Maen-y-Bardd is also known as the Poet’s stone but should be called The Dinkiest Dolmen in the World Ever. I have not superlatives enough for this place.
Like a rat up a drainpipe, I crawled in and sat down, lit a Camel and grinned like a mad woman for 20 minutes as Moth and treaclechops tore round and photographed it from every angle.
Trust me, if this doesn’t make you smile, nothing will. It is perfection!
The Druid’s circle is gorgeous and perfectly proportioned – not too big to overwhelm, not to small to underwhelm – and the stones are the ‘right’ height for its diameter. Many big tall ones still stand, including an anthropomorph of a be-robed monk. Nearby are a stone ‘something’ (perhaps a trashed stone circle, who can tell?) and a collapsed cairn ring of tiny stones. This is the remaining ‘A-list’ monument forming part of a vast sacred landscape behind Penmanmawr of which there is much to see round the back of the mountains at Tal-Y-Fan.
The ghastly hike would have been worthwhile if we’d had more time to spend up there. I didn’t even a chance to paint. If you can walk and look at the same time I’m sure the hike might be quiet enjoyable.
Not easy to find this. Drive up to the car park/picnic area just before the cemetary and park. Walk along the track that heads north west for about 350ms. There’s an information sign. Walk about 50ms beyond this then change direction by 90 degrees and head off north west for about 250ms. Now you need to activate your megalithic radars! We hunted round for quite some time before we located it. There are tons of erratics up here and in the summer with the vegetation high it might be ever harder to find. The OS map really helped, but once you find it. it’s unmistakable. This was treaclechops’ first stone row and as the weather was so gentle and clement we decided to have our picnic here.
A pair of rows, 2ms apart, run down an incline towards the sea for 30 ms or so. Most of the white stones are reasonably small, but one or two of them are perhaps 3 feet tall. Stylistically it reminded us of Dartmoor stone rows. The view into the Irish sea is stunning from up here, perhaps 150 feet above sea-level with more a less a sheer drop below.
Just 50ms from the great open gash of Great Orme copper mines, down at the end of Cromlech Road is what is left of Llety’r Filiast burial chamber, standing in a field by some houses one of which is clearly inhabited by a dog-lover.
The chamber is exposed and quite trashed with half its capstone broken off, pieces of rock strewn about. But it still stands, supported by great flat slabs upon which grows great white blotches of lichen. Stretching out behind it rises a massive tump of cairn material. No doubt the people who were laid to rest here were those from the mining community who worked the awesome*(!) copper mines just beyond.
Moth and treaclechops didn’t like it as much as I did. I loved it. I felt a real sense of connection with the people who build the monument because the fruits of their day-to-day labours were still visible at the mine. These were people who founded the first great British industrial revolution.
Hendre Waelod, also known as Allor Morloch, is in a lovely position overlooking the river Conwy on the edge of the valley on a gentle slope 300ms from the river. But it has suffered from neglect and screams to be cared for or it will be lost.
But you don’t have to look too closely to see the power and the glory of this monument. It mostly consists of a giant capstone, perhaps two and half metres in diametre and certainly three feet thick. I’ll repeat that in case you missed it, because it forced me to do a double take. A giant capstone... three feet THICK! WOW! The supporting stones are small and appear to have buckled or melted under the weight. But they are still there, in pretty poor condition, granted, but they still hold the capstone up.
Festooned around with rusty barbed wire, it now forms part of an evil fence on which I almost tore off some highly sensitive parts of my anatomy. (Warning, don’t try to ‘scissor’ over the fence, use the kissing gate further up the hill). It is largely this sense of it being rudely used as part of a fence and a sheep shelter that contributes to its forgetten, abused unkemptness.
Crikey! Didn’t expect to come face-to-face with a typical Cotswold-Severn tomb in North Wales.
The lovely horned forecourt and shape of the entire structure is marked out with little kerbstones placed there following an excavation in 1925. The main passageways are open to the elements now, save for one large capstone flaking like tasty French patisserie.
The interior of the open passageway has large pointy uprights used as walling materials with drystone walling in between. The construction reminded me of Orcadian stalled cairns.
Though much of the cairn material is gone, there is enough left to indicate the vast height and bulk of this place. The rolling irregular contours of the grass on the monument undulate and flow in the same way as they do on Hetty Peglar’s Tump. Gorgeous.
