Rhiannon

At the distance of about 490 yards eastward of the centre of the Camp is a copious and ever-flowing spring of pure water, called Holy Well, which rises from the side of a steep mount near a lone farm house, and flows, in a stream which would be sufficient to turn two or three overshot wheels, down a dell to Lower Tadmarton village. There existed, not many years ago, remains of a paved way made from broad flags, leading to this spring from the camp or the outwork near the entrance.

p12 from ‘The History of Banbury’ by Alfred Beesley [1841?] (online at the Internet Archive).

There are two bowl barrows here, only 15m apart, N-S; another lies the other side of the strip of woods. The pair are now less than a metre high but the lone barrow is 1.5m. All would have had 3m wide ditches though you can’t see them now.

This sounds very peculiar – in fact it gets a bit surreal:

More than a century and a-half ago, there was another circle of stones about two miles north west of Pokeswell, at Little Mayne, but it is now in complete ruin, the stones having been again broken and displaced of late years. According to an account in Roger Gale’s MSS., the stones of this circle were first disarranged about 1710. Hutchins quotes him thus:

About a mile south-east of Dorchester at Priors Maen, was a circle of stones lately broke to pieces by the owner of the ground called Talbot. The stones were very large and rude. I saw the remains of one that had been hollowed through the middle: the tube was about eighteen inches diameter, and had been about six feet deep, as I was told by Mr. Conyers Place who saw it entire. Before it stood, as he assured me, two small images about three feet high, resembling children in swaddling clothes, and of rude work. There were two avenues pitched of stones leading to it, one fromt he south, the other from the east, as I could perceive from their remains, like those at Abury.

He then goes on to explain why there is sufficient evidence that the [non existent] Priors Maen is actually Little Mayne, as the name of the landlord matches up.

From E Dunkin’s ‘Some Account of the Megalithic Remains in South Dorset’ in ‘Reliquary’, January 1871.

According to the monument description on Magic... finds have suggested this is a Romano-British enclosed agricultural settlement that began life in the Iron Age. Its back edge is against the scree slope of Whitcliffe Scar, and below it is the River Swale – it’s got clear views up and down the valley.
‘Substantial stone rubble ramparts’ mark out two rectangular enclosures separated by a deep hollow way. There are some weird linked chambers in the eastern side, and you can see traces of a variety of buildings in both enclosures.

I just mentioned before the Base on which the Cross is erected, and that its form came near to that of a Triangle. This is an essential part of the monument, and, I think, ought to be called the Altar of the Cross. The common people indeed know no other name for it than The Globe, nor do I doubt their veracity in adhering to what they have been taught to call it; though, I fear, not by the first authors of the monument.

From Francis Wise’s 1742 ‘Further observations upon the White Horse and other antiquities in Berkshire. With an account of Whiteleaf-Cross in Buckinghamshire.‘

The Globe. I suppose that’s like the Orb topped with a cross (the type that goes with a Sceptre). Though Fleas (see above) might take its spherical properties as support for his own argument.

Francis Wise’s 1742 “Further Observations on the White Horse and other Antiquities in Berkshire” is often mentioned as the earliest bit of evidence in the ‘Is The Bratton/Westbury Horse Old?’ debate. I can now bring you the relevant passage. Apologies for the length.

There is a monument of this kind* which I once imagined would have confirmed my opinion beyond all possibility of doubt; though I had the mortification afterwards to find myself disappointed.

In the neighbourhood of Edington in Wiltshire, the place where Alfred gained the second most remarkable victory of his life, is a White Horse cut on the side of an high and steep hill, and under a large Roman fortification called Bratton-Castle, from the neighbouring town of Bratton: so that in this respect tis not unlike the Berkshire Horse. Bratton Castle is likewise the very place, whither, as antiquaries agree, Alfred after the battle pursued Guthrum the Danish King, and after a siege of fourteen days brought him to surrender: and this was another strong reason for referring it to the time of that prince.

Notwithstanding which I must give my readers a caution about it. For did not the fabrick discover it to be modern, yet the inhabitants of Westbury, a borough town about a mile from it, who made it and instituted a revel or festival thereupon, might inform them as much; it having been wrought within the memory of persons now living, or but very lately dead.

Yet still I think it may deserve the enquiry of others, who have more leisure than myself; How the common people came to be so fortunate in their choice of ground? and whether the authors of it had not preserved the tradition of some older Horse, now obliterated; and of some more ancient festival now forgot?

Now am I right, or is this very hard to understand? What does that penultimate paragraph mean? Is he speculating or what? And if he’s so certain, why the last paragraph? To me it sounds like he’s saying it’s constructed as though it were modern, and for confirmation, you could go and ask. But not that he did ask. He’s determined his beloved Uffington horse is the real deal and the standard (no pun intended – he’s obsessed with King Alfred) by which all other horses must be judged.

[* He’s talking about ones of iffy antiquity, I think].

The plot thickens slightly with the Richard Gough’s comments in his updated 1789 version of Camden’s ‘Britannia’. He disputes Wise’s doubts:

On the south-west face of the hill is a most curious monument unnoticed by bishop Gibson: a white horse in a walking attitude cut out of the chalk, fifty-four feet high from his toe to his chest, and to the tip of his ear near one hundred feet high, and from ear to tail one hundred feet long: an undoubted memorial of this important victory, and like that by which Alfred commemorated his first great victory in Berkshire eight years before. The whole of this figure is hollowed out of the chalk, and not marked with outlines so hollowed, as Mr. Wise seems to insinuate the Berkshire horse is.

