Rhiannon

From ‘The Dublin University Magazine’ v.43 1854 Jan-Jun.

After all our enquiries we were on our way to the ‘Cueva del Mengal,’ the name by which it is known among the people.

.. the fact that no mention of it has hitherto been made in any English work – at least as far as I am aware – induces me to give here a detailed description of its size and proportions, and which I am enabled to do from accurate measurements made on the spot by one of the gentlemen of our party..

I will let you read the extensive description yourself at:
google.co.uk/books?id=_lSWcbO5nMcC&pg=PA41
I thought this was interesting, though:

In length, the cave measures seventy-one feet, and lies due east and west; the entrance faces eastward, and looks towards the two similar [conical] hills; and beyond them again, at almost the distance of a league, rises abruptly from the plain the Pena de los Enamorados, which, from here, presents its most picturesque appearance.

This also caught my eye (it’s rather reminiscent of the current Turbine Hall exhibition at the Tate). Lady Louisa wasn’t amused:

Signor Mitjana [in 1841], in searching for bones, weapons, or other remains, and perhaps, for other chambers deeper in the hill, caused a shaft to be sunk in the interior, between the third pillar and the extremity, but discovered nothing; and to give light to his workmen, broke out at the end a large hole, four or five feet square, which considerably impairs the effect and uniformity of the place. Fortunately, however, it does admit the light, or else a visit to the cave might be attended with dangerous results; for as the shaft is still open, five feet wide, and forty-three feet deep, and the earth loose and sloping at the mouth, an unwary visitor could hardly escape being precipitated into it.

The fort was – is? known by another name:

We remember passing a day pleasantly enough in tracing one of the last-mentioned relics of olden time, midway between Blandford and Dorchester, which the people to this day call Castle Rings. Our stay would not allow us much research; but we finished our excursion by starting from Milborne, on foot, across the fine expanse of Dorset, the bold ridges of Southampton, where the artificial luxury of a stage-coach put an end to all our enjoyment of romantic nature.

p203 of ‘The Mirror of Literature Amusement’ by John Limbird (1830).

This is intriguing:
.. at Welford.. a spring is called St. Innen’s, which is probably a corruption of the name of St. Ninian, the apostle of the Picts.. no field or knoll near Wellford bears any name which would lead one to suppose that a chapel had ever stood there, though within the last half century there were two or three large rude boulders near by, which were called Druidical stones.*

But how near? And anyway, they’re not there now, apparently. And the well is dully covered with brick and cement (or so I read at the RCAHMS).

*p179 ‘The history and traditions of the land of the Lindsays in Angus and Mearns’ by Andrew Jervise (1853) – digitised on Google Books.

Not far from Beattie’s Cairn is a cupmarked stone. It was visited by the RCAHMS in 1983 and their description is: “A flat sandstone boulder measuring 1m by 0.8m by 0.1m [with] about thirty-three shallow cupmarks on its upper surface.”

Here’s something that more obsessive visitors to the vicinity might want to check out. The first bit comes from a letter from 1729.

..a discovery that has lately been made in the grounds of Otterburne in this county.

There was a large cairn of stones, computed to about 60 ton, which they had occasion to lead off; when the stones were removed, they discovered at the bottom, a large stone, rough and undressed, laid upon the ground, in the form of a grave-stone, with smaller stones wedged in between it and the ground, wherever there were any interstices..

There were ashes and charcoal in the cavity underneath.

“Those who are wishful that all remains illustrative of our early ancestors should be preserved, will be gratified to know that the large stone above mentioned is still either entire or very nearly so. It was conveyed to Otterburne Walk Mill, when the cairn was cleared away; and at present (March 1842) it forms, and has formed for upwards of a century, the landing to a stone stair at the east end of the dwelling-house. It is of a darkish blue or grey colour, seemingly hard, and only a few inches thick... we earnestly hope it may long continue in a state of perfect preservation.”

(from ‘R White’s Manuscripts’ and reproduced in ‘The local historian’s table book’ v1 (1843) – p268. It’s on Google Books.)

Could it still be there at Otterburn Mill – which is still there and thriving.. their website says the main buildings date from the mid 18th century – which more than allows for Mr White’s observation in the 1840s. Ever hopeful – it’d just be nice to think it were still there.

For those who have enjoyed a picnic at the stones:

Near this spot [Kit’s Cotty-House] is a respectable Inn, which commands an extensive and beautiful prospect, and has on its sign-board, one of the best representations of the Cromlech that has yet been painted. The inn affords comfortable accommodation for persons inclined to spend a few days in this part of Kent. Those who establish their quarters here in summer-time, not unfrequently take their wine and coffee in the ancient cell which furnishes occasion for this note.

From ‘The Graphic and Historical Illustrator’ edited by Edward Brayley (1834).

Now here’s a strange thing. Maybe this mound is a natural mound. Though unnatural mounds are hardly unheard of in the vicinity. The Magic database is not giving anything away, though the site is listed as a scheduled monument.

It’s quite common for barrows to have been reused by later peoples – here burials were found from the 6th to 9th centuries AD (first maybe locals, later maybe from a monastic community). Get this – the minster of Ripon (Saint Wilfrid’s church) “appears to be aligned on Ailey Hill,” which for whatever reason, along with the burials, tends to suggest the church was trying to assimilate this mound and what it apparently represented.

Info from the article:
A Fear of the Past: The Place of the Prehistoric Burial Mound in the Ideology of Middle and Later Anglo-Saxon England
Sarah Semple
World Archaeology, Vol. 30, No. 1, The Past in the Past: The Reuse of Ancient Monuments. (Jun., 1998), pp. 109-126.

