (3) recumbent measuring about 60 cm long by about 27 cm wide. A small, compact and beautiful Summer Solstice monument in some fantastic scenery at the head of Whiteadder Reservior.

Mayshiel Stone Setting
NT630646 15/4/02
As we head up the Lammermuirs from Gifford, the drizzle started and the list brushed the tops of the highest peaks. Aed is fast asleep snoring away in eth back of the car whilst H-dog is just desperate to be out in the hills! Just about 7 or 8 m to the south of the road is a small (about 3 m or so in diameter) semi-circular peat banking with 7 stones protruding from it. The largest stone is only about 60 cm or so high and the circle is open to the desolate moorland to the south. About 10 m ENE of this semi-circle is another stone being about 80 cm wide by about 40 cm high- an outlier perhaps? Certainly this stone appears to be of the same age as those making up the main circle.

A.K.A Abney I

Easily found if approached from Abney, parking a car there is not easy though. Head for the open moorland, the paths by the ’ welcome to Abney’ sign. At the path crossroads head straight on thru the heather. The 2 remaining stones are in the grass clearing, faint traces of a bank can be made out in places. Excellent Views to Wet Withens on Eyam Moor and the hillfort at Carl Wark.

Driving along the Kildale to Commondale road I noticed this fella standing on whats called by the OS, a cairn. It’s a single stone on a raised platform, more of a tumulus than a cairn, but who am I to argue with the OS.
I traipsed up to investigate, its only 2 minutes from the road.
The stone is been standing there a long time judging from the weathering on his top. He stands approx 1.6m X 0.6m.
It’s not a cross stone and doesn’t appear on the map as a boundary stone.
There is some graffitti on the stone which says ?“B died here”
Some party that must have been.

Confusing as nothing really stands out in the heather, some form of enclosure once thought to be a stone circle.
The ‘aerial maps’ at multimap are a big help in finding the right area to hunt in.

Discovered in 1985 after the moors had been burnt back, these 3 standing stones are thought to be the remains of a 4 poster although no trace of a 4th stone has been found. Well hidden in the grass and heather.

The Northern stone rows seem out of alignment with the circle and are incomplete, the Northernmost stones apart from the blocking stone appearing to be missing. Still a nice site though and quite easily accessible.

The Old Wife’s Neck is two standing stones incorporated into a linear earthwork. To get there, start at the Maybeck Forest Walk car park and then hike back up the road to New Maybeck Farm, the scruffiest farm you ever saw! Turn right here and follow the path along and past the woods until you come to the moor and the sad remains of John Cross. Turn right and follow the path parallel to the forest.
You cannot see the stones until you arrive at the double dyke earthworks, then you will see them on your right.
The long linear dyke is orientated East – West and is approx 1km long.
The stones on on the western end and are within the dyke feature.
There are two stones, the first is approx 0.9m high and the second 1.2m high.
Observed from either the east or west the larger stone appears not unlike a human head and neck although from the north or south it appears to be a squat ‘L’ shape.
The stones are orientated to a pair of mounds on the western horizon ? Foster Howes. The view to the east is obscured by the rise of the hill and the dyke feature. If you walk a few meters up onto the dyke you can see across to Robin Hood’s Bay and the sea.
You can also see Standing Stones Rigg from here ( the site of Ramsdale Stone circle).
This is a lovely bleak spot, the sound of the wind blowing through the nearby forest reminds me of the sea and you can hear the whistles of the steam trains coming over the moors from Goathland.
If you want to make a nice circular walk of your visit you can follow the path right around the margins of the forest and take in Louven Howe, Lilla Cross which is on Lilla Howe, Ann’s cross also on a mound (two examples of christianised barrows) Foster Howe, Robbed Howe, and the igneous Cleveland Dyke.
Alternatively, if you’ve got the kids with you and just fancy a short circular walk, continue along the path from the stones and then cross into the forest on the marked path, when you come to the ruins of John Bond’s sheep house take the right hand fork. This will take you along the Blea hill beck. Its a lovely path following the beck . It criss crosses the Beck and takes you through lovely glades of daffodils and primroses. The valley is absolutely gorgeous at this time of year. The path brings you back to the car park.
Lovely!

