Rhiannon

There is a local tradition that this stone once occupied a site other than that on which it now stands. It was said that up to about eighty years ago it stood at a rath near by known as the rath Feerwore. Some years ago Patrick Lyons who had been employed by the late Mr Dolphin of Turoe for 40 years a herd pointed out the exact spot was about 10 yards to the west of the rath called Feerwore where the stone once stood. Excavations were made there and some animal remains together with a cist were found. The contents of the cist are supposed to have been human remains indicating cremation and the animal remains a funeral feast.

This is from the Schools Collection of the 1930s. The excavations are reported in the The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, v 14 (1944).

Does anyone know what’s happened with the stone? Did it go to the museum? Did it come back again? Is it still in that bizarre shed? The poor thing deserves a bit of respect.

1930s schoolgirl Maura Cryan wrote so nicely and enthusiastically about this edifice for the National Folklore Collection’s Schools project, I think it would be nice to reproduce her words here.

Situated on an eminence in the MacDermott’s demesne, Clogher, is an old Fort or Fortification. From its location, the plan by which it is laid out, and the thickness of its surrounding walls, one comes to the conclusion that it must have at some time in early history being used for defence purposes. This fort is perfectly circular in shape having a very fine entrance about six feet wide. Enclosed by those walls which are about nine feet wide is a plot of ground about twenty perches in extent, which is uniformly raised to the centre; thereby having what might be termed a nice foot path all around by the inner base of its boundary walls.

There are three underground tunnels in this enclosed area. One, which is by far the longest, has both an entrance and an exit, with a distance of at least twenty yards between. To explore this tunnel a light is required as it leads for most of the way under the main wall. The other two tunnels have only one opening and might be best compared to fairly large sized rooms. One of the latter tunnels is in the enclosed area itself. The other has an entrance under the wall very convenient to the main entrance.

The walls which are about ten feet high have on the inside platform (part of the wall itself) about six feet from the ground which evidently goes to show it was used for defence although local history does not give us much information on the matter. Although another feature which creates the curiosity of the many sight-seers who annually visit it are the huge rocks perfectly placed in position some of them set as high as five or six feet from the ground.

To prove its antiquity, this relic of earlier days, was handed over years ago by its owner to the Royal Antiquarian Society for preservation. This body spent a large amount of money in putting the entire place in order: great care being taken to make no change in its original plan. To further protect from trespass or damage a substantial wire fence was placed around it leaving between the fence and its outer wall a four-foot wall for sight-seers to use. I understand during the time the Society was engaged in its reconstruction among things found were bones and some gold ornaments which were sent to Dublin for expert examination.

This fort is beautifully situated on the top of a hill whose sides being nicely wooded add greatly to its appearance.

Nighthawking – not a recent phenomena (since morons have always existed). I liked his restrained anger:

The hearths and benches of this interesting [hut] circle, which I left complete in the evening, were destroyed before 5.30 the next morning – no doubt by some of those who, fancying that no one could be foolish enough to dig unless he was finding treasure, haunted us during the whole summer, and destroyed much that would otherwise have been of permanent interest. One day I found they had removed the turf from another circle, for the sake of destroying the cooking-hole – a procedure that almost justifies language that would relight the fire.

From the Journal of the Royal Institution of Cornwall v13 (1895-8) – in an article by Thurstan Collins Peter.

Borlase’s description from Naenia Cornubiae:

But the most interesting object in the parish of St. Keverne still remains to be described. It consists of a half natural, half artificial, dolmen or cromlech, situated on the estate of Grugith, on the Crowza downs, – a wild marshy tract, strewn with diallage rocks, each of them many tons in weight. In the locality it is known as the “Three Brothers of Grugith.”

In the case of this monument, a natural rock in situ, 8 feet 8 inches long by six feet broad, and 2 feet 6 inches high, has been selected as the side-stone of the cromlech. At a distance of 2 feet 3 inches from it, and parallel to its northern side, a second stone 7 feet 4 inches long, and averaging from six to eighteen inches broad, has been set up on edge. A third stone, measuring 8 feet 3 inches by 5 feet 3 inches, has then been laid across the two.

A Kist-Vaen, open at the ends, has thus been formed, 2 feet 3 inches deep, i.e. from the under side of the covering stone to the natural surface of the ground around it. Having obtained permission from Lord Falmouth to search the sepulchral monuments on his property in this district, the author caused a pit to be sunk between the supporters of the ‘Quoit.’ Nothing, however, was discovered besides a small flint chip, and the fact that a similar pit had been sunk in the same spot to a depth of four feet from the surface, previous to the erection of the structure. This was, doubtless, a grave like that at Lanyon, which, if it had not been subsequently disturbed, had, at all events, lost all trace of its ancient occupant.

Just a snippet from History, Gazetteer and Directory of Norfolk.. by William White (3rd ed, 1864):

At the side of the road, near the boundary of Stockton and Hales, is a large stone, weighing about two tons, called “Stockton Stone,” and in the ancient Town Book, still preserved, is an entry, dated 1645, recording the payment of a small sum for “putting stulps to Stockton Stone.”

A stulp is a support or post. So it sounds like they were looking after it.

A fatiguing scramble, and the top of Carnanmore – 1,254 feet – is reached. As indicated by the name, this mountain has on its summit a “great carn,” considerable remains of which are still to be seen. It is to be feared, however, that much of it has been erected into very matter-of-fact stone ditches, to mark the boundaries of “my Lord’s” estate. The remaining portions are well worthy of examination.

The northern side seems to have been partially removed, thus exposing a large chamber of unhewn stones; part of a covering of larger slabs still remains in position, while others lie scattered about. It is probable the carn was erected to commemorate some great victory, or mark the burial place of some powerful chief, whose name and deeds are alike long forgotten.

Though the carn is itself a monument of antiquity, one at least of the stones used in its construction belongs to a more distant period still. On its upper surface, but almost defaced by long exposure, are several cuplike depression, evidently of human workmanship. Were these the only marks upon the stone they might easily have been overlooked; but, on the under side of the slab, which can fortunately be seen by a person entering the chamber above referred to, many more perfect hollows, arranged in something like order, are quite perceptible. The present position of the stone is certainly not that which it occupied when the depressions were cut, as many of those on the under side are now entirely out of reach.

This is from the Annual Reports and Proceedings of the Belfast Naturalists’ Field Club for 1879/80. You can see the NISMR here.

A.D. 901.
This year died Alfred, the son of Ethelwulf, six nights before the mass of All Saints. He was king over all the English nation, except that part that was under the power of the Danes. He held the government one year and a half less than thirty winters; and then Edward his son took to the government.

Then Prince Ethelwald, the son of his paternal uncle, rode against the towns of Winburn and of Twineham, without leave of the king and his council. Then rode the king with his army; so that he encamped the same night at Badbury near Winburn; and Ethelwald remained within the town with the men that were under him, and had all the gates shut upon him, saying, that he would either live or there die. But in the meantime he stole away in the night, and sought the army in Northumberland. The king gave orders to ride after him; but they were not able to overtake him. The Danes, however, received him as their king.

Mention of Badbury in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. 901 was a bit frantic. Winburn is called Wimborne today, and Twineham is Christchurch.

Leland came here in the 1530s:

Hene Dinas a quarter of a mile out of Oswestre north-west. The toune or castelle of Hene Dinas standith apon a rounde hillet aboute half a mile in cumpace. Ther be iii. greate diches in the botom of the hillet cumpasing it, and in the toppe of the hille now grow great treas of oke. The commune people say that ther was a cite withyn those ditches. I think rather a campe of men of war, wheras perventure was the campe when Penda and Oswaldes did fight. There is a nother hillet of caste yerth bytwixt it and Oswester not far from Dinas self.