[There is] a remarkable earth-work on the high land near “Blois hall,” commanding extensive prospets up and down the Vale of Ure, as well as of the distant ranges of hills which form the side screens of the great Yorkshire plain.

.. its outline is that of a circle, of which the diameter is not less than 680 feet; but no stones remain, nor indeed does that material seem to have been used in its formation. Though recent agricultural operations have partially effaced the regularity and proportion of its plan, it is sufficiently evident that it was enclosed by a lofty mound and corresponding trench – the latter being inside, and a platform or space about thirty feet wide intervening..

.. at least eight large Celtic barrows [are] in its immediate vicinity..

..its situation is rendered visible from the high road leading from Ripon to Rainton, by the presence of two small pyramids or obelisks, built on the mound of the temple, about fifty years ago; in the place, it is said, of two similar erections, apparently of high antiquity.

Page 4 in ‘A guide to Ripon, Harrogate, Fountains Abbey, Brimham Rocks..’ by John Walbran (1856), which you can read at Google Books.

Gron Gaer inspired the poet John Dyer (born 1700): you can read the poem here at Rutgers University website:
andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Texts/grongar.html

It also features in more modern verse:
The Men They Couldn’t Hang ~ Dogs’ Eyes, Owl-Meat, Man Chop

A furnace bellowed from the range
To scorch the winter’s chill
And the spirit of Cyndylan
Who hailed from Grongar hill
True west he strode through Cilsane Ford
Down by the water mill
For a pint,then,at the Ship in Laugharne
Two thousand years to kill
He’s got two thousand years to kill

Dogs eyes, owl meat and man chop
Half an ounce of shag
And a pint of Buckley’s Top
Bible black,Captain cat
Where time and tide stand still
Like the ghosts of Aberglasney
The mists on Grongar hill

I don’t know if the lyrics are right, I ‘borrowed’ them from this forum
skincity.org.uk/index.php?topic=572.800

I do know that Aberglasney is a haunted house (hence ‘the ghosts of Aberglasney’), as featured on ‘Most Haunted’! – and is supposed to be cursed because it is the shadow of a hill where a huge battle took place in the 13th century (at Coed Llathen – not that they really know where that was? – could it be Grongar hill?)

The RCAHMS record says:

“Standing stone, 0.95m high by 0.8m wide by 0.25m thick, surrounded by a level layer of packing stones.

Clach Bioreach means the sharp or pointed stone. The top of the stone has been broken, so it must have been taller, and possibly pointed. The name was given to us by Mr and Mrs Alastair MacKay, Achmore.

M R and G R Curtis 1997”

If you see any little scrapey areas on here..

Llech Y Drybedd, about two and a half miles north-east of Nevern church, on Tre Icert farm. It is supported upon three short upright stones. The incumbent stone is of a bluish, or a hone-colour [sic], hue, and knives and penknives are sharpened upon it.

..In a field on the west there is a stone called Maen y tri-etivedd, the stone of the three heirs.

p374 in ‘Archaeologica Cambrensis’ s1, v2, 1847.

Whitsunbank Fair-- is held on the top of Whitsunbank Hill, a considerable rising ground, five miles to the south-east of Wooler. There is no direct road to this site, but it is accessible by cross-roads from Wooler, Belford, and Whittingham. It is always held on Whitsun-Tuesday, about the latter end of May or beginning of June, a moveable period, regulated by Easter.

The cattle at this fair amounts generally to 1000 or 1200, almost all short horns; [...] Some years ago, the show of sheep at Whitsunbank used to be the greatest in the north of England [..] There is also a large show of horses at this market [..] This fair is also a hiring market for single or unmarried men and women servants. The large assemblage of healthy, clean, well-looking peasantry at this fair is a credit to this part of the country. Booths for the sale of every commodity which can attract the hard-earned wages of the preceding half-year, are here displayed in glittering allurement.

‘Account of the Fairs in Scotland’ p281 in J. Bath West + Southern Counties Soc 4th series vX (1835).

Whitsuntide was time for village festivals, or ‘Whitsun Ales’ across the country.

The Rev. W Bingley decided to hike up Penmaen Mawr – he scrambled up a steep ascent “from the sixth milestone” and “it was not before I had experienced several severe tumbles” on the loose stones, that he reached the summit.

On the summit, and extending in an oval form from north to south, are some evident remains of antiquity [..] This ruin is called Braich y Ddinas, The Arm of the City, and is supposed to have been an ancient British fortification.

He also spotted a shrub, “called by the Welsh Pren Lemwn, or lemon tree” which he was relieved, as a Logical Englishman, to find was actually Whitebeam.

From p312 of ‘Excursions in North Wales’ (1839) – on Google Books.

Regarding a noble Sodbury Camp visitor:

Little Sodbury Manor nestles on the slope immediately next to the fort. It had a chapel (uniquely) dedicated to St Aveline – and it was here that William Tyndale preached in the 16th century (he was being hired to teach the children at the manor). William Tyndale was the man who first translated the bible from Hebrew and Greek into English, no less.

The 1857 book, ‘History of the Reformation of the C16th’ by J H Merle d’Aubigné, includes the following line (p181): He would often ramble to the top of Sodbury hill, and there repose amidst the ruins of an ancient Roman camp which crowned the summit. . Which might be romantic fantasy, but I expect it’s actually true. You’d need somewhere to rest your brain after such effort. Of course his efforts weren’t appreciated – there was a law against translating the bible into English – and he had to flee the country.

