thesweetcheat

Northfield round barrow from the Cotswold Way, with the Malverns on the skyline.

Cleeve Cloud fort seen from Bill Smyllies Nature Reserve.

The Three Sisters and the southern rampart.

Looking out from the fort interior over the Vale of Severn. The square block of Huddlestone’s Table can be seen below, near the centre of the picture.

Inner rampart.

The quarried-away western side of the fort, looking over Bishops Cleeve to the distant Malverns (far left skyline).

Looking WNW along the cross dyke over the Vale of Severn.

Central section of the cross dyke, looking towards Cleeve Hill summit.

Detail of the bank and ditch, looking towards the northern summit of Cleeve Hill.

Detail of the bank encircling The Ring. The Vale of Severn stretches away to the right.

Nottingham Hill from neighbouring Cleeve Hill. Note rectilinear earthwork (date unestablished) in the foreground.

With camera on maximum zoom, this is a reverse of the previous image, taken from the trig point on the summit of Cleeve Hill.

Looking out of the western chamber, the view is directly to the top of Cleeve Hill (with twin masts), the highest point in Gloucestershire.

From the SW.

One of four similar swastikas daubed on the stones within the two largest chambers.

Evidence of repairs on the tip of the “horns”.

A lovely spring morning.

Formidable cliffs form the southern aspect of the fort. Seen from Nicholaston Burrows.

A steep drop guards the western flanks, now very overgrown.

Looking north across the interior of the fort towards Cefn Bryn.

The promontory fort, centre of picture under cover of trees, above Nicholaston Burrows.

The clifftop position of the fort, seen from Penmaen Burrows across Oxwich Bay.

Zoom from a handy sand dune. G/F remarked that it looked like a little house from here.

Detail of the lovely pink and white quartz of the capstone, reminded me of nougat.

Quartz studding on one of the fallen stones.

Looking along the eastern entrance passage, Cefn Bryn in the background.

The Porch.

The Front Door, sadly now fenced off.

The Back Door. Bit of a squeeze, but big enough for a burglar.

More wonderfully wavy stone work.

Detail of the cairn itself, looking due south (the cairn and central passageway are aligned precisely north-south).

Some of the slabs lining the central passage are quite hefty.

Looking from the west chamber to the east. Unfortunately some of the restored stonework has tumbled into the chamber, probably from people climbing onto the cairn.

I love some of the little details at this site, like the wavy drystone walling of the forecourt.

Parc le Breos long cairn from the SSW.

Looking south along the western scarp of the fort.

Looking along the steep northern scarp, topped by a neatly restored drystone wall.

The western rampart, relying on natural scarp.

Looking north along the eastern rampart.

Fire-reddened limestone chunks, exposed in the damaged eastern rampart of the fort.

The NE entrance to the fort.

Stumps Cross NW barrow in falling snow.

The western scarp of the hill, providing natural defences.

The southeastern corner of the rampart, showing how the farmhouse has been built over the earthwork.

Exterior view of the south entrance.

Looking out through the south entrance to the fort.

Looking across the fort interior from the south.

The rampart at the northeast, overgrown and tree-covered.

The inner bank and ditch at the north of the fort.

The double rampart on the northern side of the fort, from outside.