It always has to be about fighting when it comes to you men doesn’t it. Or so it seems. The nother hillet I assume is the little wooded bump between the fort and Oswestry, on the line of Wat’s Dyke. I’d have liked to have seen all the oke treas up there.
From John Leland’s Itinerary In Wales.

On a rocky eminence in the townland of Ballyvernish, about one mile from the village of Doagh, stands a whinstone slab, called the Holestone. This stone is upwards of five feet in height above the ground, and near the base six feet eight inches in circumference, and ten inches in thickness. At about three feet from the ground there is a round hole perforated through it, sufficient to admit a common-sized hand; it has evidently been made by art, but there is neither record nor tradition respecting the purpose for which it was erected, nor by whom.

About thirty years ago a man put his hand through the aperture of this stone, but was unable to extricate it; on which, those who were with him gave the alarm, and a crowd was soon collected, whose conflicting opinions only served to increase the fears of the person in limbo.

Amongst those assembled, was a Mr. O---, a resident in the neighbourhood, who seeing so much needless alarm, determined to be a little waggish upon this occasion. “Fly,” said he, to a by-stander, “for my powder-horn, and I’ll soon free him; I’ll blow up the stone in an instant!” At these words, the confusion and alarm of the multitude beggars all description, while the cries of the prisoner, which had hitherto been sunk in the noise, became piercing in the extreme.

During the confusion, the gentleman had sent off privately for some vinegar, and on the return of the messenger, with it, he began to pacify the prisoner, and to bathe his hand, which had become swelled in the various attempts made to get it extricated; and he at length succeeded in effecting his liberation, without application to the dreaded powder horn. [..]

S. M’S.
Carrickfergus

From The Dublin Penny Journal, April 20th, 1833.

Interesting that there’s no mention of any betrothal traditions – in fact quite the opposite!

A visit to the stones two hundred years ago. The superstitious may want to infer something from the horse’s reticence. But I think we need a proper experiment with a range of horses and control stones before we leap to any conclusions.

It will gratify any person, who, from a motive of curiosity, can turn a little aside (about a quarter of a mile,) from the thoroughfare of business, to see a CROMLECH, or stone of worship, on the right hand of the road leading from Belfast to Newtownards, at a place called Green-Graves, and about a mile and a half from Dundonald, (so named, probably, from the sepulchral mount adjacent, the mount of Donald, a chieftain resting under it).

This Cromlech, consisting of one large rock, supported on five others, smaller in size, two in front, of a wedge shape at top, and a third lying across the remaining two, upon which, and the two front supporters, the great stone majestically reposes, in an inclined position, as is generally the case, in this druidical monument.

Though perhaps not the largest of many to be seen in different parts of Ireland, it certainly, on a near approach to it, has a respectable, not to say a sublime, aspect; particularly when accompanied with the ideas of great antiquity, great power in the construction, and a great obscurity respecting its original destination.

My Rozinante, who thinks as little of the past as he does of the future, and is now come to a time of life when he can no longer boast of any nice sensibilities, no sooner came within sight of the sloping stone, than, by pricking up his ears, and a sudden start, he roundly declared, that he had never met with such a thing in the whole course of his life; nor could my repeated assurances, that it was nothing but a stone, (such as Fin Mac Coul might have worn in his ring,) induce him to cross an imaginary circle, which kept him at an awful and admiring distance.

The Duke de Vendomes used to say, that in all the disputes he had seen between the mule and the muleteer, and he had seen many hundreds, the mule was always right in the argument, and his driver in the wrong. In the present instance, I confess, I thought my beast was entirely and obstinately in the wrong, but I conceded the point to him, and allowed him to graze at the distance he thought most agreeable. [...]

A.

From The Belfast Monthly Magazine, August 1812.

For many, many years past, hundreds of Wiltshire people, and even strangers to the county, have made a pilgrimage to Stonehenge to see the sun rise on the ‘longest day,’ when, standing on the supposed ‘altar stone,’ the sun, immediately on rising, appears over the apex of the large ‘lion stone,’ which stands at a considerable distance from the outer circle on the Amesbury road.

Scores of persons started from Salisbury in vehicles of various kinds on Tuesday night; others ‘tramped’ it to and fro – eight miles each way – and slept beneath a rag under the shelter of the magic stones. Up to midnight the sky was bright and clear, and then a heavy mist and lowering clouds appeared, the result being that the ‘pilgrims’ – many of them footsore and weary – returned home to be heartily laughed at.

The above appeared in the Western Gazette of June 23, and is worthy of a nook in your columns.
H. Glover Rayner. Southampton.

Just to demonstrate that nothing much changes. Notes and Queries (1882) s6-VI (132): 26.

The cave was visited by Dr Samuel Johnson.

Reynard’s Hall is a cave very high in the rock; it goes backward several yards, perhaps eight. To the left is a small opening, through which I crept, and found another cavern, perhaps four yards square; at the back was a breach yet smaller, which I could not easily have entered, and, wanting light, did not inspect.

I was in a cave yet higher, called Reynard’s Kitchen. There is a rock called the Church, in which I saw no resemblance that could justify the name.

From A diary of a journey into North Wales, in the year 1774.

The Rev. J. N. Harrison says, that whilst some quarrymen were digging for limestone on the northern top of Coygan hill, they came upon a kind of cell, scooped out in the solid rock, in which was the skeleton of a man lying on his side, with the head to the north, the knees being doubled up so as to allow the body to occupy so short a space. The cell measured 4ft. 6ins. long by 2ft. 6ins. wide by 2ft. deep, and was covered by a large “clegger” stone, almost circular, 5 ft. in diameter, and from 10 to 11 ins. thick. The top of the covering stone was about 1ft. below the surface of the ground, and round the edges of it was a kind of dry-built wall.

[...]

The Coygan hill rises abruptly from about the centre of the marsh, and juts out into it so as to form a nearly isolated promontory of limestone rock. It lies a mile and a half south-west of Laugharne. From the summit a magnificent view is obtained of the Bristol Channel. Very nearly on top of the rock is the well-known Coygan bone-cave, concerning which the following facts have not before been made public.

More than thirty years ago, when I was only just out of my teens, I heard my late father, Mr. George Baugh Allen, relate an incident which took place on the occasion of a picnic party visiting the Coygan cave. The entrance to the cave is so low and narrow that it is necessary for anyone to crawl on their hands and knees who wishes to gain access to the interior. A fat lady, who formed one of the party, succeeded getting half of her body through the opening, but then stuck fast: the result being that she had to be hauled backwards by her legs, amidst the laughter of gods and men.

Just about the time when I heard this story, prehistoric man and his co-existence with extinct animals was being much discussed, and it occurred to me that it might be worth while visiting the Coygan Cave in order to ascertain whether it was a hyaena-den. I did so, accordingly, on the first opportunity; and when I entered I saw, to my great delight, that the surface of the cave was strewn with the bones of extinct mammalia, which, if any previous visitor had noticed, he had not thought them worth while carrying away. The bones obtained by me on this and many subsequent occasions, in company of the late Dr. Henry Hicks, F.R.S., were presented to the Rugby School Museum. Mr. Edward Laws, who has collected bones from the Coygan Cave, found a Palaeolithic flint implement associated with them. The bones and flint implement are now in the Tenby Museum.