Apparently Tyndale said to a priest, “If God spare my life, ere many years, I will cause a boy that driveth the plough to know more of the Scriptures than thou doest!” So there, and now we can make our own minds up – plus have lots of phrases we can throw into everyday conversation into the bargain (seek and ye shall find – it’s a sign of the times, o ye of little faith): his work makes up much of the King James version. The poor bloke was eventually arrested, and then strangled and burnt at the stake in the end.

The chapel was destroyed in Victorian times and replaced by the big church further down the road. There is a picture of its ruins, with attendant ancient yew trees, here on David Cloud’s site.

To fill out what Purejoy was saying: Old Sarum was the most notorious ‘rotten borough’. It obviously it is / was no laughing matter but the style of this reminded me of a C19th Mark Steel:

..“Rotten Boroughs,” i.e., towns which, centuries ago had a flourishing existence, continuing to send representatives to Parliament long after any human being had made his local habitation therein, and whose very names would have perished from the land, but that they were annually recorded on the Parliamentary rolls.

One of these has been immortalised by the discussions on the Reform bill -- Old Sarum. Not a soul had dwelt there since the Tudors ascended the English throne – not a tenement had been seen there since Columbus discovered America – nor could the vestiges of its ruins be traced by the antiquarian eye of a Champollion or a Stephens.

This sand-hill, in 1832, sent as many members to Parliament as Lancashire, with a population of a million and a half.

From ‘Sketches of Reforms and Reformers’ by H Brewster Stanton (1850) p166 – on Google Books.

It may not be man-made but it’s certainly ‘megalithic’, and (like in Cornwall??) may well be related to the siting of tombs like the nearby Coetan Arthur?:

The Rocking Stone (we give it a title of courtesy which has survived its peculiar property) stands on the western slope of Carn Llidi, at a short distance from the cliff, and from the road leading to St. David’s Head. Its height is five feet, its extreme length and breadth each six feet six inches; and it narrows somewhat towards the bottom. A little to the east there is a point of rock which may have acted formerly as the fulcrum.

Its displacement is ascribed to the Puritans by E. Lhuyd; but we fortunately possess an account of its original state in the unknown author quoted by Browne Willis:-

About a quarter of a mile from hence is the famous Stone which they call here the Shaking-Stone, Y-maen-sigl. It is so large, that 20 Yoke of Oxen will not remove it from its Place, and yet it lieth upon a Bank; and notwithstanding its Hugeness, (they say) a Child of eight Years of Age will shake it. I never saw any Child shake it; but I can move it, tho’ six Men should stand upon it, with less than the Strength of one of my Hands, so much that a Man that stands upon it, would be afraid of falling.

From p24 of ‘The History and Antiquities of Saint David’s’ by WB Jones and EA Freeman (1856). Browne Willis was an antiquary who wrote many books in the first half of the 18th century.

You can read Jones and Freeman’s book online at Google Books. It’s got lots of information about the location of destroyed sites in the area, which I’m sure will be of interest to those that know the area well.

What do you think happens when you leave a blowing stone outside a pub? Yep, every drunk staggering home at 1 in the morning thinks they’ll have a go. So there’s only one thing to do – lock it up.

The aperture to the mouth-piece is closed with a wooden trap upon rude hinges. This is fastened with a padlock and chain [..] The landlord of the inn made great difficulty about permitting us to have a blow upon the Sabbath-day, ‘because’ said he, ‘it do so tease the Squire at Kingston Hall’ (which is three-quarters of a mile from the stone). However, he perceived we were odd folk*, and that we had a sketch of the Berkshire wonder, upon the exchange of our silver key for his iron one, we had liberty to unfasten the lid.

Needless to say, at the terrible racket everyone came out of the ale house, and so the perpetrators retreated, everyone “looking after our trail wrathfully and gloomily, as if we had committed a sacrilege.”

from p271 of ‘The Wanderings of a Pen and Pencil’ by FP Palmer and Alfred Forrester (1846) – at Google Books.

*perhaps a familiar response to modern visitors of tma-type spots the country over.

You can see the security arrangements in Wysefool’s photo here
themodernantiquarian.com/post/21097/images/blowing_stone.html

On the north side of the present military way, between the 33rd and 34th milestone, two unhewn blocks, one of basalt, about 6 feet high – the other lower, and of sandstone, stand very conspicuously on a ridge of ground which has been artificially heightened for a small distance around them. They are now called the Mare and Foal; but on Armstrong’s map, which was published in 1769, “The Three Stones.”

Found in ‘A History of Northumberland’ by John Hodgson. p291, pt2, vol3. 1840. Online at Google Books.

Just to the south of the fort’s site is a lake romantically called ‘Silvermere’. According to ‘A Topographical History of Surrey’ by Brayley and Mantell (1850), there were trenches leading from “the higher parts of the eminence to this lake. Some of these trenches are sufficiently deep to conceal a man on horseback; and they were doubtless intended to shelter the soldiers when going down to the water to drink; for Silvermere must always have existed; and most probably it derived that name, from the silvery appearance it presents when beheld from the higher grounds.”

One can only hope it is silvery today and not full of crisp packets. It seems to be part of a golf course now, and was apparently (according to their website) used by Barnes Wallis for testing his ‘Dambuster’ bouncing bomb.

