Cursuswalker

Knocknarea dominates the landscape of its peninsula gloriously. We were camping at Strandhill and by the time we had been there for 3 days I was itching to climb it.
I had read about the old tradition of taking stones from Maeve’s Tomb at the top, and how the local council were trying to encourage a new tradition of ADDING stones to the tomb instead, and I was mightily tempted to carry a large stone all the way up the hill form the beach at Strandhill.
In the event my father joined me in the climb and time constraints led to our driving half the distance and then walking from the car park at the base of the steep climb up its south east side.
The path is treacherously rough, a REAL path I prefer to call it, and you really felt you had earned reaching the top. From there it is a short easy walk to Maeve’s Tomb, which looks close up distressingly like…well a pile of stones. But then again I’m from a neck of the woods where we don’t have that much stone to pile up, so that was probably just me.
The real interest is on top of Maeve’s Tomb, where there is another small cairn. In my photo of this all the ground around it is the top of the Tomb, which is a lot grassier than one expects. From the top you can also see words spelt out in the heathland all around the Tomb with rocks from it, presumably for good luck or in remembrance of those passed. Okay, so this does involve taking stones from the Tomb, but it was very touching to see nevertheless.
We added our stones from Strandhill beach to the cairn and it felt a great honour to add to the building of an ancient site. I did my druid thing and honoured the site with a libation of water, then we enjoyed the view, which is incredible.

From Maeve’s Tomb we walked northwest to the edge of Knocknarea, to look down on Strandhill where we were staying. Wonderful views.
Returning to the Tomb I went to sit on the cairn at the top again. This time I was attacked by wasps, which I took to be a message to leave!

A wonderfully simple stone, with the modern base seeming not to detract from its power.
From here it is easy to believe that, on a clear day, 20% of the land mass of Ireland can be seen from Tara.

I have no Irish ancestry that I know of, but as my partner is half Irish I chose this place, as a Druid, to quietly say hello to the land and formally introduce myself.

What a fantastic spot...

What a confusion of ditches and banks! Not really helped by the fact that the British Israelites dug it up in the early 20th century looking for the Ark of the Covenant!

This should tell you all you need to know about that particular crowd: themodernantiquarian.com/post/3418

According to a guide at Tara, one of them still turns up yearly with a shovel and a map and asks to dig a test pit. Let’s hope this happens while a crowd of Modern Antiquarians are there, so we can help him to occupy it...

The figure at the base of the larger stone was described to me as being of Cernunnos or a Sheila-na-gig.

The second one seems more likely, given its setting.
However you decide:

pantheon.org/areas/gallery/mythology/europe/celtic/sheila-na-gig.html

In my considered opinion this strikes me as being a cursus. But then again, perhaps I’m biased.

I walked its entire length in both directions anyway, just in case...

A double circle Neolithic causewayed camp.

The inner circle can just about be traced all the way around, except where the circles have been interrupted by the downland scarp to the north. A right of way crosses the site, and the double entrances at both east and west can be made out best from this.

Also to east and west, right by the entrance in the case of the latter, are impressively sized Bronze Age round barrows (Impressive for this neck of the woods at least!)

This was the last causewayed camp built on the South Downs and it is roughly contemporary with Avebury Henge, where the Windmill Hill causewayed Camp was being abandoned in favour of the newer style of sacred enclosure, indicating how “backward” the Neolithic culture this far from the plateau of Wiltshire may have been.

I am adding some sites on Windover Hill, the site of the Long Man of Wilmington. These photographs were taken nearly 4 years ago and I have only just dug them up!

The landscape above the Long Man is well worth a visit for those who don’t mind shapes in the grass with no interesting rocks cluttering up the place. We don’t really do rocks in this neck of the woods.

(See the Goldstone, in Brighton, for a notable exception. The only megalith to have had a football ground named after it!)

The fact that a large Neolithic Long Barrow and a large Bronze Age Round Barrow seem to be aligned with the space on which the Long Man now stands is something that I find intriguing. While the Naturalistic figure of the Long Man could only be Roman at the very oldest, I believe there to have been something on this site for a very long time. If only we could see what were the original designs on this hill.

I am adding some sites on Windover Hill, the site of the Long Man of Wilmington. These photographs were taken nearly 4 years ago and I have only just dug them up!

The landscape above the Long Man is well worth a visit for those who don’t mind shapes in the grass with no interesting rocks cluttering up the place. We don’t really do rocks in this neck of the woods.

(See the Goldstone, in Brighton, for a notable exception. The only megalith to have had a football ground named after it!)

The fact that a large Neolithic Long Barrow and a large Bronze Age Round Barrow seem to be aligned with the space on which the Long Man now stands is something that I find intriguing. While the Naturalistic figure of the Long Man could only be Roman at the very oldest, I believe there to have been something on this site for a very long time. If only we could see what were the original designs on this hill.

I am adding some sites on Windover Hill, the site of the Long Man of Wilmington. These photographs were taken nearly 4 years ago and I have only just dug them up!

The landscape above the Long Man is well worth a visit for those who don’t mind shapes in the grass with no interesting rocks cluttering up the place. We don’t really do rocks in this neck of the woods.

(See the Goldstone, in Brighton, for a notable exception. The only megalith to have had a football ground named after it!)

The fact that a large Neolithic Long Barrow and a large Bronze Age Round Barrow seem to be aligned with the space on which the Long Man now stands is something that I find intriguing. While the Naturalistic figure of the Long Man could only be Roman at the very oldest, I believe there to have been something on this site for a very long time. If only we could see what were the original designs on this hill.