From ‘Two Kelto-Roman Finds in Wales’ by J. Romilly Allen, in Archaeologia Cambrensis Sixth Series, volume 1 (1901).

Note on a Dolmen at Stoke Bishop. By M. H. Scott.
(Read February 10th, 1904.)

This monument stands to the left of the entrance gate of Druids’ Stoke, and just inside the grounds. I quote Seyer’s description [...] [Memoirs Historical and Topographical of Bristol and its Neighbourhood, Rev. Samuel Seyer, M.A., 1821, v1, p103].

“It consists of one large stone, and three small. The large stone is 10 1/2 (feet) in length, 2 1/2 thick, and 5 1/2 at the broadest. It has been thrown down, and having fallen on one of the smaller stones, which stood beneath, it partly rests upon it, and is prevented from lying flat on the ground, so that at first sight it appears a cromlech (i.e. dolmen) or altar stone.

Of the three smaller stones, the first has already been mentioned, as supporting the great stone; it is about three feet above the ground. Another lies close to it westward, and the third a few feet distant north-westward: the two last are broken off close to the ground, they may be fragments separated when the great stone fell down. That which was its northern or north-eastern face when it stood upright, which now lies nearest to the ground, is tolerably smooth, and of the natural colour of the stone; all other parts are eaten into deep holes by the action of the weather, and are slightly covered with moss, and the colour is dark and dirty.

The stone is a millstone grit, or breccia, and was probably brought from the foot of Kingsweston Hill, about a mile distant, where numbers of the same sort, although not of equal size, still lie scattered on the ground, and many more were formerly to be seen, until Mr. F. collected them for the foundation of his house.‘

Mr. Seyer, though he seems inclined to doubt that this erection was a dolmen, does not suggest any other theory, and his remark that the under side of the large stone is not weather worn is in favour of this stone having been the covering stone of a dolmen. The presence of three smaller stones is also in accordance with this. They are not so large as one would expect the supports of a dolmen to be, but it is possible that some fragments may have been carried away.

Miss Munro, whose father, William Munro, Esq., formerly owned Druids’ Stoke, says:--
“In my recollection, once a year a body of men calling themselves Druids, with a Priest (?) dressed in wonderful garments, used to hold a service at the Druid’s Stone.”
On my asking at what time fo the year this occurred, she says:--
“I am almost sure that the Druids’ ceremony took place in the spring before the grass was put up for mowing. I have a dim recollection that the Druids wished to have the ceremony later, but were told that they could not be allowed to tread down the growing grass, as they came in considerable numbers.”

So long as Mr. Munro had the property, as also his successor, Mr. Wedmore, this monument was safe enough. But since the death of the latter, the property having failed to find a purchaser, has been put up in separate lots, and it is quite possible, as the stones are so near the road, that at no distant date the land may be sold for building, and the stones removed. I therefore place this note on record.

From the Proceedings of the Bath Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club, v10 (1905), p318. Druids. Don’t let them spoil your lawn.

The Goldstone Monolith. -- An interesting monolith has just been disinterred at Goldstone Bottom, Hove, in the shape of the original and celebrated “Goldstone” or Druidic altar which stood from time immemorial in this well-known valley, but which was in 1883 deliberately buried. The stone is of an irregular, wedge-like shape, and measures about 14 feet by 9 feet, with a thickness of between 5 feet and 6 feet. The stone is described as an ironstone conglomerate, with veins of spar running through it, and when struck responds with a metallic ring. It is proposed to raise the stone on to a suitable base, and place it in the new park at Hove. -- E. A. Martin, F.G.S.

From Science Gossip, v7 (1901).

There is an old fortification, on an insulated rock near Cwm y Glo, in this parish, called Caer Cwm y Glo; the wall is about nine feet thick, and in some places about six or seven high; the entrance is from the west; several other fortifications are visible from it, such as Dinas Dinorweg, Lys, and Pen y Gaer, in Llanddeiniolen parish; the circular watchtower, between the two lakes in Llan Beris parish and Dinas Dinlle, near the sea in Llan Dwrog parish.

From ‘The Cambrian Register for 1795’ in a section entitled ‘a statistical account of the parish of Llanrug in Caernarvonshire.‘

Substantial sounding remains? There’s details from another visit from 1856 in Archaeologia Cambrensis and an empassioned plea for its protection and need to be valued here, as between 1854 and 1856 there had been much damage (“shamefully and needlessly maltreated”).

There’s no detailed information on Coflein though yet. Perhaps someone should take ‘H.L.J.’s advice that “antiquaries should hasten to visit it before it is too late”. It might be nice to check out whether the “small spring of water” still “trickles out from a rock near the single entrance on the south-west”. With running water and natural fortifications it sounds quite the spot.

I wonder if this cist is related to the stone Nick found. It’s on the same estate at least.

In March, 1880, roadmen digging for gravel in the side of a moraine in Dunrobin Park (Co. Sutherland, N. B. ) came upon an upright sandstone slab, which proved to be the foot of a stone coffin. This cist, formed of undressed slabs, lay north-west, about 3 ft. below the surface, and was 4 ft. long, 2 ft. wide, and 1 ft. 6 ins. deep. As the lid had not been lifted, the contents were undisturbed. These consisted of a skeleton (female), in fair preservation. Behind the head stood an urn of the “drinking cup” pattern, the farthest north of this type recorded up to this date, 1903. At the feet of the skeleton, which lay on the right side, with knees doubled up, lay 118 shale beads about size and shape of a silver threepenny piece. Six of these were perforated. Near these were 18 beach-rolled quartzose pebbles about 2 ins. long [...]

From The Reliquary and Illustrated Archaeologist v10, 1904. The accompanying photo is added above.

It’s quite dull to point this out, as their flutiness is perhaps why they’re so appealing today, but it may well be that these lovely fluted stones were not in their lovely fluted state when they were erected. Here are some gleanings from an article about the circle’s excavation in 2008.

The stone is thought to come from an outcrop of Fell Sandstone at NT935437, east of here. The stones must have been dressed there, or at least away from the circle, as when the site was excavated, no tell-tale bits were found.

The grooves are called ‘rillenkarren’ and are caused when wind and water erodes the stone. But the direction the grooves run in, parallel to the bedding plane, suggests they developed after the stones were put up. Because if they’d been chosen for their rillishness in situ, the grooves would probably run the other way compared to the bedding plane.

The waists of the stones are said to be as a result of physical erosion too (maybe animals plus weathering), although the general shape of narrow bottomed / wide topped was probably part of the deliberate shaping.

Another point is that if Beckensall’s cup marks are man-made, they must have been put on there post-dressing of the stones, and therefore be unusually dateable.

Roughly a fifth of the stones’ heights are hidden beneath the ground, which because it doesn’t seem like very much, led the authors of the article to speculate whether the ‘waists’ of the stones were actually caused by erosion at a former ground level.

And a last point, that although the stones mostly have two flatter faces and two narrow sides, the builders of the circle didn’t seem to orientate them in a consistent way (for example, in/out of the circle, or towards a point of the compass). But it may be they ‘relied upon some lost factor of the landscape we cannot know’. Indeed.

Much more besides in: ‘The Excavation of Duddo Stone Circle, Northumberland’ by B Edwards, R Miket, and R Bishop (2011): Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 77, pp321-353.