The original big house at Silvermere may have gone, but when it was built, “it was found necessary to remove a mound of earth, which proved to be a barrow, and in doing this, three Urns were discovered, filled with bones and charcoal; one of which has been preserved, with its contents, and may be seen within a niche on the terrace at Silvermere.” I wonder if it made it to the museum? There is a picture of the urn on p369, and you can see it via Google Books.

.. the most tangible prehistoric remains in the district are the “Stannin’ Stanes,” or, as they are more frequently termed, the Druidical circles of Colmeallie.

[..] Colmeallie seems a corruption of the Gaelic Kilmeallie, which means “the kirk or cell on a small eminence,” an idea which is corroborated by “the kirk shank,” “the kirk hill,” and “the kirk burn” – names which the hill on the north, and the site of the stones, and the neighbouring rivulet still bear;

[.. there are] from fifteen to twenty stones.. and with the exception of three, all are prostrated or mutilated.. many old people remember them being more entire than they are now; but the late tenant was one of too many who saw no use in going a little distance for building materials when he could get them at his door, however revered or valuable; and, as his Gothicism was either unknown to, or unheeded by his landlord, one stone after another disappeared in whole, or was blown to pieces, as circumstances required.

‘The history and traditions of the land of the Lindsays’ by Andrew Jervise (1853) – p87.

Nettlecombe Tout gets a quick mention in Thomas Hardy’s “Tess of the d’Urbervilles”:

If Tess were made rich by marrying a gentleman, would she have money enough to buy a spy-glass so large that it would draw the stars as near to her as Nettlecombe Tout?
..

“Did you say the stars were worlds, Tess?”
“Yes.”
“All like ours?”
“I don’t know; but I think so. They sometimes seem to be like the apples on our stubbard-tree. Most of them splendid and sound – a few blighted.”
“Which do we live on – a splendid one or a blighted one?”
“A blighted one.”

Maybe it’s relevant, maybe it’s not, but there are a number of distinctive conical hills near Old Radnor: Stanner Rocks, Worsell Wood, Hanter Hill. Apparently these contain some of the oldest rocks in Wales – Precambrian and 700 million years old. Old Radnor was called ‘Pen-y-Graig’: ‘head of the rock’. The geology means Stanner Rocks supports some pretty strange and rare plants, and it was said: “by the common people it is called the Devil’s Garden.” You can’t help wondering where the stones for the local monuments came from. Probably.

“The Cambrian Balnea: Or Guide to the Watering Places of Wales, Marine and Inland” by Thomas Jeffery Llewelyn Prichard (1825).

..an Account of.. the Rock called Wringcheese.

It consists of a Groupe of Rocks, which are the Admiration of all Travellers. On the top Stone were two regular Basons; but Part of one of them has been broke off. This Stone, as we are informed, was a Logan or Rocking-stone, and when it was entire, might be easily moved with a Pole; but now great Part of that Weight which kept it on a Poise is taken away.

The whole Heap is about 30 Feet; the great Weight of the upper Part, and Slenderness of the under, makes every one wonder, how such an ill-grounded Pile could resist, for so many Ages, the Storms of such a Situation. It may seem to some that this is an artificial Building of large flat Stones, laid carefully on one another, and raised to this height by human Skill and Labour; but as there are several Heaps of Stones, on the same Hill, and also on another about a Mile distant, called Kell-Mar’s, of the like Fabric, tho’ not so high, we think it a natural Crag, and that the Stones which surrounded it, and hid its Grandeur, were removed by the Druids...

Probably ideas that Passers-By are still Debating. From p4 of vol 1 of Benjamin Martin’s ‘The Natural History of England’ (1759) – you can read it on Google Books.

This is copied from Leland:

A little without this Towne on the west part of Watiling-Streate stadith 4 great maine stones wrought above in conum by Mannes hand.
They be set in 3 several Feldes at this Tyme.
The first is a 20 foote by estimation in higeth and an 18 foote in cumpace. The stone towards the ground is sumwhat square, and so up to the midle, and then wrought with certen rude boltells in conum. But the very toppe thereof is broken of a 3 or 4 footes. Other 2 of like shap stand in another feld a good But shot of: and the one of them is bigger then the other; and they stand within a 6 or 8 fote one of the other.
The fourth standith in a several feld a good stone cast from the other, and is bigger and higher than any of the other 3. I esteme it to the waite of a 5 Waine Lodes or more.
Inscription could I none find yn these stones; and if there were it might be woren out; for they be sore woren and scalid with wether.
I take to be a trophaea a Romanis posita in the side of Watheling Streat, as yn a place most occupied in Yorneying ad so most yn sighte.

Camden also saw four stones fifty years later, but one of the two middle ones had been lately thrown down by “the accursed love of gain.”

copied from ‘The rivers, mountains and sea-coast of Yorkshire’ by John Phillips (p66), 1853.

There is a hill rising to a great height on the north of the town, called Dundee Law, and sometimes the Bonnet Hill, from the long street or straggling village that stretches a great way up its side, being inhabited, formerly, chiefly by the makers of men’s bonnets, such as we see in London, worn by the Highland soldiers. This manufacture, from the general introduction of hats, in imitation of the English, is now greatly on the decline.

p272 of ‘Travels in Scotland, by an unusual route (vol 1)’ by William Thomson (1807).

According to the RCAHMS record, a cairn crowns the summit of this mountain. It’s covered in grass and has a bit of a hazy outline, and has a modern marker cairn added on the top.