This is an ‘A-list’ site in the most beautiful valley overlooked by a corking gorsedd stone. What a shame the wretched information boards are sited too high and the large metal kissing gate is just a bit too close to the monument.
All the latest news and observations from around the Avebury World Heritage site, brought to you by our friends at heritageaction.org
From This is Devon website, 8 March 2005
A Westcountry diving team has uncovered one of the oldest shipwreck sites in the world. In an exclusive report, John Kirk reveals how the remarkable find was made off the Devon coast
A team of amateur divers who uncovered the find of a lifetime off the Westcountry coast has struck gold for a second time. Thirteen divers – all members of the South West Maritime Archaeological Group (SWMAG) – have unearthed 3,000-year-old Bronze Age artifacts from what may be one of the oldest shipwreck sites in the world.
They include a gold bracelet called a torc, a cauldron handle, and the remains of weapons ranging from rapier blades to axe heads and swords.
All were discovered off the coast of Salcombe last October, when the divers were expanding their area of investigation from a previous site where in 1995 they found the biggest collection of Islamic riches ever found off Britain.
Experts say the latest finds are even more significant, as they may be from one of the oldest shipwrecks ever discovered. The finds, which date from 1300BC, were immediately declared to the Receiver of Wreck, Sophia Exelby, at the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, as it is believed the relics come from an ancient shipwreck. They are now at the British Museum in London, where they are being examined.
Once the examinations are complete, the collection will be valued as a whole and interested museums will be able to bid for it – although it is likely that the British Museum will get first refusal, as the find is of national significance. It is believed the museum has already expressed an interest.
The divers received a salvage award of almost £100,000 when their last collection – discovered on a shipwreck a quarter of a mile off Prawle Point in 1995 – was eventually sold to the British Museum. That find included 460 gold coins, as well as ingots, nuggets, pewter, jewellery and pottery which had lain undisturbed since it was lost at sea in the 1630s.
The latest site falls within the area for the wreck which is protected from unauthorised and illegal diving under the Protection of Wrecks Act 1973.
The divers say they do not want to talk about salvage awards for the latest discovery and are more interested in the significance of the find.
A spokesman for SWMAG, which includes four divers from Devon, said: “The cash has not been discussed because it’s very early days and we’re just really excited about the find.
“We thought the 17th century wreck site where we discovered Islamic gold was wonderful. But this is different and is extremely significant.
“It could possibly be one of the oldest shipwrecks in the world. To my knowledge there’s also been no gold found at a Bronze Age wreck before, and this is one of just two Bronze Age wrecks in the country.
“This discovery has really been a team effort, and we are now working with the Receiver of Wreck and English Heritage to ensure that these important artifacts are put on permanent display to the public.”
The spokesman said the location was of national interest, particularly as Bronze Age artifacts were found at the nearby Moor Sands site in the 1980s. The finds from Moor Sands date to around the same time as those discovered in the latest find, and archaeologists are examining whether they came from the same vessel.
The latest find is dominated by the blades of swords and rapiers, but axes, tools and ornaments are also present. The swords are among the earliest found in north-west Europe, while some of the other objects are of northern French origin and are types which are rare in this country.
Receiver of Wreck Ms Exelby said: “This is a very exciting find which shows the breadth of information which is available from shipwreck sites. We are now working to ensure that these unusual artifacts are given a good home, where their historical value can be appreciated by everyone.”
Stuart Needham, curator of European Bronze Age collections at the British Museum, said: “The evidence from Salcombe and other rare sites help us to build up a picture of object movements, the organisation of trade and the character of seafaring.”
English Heritage and SWMAG are now planning a research-led field season later in the year to find out more about the site.
‘Ridgeway parade‘
watercolour painting (c) Jane Tomlinson, 2005
Looking south. At last! the fence that used to run within inches of this section is now gone.
The portal at the south, with the fence removed is now open for business as the builders originally intended. Fab.
What a fantastic site! There’s so much to enjoy here: still plenty of barrow mound left and the huge capstone of the once-covered chamber, fractured now, juts out from the earth, looking rather like a breaching whale. The side stones of what once was a curious curved entranceway snakes off to the north.
