thesweetcheat

The western rampart, looking towards Lord’s Seat and the head of the Vale of Edale.

Eastern ramparts.

Looking northeast along the Great Ridge to Lose Hill.

Long views westwards.

The southern rampart with Castleton and the Hope Valley beyond.

The view down to the Vale of Edale over the western ramparts.

The banks flanking the southwestern entrance. Lord’s Seat far right.

The steep approach to the southwestern entrance from the pass between Lord’s Seat and Mam Tor.

Lord’s Seat from Mam Tor.

Lose Hill rises prominently, seen from the southwest.

This was as close as we could get, the whole area west of the road was fenced off due to “recent rockfall” (October 2018).

The southeastern rampart.

Interned banks flank the southeastern entrance.

Looking northwest towards the Long Mynd. The prominent hill on the right skyline is Caer Caradoc above Church Stretton.

Northern rampart.

Looking up towards the Giant’s Chair.

The stone rampart at the northwest of the fort.

The western end of the hill, looking towards Brown Clee. There are no obvious artificial defences here, the naturally steep and rocky slopes presumably deemed enough.

Titterstone Clee from the cairns on Hoar Edge. The two surviving cairns can be seen at the western (left) end of the summit.

The Giant’s Chair outcrop.

The northwest cairn. Brown Clee, Shropshire’s highest hill is far left. The Giant’s Chair outcrop is right of centre.

Northwest cairn and radar station.

Low rubble bank on the arc of the northwest cairn.

The northwest cairn.

Detail of the outer edge of the southeast cairn.

The southeast cairn.

Immediately south of the cairns the side of the hill has been quarried away. The southeast cairn is visible top right.

The northern arc of Hoar Edge A. There is a near-continuous row of blocks set on edge inside the ring, suggesting an inner kerb.

Larger blocks in Hoar Edge A.

Hoar Edge A. The outer edges of the ring are turfed over but quite clear.

Hoar Edge A. There has undoubtedly been robbing, not least to make the stupid shelter. But overall as a ring cairn its pretty well intact.

Hoar Edge A. Although the Pastscape description suggests it’s been robbed down to its present height, I disagree – to me it looks like a classic ring cairn.

Hoar Edge C.

Hoar Edge C, the smallest of the group by far.

Hoar Edge B, looking towards Titterstone Clee Hill – there is a pair of cairns quite similar to Hoar Edge A and B on the summit, which can be seen in profile at the left hand end of the hill.

Stonework on the top of Hoar Edge B.

The prominent Hoar Edge B, with lame sheep for scale.

Hoar Edge cairn B, the northeastern in the group, enjoys far-reaching views across Shropshire into Mid-Wales.

Last light at the end of our Arran week.

The northern cairn from the north. Stones from either end of a horned forecourt can be seen left and right.

Looking along the northern chamber.

Portal and facade stones of the northern cairn.

The dismounted capstone of the northern chamber.

The northern chamber of the northern cairn, looking towards a cloud-covered Goatfell and a sun-dappled Holy Island.

The remains of the southern chamber in the northern cairn.

The circular mound of the southern cairn.

The southern cairn.

The chamber of the southern cairn. The larger northern cairn is top right.

Elevated first view of Giants’ Graves as we arrived from Glenashdale Falls.