The New Statistical Account of Scotland says:

The most remarkable hill [of this parish] is Cairnharrow, lying partly in Anwoth and partly in Kirkmabrec, the height of which is 1100 feet. The soil on it is of a mossy kind, covered with heath intermixed with graass, and not much encumbered with rock. Cairnharrow is the highest eminence within twent miles, with the exception of Cairnsmore in the parish of Minnigaff; and its summit commands one of the most interesting and extensive views imaginable, -- not merely the adjacent country and bays of Wigton and Fleet, but the Isle of Man, part of Cumberland, and the high land on the coast of Ireland.

p 374, in volume IV (1845).

The fact that this stone is not already on TMA does make me wonder if it’s prehistoric or not. Perhaps someone knows or will give it a look. It’s a scheduled monument, but there’s no information via ‘Magic’. There’s a photo you can enlarge at Celia Haddon’s website. She says it’s a small stone, and was the location of the Hundred’s moot in Anglo Saxon times. It looks an irregular strange shape, and it’s got a hole in it.

A little bit from ‘Notes and Queries’ (June 7th, 1942, p358):

The Kiftsgate stone from which the hundred takes its name is hidden away among bushes in Weston Park, just off the high road which runs from Chipping-Campden to Broadway. Canon Bourne, Vicar of the parish in which Weston Park lies, who died at the end of last century, at a good age, related that he knew an old man years before who recollected George III being proclaimed king at this boundary stone.
H.C. Hill.

From a letter to The Times, Wednesday August 13, 1930:

I feel that topographical sighting or alignment is certain in the near future to become an important agent – preceding the spade – in antiquarian research[..]

Five years ago I saw on the 6in. Ordnance Maps near Stonehenge the almost straight 1 3/4 mile northern bank of the Circus aligned through a stone – the Cuckoo Stone – quite near. I marked this line on the map, but, not visiting the spot, did nothing further.

Then last year I found by the maps in Mrs. Cunnington’s brilliant book on Woodhenge that my line not only went through the centre of [that] monument, but was marked by Mrs. Cunnington on her map, for she had found proof in certain “extra post holes” of an alignment (possibly seasonable) which went to the Cuckoo Stone. [..]

Yours truly, Alfred Watkins.

At Rasate, near Sunbiggen tarn, are two tumuli, in opening which it was discovered, that they contained many human skeletons lying circularly with their heads all towards the top of the hill, and their hands placed upon their breasts.

I’m not quite sure how this would work unless the tumuli were at the tip top of the hill (were there some higher than this cairn?). But it sounds suitably weird at least.

*p 180 in The Beauties of England and Wales by John Britton, v14 (1813)

Fitz, I’m sure you will appreciate this little titbit with regard to your enthusiasm for this area. It’s not like I’m saying it’s a definite prehistoric find of course. But it echoes similar things at least:

In digging peats near the east end of Sunbiggin-tarn, about 1730, two pair of bulls horns, jumped together in the posture of fighting, were found, and one pair of them was to be seen at Howgill Castle in 1777.*

The east side would be that nearest the cairn. And of course you’ve got ‘Cow Dub’ to the south (pool / black cow?) – another bovine connection. Well to be honest they could be any horns. But they must have been impressive to be taken to the castle. I was thinking ‘how do horns survive in (acidic) peat?’ but actually bog bodies have demineralised bones and Lindow Man has got lovely fingernails. So they could be old.

*The Beauties of England and Wales by John Britton, v14 1813, p 152.

The 1827 ‘History of Northumberland‘ here says:

The Scotch Street was generally a mere track-way, though in some boggy places it is paved. Till the Ponteland road was made it was the common road from Scotland, by Elsden, to Newcastle. By some it was called the Salter’s-way: hence the term Salter’s-nick, which is the name of a narrow pass through the Shaftoe-crags, and which, in 1552, seems to have been called East Shaftoe-dore, where one of the [men of Bolam’s] watches was then stationed; and there are curious earth-works.

Pray also get me from Mr. Trevelyan or Calverley what they know about the great stone by the Statue Pond at Wallington. I certainly have heard that it was brought from Harnham Moor, and made one of the two stones there called the Poind and his Man in the Border-laws: they are also both mentioned as standing when Warburton opened the larger tumulus there in 1748.

p81 in vol 2 of ‘A Memoir of the Rev. John Hodgson’, edited by James Raine, 1858 (this in a letter from 1827).

I thought this related to Hob’s mesolithic rock shelter mentioned in his notes on Salter’s Nick, but I feel confused about its whereabouts, because the Punch Bowl is on the Pipers Chair.

This is from the memoirs of the Reverend John Hodgson.

The rude cavern called Shaftoe Hall is wide and lofty at is entrance, but decreases in width and height to the distance of thirty feet inwards. It is probably the combined work of nature and art: the mouth having the appearance of being much weather-worn, and marks of tools and holes for wedges of different shapes appearing in several parts of its interior. The rock itself is traversed with layers of pebbles the size of almonds; and it also contains decayed crystals of feldspar, and in some places Mr. W. C. Trevelyan, of Wallington, has found it reddish with minute fragments of garnets.

Ah he makes it sound like an amazing grotto.

Immediately above the cavern a huge isolated mass of the same kind of rock, called the Punch Bowl Stone, has been on every side undermined by the weather, projects boldly over the brow of the crag, and has its top worn into large holes, some of which are regular hollow hemispheres, around which the wind in rainy weather drives the water they collect in constant eddies.

This stone is also traversed with a stratum of large quartz pebbles, and deep gutters are worn from the basins in its top, all over which the country people who have com to visit the place have cut the initials of their names.