I am surprized this very learned investigator of these kind of monuments among us should doubt the antiquity of this horse, which so exactly corresponds with the other both in execution and intention, and represent it as of modern make within memory. As I could find no such tradition when I surveyed it in 1772 he must have been misled to confound the scouring as they call it with the orginal making.

So, he could find no such tradition?.. so the horse could be older. And besides, when was local rumour ever right!

December the first, 1856, and a concerned Antiquary writes to the editor of Achaeologia Cambrensis:

During the autumn of this year the farmer in occupation of some land [...] in this neighbourhood has ploughed into a tumulus standing on his field; and, finding some upright slabs of stone standing within it, has decided on removing the tumulus altogether. He has, however, had the kindness to accede to his landlord’s request that the tumulus may remain intact for a short time longer, until it can be examined by some member of our Association.

[...] The threatened destruction of this tumulus loosens one more link in the chain of historic associations that attach us all to the beautiful and romantic vale of the Severn. Why may not the old unsightly mound still remain? Why destroy, for the advantage of the passing moment, this monument that connects us of the present days with our fathers of bygone ages? The farmer still may have to plough round it instead of over it; the landlord may have to lower his rent one shilling per annum in consequence; but the historic dignity of the country will not be lowered [...]*

Fortunately, D Phillips Lewis stepped in, and in the following April he and his antiquarian chums dug into the remains of the mound. They found three large stones, two over 5 feet. He thought they were igneous ‘trap’ from Montgomery. They also found heaps of ‘charred substances’ which they believed were cremations. He concluded: “Mr Evans [the landlord] proposes covering the large stones up again, once he has lowered them into a position that will not interfere with the plough.”**

Baza’s interesting link tells the story of the site’s reexcavation in 2006: many other prehistoric features were also confirmed in the vicinity. The site was built as a henge – the stones perhaps came a little later, and then finally were buried when the circle was turned into a burial mound.

* From a letter to Archaeologia Cambrensis, Jan. 1857, and
** ‘Tumulus near Berriew, Montgomeryshire,’ Arch. Camb. July 1857.

Antiquities.----The vestige of a druidical temple is to be seen upon a hill at the eastern extremity of the parish. This spot goes by the name of the seven grey stones; though in fact there are nine stones, surrounding a rising ground, and forming a circle of about 170 feet diameter. This place was excellently situated for astronomical observations, commands a fine opening to the east, and one of the richest and most extensive prospects in this part of the country.

From the second volume of the Statistical Account of the 1790s.

This is taken from Coxe’s 1801 ‘An Historical Tour in Monmouthshire’:

To the west of the new passage inn, near the ruins of Sudbrook or Trinity Chapel, are remains of an entrenchment, which are usually supposed to be Roman; they occupy a flat surface on the edge of a perpendicular cliff, and are nearly in the form of a stretched bow, whose cord is the sea coast. The entrenchment is formed by a triple rampart of earth, and two ditches; the two exterior ramparts are low, and in many places destroyed; the interior is in greater preservation, and not less than twenty feet in height [...]

It is generally imagined that this entrenchment, in its present state, is not perfect, and that half of it has been destroyed by the sea, which has likewise carried away part of the church-yard. It is likewise by many supposed to have been a maritime fortress, erected by the Romans to cover the landing of their troops, adn their first station in Siluria; an opinion grounded on the erroneous description [as a square] of Harris, and on the discovery of a single coin struck by the city of Elaia in honour of the Emperor Severus. For notwithstanding repeated enquiries among the farmers and labourers of the vicinity, I could not learn that any coins or Roman antiquities had been found within the memory of the present generation. It has been also attributed to the British, Saxons, and Danes; but was occupied, if not constructed by Harold during his invasion of Gwent.

The ruins of a 12th century chapel lie among the ramparts to the south east, and Coxe mentions “Within the memory of several persons now living, divine service was performed therein; and a labourer whom I met on the spot, assisted forty years ago as pall-bearer, and pointed out the half of a dilapidated grave stone, under which the corpse was interred.”

This promontory fort had little worry of attack on its seaward side, as it’s protected by 80 foot cliffs. And on the other side, it’s defended by an impressive 11m high rampart. There are several caves beneath it:

There are several caves in the rocks, along the W. between Arbroath and Auchmithy, one of which can be entered only at low water. When seals abounded on this coast, it was customary to let people down to this cave with a rope round their body, to the depth of 40 feet, with ropes of straw rolled round their legs, and bludgeons in their hands, in order to kill seals.

There is another, called the Maiden Castle cave, the entry to which is about 10 feet above high water-mark. The mason-lodge of Arbroath built a gate to it, and gave it a door many years ago. They walked in procession every year on St. John’s day* from Arbroath to this cave, where they admitted new members. It is about 231 feet long, and from 10 to 24 feet broad. At the farther end there is a spring of fine water, but exceedingly cold.

Above the cave are the vestiges of a fort, about 100 feet above the level of the sea, and on the land side the remains of the fosse and rampart are still visible.

There is another cave, which appears as if it had been cut out of the face of the rock, the entry to which is about 40 feet above the sea. It is about 12 feet long, 10 broad, and 8 high. The access to it is difficult and dangerous.