I can’t comment on how the monument fits into the landscape as we couldn’t see it. It was p*ssing with rain and the cloud hung very low indeed. There may have been mountains, dales, volcanoes and glaciers all round us, but we missed them all, the weather was so gloomy. However, I liked the site massively so I sat down on my handy bin liner, put up my umbrella and made a quick sketch.
Go here! Even in the rain!
watercolour sketch (c) Jane Tomlinson, 2005
Heritage campaigners have delivered 2,000 submissions to the Oireachtas Transport Committee opposing plans to build a motorway through the historic landscape surrounding the Hill of Tara in Co Meath.
The submissions were collected by the Save Tara-Skryne Valley group at various locations throughout Ireland over the weekend.
The group is campaigning for a re-routing of the M3 motorway away from the Tara-Skryne Valley, which is rich with archaeology dating back to the Stone Age.
Vincent Salafia, a spokesman for the Save Tara-Skryne Valley group, said the argument against the current route of the motorway was based on economics as well as archaeological protection.
He said lengthy court battles and painstaking excavations mean the M3, in its current form, could not be completed before 2015.
“It would actually be cheaper and delivered quicker if they re-routed the motorway now,” he added.
‘Golden winter dawn at Silbury‘
watercolour
(c) Jane Tomlinson, 2004
...with thanks to Pete G for providing the initial inspiration.
(Apologies for the horrible scan.)
Environment Minister Dick Roche has reportedly stated that he does not have the power to significantly alter the proposed route of the M3 motorway through Co Meath.
Campaigners are urging Mr Roche to re-route the road away from the Tara-Skryne valley due to the archaeological and historical importance of the area.
The proposed route of M3 would pass close to the Hill of Tara and would also lead to the destruction of dozens of archaeological sites.
However, reports this morning said the minister had insisted that his only role in the controversy is to decide on the method of preservation for archaeological sites.
Under a recent amendment to the National Monuments Act, Mr Roche has the power to order the in-situ preservation of such sites, a move that would necessitate a change in the route of the M3.
‘Big five’ watercolour painting (c) Jane Tomlinson, 2004
‘Fragile‘
watercolour painting (c) Jane Tomlinson, 2004
‘Wild flower at Brodgar’, watercolour painting (c) Jane Tomlinson, 2004
Tuesday November 30, 2004, The Guardian
A carpenter’s new theory on how Stonehenge came about could roll away old theories on Britain’s megalithic monument, finds Patrick Weir
For more than 20 years, Derbyshire carpenter Gordon Pipes has been striving to find an answer to a 4,000-year-old question that still confounds archaeologists; namely how, without roads or wheels, did Neolithic man transport 80 sarsen stones, each weighing an average of 30 tons, 20 miles from the Marlborough Downs to Salisbury Plain to construct Stonehenge? The site also comprises 98 blue stones, each weighing six tons, from the Preseli Mountains in Wales. The question of how these were conveyed over land – it is agreed they must have been ferried in boats along the Severn Estuary and River Avon – is also unanswered. But Pipes is convinced he has found the solution.
“What fired my imagination was a book about the stone statues on Easter Island by Norwegian scientist Thor Heyerdahl,” he explains. “Working out how the ancients were able to move such heavy megaliths became an obsession.
In terms of Stonehenge, theories that one stone could have been dragged a mile a day by 700 men using rope and wooden rollers seemed as viable to me as alien involvement. The rollers wouldn’t have taken the weight and the physical effort required would have been super-human.
‘Mother Oxfordshire‘
watercolour painting
(c) Jane Tomlinson, 2003
‘White Horse Hill’ a watercolour painting featuring the Manger, Dragon Hill and the White Horse
(c) Jane Tomlinson, 2004
From The Scotsman, 24 November 2004
Archaeologists in Scotland have made a “hugely significant” discovery by unearthing the best and most comprehensively-dated Bronze Age site in the UK, The Scotsman has learned.
The tightly clustered group of 29 cremation pits, one containing eagle talons, was uncovered at Skilmafilly when the gas maintenance company Transco was excavating and installing its £56 million gas pipeline from St Fergus to Aberdeen.
With no previous indications of the burial site, either from ground-level observations or aerial photographs, the pits were stumbled on by chance. Transco called in archaeological contractors to check the site while the pipeline was being installed. continues...
by Maev Kennedy, arts and heritage correspondent, The Guardian, Monday November 22, 2004
Stonehenge’s past brought to light
The sign advises the solitary car pootling down the deserted road, past the reassuring AA phone box, to “fork left for Exeter” – unless the driver decides to fork right onto the infant A344, park on the grass verge, and pop in for a quick wander among the towering columns of Stonehenge, or for a nice cup of tea and a Bath bun in the newly built Stonehenge Cafe.