He then speculates that the Druids would have used the cave and rock bowls. Well, seems reasonable really – I doubt they could have been ignored. They remind me of the rock basins of Dartmoor.

p113 in ‘A Memoir of the Rev. John Hodgson’ by James Raine, vol 2, published 1858, but the memoir above is from 1827

Nearly opposite Holm-Lacey, on the east bank of the Wye, is the pleasant village of Fownhope, about half a mile to the north of which is an eminence crowned by an ancient Camp; and about twice that distance to the north*, is a second Camp, occupying the summit of another eminence, called Capler Hill: the latter Camp is double trenched, and called Woldbury; the former has no distinct appellation**. The Capler Hill is finely wooded; and from its summit the prospects are extensive and rich: the contiguous channel of the Wye forms a striking feature.

p507 of v6 of ‘The Beauties of England and Wales’ by John Britton + others (1805).

*actually it’s to the south.
** this is Cherry Hill Camp.

‘Picturesque Views on the River Wye’ by Samuel Ireland (1797) calls Capler Hill ‘Wobury’ (p65).

This is supposed to be the largest cave in Arran. When it was visited by the OS in 1977, they found “no visible indication of its prehistoric or recent religious use.” Perhaps they weren’t looking hard enough, because John McArthur said in 1861:

The Monster or Black Cave yawns beneath the bold cliffs of Benan Head [..] It has been used until lately as a place of worship by the Islanders. Within its walls the relics of ancient habitation have been discovered – arrow-heads, chipped and polished, and flakes of flint, mingled with the shells of the whelk and the limpet, indicating that here the native artist had his workshop and his kitchen, and wrought out from the rough pebble the frail weapons of the chase.

‘Antiquities of Arran’, p99.

I would think this relates to Dunan Mor (or Dunan Beag) as they are near to North Blairmore. You’d think there would be nearer stones to use.

On the farm of Blairmore, near the base of Dunfiun, may be seen the scattered ruins of a chambered cairn. On the stones being carried away some years ago, to build the Lamlash school-house, a series of inner cells was exposed, each covered with a single flat stone.

p22 in ‘The Antiquities of Arran’ by John McArthur (1861).

Caer Estyn is more of an ‘enclosure’ than a full-on hillfort. It’s not on a very steep hill, and the single wall didn’t have a ditch. On the hill opposite are the remains of Caergwrle castle – the last proper Welsh castle, built in 1278 by Dafydd ap Gruffydd. Coflein’s record hints that there might have been a similar enclosure on that hill too.

The Hemlock Stone features in D H Lawrence’s ‘Sons and Lovers’:

They came to the Hemlock Stone at dinner-time. Its field was crowded with folk from Nottingham and Ilkeston. They had expected a venerable and dignified monument. They found a little, gnarled, twisted stump of rock, something like a decayed mushroom, standing out pathetically on the side of a field. Leonard and Dick immediately proceeded to carve their initials, “L.W.” and “R.P.“, in the old red sandstone; but Paul desisted, because he had read in the newspaper satirical remarks about initial-carvers, who could find no other road to immortality. Then all the lads climbed to the top of the rock to look around.

Some interesting information. I take it he didn’t feel quite up to burying the big stones.

This is the most gigantic cromlech in Great Britain. It consists of three stones, the uppermost of which has fallen off the other two to the westward.

It was approached by an avenue of stones from the south-east, which, as we were informed on the spot in 1846 by the man who did it, were buried by him, just as they stood, in order to disencumber the surface of the ground.

The stones of the cromlech are so vast that it may almost be doubted whether they were ever raised by man; the uppermost stone being about 20 feet by 18 feet, and 10 feet thick; and the side ones being nearly double of it in cubical content.

From ‘List of Early British Remains in Wales. No. III’ in vol 1 (3rd series) of Archaeologia Cambrensis (1855). Online at Google Books.

Llanbedr, on the hills above the Llanrwst road about six miles from Conway, is well worth a visit, were it only for the opportunity of seeing one of the most remarkable ancient primitive fortifications preserved in this country. It is called Pen Caer Helen, and is situated on the summit of a hill about a mile from the village.

Pennant is, I believe, the only writer who has described this remain from original observation. He notices it as “a British post of great strength, and in some parts singularly guarded. It had the usual fosses and vast ramparts of stones, with some remains of the facing of walls, and the foundations of three or four round buildings.”

Notwithstanding that many of the stones of this fortification have been taken away for use in modern division walls and sheep-pens, the remains are still very extensive, and show clearly the extent of the ancient huge dry-stone ramparts. But the chief peculiarity of this fortified post consists in the curious fact that, near the out walls, on the western side, are two large spaces of ground thickly set with small sharp-pointed stones, placed upright in the ground; a peculiarity which I cannot find is noticed in regard to any other similar work, and which seems to defy the probability of our discovering a plausible explanation.

From this spot the views are extensive, reaching on one side over the vale of Conway and the Denbighshire hills, and on another over a sterile waste up to Carnedd Llewelyn.

From p127-8 of ‘Notes of Family Excursions in North Wales’, by J. O. Halliwell, 1860.

Coflein lists many barrows and settlement traces here, and mentions that one of the hut circles showed evidence that iron working had been carried out there.

In the 16th century some Roman Catholics were meeting in secret – they were supposed to be plotting the downfall of all the local protestants (yeah right). There’s a really hyped up version on p89 of this* which involves them being found in this cave, and the priest being hanged drawn and quartered in a field below – not to mention his dried up disembodied hand kept at a nearby house.
But the Welsh National Biography site
yba.llgc.org.uk/en/s-DAVI-WIL-1593.html
has a slightly less hysterical version, where they are living in the inaccessable cave for nearly a year, and escape, and are only caught years later (one of them indeed getting hanged in the end, unfortunately).