This is from v12 of the Statistical Account of Scotland of the 1790s.

*This has got a curious tale as well. Because the Masons (still?) celebrate John the Evangelist’s day, which is the 27th of December, and (more recently?) John the Baptist’s day, which is the 24th June – that is, basically the winter and summer solstices. This page has more details.

There are traces here of the hut circles and field system that were here in prehistoric times. And if you were living here, I feel you might absolutely have popped along to the ‘Vat’, which is a completely insane-sounding ‘water carved bowl’ – not just a little bowl but an immense open topped ‘cave’, only a short jaunt from the huts.

You can see a picture here at the Walk Highlands website.
Also there is a video on YouTube by Aboynejames (it starts about 45s in), which, though immensely wobbly, eventually shows the extraordinary narrow ‘door’ into the Vat.

In the fore mentioned hill of Culblean, there is amost remarkable hollow rock, which, from its shape, bears the name of the Vatt, and through which a rivulet runs. In going up to visit this natural curiosity, a stranger is much struck with the narrowness of the entry to the Vatt (being less than an ordinary door) and the large spacious area, in which he immediately finds himself enclosed by rocks from 50 to 60 feet high, and from the fissures of which tall and healthy birch trees are growing. There is one particular clift of the rock which the eagle generally occupies as a safe and secure asylum for hatching and nourishing her young, and where her nest is always to be seen. The rivulet falls down at the upper end through broken shattered rocks, and when flooded adds greatly to the picturesque appearance of the whole.

p231 in volume 12 of ‘The Statistical Account of Scotland’.

... on the other side of the Tweed, is a hill caled Cademuir, anciently Cadhmore, signifying in Gaelic, “the great fight;” on the top of which are four British camps, one of them much stronger than the rest, surrounded with stone walls, without cement, in some places double, and where single, no less than five yards in thickness; without which, and out of the ruins of which, have been erected near 200 monumental stones, many of them still standing, and others fallen down, -- indications that in very early times [..] a great battle had been fought on that hill, and that at the strong camp on the top of it, numbers that had been killed, and were buried.

From the Statistical Account of Scotland by Sir John Sinclair, 1791-99, volume 12.

... These were destroyed a few years ago, for fencing, by a reckless individual, though abundance of stone lies scattered in all directions. A stone chair was preserved from the wreck by Mr. Gerge [?] Wall, which is now placed in his farm yard.

- from ‘White’s 1857 Directory of Derbyshire’, which has been diligently uploaded by Neil Wilson here
freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~claycross/429-440.htm

I don’t know what the Megalithic Cognoscenti of the Borders will think of these two stones, but I’m intrigued to find out. They are both quite sturdy, one standing, the other lying, at over five feet. The RCAHMS puts them down as medieval boundary markers – but this was from an official visit back in 1938, so perhaps there’s hope that these stones could be brought into the tma fold?

About the year 1850 an act of vandalism was perpetrated at Ilkley, which would have been impossible in these days, when the Ilkley Local Board watches with such a keen eye anything that may enhance the historical interest of this rapidly increasing watering-place.

Below the two huge rocks known as “The Cow and Calf,” which have attracted thousands of visitors and invalids on to the breezy heights whereon they stand, stood a rock larger than the Calf, which was known as the “Bull.” It was much nearer the highway than the Calf [...]

The “Bull” rock had its name cut in large letters on the side that lay nearest the road, and it is much to be regretted that an unfortunate dispute between the owners of the free-hold and the lord of the manor, in which the former won the day, gave them the right to break up this noble rock and cart it away for building purposes. It is said that the Crescent Hotel wwas mainly built from this stone, so some idea may be formed of its vast size and proportions...

Admittedly pretty much repeating what’s been said below, but with a hint to its whereabouts. From the Local Notes and Queries section of The Leeds Mercury, Jan 21nd, 1899.

Last week, as Mr. Rugg, of Lapwing farm, in the parish of Shepton Mallet, between Oakhill and the former place, was digging over a tumulus, in order to cart away the earth, he came to some stones, in removing which he discovered a few sepulchral urns, of very rude workmanship, containing bones and ashes. In digging further he discovered more, in all 12 or 14. The farm is situated on what is called the Beacon, and in the vicinity of some very extensive and ancient Roman entrenchments, called Masbury camp. There are several other tumuli near the one above mentioned, which, in all probability, contain similar relics.

From The Bristol Mercury, November 7th 1840.

Some workmen were levelling a new road in Phoenix Park when they found four ‘vases’ containing half-burnt bones and ashes. Later, and presumably nearby, the older remains of a tomb were found: ”--a large slab of limestone, as is was taken rough from the quarry, supported by six lesser stones, forming a cromlech... and surrounded on all sides by a quantity of lesser stones, evidently taken from the bed of the Liffey.”

The President of the Royal Irish Academy was called to see it, and, ”When the earth was removed... it was found to contain the skeletons of two human beings, nearly perfect, with the tops of the finera of another, and a single bone of an animal, supposed to be that of a dog...

One of the most remarkable circumstances was, that under the head of each body was found a quantity of shells common to our sea coast, the nerita littoralis, rubbed down on the valve with a stone to make a second hole, with a view to their being strung as a necklace, and the root of some tree or shrub was found stringing them together. There was a single shell, a troolius, also found, with the pearly covering on it as if it had been recently found on the sea shore...”

