spencer
Ecclesall Wood 2 (Note: not telling which wood. There are three. Secrets must remain secrets. Sorry) Found at second attempt. NOT easy. Stroked and patted, now back under its duvet of leaves...moss had been removed by a previous finder – I prefer a bit, personally. Cutmarks by no means as deep as Ecclesall Woods 1
Image credit: Mike Purslow
You want it darker......and, yes, a m getting round to fieldnotes. Boy does this place deserve them. Real archaeology coming up..and possible reclassification as sacred site not just natural rock feature. There’s more to here..otherwise I wouldn’t bother going out in snow, trust me.
Image credit: Mike Purslow
The hidden gem in a city wood. I d o love this stone..it knows what I think. The moss is growing back. Please let it. I wish I could put do not disturb signs on the footpaths nearby, but that would only encourage the oppsite. A quiet treasure. And a photograph of it would make a lovely front cover for a book....but no image details within. Please, only go if you need, not want, OK?
Image credit: Mike Purslow
Ecclesall Wood 1. My first sight of it. February 3rd, 2017.
Image credit: Mike Purslow
Sunset over Carl Wark, seen from Burbage Moor.
Image credit: Mike Purslow
The interactive website of SHARP, Scotland’s Coastal Heritage At Risk Register. News, events, interactive map of the 940+ sites at highest risk. Report via it any deterioration. A useful and worthy resource. Some of those sites may undoubtedly be yet to added to TMA too.
What it says...there is already a link for Orkneyjar, tucked right down at the bottom of the page, dated from 2001. That covers a different part of the website, the ‘history’ bit. Sixteen years on the archaeology section has grown into an invaluable resource, and deserves to be at the top of the links and the first port of call for those visiting TMA interested in Orcadian archaeology. I therefore hope that this ‘sort of relink’ will be allowed to stand.
I hope TMA Eds will forgive me adding a site I may never visit, but from what I have read so far it is a very intriguing place, little known, which may prove to be of considerable importance, and would appear to be in part contemporary with Ness of Brodgar. A tomb of unusual size. See also the separate eponymous entry for the nearby Iron Age part of this complex, and the link within it.
A very interesting piece on Iron Age Orcadian burial practice, based on excavation of this structure.
This lies due north of the of the earlier and unusually large sized chambered tomb for which there is an eponymous but separate site entry. An underpublicised complex of importance. See link below for excavation details, and read the Canmore entry linked to the chambered tomb.
The Canmore entry for a most intriguing complex of Bronze and Iron Age structures which are under threat of coastal erosion and where excavation has taken place for several years.
Sunset above Carl Wark, seen from Burbage. They’ve gone, so have a fair few of the stones..but the sky remains. They saw sights like this, and now do we.
Image credit: Mike Purslow
Five minutes before taking this photograph while returning to the road after finishing my site visit I was charged by a herd of about twenty cows. Unknowingly I did the right thing, stood for a minute afterwards, then walked to the gate, but then turned and returned to the stones as I wanted to show the cows that they had not won, laid down in the grass, took out my old mobile phone instead of my usual one and pointed it. This was the result. I do not need to go back.
Image credit: Mike Purslow
The archaeological section of the new website of the Ardnamurchan History and Heritage Association, listing all known sites, which will be added to as and when their members fieldwalking discovers them. Much to visit already that is officially notified but not as yet on TMA or elsewhere.
My conviction that these stones have been a waypoint and place of congregation for millennia on the ridge that leads to Stanage is absolute. From this angle the right hand stone becomes ravenlike. Look: it even has an eye...
Image credit: Mike Purslow
An article with fine photographs of and information about Greadal Fhinn which also contains a link within it to more of both..as well as a photographic description of what you will see if you visit this site and then keep walking and climbing westward in this most majestical and starkly beautiful hidden corner of Scotland.
A fine collection of Scottish archaeological websites, many with prehistoric-related contents
...and the larks were singing... burial chamber L, round barrow R
Image credit: Mike Purslow
A return a year after my first visit, and I found that the replacement of the power line and the poles that carry it has caused fresh damage to the cliff to cliff earthwork that encloses the dun, which is believed may be an earlier structure. See photo. When the light was replaced a few years ago there was a watching brief on the work. Sadly, times seem to have changed..
2016: fresh damage to what is supposed to be a protected ancient monument
Image credit: Mike Purslow
N side. At bottom left partial removal of cairn material for field boundary clearance is visible. The cairn remains substantially intact, though
Image credit: Mike Purslow
The top of the cairn, stone, some moss covered, visible amongst fallen leaves. Depression at right of image may indicate at least an attempt at robbing, or perhaps the site of a fallen tree.. Canmore uncertain
Image credit: Mike Purslow
Seen – sort of – from farm track through the wood
Image credit: Mike Purslow
This site is no longer an island due to a fall in the level of the loch. It is unmarked on OS 82, but delineated by a cairn symbol on Explorer 310 on account of the spread of stone atop it. Access is from the fisherman’s car park at NX 235 549, from whence paths radiate, then beating your way through the brush. Canmore ID 62149
East cairn, SW side, with Knock Fell with its hillfort atop, in distance. Yup, I know photos are poor, it was late evening, but folk should get the gist.
Image credit: Mike Purslow
East cairn, south side. Cairn appears intact, and is a good 8’+ high.
Image credit: Mike Purslow
East cairn, NW side, seen from the road
Image credit: Mike Purslow
West cairn, north side, seen from road
Image credit: Mike Purslow
The reflection of the SE side of the crannog in the loch, the setting Sun shining through the trees that enfold, conceal but demarcate it (ATTN EDS pse remove my other ‘artistic’ image, mistakenly uploaded : ) )
Image credit: Mike Purslow
Team leader Julian Thomas’s account of the Manchester University Dunragit excavations, published in 2015. Contains a chapter on the archaeology of Luce Bay. A hugely important area, much work still to be done.
A summary of the Manchester University excavations at Dunragit in 1999-2002. Top photograph shows the excavation of Droughduil’s W side. Another photo shows the excavations of the wooden Dunragit circle and triple concentric cursus, with the interlinked Droughduil, believed a viewing platform, in the background.
The view looking NNW from the top, which is an early Bronze Age cairn built on top of the late Neolithic remainder. The pale green field top right contains unexcavated features ID’ by aerial photography inc a wooden posthole avenue. Beyond the field – the L-R hedgeline is the railway to Stranraer – is the site of the wooden henge and 300’ m dia tri-concentric wooden cursus excavated in 1999-2002. Droughduil itself was excavated in ‘02, and was shown to be a probable contemporary viewing platform for the 2500 BC cursus.
Image credit: Mike Purslow