*of ‘Notes of Family Excursions in North Wales’, by J. O. Halliwell, 1860. To be fair he is quoting ‘Williams’ History of Aberconwy, 1835’. Online at Google Books.

A bit of Great Orme insanity (which gives a taste of the terrain):

This mountain appearing, at a distance, like a rock in the sea, is a peninsular, nearly circular, about four miles in circumference[..]

.. [the precipice] is some hundred yards above the [sea], and in many places is almost perpendicular, against which the sea is always beating, making a hideous noise, so that it is really shocking to be near the declivity [..]

We left our horses at one of the cottages under the mount, and ascended the hill on foot, which is about a mile to the top; to have rode up was impracticable. We marched on, sometimes over barren rocks, and rubbish out of the copper mines, which lies there in great plenty [..]

By this time we were got very near the summit, which was very steep, but covered with the same green turf [very lush, and which supports the ‘sweetest mutton in Wales’] [..] Being arrived at the top of the hill or highest point of the Peninsula, we sat down to refresh ourselves, being a little fatigued with clambering up. We had rum and fruit in our pockets [..]

It remained to know the most expeditious way to descend, which was this-- we lay flat on our backs, and slided down at a great rate; the natives have a more expeditious way than this. When they have a mind to descend a mountain with speed, they fix their backs upon a flat kind of stone, holding the forepart fast with both the hands, betwixt the legs; then giving a spring, away they go, at the rate of a mile in a minute or more, according as the descent is. This is called “riding the stone-horse.”

p74 in ‘Notes of Family Excursions in North Wales’, by J. O. Halliwell, 1860. Online at Google Books

This is a quote from J O Halliwell’s ‘Rambles in Western Cornwall‘ (1861):

Zennor Cromlech was lately very nearly being transformed into another and very different kind of habitation to that intended by its original constructors. The following paragraph appeared in the Cornish Telegraph of Sept. 4th, 1861: ‘Zennor Quoit, one of our local antiquities, has recently had a narrow escape. It consists of seven stones, one of which is a large granite slab which lies in a slanting position against the tallest of the uprights. A farmer had removed a part of one of the upright pillars, and drilled a hole into the slanting quoit, in order to erect a cattle-shed, when news of the Vandalism reached the ears of the Rev. W. Borlase, vicar of Zennor, and for five shillings the work of destruction was stayed, -- the vicar having thus strengthened the legend that the quoit cannot be removed.

[...] an additional interest attaches to Zennor Quoit since it has obtained the distinction of being that English cromlech which has had the narrowest escape of being converted into a cattle-shed. It is quite curious to note the commencement of the process of transformation in the newly-drilled holes in the venerable blocks of granite. To what base uses we may return, Horatio!

But even as it is, this cromlech has been so greatly injured since the time of Borlase, it has lost much of its interest. Of the six supporters mentioned by that writer, three only remain quite upright, two others nearly so, while the sixth has been broken into two pieces, and the covering stone has fallen down on one end. Scarcely any traces remain of the stone barrow which once surrounded the cromlech. The whole monument is on a gigantic scale, the top-stone measuring about fourteen yards in circumference, and some of the supporting stones being much larger than I have ever observed in similar erections. This cromlech is also called by the country people the Giant’s Quoit.

About three miles to the south of Hampstead Norris, and near to the hamlet of Wellhouse, is a large encampment called Grimsbury castle; it is of a circular form and was once undoubtedly a place of great strength.

Although situated on a high hill, yet it has within the ramparts a most beautiful spring of water which has never been known to be dry.

The entrenchment seems to have been extended on the south side of the hill for the purpose of enclosing this spring. This rampart appears to have had only two entrances, one on the north and the other on the south side; just within the entrenchment, at the entrance on the north, is a small tumulus, which was thrown up either as a mount of observation or defence, or for the purpose of interment.

Below the main entrenchment and near to the bottom of the hill, is another entrenchment which extends all round the north side: a ditch also crosses the high ground on the south side of the hill, which was most likely intended as a sort of outwork, it being a considerable distance from the main rampart..

p219 of The History and Antiquities of Newbury and Its Environs, published by Hall and Marsh (1839).

From Reverend Scarth’s article on Chambered Tumuli in the 1856-7 Proceedings of the Somersetshire Archaeological and Natural History Society.

[The Rev. Skinner] states in his letter dated Dec. 1, 1815, that the “Barrow was partially opened about fifty years ago when the farmer who occupied the ground carried away many cart loads of stones for the roads, and at length made an opening in the side of the passage, through which they entered the sepulchre. But Mr. Smith, of Stoney Littleton House, owner of the estate, hearing of the circumstance, bade him desist from hauling more stones; but as the discovery made some noise in the neighbourhood, the country people from time to time entered by the same opening, and took away many of the bones, etc. It was never properly examined until I had done it.*“..

.. [following a description of Rev. Skinner’s explorations:] At one point a stone was placed across the passage, and Sir Richard [Colt Hoare] supposes that the sepulchral vault extended only thus far at first, and in later times was enlarged to its present extent..

What is particularly interesting to see is the plates following p50, as they show the barrow with trees on top of it.