A very fair response was made to the appeal issued on behalf of your Society and the Viking Club for funds for carrying out a careful exploration of Wick Barrow (better known locally as ‘Pixies’ Patch,’) near Stogursey. The excavations were carried out under the directio of Mr. H. St. George Gray who was ably assisted by the Rev. C. W. Whistler (your Society’s Local Secretary for Cannington), and Mr. Albany Major (Editor to the Viking Club). The work has not been completed, but an interim report has been issued to subscribers. The secondary interments so far uncovered date back to the early Bronze Age, and your Museum has already been enriched by an extremely fine flint knife-dagger and two well ornamented drinking-vessels found with the skeletons. The work will be resumed early in the autumn and further subscriptions towards the work are solicited.

---

The highest interest was taken by members of the Society and others in the excavations conducted at Wick Barrow [...] the operations were witnessed by sometimes as many as sixty at a time.

P7-8 and p67 in Proceedings of the Somersetshire Archaeological and Natural History Society for the year 1907 (v8).

The parish of Amroth has as its southern boundary the Bristol Channel, and along a considerable stretch of the shore the sea has been encroaching upon the land for untold ages. At very low tides the remains of a submerged forest are visible. Bones of comparatively recent animals, the wild ox and stag, and flint objects in various stages of development and states of workmanship have been found, of which an interesting collection is exhibited in the Tenby Public Museum. They are all of the Neolithic period.

An excellent paper entitled “Flint-working sites on the submerged forest bordering the Pembrokeshire coast, by Mr. A.L. Leach, F.G.S., will be found in the Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association for 1918 (vol. 29, part 2), from which the following remarks are taken.

“Amroth, Site B2. -- Below the western end of this village evidence of flint-working abounds on a site first noted in August, 1912, and examined each summer and winter since. The sea washes away the soft blue silt, leaving the flakes projecting more or less noticeably. On each occasion I removed all visible flints and by the time of the next visit a fresh crop had become exposed. In August, 1917, for the first time in my experience, the whole site lay buried under several inches of sand. Objects in flint and chert collected inclued: one hollow scraper, one long flake, ridge-backed and serrated (saw); two shorter flint saws, two conical cores, one core trimmed to yield small flakes, three contiguous flakes, three long cores of cherty flint, two cores of black glossy flint, ten flint pebbles partly chipped into cores, fourteen small blades, twelve large flakes, two calcined flints, some scores of roughly chipped and broken fragments.”

From ‘An Inventory of the Ancient Monuments of Wales and Monmouthshire: VII, Pembroke‘ (1925).

At the risk of being told off for adding any old bit of stone on Dartmoor, but this does sound rather good, and is not hugely far from the popular Merrivale.

Leaving Ward Bridge we pass up the hill to the east, and presently arrive at a point where our road, which runs up to the common near by, is crossed by another coming up the valley from Walkhampton. Here we turn to the left, adn crossing a small stream by a comparatively modern clapper of two openings near Withill Farm, shall pass Davy Town Farm and make our way along the narrow lane to Hucken Tor, or as it is usually called in the locality, Okel Tor.

The scene presented as it comes into view is truly characteristic of the Dartmoor borders. The rude walls of small enclosures, encumbered with scattered granite, are seen on the hillside to the right; to the left is the valley, and beyond rise rocky peaks. There is a slight ascent towards the tor, through wich the road may be said to pass. The approach to the cluster is between two immense rocks, one of which overhangs in such a manner as to form a rude canopy.

When we pass through the opening we find ourselves amid a number of granite masses of fantastic shape, not all of great height, but none the less strking. Many of these being draped with ivy, and all rising from a wilderness of dwarf oaks and heather and whortleberry plants, render Hucken Tor one of the most beautiful on the Moor. .

From Gems in a Granite Setting by William Crossing (1905).

We have, with much regret, to record the destruction of the famous and well-known object called “The Buckstone,” [...] it formed a prominent object on the top of a hill 891 feet above the level of the sea, and was one of the attractions to visitors to the Forest of Dean and the beautiful Wye Valley district. This unfortunate event occured on the 10th June, 1885, on the occasion of a visit of some half-a-dozen strolling acrobats possessed of more energy than sense.

[...] According to an account given by Mr. W. H. Greene, of Chepstow, who carefully inspected the remains a few days after the overthrow, it appears that the massive block was pushed off its base and has fallen a few yards below on the declivity of the hill, broken into many fragments, the largest of which lie upside down. The block, however, appears not to have been thrown off en mass, for the lowest portion of it still remains in situ. It would seem that there was a fissure in the stratification, probably beetween the sand-stone and conglomerate, extending half-way across, as shewn by the discolouration of the stone so far, but the remainder is red and fresh.

Hence he says, “these enterprising strollers actually broke the stone off its pedestal! There can be no mistake about it. They must have exerted a force of no common nature.” There is however, great difference of opinion upon the subject. Sir James Campbell, crown surveyor of the Forest of Dean, takes a more favourable view of the circumstances. He says, “it would seem to have been more the result of foolish reckless romping than of intentional mischief.”

It is not unlikely that the sandstone stratum of the block had, in process of time, become disintegrated from atmospheric causes, and that a slight disturbance precipitated the calamity which, from natural causes, would in no long time have occurred.

[...] In some of the newspapers it is stated to have been undoubtedly a Druidical altar, and some supposed accessories to such altars are particularly described. There is, however, no ground for such an opinion. It possessed rather a geological than antiquarian interest.

From Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society, volume 10 (1884-5).

Clearly this was once a massive tourist attraction for the area – everyone writing about their travels to Cornwall seems to have visited. It doesn’t seem to have had many TMA visitors? But this report is just like a fieldnote.

Castle Treryn is supposed to have been an ancient British fortress, though, at first sight, it appears to be merely a shapeless pile of rocks, never arranged or touched but by the hands of nature.

The situation was certainly never indebted to art for its strength, and all that human labour has effected is the piling of some loose masses of rock in the form of ramparts, of two or three of which there are traces, one above another. A considerable area is left between each, and the interior part must have been in early times almost impregnable.

The foundation of the whole is a vast groupe of granite rocks, rising to a prodigious altitude, and projecting into the sea.

Our guide would scarcely allow us to pause and look around us before he summoned us to see the Loggen-Stone (as it is called), climbing some of the barriers with great agility, and bawling to us to follow him to the “greatest wonder in the whole country,” as he was pleased to stile it.

This Loggen-stone proved to be an immense mass of granite, perhaps more than ninety tons in weight, and so exactly poised on the top of one of the highest rocks that a child might move it. It does not seem possible for any human exertion to have raised it to so great a height.

The precipice below us here was so horribly steep that we could not help shuddering as we climbed, and so deep was the roar of the billows between the chasms and irregularities of the rocks, that our expressions of astonishment to each other could scarcely be heard.

From volume 1 of William Maton’s “Observations relative chiefly to the natural history, picturesque scenery, and antiquities of the western counties of England, made in the years 1794 and 1796.”

When, on my first visit to Glenelg, I arrived at the first of the two brochs, that of Dun Telve, the larger, which stands in a field on the right, entered by a white gate, I found a mason at work on the initial stages of restoration.

The details of the work so successfully carried out are not only intensely interesting, but they afford so admirable an example of true restoration as opposed to ruinous rebuilding operations miscalled “restoration,” that i give them as kindly detailed to me by the young architect to whose art, approaching genius, and ingenuity the broch’s preservation is due.

He found that the ends of the broch had been pinned up in cement, and promptly cut away this obscuration and negation of the distinctive feature of drystone buildings. In such danger of falling was this broch that it had been shored up with heavy timbers, and, after careful examination and prolonged consideration, it was resolved to consolidate the building by grouting in cement that part which was in the greatest danger of collapse.