There was also a flint arrowhead and a ‘fibula of bone, supposed to be the fastening of one of the necklaces’. The mound was originally an impressive 15 feet high.

(From the Freeman’s Journal and Daily Commercial Advertiser, May 25th 1838.)

The ‘Handbook of Irish Antiquities’ by W F Wakeman
libraryireland.com/Antiquities/I-I.php
unfortunately regrets that the stones “should be suffered to remain a prey to every wanderer in the Park desirous of possessing a “piece of the tomb,” in order to shew it as a wonder...” – let’s hope people have stopped chipping bits off.

I was reading about the Turner Prize – winning artist Grayson Perry. He’s well known for wearing dresses as his alter-ego, Claire, but he’s also got an outfit which I thought TMA readers would like.

telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2007/02/17/smworld117.xml

In the Guardian a couple of years ago he said:

This set of motorbike leathers was the first garment I ever had made, in 1989. I made the patches myself and took them in to the maker. He held up the willy patch between finger and thumb like it was a piece of off fish.

The figure also seems to figure in his work – ‘Vote Alan Measles for God’ for example!

The Clubmen were neutralist groups in the south and west of England during the Civil War, who were more interested in traditional country values than taking sides.

[The Clubmen’s] places of rendezvous, mostly ancient hill-forts, are also helpful [for determining the distribution of allegiances], for normally they are unlikely to have attracted people from more than ten or twelve miles away. A warrant of the Wiltshire Clubmen calls on the inhabitants of Dinton to appear at Buxbury, less than four miles to the south, by nine o’clock on 26th May, “to confer with your neighbouring parishes about matters concerning your and their defence and safety*“.

*From ‘True Informer’ no 8 (14th June 1645).

From The Chalk and the Cheese: Contrasts among the English Clubmen
David Underdown
Past and Present, No. 85 (Nov., 1979), pp. 25-48

Buxbury isn’t really a hill fort is it. But it is high up and it has got a round barrow and a long barrow. Let’s not be picky. Today it’s just above one of the Fovant WW1 badges cut into the chalk.

The Eternal, judging from his photos, had better luck with the weather than Charles Dickens’ protagonists in his ‘Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices’:

Is this the top? No, nothing like the top. It is an aggravating peculiarity of all mountains, that, although they have only one top when they are seen (as they ought always to be seen) from below, they turn out to have a perfect eruption of false tops whenever the traveller is sufficiently ill-advised to go out of his way for the purposes of ascending them. Carrock is but a trumpery little mountain of fifteen hundred feet, and it presumes to have false tops, and even precipices, as if it were Mont Blanc...

..Up and up, and then down a little, and then up and then along a strip of level ground, and then up again. The wind, a wind unknown in the happy valley, blows keen and strong; the rain-mist gets inpenetrable; a dreary little cairn of stones appears. The landlord adds one to the heap, first walking all round the cairn as if he were about to perform an incantation, then dropping the stone on to the top of the heap with the gesture of a magician adding an ingredient to a cauldron in full bubble.

Goodchild sits down by the cairn as if it was his study table at home; Idle, drenched and panting, stands up with his back to the wind, ascertains distinctly that this is the top at last, looks round with all the little curiosity that is left in him, and gets, in return, a magnificent view of -- Nothing!

The story can be read at Google Books, in Dickens’ second volume of Christmas Stories:
books.google.co.uk/books?id=wHnvCkvRgYIC&pg=PA361

It’s widely believed that the Icknield Way was a long distance route in prehistoric times, being a continuation of the Ridgeway from Buckinghamshire to Norfolk. The original paths would have weaved along the high chalk ridges and open dry areas across East Anglia (today the Icknield Way Path keeps you to a narrower route).

Upsettingly for those with a romantic turn of mind, there are recent suggestions that any ideas of long distance prehistoric routes* are a myth begun in medieval times (check out Sarah Harrison’s idea here
www1.uea.ac.uk/polopoly_fs/1.30669!theprospect_1.pdf )

Fair enough, that a lot of unlikely things have been said (for example, the idea that the Anglo Saxons made their move into England along it). Indeed, some stretches of the route only got the Icknield name when antiquaries started looking for them.. and apparently adding bits in that needed to be there for a continuous long route. (Have a read of this:
north-herts.gov.uk/wilbury_walk.pdf )

– But can’t we cling on to the undeniably ancient use of some sections, surely? There are ancient places on and near it (can you hear the anxious rising tone of my voice) – lots of them. Prehistoric people had to get from A to B.. didn’t they have trade routes? Oh don’t tell me this is a fancier version of my folklore favourites.. is anything true at all.. or is this just the latest tale we are telling ourselves about the route? Hmm..

*and this includes your beloved Ridgeway too no doubt.

This is the highest point on the Yorkshire Wolds. There are plenty of round barrows here, and Bronze age boundary dykes and ‘Roman’ roads cross the area.

Here’s something that mentions two stones being at the site:

1718. Warburton in a letter to Roger Gale, Jan. 5, this year, says, that about two miles south of Thornton, close by the military way called the Devil’s Causeway, “are two large stones standing on their end like those at Borrowbridge, but not so big, and betwixt them a tumulus, which I was at the expence of opening, and in it found a stone coffin, about three feet in length, two in breadth, and two in depth, which was black in the inside with smoke, and had in it several lumps of glutinous matter, which my workmen would needs have to be pieces of the dead hero’s flesh.