Readable online at

I originally added this site because I thought it was a similarly-sounding name broch nearby. But now I discover it is something different – and what is it? In 1911 the RCAHMS thought it was natural. But it had a reputation for being hollow and artificial, as you see from the story. In 1965 the OS said confidently that it was ‘undoubtedly natural’, but come the NMRS visit of 1995, there are mentioned ‘slight depressions in the surface [which] may indicate chambers’. So perhaps opinion is swinging the other way. I can see it could well get axed as a tma site, but I think it’s kind of defensible since it is a mound large in the imagination of the local people: a large 30ft high lump on the landscape, with attendant fairy folklore (the type often attached to brochs and cairns).

The cairn is rather convex at top; in the centre is the mouth of the cavern; the roof is formed by large flat stones, regularly placed to support the incumbent weight, and in the descent lapped over each other with a sufficient bearing. I have been told that within is a spacious apartment, and that, but a few years ago, it was easily entered; but now there are such huge blocks rolled in, and the entrance is so very narrow, that they could not be removed but by mechanic powers.

From the mouth of the cave there extends a wide and regular range of flagging to the edge of the lake, evidently the work of hands; it is said by the peasants in this district to be the roof of a covered passage, but this seems very improbable, as the soil here is a deep wet bog, which could not bear an excavation to support so great a weight as these flags must have; it rather appears to have been a dry passage outside from the cave to the lake, though, indeed, the magnitude of the stones, adn the same kind not being found in other parts of the mountain, render it very improbable that they should be carried up this long and steep way for any secondary or immaterial purpose.

He then mentions that ‘there is no doubt’ that this cavern was once the abode of robbers like the celebrated O’Hanlon (’long the scourge and terror both of farmers and travellers’) – but this reads as romantic speculation despite his certainty.

p38 of ‘Statistical Survey of the County of Armagh’ by Sir Charles Coote (1804), now online at Google Books.

The record on the RCAHMS database is full of measurements of the hut circles, cairns and field systems here at the foot of Benachally.

Above here, somewhere..

In the face of Benachally, which looks towards the east, there is a cave of considerable magnitude. It is called the Drap, or Drop, from the water oozing through the crannies, and perpetually dropping from the roof. Below the Drop, and near the foot of the mountain, is a cove, called Henry’s Hole, from its having been in former times the hiding-place of robbers or plunderers of that name.

One would assume the inhabitants (at least the smaller ones) of these huts would have known such caves. More hut circles, cairns and cup-marked rocks lie on the other side of the reservoir to the NE.

from p1025 of the New Statistical Account, v10 (Perth) 1845.

.. the Cairn [is] circular, and measures 125 paces round the base. It is reported to have been of a conical shape within the memory of persons living; but that the stones which formed the apex have been carried away by the poor people to assist them in building t heir cottages. However this may be, the Cairn is conical no longer but flat at top; and except here and there, where a few of the stones of which it was originally constructed are visible, it is covered with grass..

.. The discovery [of chambers inside] was made by a poor girl, who related the circumstance to me as follows. One day, when she was sitting on the Cairn, some of the earth near her suddenly gave way, and fell in; presently a large stone followed, -- revealing, to her great surprise and alarm, a dark hole, and showing that the Cairn whereon she had been sitting was hollow. She ran and communicated her discovery to some men; who first threw some stones into the cavern, and then descended.

The account of such very incompetant observers [!] is hardly to be trusted; but I was assured that the tomb contained nothing but a coffin formed by a series of rough flag-stones disposed so as to form a receptacle for the human body; part of a skeleton; and (I believe) an amber bead, together with some other little object which she could not describe.*

The weather was quite bad so he couldn’t go sight seeing – so why not dig into the cairn?

An understanding was speedily entered into with nine active lads, who [..] attacked the stony heap at three different points, under the auspices of divers grave old Gaels; who folding their plaids about them, sat smoking their wee pipes, and predicting between every whiff that the Saxon would not find anything.

Actually they turned out to be right. They kept digging, then it rained a lot and despite the ‘some whiskey, judiciously administered’, the workmen got fed up in the end and downed tools in the rain the next day.

From J.W.B on p36 of the 1841 Gentleman’s Magazine, online at Google books, here.

The RCAHMS database describes it as ‘a large, steep-sided, grass-covered mound bearing trees. It measures about 77ft by 55ft by 13ft in height.’ ‘The capstone of the chamber, said to have been broken in 1832, still leans against the base of the mound on the N side. It is 8ft long, 5ft in maximum width and 1ft thick. A small flat slab lies nearby.‘

*this might have been the grey-green stone wristguard which is mentioned in the RCAHMS notes.

“The Victoria Cave, near Settle, so called from its discovery on the coronation day of our Queen, stands about half-way up a cliff two hundred feet high.”

Mr Jackson, the superintendant of the excavations, found a layer containing lots of “ornaments and implements.” I liked the way they were described – and some of them have got to be prehistoric:

“Besides spindlewhorls, beads, and curious nondescript articles of bone, it yielded bronze fibulae of undoubtedly Roman workmanship, a portion of the ivory hilt of a Roman sword, and spiral armlets made of bronze and gilded, which possibly may not be Roman. Some of the ornaments certainly present a style of art which is not Roman, and which is by no means of a contemptible order [!]. One curious circular brooch was composed of two plates of bronze soldered together, the front being very thin, and bearing flamboyant and spiral patterns of admirable design and execution.”

Of another fibula, “its delicate workmanship implies a high degree of taste in the fabricator.”

from
Report on the Results Obtained by the Settle Cave Exploration Committee Out of Victoria Cave in 1870.
W. Boyd Dawkins
The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 1. (1872), pp. 60-70.