But in order that there might appear no trace of the use of cement, the joints of the section to be grouted were previously carefully packed with clay. Thus, when the cement was poured in at certain points, it found no outlet, and when the clay was thereafter washed away, there was no outward indication anywhere visible of the extremely clever and most artistic method of restoration adopted. Then, when the shoring could be safely removed, the broch was excavated; and, besides foundations of some out-buildings being brought to light, several stone cups and whorls were discovered.

Several years after, on returning to Glenelg, I saw this perfect restoration completed, as well as that of the second broch, untouched when I had previously seen it; and whenever I think of these fascinating works of art, the delight which I experienced in hovering about them at once returns to me.

From Wanderings in the Western Highlands and Islands by Mary Donaldson (1923). There’s a plan of the broch on this page. She also includes a photo of herself here – she was a photographer and built a box with removable wheels (the Green Maria!) to carry all her equipment, change of clothes, picnicking provisions and waterproofs: covered in green canvas so she could stash it invisibly in the undergrowth. I might like one myself. She sounds pretty cool.

A singular cavern, called Kent’s-Hole, is considered as the greatest curiosity in this part of the county. It is about a mile distant from Torquay. Two women, whose usual business it is, conducted us to the spot, provided with candles, tinder-boxes, and other necessaries for the expedition.

After pursuing rather an intricate track, we arrived at the mouth of the cavern, and soon saw there was some occasion for the assistance of guides, who presented each of us with a candle stuck in a piece of slitted stick. The aperture was just large enough to admit us. As we advanced, our guides fixed candles on the sides of the cavern, in order to give us as much light as possible, and to provide against the consequences of an extinction of those we held in our hands.

The chill we received after having entered is inconceivable, and our clothes were moistened, (as it happens in the Peak) by the continual dropping of water from the roof. The lights, when viewed at a distance, gleaming through the gloomy vaults, and reflected by the pendant crystals, had a most singular effect.

We began to fancy ourselves in the abode of some magician, or (as our companions were two ancient females, and not the most comely of their years) in the clutches of some mischievous old witches, the representation of whose habitations in Shakespere’s Macbeth we could for once persuade ourselves had its foundation in nature.

Kent’s-hole is in no part more than twenty feet high, but the bottom of it is very irregular, being sometimes on an ascent, and sometimes on a descent, and the moisture of the stone on which we trod rendered both not a little difficult and dangerous. -- The roof is in some places so low that we were obliged to advance on our knees. -- At length we reached the extremity of the cavern, which is full two hundred yards long, and, though it sometimes winds, seems to run for the most part in a southern direction. As no great elevation of ground appears on the outside, the declivity of it must be considerable.

An eighteenth century visit, from volume 1 of William Maton’s “Observations relative chiefly to the natural history, picturesque scenery, and antiquities of the western counties of England, made in the years 1794 and 1796.” It sounds slightly less commercialised than today, as you can now opt to get married there or go on the “ghost tour”. Hmm. They do advise sensible footwear though, something Mr Maton should probably have considered.

An earlyish mention of the area, in volume 1 of William Maton’s extremely long titled “Observations relative chiefly to the natural history, picturesque scenery, and antiquities of the western counties of England, made in the years 1794 and 1796.” It’s interesting to see Formicaant making some similar observations 200+ years later.

About a mile and a half from Woodyates’ Inn, we observed several tumuli, or barrows, some of which are extremely large. There are also four circular trenches, each about sixty feet in diameter, and having a sort of hillock in the centre, that appears to be depressed or sunk in the middle. It is probable that these last were used in the performance of some religious or funereal rites, and are coeval with the former; that they are as old as the British times, seems evident from the following circumstance: the Roman road reduces the size of one of them that lay in the line of its course, the bank being in one part incomplete. On the declivity of the hill to the left, there are vestiges of some extensive entrenchments, which afford reason for believing that this spot might once have been the scene of an important battle.

I’m guessing this could be the stone mentioned below, and it has indeed been moved as Phil suggests. I’m not sure the sizes fit, but the hole might look suitably wide. Otherwise, I guess it’s a different one, holed stones galore.

Near the Dawns Men, in the fence of a field by the footpath leading to Borah, is another holed stone, laid down lengthways. It is thirty-three inches wide at one end, tapering down to ten inches at the other, and seven inches in thickness. The circular hole, five inches in diameter, is seven inches from the extremity of the widest portion.

Rambles in Western Cornwall by the Footsteps of the Giants by J O Halliwell-Phillipps (1861).

In Cornwall there are Monuments of a very singular kind, which have hitherto escaped the notice of Travellers; and, though elsewhere in Britain, doubtless, as well as here, in like situations, have never been remarked upon (as far as I can learn) by any Writer; they are Hollows, or artificial Basons, sunk into the surface of the Rocks.

The first which I met with of this kind were those cut into a Karn, or large groupe of Rocks, in the tenement of Bosworlas, in the Parish of St. Just, Penwith, in the year 1737. Three of them may be seen, Plate XX. Fig. VII. d, e, f, p. 219.

There are many more Hollows of the same kind on this Karn; and in the tops of several separate large Rocks, which are scattered in the Valley beneath, there are more, and some have one single Bason on their highest part.

From William Borlase’s Antiquities, Historical and Monumental, of the County of Cornwall. Now Mr Borlase’s drawing (here) may not fill you with excitement. But will you get a load of the photos here and here. I would like to confirm that I am officially no longer interested in mere cromlechs and standing stones and hillforts. They simply can’t complete with nature’s sculpture.

On the other side of the road, the third field on the Penzance side of the farm-hamlet of Trewren, is a stone of similar character to those last mentioned*, now used as a rubbing-post for cattle. This stone is six feet five inches high, averages six feet in circumference, and is tapering towards the top. In an adjoining field is another used for a similar purpose, tapering towards the top, of wedge-like form, six feet in height, and eight feet in circumference at the base. Both these stones appear to be too large to have been erected originally for rubbing-posts.

* at Tremayne. From Rambles in Western Cornwall by the Footsteps of the Giants by J O Halliwell-Phillipps (1861).

But the most astonishing Monument of this kind, is in the Tenement of Men, in the Parish of Constantine, Cornwall (Plate XIII.) It is one vast egg-like stone, placed on the points of two natural Rocks, so that a man may creep under the great one, and between its supporters, through a passage about three feet wide, and as much high.

The longest diameter of this Stone is 33 foot from C to D, pointing due North and South; from A to B, is 14 feet 6 deep; and the breadth in the middle of the surface, where widest, was 18 feet 6 wide from East to West. I measured one half of the circumference, and found it, according to my computation, 48 feet and half, so that this Stone is 97 feet in circumference, about 60 feet cross the middle, and, by the best informations I can get, contains at least 750 tons of Stone.

Getting up by a ladder to view the top of it, we found the whole surface worked, like an imperfect, or mutilated Honey-comb, into Basons; one much larger than the rest (bb), was at the South-end, about seven foot long; another at the North (cc), about five; the rest smaller, seldom more than one foot, oftentimes not so much, the sides and shape irregular.

Most of these Basons discharge into the two principal ones (which lie in the middle of the surface), those only excepted which are near the brim of the Stone, and they have little lips or chanels (marked in Plate XIII, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) which discharge the Water they collect over the sides of the Tolmen, adn the flat Rocks which lie underneath receive the droppings in Basons cut into their surfaces.

This Stone is no less wonderful for its position, than for its size; for although the underpart is nearly semi-circular, yet it rests on the two large Rocks E, F; and so light, and detached, does it stand, that it touches the two under stones but as it were on their points, and all the Sky appears at G.