It was covered over with two flat stones, and not above a yard in depth from the summit of the tumulus, but had neither inscription, bones, coins, urns, or other remarkable thing.” -- (Hutchinson’s Northd.)

The highly interesting and remarkable group of antiquities here spoken of, are represented in the annexed engraving.

They are called the Poind and his man, and are situated on the north side of Harnham moor, Northumberland. Lord Wharton’s “Order of the Watches upon the Middle Marches” in 1552, directs “the watch to be kept at the Two Stones, called the Poind and his Man, with two men nightly, of the inhabitors of Bollame.” -- Hodgson’s Northd.

You can see the drawing here
books.google.co.uk/books?id=ThgHAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA356
in ‘The Local Historian’s Table Book’ 1841 (v1) by M A Richardson.

**

I wondered what ‘poind’ might mean – the OED gives a couple of related meanings. One is to do with seizing someone’s possessions when they can’t otherwise pay a debt (or to encourage them to pay up) – the poind is the property, beast or other type of possession.

However, an unusual northern use of the word means a pinfold – a pen for animals – possibly the ‘distrained’, seized animals like the ones above.

So it’s tempting to think one stone was the poind and one the man – but where does that leave the mound? This old book speculates that was the pen, and the original name ‘the poind and his men.. who knows.
books.google.co.uk/books?id=KFNKAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA282

According to the OED, ‘Caller’ is a Scottish / Northern dialect word meaning fresh and cool and airy.

This is near Annadorn, in the county Down. It was not known that there was any cromleac under this carn, until it was accidentally discovered by a man who was feeding cows beside it.
The cromleac is broad and long, but not so thick as some others: it appears remarkably well adapted for the purpose of an altar. It is entirely surrounded by a number of upright stones, which were also covered by the carn.

I assume this is the right place.. I liked the manner of its discovery. The trouble is, elsewhere in the book is the passage it refers to (the book has instructional conversations in Irish and then the translation in English):

G. Was there not a cromleac found, under a carn, near that place [ie the place refered to in the note above]?
S. There was, indeed, about two miles from it, (about seven years before,) an exceeding large, broad, level, smooth stone, as polished as the pebbles on the sea coast: I am persuaded there is no other cromleac in Ireland so neat as it is; as the gentleman asserted, who came to view it.
There was an enclosure of long equal stones, standing strait up round the great cromleach, when it was found: under a great carn of small stones.
G. Were these long stones lifted?
S. They were all carried away to a building near the place.
G. Surely the cave was not broken.
S. It was broken and destroyed; neither flag nor stone was left, of any value, that was not carried away in the same manner.
G. I am surprised that the cave was broken.
S. why, even the round tower at Downpatrick was thrown down; and I think, Sir, that it is not lucky to touch such things.

Perhaps the cromleac would say, ‘reports of my death are greatly exaggerated’. Maybe for purposes of learning vocabulary or dramatic effect?

From ‘An introduction to the Irish language’ by the Rev. W Neilson (1808) – it can be read on Google Books.

Coflein calls this ‘Lang Stone, Former Monolith’, which is a bit mean. The rest of the notes are as follows:

“The stone has the appearance of being broken through & before a portion was detached may have been a standing stone. The stone is mentioned in a 10th C document. condition=Near Intact

A slightly trapezoidal conglomerate block measuring 1.5m (E-W) by 1.25m and 0.65m thick is located in a slight hollow (= ?attempts at removal) on a low, local summit. If once upright and larger the rest of it has been removed.

visited: D.K.Leighton 16 Febraury 1999.”

I found a picture of it on the Langstone Community Council website:
langstonecc.org.uk/lcc/aboutlangstone/landmarks-of-langstone.shtml
- they even use the stone as their logo, so local people must keep a friendly eye open for it.

Proceeding from the present landing [Severn crossing] at Blackrock north-westwards, this road is first diverted to the south-west by the “Rough Grounds” in which is a Mount called HESTON BRAKE, raised artificially on the edge of adingle, and having a seeming elevation very much increased by natural slopes towards the north-east.

It has a flat summit, and commands a view of the Severn towards Aust, and is covered with a venerable shade of oaks and yew trees. In the centre of this summit is a space about 27 feet long by 9 in width, surrounded originally, as it seems, by thirteen rude upright stones, now time-worn, mossed over, and matted with ivy. One is at the east end, two at the west, and three remain at each side, with spaces for the four which have been removed. Unless it is a sepulchral memorial, connected with [a] massacre [..], no conjecture as to its object can be offered.*

*On revisiting it in 1851, it was nearly inaccessible, from the growth of the coppices; but the taller of the two stones at the east end was seemingly between five and six feet. The rest was hid by coppice and briars.

From p56 of ‘Memoirs Illustrative of the History and Antiquities of Bristol’ by the Royal Archaeological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland (1853), which you can read on Google Books.
books.google.co.uk/books?id=5ToQAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA54

Perhaps something enlightening about the ‘miniliths’ / ‘stone coffins’ mentioned in peoples’ fieldnotes / photos:

Two cists in the churchyard were placed there in 1871, having been dug out of a field near by in 1869.

On reflection, quite an odd thing to do (unless the vicar was an antiquarian himself, which is possible. Still, to put them in the churchyard rather than the rectory garden?)

from ‘Standing Stones and Stone Circles in Yorkshire’ by A L Lewis, in
Man, v14 (1914), pp163-6.