Funny one this....missing from most standing stone literature, but well known to those into Dark Ages stone crosses. It is in fact a menhir which stood on the parish boundary between Gwinear and Gwithian until 1907, when it was moved to its current position in Camborne churchyard. Local historians hold the opinion that it is a prehistoric menhir which was converted into a cross in the 11th or 12th century........this is denoted by the very small and crude crosshead which has been fashioned by tapering the neck of the 6ft plus menhir, then letting it flare out again. The decoration of the crosshead is equally crude, and to all intents and purposes, it still looks like the standing stone it obviously is.OK, it’s out of its original position, but it’s a “maen” nevertheless, and deserved of recognition............

20 April. Took the walk from the Cow and Calf up to Green Crag.The Haystack stands on its own on the skyline and begins the path past the Idol stone and Idol rock.
Once on the crag turning south to walk up to Lanshaw Delves, a good spot to view the Apostle stones, and also see the Great Skirtfull , and Little Skirtfull Cairns, arranged around you.
Back down via the flint knapping site on Woofa Bank, along the ridge to the Pancake stone, and back to car.
It’s like going round visiting old friends now..........a brilliant morning.
Resolve to discover proper names and locations .

April 20th.......This being my’ local’ I was up on Rombalds early this morning,hoping to catch the light. No such luck.
But quality images didn’t seem to matter after a while.
I’ve been walking this moor for 10 years now, and the place is still as magical. The little Idol stone sits down in the heather only a metre from the pathway close to the spring which feeds the bog on Green Crag Slack.

Hanging Rocks Caves
Saturday 13/4/02
Two caves here- the westernmost being the smaller of the two. This is a bit of a Fisher-Price ‘My-First-Cave’ for Aed! In the smaller cave the roof and the cliff leading from it are blackened- possibly from years of fires built in here. The larger cave is just around the cliff and has a small wall built at the entrance. You can walk about 10 m or so into this one- the other requires stooping even to get in. I had a check of the wall and roofs of these, but no signs of markings.

Gullane Links Linear Cairn Cemetery
Saturday 13/4/02
Finding a group of 13 cairns in an active dune system ain’t easy. We had to walk past the area we thought they were, join the definite path along to the caves at Hanging Rocks and re-trace the main path back round again. There’s only one path marked on the Explorer map, but in reality there are paths all over the place! I’m sitting atop a steep dune- there are beautiful spiders crawling over my legs- black ones and pale green ones. I even disturbed a falcon who was hiding in the long grass up here. Looking down on the cairn cemetery I can still count about 11 of the original 13 cairns mentioned in the fist field report from 1924. It’s still possible to make out the two parallel rows running off SW pointing to the Pentlands and Arthur’s Seat across the Firth of Forth. According to the latest RCAHMS report only 4 definite cairns could be found. Although not the most obvious of sites, once the parallel rows have been established you can walk across one of the rows of 6 cairns counting 5 in the parallel southern row. These cairns are exactly as marked on the map- however- there are two paths here- stick to the higher one that goes along the edge of the raised beach and not the one by the shore. The cemetery lies to the south of a large dune and inland from a small rocky headland.

Danes Stone (AKA Pitfourie)
Friday 5/4/02
In the last street in Moulin before the fields and forest of Craigower Hill stands this monolith called the Danes Stone. This whinstone block is just over 2 m high and aligned approximately E/W. Apparently several more stones are said to have stood here and are supposed to be half buried in the field, but the OS did a careful examination and no such stones were found.

Straloch (AKA Cotterton or Davan) Standing Stone
Friday 5/4/02
Of all the times we’ve traveled along this road I’ve never even noticed this stone- despite it being over 2 m tall! It’s tucked down next to the River Ardle behind some trees and a over a large ditch down on the same level as the river. Despite being so tall, the stone is really thin- only about 40 cm or so. It’s aligned NE/SW and has an oblong section missing from its northern side. This shape obviously makes it a great scratching post as the stone has been rubbed into a great shine by cattle.

Wester Enochdhu Standing Stone
Friday 5/4/02
Only about 5 minutes drive north from the Balnabroich stones- another monolith sits by the right hand side of the A924 heading north. Easily seen from the road as it sits on a bank at the very edge of the woods here. Kat parked on the verge opposite and I ran out for a look. It’s about 1.5 m high, leans slightly to the north and its broadest edge points off up Kindrogan Hill to the NW. Although right next to the road, there’s a certain tranquil air next to the stone in amongst the trees..