The photograph, one of hundreds excavated for a new book by archaeologist Julian Richards, from the National Monuments Archive in Swindon and other public and private archives, dates from around 1930. The car is passing the exact spot of the current furore over what to do about the world’s most famous prehistoric site. Read whole article here...
The Neolithic burial mound at La Hougue Bie in Jersey is to be discussed at the British Museum in London.
Olgar Finch from the Jersey Heritage Trust will be talking about the historic monument at the Neolithic Studies Group meeting.
La Hougue Bie, which was discovered in 1924, is said to be one of the best preserved European passage graves.
It is thought the burial site, which dates back to about 3500 BC, was also used for ritual and ceremonials.
Solstice light
In the early 1990s the burial mound was explored properly for the first time in an excavation project and a stone façade was found.
During the German occupation in 1942, forces began to build a battalion command bunker into the eastern side of the mound.
Over 70 trenches were dug in the grounds, causing extensive archaeological damage.
The tourist attraction is best known for a ‘light box’ which allows the sun’s rays to shine through the chamber at the winter and summer solstice.
Archaeologists claim the shaft of light which heralded the start and end of winter reveals more details about the lives and beliefs of primitive Neolithic man.
Speakers from Guernsey, the UK and Belgium will also be talking at the meeting.
The first excavation of a well-known pre-historic monument has shown it to be much older than previously thought.
The archaeological dig at Badbury Rings near Wimborne in Dorset has uncovered evidence that the site was inhabited at least 5,000 years ago.
The excavations, which were prompted by concerns that tree roots on the summit were damaging the site, have found the remains of a Neolithic settlement.
The National Trust dig on the hill fort ends on Friday.
Martin Papworth, National Trust archaeologist for Wessex, said: “To date, it is the only hill fort of this size not to be excavated in the area.
“We are hoping that this first excavation of Badbury Ring will help us untangle the chronology of this important piece of Dorset’s history.”
The evidence found so far dates the first occupation of Badbury Rings , which are part of the National Trust’s Kingston Lacy Estate, between 3500 and 1500 BC.
from news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/dorset/3684294.stm
14 Sept 2004 by David Bell, Evening Mail
The remains of a sauna used by Bronze Age Brummies is set to scupper a
multi-million pound marina project for the city. The ‘hot tub’ threat emerged
as planners investigated possible sites for the big money tourism scheme.
Water voles who live on the stretch of water at Millpool Hill, Alcester Road South,
alongside the Stratford Upon Avon canal, could be another hurdle.
Planners have identified the location as the only place in the city with the potential
to be turned into a marina with mooring for up to 80 boats. But the area includes
the sauna suite beside the Chinn Brook known as the Bayston Road Burnt Mound.
Dating to between 1500 and 1000 BC, it is thought to be the debris from heated
stones used as saunas by Bronze Age Brummies within the shelter of willow
structures. Councillors want a proper archaeological excavation to uncover other historical clues.
“This site proves that Bronze Age Brummies were far more sophisticated than we gave them
credit for,” Coun Peter Douglas Osborn told city planners. “You can tell it was a sauna
because of all the round stones on the site. They used it for recreation.”
Marina developers will also be required to carry out a field survey for water
voles – a legally protected species – and avoid habitats at all costs.
Officials want the marina complex to include a clubhouse, cafe, restaurant
and visitor facilities. They see it as a lure not only for tourists, but also as
a centre for water sport activities.
From: icbirmingham.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100localnews/tm_objectid=14640183&method=full&siteid=50002&headline=bronze-age-sauna-may-sink-plans-for-tourism-name_page.html
The report on controversial plans to build a £200m tunnel near Stonehenge has gone to the secretary of state for transport, Alastair Darling.
Planning inspector Michael Ellison has been compiling his findings since the public inquiry into the road building scheme at the world heritage site finished in May.
His completed report will contain a recommendation about whether a 2.1km tunnel should be bored through the landscape or the plans should be scrapped in favour of finding an alternative solution.
More here...