I think this poor promontory fort only survives now in the name of a few roads – I’m not even sure that the roads follow the curve of its boundary..

ST 821611. A “burial mound” due to be destroyed by building development was in fact the last vestige of the rampart of a double-ditched promontory fort of Early Iron Age date.
The remainder of the rampart – some 370 metres in length – had been totally destroyed by gardens and buildings. Within the rampart occurred the remains of a rectangular building 6m x 3m with an internal clay hearth. This building and its environs produced great quantities of EIA pottery together with domestic appliances and metal objects. [..]

(this is the summary on BIAB of J G Wainwright’s 1970 article in WANHM
biab.ac.uk/online/results1.asp?ItemID=79989 )

Another dig took place in 2009. wiltshiretimes.co.uk/news/4498618.Bradford_on_Avon_couple_hope_garden_holds_key_to_hill_fort/

PILLAR-STONES AT GARRYDUFF.-- [The stone is] noticed by Mr. Tighe in his Survey of the County of Kilkenny (p.627). It is between eleven and twelve feet high, and three feet in breadth at six feet from the ground, where it is widest; being about two feet six inches wide at the ground. It is cracked down the middle.

There is said to have been another, about half the size, a few yards from it; this was sunk in the earth by digging a pit under it, about fourteen years ago. Nothing remarkable was found in making the excavation, as he learned from the man on whose land it stood, and who helped to destroy it. Mr. Tighe makes no mention of this second stone. The remaining stone is called “the long stone of Garryduff.” It stands in a valley between two hills. There are no traditions about it [..].

p389 in the Transactions of the Kilkenny Archaeological Society v1, pt 3 (1851) – on Google Books.

Is that a small stone in the hedge in Ryaner’s photo?

William Copeland Borlase suggests the stone is called
”Cloch Fhada Gharaidh Duibh, the Long-stone of Garraidh Dubh, or Garryduff. Garad, we may add, was the name of one of the chieftains who commanded the Fianna under Finn Mac Cumhail at the battle of Cnamhros..”
see
books.google.co.uk/books?id=wvJMAAAAMAAJ&q=garryduff+stone&dq=garryduff+stone&lr=&as_brr=0&pgis=1
I don’t know how tenuous this is. Pretty tenuous probably.

The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.
Mr Stuart, Secretary, stated that, in consequence of reports of the recent destruction of a remarkable Stone Circle near the old Castle of Moyness, in Nairnshire, belonging to Lord Cawdor, he had communicated with his Lordship’s factor on the subject. From the answer of that gentleman, it appeared that the reports in question had been greatly exaggerated.

When the present line of road was made many years ago, it was carried through the circle, and many stones removed, but no recent encroachment on the circle [..] has taken place [..].

The supposed “rocking-stone” consisted of one of the upright pillars which had fallen over some smaller ones, leaving an end unsupported, and by jumping on this end a heavy man could just move it. The only change that has taken place on the circle for years, is the removal of this pillar for some purpose by the tenant’s consent, but without the knowledge of the landlord or his factor, and orders have now been given to prevent any interference with the fragment of the circle still existing.

Mr Stuart remarked that it was agreeable to find so general an interest on this subject, as the supposed destruction of the circle had excited a feeling of indignation in all parts of the country.

From the Caledonian Mercury, Wed. April 16th, 1856.

We hear from Huntly, that on the morning of the 2d of February current, being the Marquis of Huntly’s birth-day, the inhabitants [..] and tenants in that neighbourhood, to the number of two thousand and upwards [assembled at Huntly Lodge] where the healths of the day was liberally drank, with many cheers. His Lordship soon after set off to Gordon Castle, when the people marched back to Huntly, and erected large bonfires on the streets, which continued burning throughout the day. [..and] continued blazing for the night, and the old Standing Stones of Huntly were twenty times washed over with good Highland whiskey.

From the pages of the Caledonian Mercury, Sat. Feb 11th, 1804.

From James Boswell’s ‘The Life of Samuel Johnson’ (1832), p357, and refering to their visit in the 1770s?:

We set out at about nine. Dr. Johnson was curious to see one of those structures, which northern antiquarians call a Druid’s temple. I had a recollection of one at Strichen, which I had seen fifteen years ago; so we went four miles out of our road, after passing Old Deer, and went thither. Mr. Fraser, the proprietor, was at home, and showed it to us. But I had augmented it in my mind; for all that remains is two stones set up on end, with a long one laid upon them, as was usual, and one stone at a little distance from them. That stone was the capital one of the circle which surrounded what now remains.

There are two bowl barrows here, but I’m not sure how much you will see. Presumeably they are being protected from the plough, as they are on the scheduled monument list [looking on Flash Earth this may not be true]. (For obsessives,) could be worth a glance on the way back to the main road from Windmill Tump.

They were both built of small stones, which came from the ditches that once surrounded them. The info on Magic says that they are on a ridge with panoramic views.

J Akerman and J Chubb dug into them in 1856 – it’s mentioned in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries here:
books.google.co.uk/books?id=YTUGAAAAQAAJ&pg=RA1-PA17
They found a Roman coin from about 200AD in addition to the prehistoric urn fragments, charcoal, bone and flint in the centre of the mound.