Balnakeilly Standing Stone
Friday 5/4/02
So- is it a megalithic monument or not? According to the RCAHMS database this stone may have been erected in the mid 19th C to adorn the entrance to Balnakeilly House. Apparently the general regularity of the stone makes it appear ‘modern’- I’m not entirely sure- I’ve seen many other monoliths as regularly shaped as this one- it’s also set back from the road quite a bit and in a group of trees. If it were to adorn the entrance it would have been given more prominence methinks. The stone itself is over 2 m high. I had a quick look at the new OS Explorer map and noticed that it’s not marked in antiquarian font, although all previous editions have marked it as so. Hmmmm.

Keep on the path, passed ‘Park Gate Circle’ for a few hundred yards, turn right onto the moors when you’re in line with the firebreak, over in the Bunkers Hill Wood plantation. The ring/robbed cairn is found in the slight dip.

May ‘03

When I first posted this I thought it was Beeley Warren NW, having since found the proper NW........ this isn’t it.
It has a definite robbed cairn look to it, a ring of rubble around a disturbed mound.
Not far from Beeley NW, in the dip of the two low ridges that cross the moor.

Wade’s Stone (South) is visible from the A174 at East Barnby. There is no public footpath. We parked opposite the entrance to the Training Centre (on Wade’s Lane) and accessed through the gate that leads to a path that runs beside the Training Centre.
Wades Stone is on a slight rise in the field in front of you. His vital statistics are similar to his brother 1km away 2m X 1m. He is not as weathered as his brother but does have one deep ?libation channel running from top to 1/4 way down.

Situated in a field on Goldsborough Lane.
Turn off the A174 at the East Barnby / Goldsborough cross road.
The stone is in a field on your left approximately one kilometer down Goldsborough lane.
The field is next to a small wood and at the entrance to Brockrigg Farm. Within a kilometer of the stone there are 3 round barrows, a Roman signal station and the other Wade’s Stone.
Wades stone stands about 2m tall and is roughly square with 1m wide faces. The top of the stone is weathered with deep ?libation channels running about 1/4 way down. The farmer had just been muckspreading when me and Timmo visited and the stoney chap was wearing a coat of crusty shit down one face.

The ring cairn is disected by a number of old packhorse routes and only a section of the bank and 4-5 kerbstones remain in the SE sector of the monument.
Nothing exciting but the settlement at Swine Sty is only a coupla hundred metres or so away.

Head down the track towards ‘Park Gate’ after a few 100yards there is the large cairn of Beeley Warren to the right, the Central Circle is 50m further on.
Unsure of access, but it’s worth seeing.

Travelling north 1.6 miles on the road from Clonakilty to Dunmanway, Ballyvackey stone circle lies in a field to the right. The site was recommended to us by Julian when we bumped into him at Kealkil. It isn’t in Burl’s Guide (it is in the big book though), and just gets a brief mention by Jack Roberts in his wonderful guide ‘The Stone Circles of Cork and Kerry”.

The site is strange, lying near the end of a field, a tree growing by one of its stones. The surrounding scenery is quite unremarkable, compared to its neighbours. Its stones aren’t huge. It’s neither hidden, nor in a striking position. I can understand Burl overlooking it in his guide, there are much bigger, more famous sites very close by, but I would definitely recommend a visit here just for its obscurity.

Took the 50 minute or so walk up from Llandrillo on Saturday 13/4/02. Wrapped up well following warnings from other contributers that it was always cold at the top. How wrong could they have been, it was glorious up there, sun was shining and there was virtually no wind.

A breathtaking view over to the mountains, where we could see a huge fire burning on a hillside.

The circle itself is magnificent, more than worth the walk. There was an incredible stillness in the air and we rested (or rather slept) for a good 1/2 hour before making the decent. Killed me knees on the way down.

This is another site so remote that you just wonder how the materials were brought up and what inspired them to built it there ?

Near Hathersage. Amazing hill fort on the moors very easy to get to too.
Two sides of the fort have a steep slope for defence the 3rd has a massive drystone wall, made from gritstone boulders. The site is approx 2 acres in size.
The rock outcrop at ‘Higgar Tor’ is definitely worth a scramble round too, this was ‘Wet Withens’ main alignment the Midsummer Sunrise.