Antiquities, Historical and Monumental, of the County of Cornwall, by William Borlase (1769).

A Correspondent writes:--
“Immediately beneath the Main (or Mean) rock, is an extensive and valuable quarry of superior granite, which has been worked to a depth of about forty feet, and close up to the bed on which the Main rock rested. This quarry has been worked by a man named Dunstan, who appears to have had a great desire to get at the valuable bed of granite on which the rock rested; and unknown to Mr. W. Hosken, the proprietor of the land, we are informed, has been working after dark, boring holes and blasting underneath the rock. He appears to have failed in his first attempt, but on Tuesday he bored a hole on the other side, and put in a charge, which, when fired, threw the Tolmen off its pivot, when it gradually, and as if reluctantly, rolled into the quarry beneath, where it now lies forty feet below the place it has occupied for centuries, to the wonder and admiration of thousands. Soon after it fell into the quarry these greedy Goths fell on it like crows on carrion, and commenced boring holes in it, intending with their rippers and wedges to split it in pieces; but, fortunately, the proprietor was informed of what had taken place, and he immediately gave orders that it should remain as it is, as it was contrary to his wish that it should have been disturbed.”

To the Editor of the Times.
Sir, – You recorded last week the destruction of the great Tolmaen, in Constantine parish, near Penrhyn, which was blown up a few days ago for the sake of the granite by a man named Dunstan. Having been informed some weeks ago by the Rev. Mr. Winwood that the Tolmaen was in danger, I put myself in communication with the proprietor, Mr. Haskin, intending to offer some compensation for, or, if possible, to acquire it permanently for the nation; but I was assured that there was no reason for any anxiety on the subject.
The mischief done is of course irreparable: but every right-minded man must condemn the wanton barbarism of him who has thus destroyed, for the mere sake of the granite on which it stood, a monument which old Borlase called the ‘most astonishing of its kind.‘
I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
John Lubbock.

In consequence of a communication from Sir John Lubbock in reference to the destruction of the great Tolmaen in Cornwall, the Council of the Ethnological Society has named a committee to ascertain the present state of prehistoric monuments in these islands, and the best means for their preservation. The committee comprises Sir John Lubbock, Professor Huxley, Colonel Lane Fox, Mr. Hyde Clark, Mr. Blackmore, Mr. John Evans, Mr. A.W. Franks, Mr. T. Wright, Mr. H.G. Bohn, and Mr. Samuel Laing, Vice-President.

In Volume 1 of the Journal of the Ethnological Society of London (1869-70).

The ”Fallen Kistvaen” lies about three quarters of a mile due south of that in Temple Bottom, and owing to the heath and furze which abound thereabouts is not easily discovered. Parts of the mound which once covered it, and some of the stones which apparently surrounded it, are still to be seen.

When I first became acquainted with it – some twenty-five years ago – the covering stone, a very massive slab, was entire, but one or more of its supporters having given way, it had slid from its original position, and rested on the ground, still, however, in part upheld by some of its props; and thus, though fallen, presenting an interesting specimen of the kistvaen.

When, however, I visited it about ten years since (and I generally do visit it annually), judge of my dismay at finding the capstone split across by some workmen, who – ignorant that it differed in any respect from the many other sarsen stones lying all round – had selected that unfortunate stone for some building purpose. To arrest the work of destruction was not difficult, for on communication with the then owner, Mr. Baskerville, orders were immediately given that the stones should be spared; adn now that the property has passed into the hands of the noble President of this Meeting, we need not fear any farther injury to it.

The indifference of the stone-masons to the covering stone of the kistvaen is not so surprizing when even so good an antiquary as Aubrey relates how he and Dr. Charleton pointed it out to His Majesty Charles II. and the Duke of York as one of the stones intended for Stonehenge, and “resting on three low stones, as a suffulciment as in order to be carried away”!

On British Stone and Earthworks on the Marlborough Downs by the Rev. A C Smith, in the Wilts Arch Nat Hist Magazine, v19, 1881.

The ”Mutilated Kistvaen” lies in the centre of the valley known as Temple Bottom, and south-east of Temple Farm, conjectured to be so called from the preceptory of Knights Templars established there in the reign of Henry II. It occupies the corner of a field, very near some detached farm buildings on the estate of Rockley. Sir Richard Hoare spoke of it in his time as “the mutilated remains of a stone barrow, having a kistvaen at the end of it;” and said “it is the finest example we have yet found of this species of interment, excepting the one in Clatford Bottom.” (North Wilts, page 42.) I fear Sir Richard would not say the same of it now.

When I first saw it some twenty years ago, it presented little more than the appearance of a heap of stones: indeed a great many loose stones were scattered round the large and more prominent ones, and it was choked with briars and brambles. Unpromising however as was its exterior, I had a great desire to examine its interior, and having received the ready permission of the owner of the property (the same liberal gentleman who so kindly allows us to examine the barrows at Rockley on Thursday next, Mr. William Tanner), I enlisted the help of my friends, Mr. Lukis (then my colleague as one of the Secretaries of this Society) and Mr. Spicer, Rector of Byfleet, in Surrey, and on June 12th, 1861, we proceeded to excavate the stone chamber.

With regard to the formation of the exterior part of it, whether it was originally covered with one or more roofing slabs, and whether it had a covered passage leading to it, we were unable to form any decided opinion, owing to the confusion of stones and its generally dilapidated condition: but we found a sepulchral chamber, guarded by a circle of upright stones, some of them in position; and on the floor of this chamber indications of a layer of charcoal, calcined human bones, and fragments of coarse pottery: we found also several unburnt bones, portions of a human skull and teeth; some of the bones of a hand and foot; and above all a well-formed and perfect bone chisel (now in our Museum at Devizes), of which a sketch is annexed.

We then examined the narrow space between the two parallel upright stones, and at B found unburnt bones of a hand and foot and fragments of pottery, and at C portions of a human skull and teeth, and a stone muller or rubber. The orientation of this chamber was probably east and west.

On British Stone and Earthworks on the Marlborough Downs by the Rev. A C Smith, in the Wilts Arch Nat Hist Magazine, v19, 1881.

Something is amiss here, because the very precise grid reference on Pastscape is not to the SE of Temple Farm at all. But is perhaps the reverend misremembering – he is talking about something that happened 20 years ago. But then again, he knew the area very well.

Fig. 12, Plate VIII. is a South-east view of three remarkable hills at the South end of Stanton moor, on which there are Druidical monuments (a). Careliff rocks on the top are a rocking stone and several rock basons; at the foot of these rocks at (b) is a hermitage. The rocks marked (c) form Graned Tor, or Mock Beggars Hall; the hill (d) is Dutwood Tor, where (e) is a rock canopy that hangs over an augurial seat; on the top of this Tor are three rock basons, evidently cut with a tool. This view was taken from near the bottom of the hill [f], on which there are several large rocks called Bradley rocks; on the top is a large rocking stone.

I flatter myself you will agree with me in lamenting, that these curious remains of antiquity should have been so much neglected, and that the want of attention, in not making accurate observations on the form and construction of these rock monuments, should occasion a disbelief of their being Druidical.

I am, with great respect,
Dear Sir,
Your sincere and much obliged
humble Servant,
H.Rooke

An Account of the Druidical Remains in Derbyshire. In a Letter to the Right Honourable Frederick Montague, FAS. By Hayman Rooke, Esq. FAS. In Archaeologia v12 (1796). Careliff = Cratcliffe? and Dutwood also seems to be variously Dudwood and Durwood?