An interesting discovery has been made by Mr. F. C. Spencer, of Halifax, of a British barrow, in the township of Extwistle, near Burnley. Mr Spencer’s attention had been called by Mr. Jonas Lee, farmer, of Thursden, to a small circle of stones in a field called Delf-hill Pasture, at Hellclough-head [..]

The circle originally consisted of rock pillars (five of which remain), standing about eighteen inches above the surface, and being about two feet square. The diameter of the circle is about five yards.

Mr. Spencer directed an excavation to be made without delay, the result of which was the discovery of two very antique earthern urns, curiously marked, containing fragments of human bones, of small dimensions, mixed with charcoal and black mould. The tops of the vessels were covered with small flat slate-stones, but little larger than the urns, over which larger heavy stones were placed for their protection. The urns were found about two feet beneath the surface of the field, in the centre of the circle, embedded in soft clay, with many pieces of charcoal interspersed.

I guess this explains the dip in the middle of the circle. From ‘The Gentleman’s Magazine’ for July 1842, p413 (it can be read on Google Books).

Mr Nash says this is the only known location of a cup-and-ring on a chambered monument in SW Wales. Prior to this, only cups have been found (seven monuments in the region are known to have rock art).

He calls it the largest of all the monuments in Wales, so it seems strange that more fieldnotes haven’t been left on TMA? Perhaps it is rather off the beaten track. The capstone is described as a huge 5m by 4.1m, and weighing more than 60 tonnes. It is adjacent to a rock outcrop and, to the north, ‘the southern extent of Mynydd Preseli is in full view’. 50m WSW is a recumbent standing stone, a not inconsiderable 2.1m long, and ‘possibly contemporary with the Garn Turne monument’ (SM97904 27307). A second stone is at SM97935 27298. The monument, standing stones, rock outcropping and a marsh area are all inter-visible.

He says the ‘cupule’ may have been based on a natural feature of the rock, but that it shows some working. The cup is 5cm in diameter, and the ring 14cm.

from:
Cup-and-ring petroglyph on the neolithic chambered burial monument of Garn Turne, Pembrokeshire, SW Wales.
George Nash
Rock Art Research 2006 v25, no.2, pp199-206.

The article has a photo of the monument and a closeup of the cup-and-ring.

The ‘Magic’ map has a cairn cemetery marked at this point on the NE side of the hill (unfortunately it gives no more details as yet).

On the destruction of the remaining stones of the northerly inner circle:

.. in 1812 there were four [stones surrounding the cove], and it is only within the last two years that this number has been reduced. I saw the man who destroyed them. He was a labourer employed on Mr. Naldy’s farm, and it was by Mr. Naldy’s orders that they were broken to pieces. The reason was that they stood inconveniently to him in his husbandry arrangements; but this reason would press quite as strongly against the two cove-stones, for they stand in the midst of his hay-ricks, and may perhaps occasion some little inconvenience in the piling up or taking down the produce of the farm.

But beside the destruction of two uprights, the same person acknowledged to having broken to pieces one which had fallen; and another person in the village told me that two of the prostrate stones, besides the two uprights, had lately been broken to pieces, by tenants of Mr. Thring of Wilton, of whom Mr. Naldy was one. It was added that the tenant had received permission from the owner, but this may be a mistake. Such an unparalleled remain may be in little esteem with “the dull swain, Who treads on it daily, with his clouted shoon:” -- but something better may be expected where the proprietorship resides.

There is, however, no replacing them as the Rocking-stone was replaced; for they were broken to pieces, and the new wall on the Swinden road is composed of the fragments.

From a letter to the Gentleman’s Magazine, July 1829, by Joseph Hunter.
books.google.co.uk/books?id=-Xyjw0o11mcC&printsec=titlepage
- see page 7.

In the grounds of Robert Scott, esq. there is a strong and perfect Danish encampment in the form of a rude horse-shoe. In its circular part it is fortified by a double vallum; the front towards the Thames is defended by the high cliff.

A few years since some warlike instruments were found in making a walk round the rampart; but I have not had an opportunity of seeing them.

The place has been called by the country [people] the Danes Ditches, and has given the name of Danesfield to an elegant residence of Mr. Scott, who has improved the house and grounds with great taste.

From p835 of ‘The History and Antiquities of the Hundred of Desborough’, by Thomas Langley, 1797 (which can now be read on Google Books).

On the islands of Colonsay and Oransay there are the remains of many buildings on hill tops, called duns. They are green and covered with grass.

The most impressive of these is Dun Aving or Abhing [..], about one mile west of Scalasaig harbour, and on a commanding hill top. It is circular, and measures about 90 feet diameter. But the outer face of the structure is gone. From it an almost unbroken view of the sea can be had all round the island. Many hundred tons of debris lie at the bottom of the rock on which the fort stands. The site, though not one of the highest hills, is well chosen for defence, and would be almost inaccessible except on one side where the entrance to the fort seems to have been.

From an article by William Stevenson in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 15 (1880-81), p113-47.
ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/PSAS_2002/pdf/vol_015/15_113_147.pdf

This dolerite stone, 1.7m tall, was recorded as the ‘Stinnin Stane’ in 1895. According to the RCAHMS record it “occupies a prominent position on top of a small hill.”

I don’t know if this has any bearing on the matter at all. But it’s interesting that Paulus says the stone was once “at the edge of an old stream”.

Hipping-Stones
Large stepping-stones in a brook. When passable by means of such stones, the water is said to be ‘hippinable’.

