thesweetcheat

The northeastern rampart, some stonework appearing through the turf.

Looking towards Great Hetha with its fort.

Northern rampart, with the skyline hills of Yeavering Bell, Easter Tor and Wester Tor. The Hethpool valley with its stone circles is hidden by the intervening ridge.

Northwestern rampart.

Entrance gap on the west side, looking down on Elsdon Burn.

There are some low remains of hut circles inside the fort.

From the south as the residents flee.

Approaching from the southeast.

Looking down on the circles from the southwest, they are bracketed by the two telegraph poles.

Towards Great Hetha from the southern circle.

Looking northeast from the southern circle towards Hethpoolbell, with Yeavering Bell far right.

Fallen stone in the northeastern arc of the southern circle.

The southern circle from the north. The sheep are doing quite a good job of highlighting the arc.

Big upright in the northern circle, with the summit of Yeavering Bell visible over the top of the stone.

Big upright in the northern circle, looking towards Great Hetha.

Southwestern arc of the northern circle.

Fallen stone in the northern circle.

Northern circle from the north.

Looking down the upper Rhiangoll valley from Pen y Manllwyn.

Fan Gyhirych (centre) from Fan Nedd. The escarpment of Y Mynydd Ddu stretches away to the right.

Landscape context from Fan Gyhirych to the west. The cairn is at the lefthand end of the ridge of Fan Nedd.

In two days’ time it will be 10 years since my first visit to this wonderful stone. I think that may be Cerrig’s Datum 1 stone in the grass over on the left.

‘Cist’ on display in Chillingham Castle, apparently found somewhere on Hepburn Moor. It’s a strange thing, not being the usual separate slabs put together to form a box, but rather a single stone scooped out to make a grave. I’ve no idea if it’s authentic, the castle is full of weird curios.

Fine selection of flint arrowheads from the Berthele Collection, displayed in a murky and underlit cabinet at Chillingham Castle, apologies for the poor image quality. Fritz Berthele (after whom this site is named) was a former German POW who spent decades collecting flint tools from the area around Chillingham.

Towards South Shields across the river Tyne.

Steep cliffs above Short Sands.

Showing the proximity of the cairn to the cliff edge.

Looking south.

The eastern (seaward) side of the mound.

Exposed side slab at the northern end of the mound/cairn.

The remains of the cairn. There’s stonework beneath the bush, which may be growing out of one the cists.

Third cup and ring marked slab on display at Alnwick Castle.

Second cup and ring marked slab on display at Alnwick Castle.

Cup and ring marked slab on display at Alnwick Castle.

The earthworks at the inner end of the entrance.

The northern ramparts.

Looking southwest towards Black Hill.

The northwestern rampart.

Looking out over the Clun valley from the southern rampart.

Looking along the southern rampart.

Eastern end of the inner southern rampart, with further defences below.

Looking NNW across the entrance towards the Long Mynd and the prominent Caer Caradoc hillfort. The wooded hill to the right of that is Wart Hill Camp, where I was before coming here.

The superb eastern defences. The distant skyline hills are Brown Clee (three forts, far left) and Titterstone Clee (one fort, left of centre), with the wooded Norton Camp hillfort in front of the latter.

Prominent Burrow overlooks the little village of Hopesay. Seen from Hopesay Hill to the ENE.

The settlement area on the summit of the hill. The low remains of the single rampart are far left of shot, curving round the contour.