This is a rather interesting site, because the layout of the Iron Age hillfort now encompasses the remains of a motte and bailey castle. The hillfort enclosed the summits of two adjacent hills, Wendel Hill and Hall Tower Hill.

Pastscape’s record rather romantically offers:

The hillfort has been identified by some researchers as the capital of Cartimandua. It has also been interpreted as the capital or chief stronghold of the Kingdom of Elmet and was later owned by Edwin Earl of Mercia.

Mr. H. St. George Gray writes: “On Saturday morning, December 2, the southern of the two large stones at Beckhampton, in the parish of Avebury, North Wilts, fell without giving any warning. Had there been any indication of the likelihood of a fall, the owner of the arable field in which these large sarsens are situated (Mr. George Brown) would have had the stone propped. Within living memory it has always leaned to the south, whereas the stone standing some twenty-five paces to the north-east leans in a northerly direction. The fallen stone is rather the larger of the two. In its prostrate position it measures 18 feet 4 inches in length, its maximum width being nearly 16 feet; approximate thickness, 4 feet 7 inches. Its depth below the surface fo the field was found to be only 2 feet 6 inches; any sockethole there may be cut into the solid chalk must therefore be very shallow. Several small blocks of stones have been revealed by the fall of the monolith.

[...] On the Ordnance sheet the stones at Beckhampton are called ‘Long Stones.’ They are also known as the ‘Longstone Cove,’ and the’Devil’s Quoits.’ Aubrey spoke of three upright stones, but only two remained in Stukeley’s time. [...]”

In ‘Notes of the Month’ for January 1912, The Antiquary v48.

From Archaeologia Cambrensis v13, s3 (1867).

About a quarter of mile further on [from Trefignath ], near Trearddur farm, close to the road on the road on the right, there are the traces of a similar cromlech (now nearly obliterated), called Coetan Arthur. Near this spot, in 1837, a vessel containing a great many Roman copper coins was found, of the later emperors. I took them to the British Museum, but there was none peculiar; and I regret that they were purloined in transmission by post to the owner.

Coflein describes this site as having two stones, one upright and one recumbent, on a rocky rise. The official opinion is now that it could be a natural outcropping rather than a cromlech with the remains of a covering cairn. But they do say that “it is possible that the erect stone was raised deliberately, and it may be a prehistoric ritual or ceremonial monument.” The upright stone is 1.6m high, 2.1m wide and 0.3m thick at its base. The prostrate stone at its foot is 2.3m long, 1.5m wide and 1m thick.

The cromlech, or rather cistvaen, of Trefigneth stands upon a rocky knoll close to the farmhouse of Trefigneth, about a mile and a half from Holyhead. There is a commanding view from it over the port and bay of Holyhead, with the Skerries island and lighthouse, and the opposite coast of Anglesey, in the distance.

About seventy or eighty years ago many of the stones, which formed the covered chamber, were wantonly taken for gate-posts and lintels; but the late Lady Stanley of Penrhos preserved it from further destruction at that time, and it remains now as it then was.

It presents the appearance of having been a covered chamber, of about 20 feet in length, 4 feet in height inside, and 4 feet wide, composed of a row of upright stones on each side, covered with large flat stones. There is a tradition that, when first exposed, on the removal of the superincumbent mound of earth or stones, that urns and human bones were found inside.

W. O. Stanley’s note in Archaeologia Cambrensis v13 (s3), 1867.

Surprisingly? (being a Cotswold long-barrow) the Pinkwell barrow hasn’t been added to TMA before, but maybe there’s still enough to see, according to its Pastscape record. Having explained how it is rare to find a long barrow unmessed with, the author then with no sense of irony, Commences Excavations. This clearly did not help its appearance at the time and doubtless contributed to whatever state it’s in today. Tch.

This tumulus has always been known as ‘Long Barrow,’ and the field in which it is situated as ‘Long Barrow Field’, but this designation was probably given to it at a comparatively recent period, when the Chedworth district of the extensive Cotswold range was first inclosed.

I learned that the southern end of the barrow had been disturbed about twenty years since for the purpose of obtaining stone, when three human skeletons were found lying side by side, but unaccompanied by relics of any description. The teeth were remarkably perfect. This rather invited than discouraged further investigation, for, although the centre of the mound appeared to have been disturbed on its surface, I was led to believe that this was attributable to the labourers in search of stone, and that it had never been ransacked by the antiquary or the treasure-seeker.

We commenced excavations on the eastern side of the south end of the mound, which appeared to be intact, and on reaching the interior it became evident that the floor of the barrow had been excavated to a depth of two feet below the natural surface of the soil. The sides were built up with the smaller stones of the district, in the manner of ‘a dry wall,’ but nearer the centre the stones were of larger size, and all were placed with great apparent care, plainly showing that this end of the barrow had not been disturbed since its first formation.

After a careful search for some hours, and the removal of a vast number of stones, we were satisfied that there had been no deposit of any kind in this portion of the barrow, and we proceeded to remove the stones at the opposite end, where the skeletons already mentioned had been found. As the work proceeded it became obvious that the stones here were not placed with care; in fact that they had been thrown together without order or arrangement, and that this barrow had been assailed at some distant period.

Nothing but the hope that the mound had been imperfectly explored would have tempted further search, and this at length ended in the finding of the metal tag of a lace and a minute fragment of pottery. By the dark brown glaze upon the latter, it is probably not earlier than the end of the sixteenth or beginning of the seventeenth century, and to this period I would refer the first assault of the barrow at Pinkwell.

From the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of London, volume 3 (1856). John Yonge Akerman, the Secretary of the society, reports.

THOMAS CHAPMAN, Esq. communicated an Account, by Mr. SAMUEL ANDERSON of Whitby, of the Opening of an ancient British Barrow, known as Swarthoue.

This Barrow stands on a lofty ridge of land, four miles from Whitby, and eighty yards from the high road leading from that place to Guisborough. It is the centre one of three Barrows having a direction W.N.W. and E.S.E., and is the largest of the ancient British Tumuli in its immediate vicinity.

There has been at one time a line of large stones pointing from one Barrow to the other, but only two of these now remain. On these are several markings, corresponding with those on a stone found within the Barrow.

The circumference of Swarthoue is 280 feet at its base. An opening was commenced on the N.W. side, removing a section to the centre, and going down to the surface of the ground on which it is based; the cutting was then continued in a westerly direction, and, after reaching the surface again, traces of an interment were discovered, with an urn of the usual character.

A further search led to the discovery of two spear-heads of flint, and two ornaments of jet; one of them a ring punctured with two holes as if for suspension, the other with one hole only.

On the N.W. side were discovered traces of dark matter, apparently the decomposed remains of a human body which had been buried entire. Further excavations were proceeded with to the south, and to the eastward, when a stone flag was found to cover a vault measuring internally three feet by two feet, and about sixteen inches deep, the sides being formed of two stones each, and the ends of one only. Within this Cist or Coffin nothing was discovered save a little charcoal and some dark decomposed matter. A little further a portion of a bone Pin, and a small Urn embedded in charcoal, and calcined bones, were found.

This Barrow had been laid slightly concave, or “dished” at the top. It had three walls running across it from north to south, about five feet in length and three feet apart, four feet in height and about two feet thick, many of the stones being so large that they were as much as two strong men could lift. The only object of importance found within these walls was a marked or carved stone of a character similar to that already mentioned.

From the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of London, volume 3, 1856.

But what were these markings or carvings? Cupmarks? or the undulating of the stone in Fitzcoraldo’s photo, or something else?

There is a stone here, Postman, but I hope you won’t kick yourself for missing it.

Carreg y Llech.
A monolith of sandstone, containing nuggets of iron stone, some of which have dropped out, leaving holes or pockets. It stands in a low-lying meadow, and is 6 feet high, 6 1/2 feet broad, with an average thickness of 18 inches, and leans towards the west. The remains of a low bank or base of earth, 6 inches high, are perceptible to the west, and around the stone can be seen what appears to be a rough pavement of small cobbles. – Visited, 1st June, 1910.

This is from the Flintshire Inventory of Ancient Monuments (1911). It’s on Coflein too.

On the mountain to the east of the common way to Calcoed, are two stones, about three feet high, and about twenty-two feet distant from each other. They are called Naid-y-March, or the horse’s leap, from a vulgar notion of the derivation of the name. They are of the very antient British origin, and probably the place of interment of some hero whose body was deposited between stone and stone. The distance might be intended to give an idea of his mighty size; as Alexander is supposed, on his return out of India, to have buried various suits of armor, of gigantic dimensions, to impose on future times an exalted notion of the troops he had led to this distant country.

From The History of the Parishes of Whiteford and Holywell, written by Thomas Pennant (1796).

In the parish of West Hoadley, about three or four miles south of East-Grinsted, the ground in many places rises in high ridges with craggy cliffs. About half a mile west of West Hoadley church, there is a high narrow ridge covered with wood. The edge of this is a craggy cliff composed of enormous blocks of sand-stone. The soil hath been intirely washed from off them, and in many places from the interstices by which they are divided. One perceives these craggs, with bare broad white foreheads; and as it were, overlooking the wood which cloaths the valley at their feet.

In going to the place I passed across this deep valley, and was led by a narrow foot-path almost trackless, up to the cliff, which seems as one advances to hang over one’s head. The mind in this passage is prepared with all the suspended feelings of awe and reverence; and as one approaches this particular rock standing with its stupendous bulk poised, seemingly in a miraculous manner, on a point, one is struck with amazement.

The recess in which it stands hath, behind this rock, and the rocks which surround it, a withdrawn and recluse passage, which the eye cannot look into but with an idea of its coming from some more secrete and holy adyt.

All these circumstances in an age of tutored superstition would give even to the firmest minds the impressions that lead to idolatry.

[...]

I make no doubt that if the Druids had resided in these parts, but that they would have adopted and consecrated this our Great upon Little, as one of their mysterious rocks, one of their symbols of the Numen, whom they taught the people to worship. Other priests also of the northern people might have done the same. The object itself would inspire, and the nature of the place where it is found would conspire to this imagination...

From Thomas Pownall’s article called ‘Account of a singular Stone among the Rocks of West Hoadley, Sussex’, in Archaeologia v6 (January 1782).

These two possible standing stones have the CPAT numbers 1781 and 5962.

Of the taller: This stone, once forming a gate post into the parish churchyard, was removed some years ago, when the present boundary wall was erected, to the farmyard of the closely adjacent residence called ‘the Church-house,’ where it at present serves as one of the gate posts at the main entrance. It stands 78 inches above the ground and tapers slightly upwards; its girth midway is 47 inches.

The other: This stone stands in the yard of Church-house farm, and close to [the above]. Of its story nothing is known. From the ground to its square top it has a length of 51 inches, with a girth of 72 inches. A small, circular hole has been drilled on one of its square sides, as if for an iron hinge.

An inventory of the ancient and historical monuments of the county of Montgomery (1911).

Just to the south at SJ 05809 27645 is Carreg or Careg y Cyfrwy:

This curiously and naturally shaped stone, known as the ‘Saddle stone,’ stands upon the parish boundary, and close to ‘Bedd Crynddyn’. Its height above ground is from 12 to 15 inches, with a length of 24 inches, and a width averaging 15 inches. -- Visited, 6th September, 1910.

An inventory of the ancient and historical monuments of the county of Montgomery (1911).

A tumulus, not marked on the Ordnance sheet. It is also sometimes called ‘Moel Cerrig Gwynion,’ and is visible for some distance, the white quartz stones upon it rendering it conspicuous. It has a height of 8 to 10 feet, with a circumference at base of 250 feet. No traces of its having been opened are to be detected. On its summit sheep have worn a slight depression, and the part so exposed shos the tumulus to be constructed of earth and small stones; the outer covering, now largely grass-grown, being formed of the white quartz already noted above. -- Visited, 6th September, 1910.

An inventory of the Ancient and Historical Monuments of the County of Montgomery (1911).

This might not be prehistoric, and it’s not mentioned by Coflein, but it is marked on the OS map so perhaps it should be findable for inspection.

A small unhewn and somewhat flat stone, so named on the Ordnance sheet, and said to be the capstone of a ruined cromlech. It is stated that about the year 1830 the stone rested upon several supports. The surrounding earth was excavated, and a quantity of coins and some other objects (said to have been of gold) were discovered. The coins, described as ‘ffyrlingod,’ ‘farthings,’ were dispersed in the neighbourhood, but recent inquiry has failed to trace any of them. The other articles are said to have been sent to Powis Castle.

The late Mr. David Roberts, Hendre Fawr, Llangynog, who has died (aged 90) since corroborating the above account, alluded to this monument as ‘Bwrdd y Gwylliaid cochion,’ ‘the red outlaws’ table.‘

The supporting stones, if they ever existed, have been removed or broken up, and no trace of a cromlech can now be made out. -- Visited, 17th August, 1910.

From An Inventory of the Ancient and Historical monuments of the county of Montgomery (1911).

A low grass-covered tumulus on Cefnhirbrisg. It is formed of small boulders of the local stone which crops out plentifully above the surrounding soil. Its height averages 8 feet; the circumference at base is 160 feet. Rushes grow freely at its western base. It has no appearance of having been disturbed, save for the insertion of the posts of a wire boundary fence which crosses over it. -- Visited, 7th October, 1910.

From An inventory of the ancient and historical monuments of Montgomeryshire (1911).

This cairn, known locally as ‘Carnedd Fach,’ is situated on Esgair Wen, not far from the boundary between Montgomeryshire and Cardiganshire. It was considerably damaged, prior to the year 1868, the stones having been taken to build a closely adjacent shooting shelter, no in ruins. The base of the cairn shows the lowest range of stones to have been somewhat regularly laid. It is 120 feet in circumference, and the present height is about 2 feet. As in the case of so many other carneddau and tumuli in this county, boundary fences – in this case three in number – meet at it; one of the fences has been carried across it. The base of the cairn facing due west is the best remaining portion. Carn Bwlch y Cloddiau, half-a-mile to the south, is distinctly to be seen from it. -- Visited, 11th October 1910.

From An inventory of the ancient and historical monuments of the county of Montgomery.

Bryn Bras Stones.

These six standing stones, locally known as ‘Cerrig yr helfa, ’ not marked on the Ordnance Survey sheet, are in a line with one another on Mynydd Dyfnant. The tallest is 6 feet above the ground, the others are from 1 1/2 feet to 2 feet. The average distance between the stones is 10 feet. Though unhewn stones of the mountain, they appear to owe their positions to design. A seventh stone is just visible in the bog, into which it seems to have sunk. The direction of the line is north-east by south-west. -- Visited, 29th July, 1910.

From An inventory of the ancient and historical monuments of the county of Montgomery (1911).

There’s something by Alex Gibson about the stones in v38 of ‘Archaeology in Wales’ (1998): “The Growing and Shrinking Stone Row of Cerrig yr Helfa, Mynydd Dyfnant, Powys”.