From an article by Stephen Stewart of The Herald – 9th September 2004
One of Scotland’s most important museums has been saved from closure by a £100,000 investment package. Frank McAveety, the culture minister, helped broker the deal which will save Kilmartin House Museum in Argyll.
Stars from the world of television archaeology including Tony Robinson, Baldrick in the comedy Blackadder and presenter of Time Team, had rallied to support the museum, which was due to close this month.
More....
Hey, TMA kids, why not vote? britarch.ac.uk/yac/voting
by Martin Wainwright
Thursday August 26, 2004, The Guardian
Thousands of young archaeologists are rallying to the defence of the country’s only GCSE in the subject, which is facing abolition by the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance examining board (AQA).
An online opinion poll and petition will be launched today to demand a change of heart over ending the “first-stage” exam which has a record of stimulating interest in A-level and archaeology degrees. Voting will run until September 30.
The campaign has been organised by the Young Archaeologists’ Club, which has seen a steady rise in membership following TV series such as Time Team. Although only 350 students sat the exam this year, up to 10 times that number are estimated to want to tackle it, if appropriate teaching can be found.
“We are ready and able to help with that,” said Don Henson, an education officer of the Council for British Archaeology, which has organised some of Britain’s most distinguished specialists in the country to lobby the exam board. The campaign is also being backed by the presenter of Time Team, the actor Tony Robinson, who called the abolition decision “plain daft”.
Mr Robinson said: “We should be making the past more accessible, not burying it. There’s a huge interest in archaeology these days, and it’s an interesting, exciting and open-air science which specially appeals to the young. How sad it’ll be if only those students who stay on into the sixth form are able to take an archaeology exam.”
The Young Archaeologists’ Club, whose members are currently fighting it out in a national competition to design a prehistoric monument, promised to campaign against the abolition with vim. There may also be a legal challenge to AQA because of the lack of any alternative to their archaeology GCSE.
“They have announced quite a list of GCSEs they plan to get rid of, including accountancy, classical Greek and Russian,” said Mr Henson. “But archaeology is the only one which isn’t available from any of the other boards.”
The AQA has regularly praised the quality of its archaeology candidates, despite teaching shortages.
by Norman Hammond, Archaeology Correspondent of The Times Online, 24 August 2004
UNPRECEDENTED protests have been made in Yorkshire about plans to quarry the prehistoric ritual landscape around the Thornborough Henges.
Although the closing date for comments on the proposals is still more than a month away, North Yorkshire County Council has received more objections than for any other planning application, according to the magazine Current Archaeology.
Thornborough — sometimes called “the Stonehenge of the North” although the monuments consist of three huge earthen banked circles without stones — has long been a scheduled ancient monument in recognition of its importance.
But protesters say that the problem is that, as at Stonehenge, the visible monument is just the core of a densely packed ritual area of other ancient sites. “The quarry has already eaten 40 per cent of the ritual landscape of the henges, we cannot afford to lose more,” Current Archaeology says.
English Heritage stated this year that Thornborough was “the most important ancient site between Stonehenge and the Orkneys”, but quarrying so far has come within yards of the henges. Although Tarmac Northern Ltd, the company involved, has responded by announcing that it will hold off plans to quarry Thornborough Moor, one of its potential gravel sources that is closest to the henges, it has applied to expand at the Ladybridge Farm site to the north.
“If permission is granted to quarry there, it will cause the loss of a further 111 acres of archaeology that is of critical importance”, Current Archaeology says. More than 10,000 people have already signed a petition against the development, organised by Heritage Action, which claims that the Ladybridge site “is potentially the most important remaining area of archaeology in the ritual landscape of the henges”.
George Chaplin of Heritage Action said that Ladybridge included the remains of a settlement between the henges and a dried-up glacial lake to the north which may have been used by those attending rituals. “Current quarrying in this general zone has already turned up large amounts of archaeology: smaller investigative excavations indicate even more lies within the Ladybridge area. It is a tragedy that despite knowing this, Tarmac is intent on going ahead,” Chaplin told the magazine.
The landscape includes settlement, alignments of pits creating avenues to structures no longer visible, and burials covering three millennia of ceremonial activity. “Much of this archaeology is extremely rare and nationally important in its own right,” Current Archaeology says.
Next time you’re approaching Swindon on the M4, look out for Liddington castle on the skyline.