But then again, the next entry is:

Hippins
Children’s clothes; clouts. (North).

So stones for hopping across or doing your washing on, perhaps?

From the Dictionary of obsolete and provincial English, by Thomas Wright (1857) – which can be viewed on Google Books.

Alfred Watkins thought Bache Hill was on a ley going through the Four Stones:

The second ley [through the stones] starts from Bach Hill (one of the highest parts of the Radnor Forest); through the Four Stones, dead on main road through Walton village, dead on main road past Eccles Green, through Upperton Farm and Kenchester Church, and dead on the present road which is the S.W. boundary of the Roman station of Magna; then going over the Wye through Breinton Church.

In ‘Early British Trackways’, which can be read at the Sacred Texts Archive.
see
sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/ebt/ebt14.htm

It would be interesting to see what Morfe’s link below (to ‘Megalithic Mid-Wales’) said about the alignment – but the website seems to have gone.

Iolo Morganwg (aka Edward Williams) “found” an old manuscript that said there was an eisteddfod here in the time of King Edward the third. But actually Mr Williams was a very imaginative man and spent a lot of time “discovering” old druidic Welsh manuscripts and poems, so it is probably a complete and utter fib.
books.google.co.uk/books?id=6jREAAAAIAAJ&pg=RA1-PA491

It seems curious that this large site so close to Stonehenge had not been already added to TMA? I guess it’s fairly incognito.

But the scheduled monument record on Magic says Vespasian’s Camp is the only Iron Age fortification in the Stonehenge area. They call it ‘an outstanding example of its type’ (ie a univallate hillfort) – probably because it’s not been disturbed much. It was even fashionably incorporated into the grounds of the local big house in the 18th century, so it has got a few tracks across it. It’s wooded now. There are older barrows inside its banks, that the later inhabitants must have deliberately preserved (or ignored).

The bank on the west (Stonehenge) side is huge, at 6.5m from the bottom of the ditch. Look on the map and you’ll see how the fort on its hill nestles nicely in the ‘neck’ of a meander of the River Avon. The main road runs immediately to the north (where one of the entrances was) so if you’ve been to Stonehenge you may have seen the fort even if you didn’t realise it was there. I don’t think you can see the stones from the fort though. Might be wrong.

Why it should be attributed to Vespasian particularly is anyone’s guess. The Stonehenge World Heritage Site website says that it was William Camden, in Elizabethan times, “that gave the hillfort its rather romantic name.” Romantic?? Perhaps that’s just a euphemism.

english-heritage.org.uk/stonehengeinteractivemap/sites/vespasians_camp/01.html
(this web site also has some tiny maps / photos).

The oldest inhabitant told me that about 65 years ago, on a Palm Sunday, some fellows got the large stone on top of Cley Hill, which had a socket (meant, my friend thought, for a flag-staff--? a cross), and rolled it down either to the lime-kiln or another side.

From Wiltshire Notes and Queries, June 1898, p486.
wiltshire.gov.uk/community/gettextimage.php?book_no=002&chapter_no=11&page_no=0043&dir=next

On [the] ridge of rising ground, which almost equally divides the parish, betwixt Bower Tower and Brabster, to the west of the kirk, is a large stone, about 8 feet above ground, called Stone Lude or Lutt, perhaps from a great man Liotus, mentioned by Torsacus, who is said to have resided in this neighbourhood; or from Loda, and may have been a place of Pagan worship.

Besides several tumuli, or heaps of stones, such as the Cross of Bower, the Cairn of Heather Cow, the Cairn of Ushally, and many others, situated on every eminence in the parish, and in the country in general. Some make Ludgate to denote Lord’s gate, and so called as it leads to St Paul’s at London.

Statistical Account of 1791-99 vol.7 p.522 (Bower, Caithness).

This stone was originally at NJ 7010 3352 – the 1867 Ordnance Survey Name Book described it as 3 feet high and 2 feet square. Perhaps they had the wrong stone – in 1903 someone else recorded it to be 6 ft high and 6ft round.

The RCAHMS have found it safe and sound in 2002 behind Knowley farmsteading at NJ6993 3334, where it’s having a lie-down. They measured the granite stone at 2.5m in length.

(info from the new canmore record).
rcahms.gov.uk/pls/portal/newcanmore.newcandig_details_gis?inumlink=19129

“Whatever was [the mound on top’s] primary destination, I am informed by Mr. Owen, that, according to a tradition in the neighbourhood, and particularly among the present race of bards, it was once a celebrated place for holding the Eisteddfod, or bardic meetings.

Twyn Barlwm, being situated on the highest point of the chain which bounds the rich valleys watered by the Usk, commands one of the most singular and glorious prospects which I had yet enjoyed in Monmouthshire; and which cannot be reduced to a specific and adequate description..

He does go on to try though. This is from William Coxe’s Historical Tour in Monmouthshire (1801).

Speed describes this monument in the following manner: “But neere Pensans and unto Mounts Bay, a farre more strange Rocke standeth, namely, Main-Amber, which lieth mounted upon others of a meaner size, with so equal a counterpoise, that a man may move it with the point of his finger, but no strength remove it out of his place.”

(I assume ‘Speed’ is John Speed, the cartographer ((1552-1629) but I could be completely wrong). This from ‘An Historical Survey of the County of Cornwall‘
google.co.uk/books?id=KcYMAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA213