5th October 2003
Having read the Cornwall Archaeological report from 1993 last night, I’m more convinced that this was a circle at some point in the past. On previous visits, I’d not noticed the buried stones, and the approach path from the track has what could possibly be a fallen (and now semi-buried) outlier across it. To me, this only adds weight to the theories.
4th October 2003
This place is seriously out of the way! Thanks are due to Goffik for his directions which led me straight there. This is not somewhere that someone who has a problem with heights (like me!) should go. Goffik’s directions state ‘take the left fork’. As the path clings limpet like to the side of a very high cliff, the only way I could see a left fork taking me was straight down. Luckily, the main path forked right and up, and the left fork consisted of just a few steps down to the well itself. There’s not much more than a thin covering of foliage stopping anyone falling off the cliff though, so I wouldn’t suggest visiting here in wet or windy weather.
Access: Not for the faint-hearted!
3rd October 2003
Last time I was here, it was typically Dartmoor damp. This morning, it was typical Dartmoor sunshine, a glorious day!
I took my time walking the rows, circumnavigating the circle and outlier and I actually found the cracked cist this time – I’d totally missed it last time round.
An excellent place to stop on the moor whatever the weather.
4th October 2003
I adore this place – I want to have its babies. The bracken was chest high, and I wasn’t sure how much I’d see of the circle today, but I needn’t have worried as the centre stone was easily viewed from the approach. When I was last here at this time last year, the stones were almost completely covered by the bracken, but some care has been taken this year to keep them clear. The sun shone, and the stones were all quite warm, apart from the large quartz stone, which was icy cold to the touch. Its magic worked on me once again, and I found it very difficult to leave. I daren’t look back as I finally left, in case I felt impelled to return.
Access: Difficult even in good conditions -it’s a tricky (though not long) walk from the road whichever direction you approach from. I’d suggest able bodied access only.
3rd October 2003
The northern row gave me slightly less difficulty that the southern row, but many of the stones are extremely low indeed. The blocking stone stands a foot or so high and was the most recognisable to me, the grass being fairly rough and high during my visit.
3rd October 2003
Lying to one side, in a cleared area parallel with the forest track, the cairn sadly had a significant fire pit on top of the mound. Despite the low number of stones, the circle can clearly be seen.
3rd October 2003
From the access track, several very low stones, barely poking above the earth were evident. Also apparent were several moss covered tree stumps, which confused the picture somewhat, as it was necessary to determine which were stones and which were stumps. It was quite tricky to make out the stone row, which didn’t seem that straight to me.
Visited 3rd October 2003
Like Martin, we drove as far as possible along the approach road, past the official car park. The forest track heads off to the left from this point (don’t follow the footpath immediately ahead). The track rises steadily for a way (took me what felt like about 5-10 minutes, but with no watch it’s hard to say). Suddenly the clearing appeared to the right. Two large stones proclaimed the entrance, but I think they’re there to stop possible vehicles (which obviously use the track) from progressing further. The site opened up from this point on, everything being nicely laid out before me.
There was no fire damage evident within the circle, although there was a fire pit just outside of it. What was obvious to me, was the slant of the circle, with taller stones on the south progressing down to smaller ones on the northern side. I’d seen this effect before, during our trip to Ireland earlier this year. I don’t recall seeing this in other circles in this country, but then I don’t remember what I had for breakfast this morning!
Later: I saw this Frith photo which shows the site in 1907 – quite a difference!
Access: A fair uphill trek to get to the area of the sites. I wouldn’t want to push a wheelchair up here – it’s quite a bumpy path.
Visited 3rd October 2003
Even at 7:30 in the morning, the A35 is a damn dangerous place! Parking on the wrong side of the road in the ‘makeshift layby’, I precariously made my way the 50 yards along the road to the small concrete bridge across the ditch to the oasis of calm that is the stones. Despite laying only feet from the roar of the traffic, I was surprised at how little it intruded upon the stones.
A ritual had obviously been performed here the previous evening, as a clear swept circle of leaves remained in the middle of the stones. Unfortunately, the light was all wrong for photographs, and I encountered the same difficulties in taking pictures that I had when trying to photograph the Hoar Stone at Enstone. All were out of focus, with a strong colour cast, despite using a monpod.
Access: Dodgy, even for the fully fit, due to the traffic hazard.
About 25 yards south of the Countless Stones is a turn off. I precariously parked here and crossed the road to an entrance to a bridleway to see if I could see the Coffin Stone in it’s field. Luckily, the crop had been harvested, and the stone(s) stood proud of the field, in full sight. I didn’t approach the stones on this ocassion, being contented enough just to see them, and not wanting to encroach on what is obviously a cropping field. A couple of hundred yards further south is an entrance to Great Tottington Farm. I may ask here next time for permission to actually visit the stones.
There is also supposedly a circle, or ruined circle of stones (The Tottington Sarsens) at the head of the stream on the farm. It would be interesting to see if anything remains of this site/monument.
We popped in to have a look at this today, on our way back home from Birmingham, as it’s only a 5 minute drive from J11 on the M40.
Approaching Cropredy from the A361, just before the Cropredy Bridge is a large stone on the left hand side of the road. An information plaque proclaims it to be a boundary stone from the 15thC, but it looks and feels much older than that.
Anyway, continuing on, we came to a ‘T’ junction. We turned Right for no particular reason, and shortly spotted a road on the left marked ‘Cup and Saucer’. I swung in and the stone was there in front of us.
I’m not certain what to make of it, to be honest. It looks as if it should have an inscription carved on the ‘plinth’, for plinth it is. The base and ‘cup’ appears to be a single stone, but at the same time has obviously been extensively worked into its current font-like form. It’s hard to tell if the ‘spoon’ was ever actually a separate stone, or if the whole was carved from a single piece of stone.
Cup & Saucer? Mug & Spoon? Pestle & Mortar? I think the jury’s still out on this one...
I failed to find this at the weekend.
The EH Monuments record describes the site thus:
“The site lies on a gentle south east facing slope at the north east corner of a small wood.
The portal dolmen has one large upright and one adjacent inclined stone, together with a number of smaller stones on the northern side of a roughly square depression which measures 3m across and 0.2m deep. The upright limestone block measures 1.54m long, 0.72m thick and stands 0.94m high above the present ground level. The inclined stone immediately to the east measures 1m long, c.1m wide and 0.5m thick. Surrounding the central depression is a circular bank of small stones which measures c.10m in overall diameter. The bank is 2m wide and stands 0.4m high to the south.”
I could see two possible candidates for the ‘small wood’, but couldn’t find a way through the hedge from the road (which is a bit of a racetrack!) I’ll have to leave this for someone more local to investigate further.
There is also a possible Long Barrow in the same vicinity, which is close to Chastleton Barrow Fort and the Goose Stones, so lots of evidence for this being an important centre at one time.
Popped in here on Saturday to pay our respects. As Jane says, it’s almost totally hidden and you wouldn’t know it was there unless you were specifically looking for it.
“You didn’t see me, right?”
Visited this at the weekend, but not much to see, to be honest.
Parked at the bottom of the hill, there’s a parking area at the junction with the main road. Pleasant enough walk up the hill (the road is marked as no through route for motor vehicles) – very quiet, even the traffic noise was negligable, so very peaceful.
If you walk up the road and reach the pylons, you passed the barrow. It’s in a field to the left – no obvious way in and it’s in the middle of a cultivated field so I didn’t trespass to get to it at all. All that can be seen is an uncultivated ‘lump’, although there are apparently a couple of possible entrance stones to be seen.
There are good views all around. 2-300 yards difference in the location and it would be a different story though.
I only spotted this on the way home as I took a wrong turning. Parking in a layby I looked across and thought “hello, what’s that?“. Checking the map, the opportunity was too good to miss, and we carefully made our way up the deeply rutted track to the even more deeply rutted car park.
As others have said, the ‘fort’ is impressive. I was totally unprepared for the inner ditch, and knew right away that this was special in some way. It’s a bit too ‘jagged’ for a proper henge ditch, to my mind, and looks a bit rough and ready.
Great views though, and a large and varied butterfly population.
South Baddesley is a small place: a church, a school and a few cottages. We parked in the church car park, a couple of hundred yards North off the Lymington-East End road.
I walked back down the lane to the junction, but could see no sign of a sarsen, even though the GPS said I was on the spot. There’s a small triangle of grass at a junction with a side lane, that would have been an ideal spot if the stone had been moved, but it was bare.
Sadly it looks as if this is no more (or is now recumbent in a ditch, covered by undergrowth)
This is definitely one for the completists. The henge does not appear on the OS map, but is mentioned on the MAGIC web site as a scheduled monument. The henge is about 1m in height, and around 65m in diameter. There are apparently two opposing entrances, identified from crop marks, in the East and West. The Icknield Way passes by and is visible to the NE.
I approached on the path from the NW. The henge site can be seen across a field surrounded by barbed wire, showing signs warning of Rat Poison and other evils. Staying on the path (marked on the OS Map), and skirting around this field leads to the field with the henge in it. Luckily, the crop had recently been harvested and I crossed to the henge site itself, which was heavily overgrown with weeds. Sadly, there’s really not much to see here, unless you enjoy staring at an uncultivated patch of land surrounded by farmland.
I was quite surprised when I found out where these were. A few years ago, before my TMA interests, I’d attended a job interview in the modern office block that overlooks the mounds. I remember assuming at the time that they were just a modern landscaping feature…
Antiquarian descriptions state that the mounds were once all surrounded by ditches and outer banks, but these are no longer visible. What are visible today are the inevitable cycle tracks across the tops of the mounds, which are situated a short walk from the shopping centre. The mounds are fairly evenly spaced, on a N-S line. Only one is undisturbed, three having large depressions indicating where shafts have been sunk, and the two most southerly have been tunnelled from the sides.
All in all, a bit of an anachronism in the modern(!) town, but I’m glad they’ve managed to survive.
This is weird. A church, with a whole bunch of sarsens around it.
The two stones in front of the church are not in their original positions, according to a helpful local lady, who also pointed out the sarsen poking inside the SW wall of the church, under the rear pew. Reports of the number of stones varies. I thought I counted as many as 13 stones or remnants, but figures of 9,10 or 11 are more usually reported.
Was this originally a circle? It’s difficult to determine that from what I saw. Most of the stones are on the Southern edges of the churchyard rather than spread around. R*man fragments of a hypocaust were found in an adjoining field, and a kiln site lies nearby, so the area has been in use since the Iron Age, if not earlier.
I’m no expert on cup marks, but several of the stones had round indentations in them. Could this be weathering? Another had a triangular ‘groove’ cut into it, which intrigued me – see photos for details of these.
Just at the northern limit of the town, on the B1383, is the entrance to Shortgrove House. We parked here, and walked the 100 or so yards further south along the road to where the Leper Stone stands at the side of the road. This is a large stone, reportedly the largest in Essex.
Slightly further south in the town, in Station Road lies a recumbent block of puddingstone outside the village hall.
Am I an enthusiast? From Juamei’s entries, and the fact I’m here, I guess I must be.
I had problems finding this, despite Juamei’s directions. I had a couple of false starts, stopping when I saw Footpath signs in Milton Road. The trick is to keep going, over the speed bumps which do nothing to deter the local boy-racers, past a Cost Cutters supermarket, across a couple of mini roundabouts. Milton Road eventually comes to a T junction (mini roundabout, so you can swing back round easily), the required footpath is on the right, as Juamei says, as you approach this final junction. The entrance to the site is some 30yds along the footpath, on the right.
The site itself could be wonderful. Dragonflies and butterflies buzzed and fluttered during my visit, but sadly, despite being designated a Nature Reserve, it is quite dilapidated. Rubbish is strewn around, I heard a gang of kids making a ‘camp’ of an old fridge and car bonnet off in the bushes somewhere. Firepits are strewn around the area, and the memorial block is now only a tribute to the freedom of expression and artistic talents (or lack thereof) of the local youth population.
A historic site, deserving of more attention.
An interesting site, with a road that drives straight through the heart of the fort. There are no views as, in so many cases, the hillfort is now covered in thick tree growth.
There is an information board near to an 18thC folly, called Grimsbury Castle, and a footpath across the road leads to one of the gates of the fort, where the fortifications and ditch can be clearly seen. Whilst I was there, a muntjac deer scurried past, totally at home in the environment.
Four barrows are visible to the west of the A34, and two more are visible to the east, the barrows lay in a rough n/s alignment.
There’s a layby right by the barrows on the northbound carriageway, for the use of visitors to the De Haviland Memorial, which is nearby.
Approaching from the north, we spotted the barrows and were looking for a suitable parking place when we spotted it. A huge crop circle on the hill in the adjoining field (see photo). So the stories are true. It is a centre for this kind of activity.
Once parked in the layby, I spent a bit of time looking at the barrows, which seem to leap from the surrounding fields, before moving down to look at the circle. In the hedge at the edge of the field was a fallen treetrunk, hosting an enormous fungus growth, looking for all the world like an alien spaceship.
A spooky visit.
This seems to be a hangout for the local youths, as three or four carloads passed us as we were leaving.
I didn’t climb the hill, but did take some nice photos of wild flowers for Mikki.
There’s a sign screwed to a tree nearby that suggests the huge capstone is only supported by two of the uprights, but I saw at least three in contact during my visit.
The pathway to the dolmen was incredibly overgrown, but the area immediately around the dolmen was clear.
This stone (or its site) is just down the road from the cottage we’d hired for the week. On the final day of our holiday we determined to find it. The only stone of any size in the area is in the grounds of a new house, currently up for sale. There are a couple of other large stones in the garden, but the one furthest from the road looks most genuine.
This stone is easily visible from the N25 heading into Rosscarbery from the east, although it actually took us several days before we found it, spending most of our week either west or north of Rosscarbery.
This is apparently a fine wedge tomb, and access can be gained via the farm at V976332. I didn’t have time to enquire on my visit, having been talked into giving a local a lift into Skull.
A wonderful row. I’m not sure if it wasn’t even more wonderful in the past, as there is a recumbent stone in the row (covered with odd scratches which may just be plough scars) and a low stone at the high end which potentially could have been a fifth, taller stone in the row at some point.
A quarter mile off the road, clearly in sight, but this took some time to reach, due to the (barbed wire) fences in the way and the boggy ground underfoot. Again, like so many Irish sites, wonderful views can be seen in all directions.
This circle is accompanied by an ancient low wall, which heads off to the west from the circle.
This circle lies on an ancient trackway called the ‘Old Green Road’. It’s a fair climb up from the road at V755578, firstly through boggy woodland next to a stream, then across open moorland. There are several stiles to traverse. If you’ve got the time, it’s a wonderful trek, and is part of the much longer Beara Way walk.
Once at the circle, only 3 stones of the original 5 remain. Close by, is a row of alignment stones and further off, the ruined remains of a multiple stone circle. Excellent views can be had of the surrounding mountains and down to Killmakilloge Harbour.
I found a large lump of solid white quartz nearby, and left it in the middle of the three stones before leaving – it seemed to fit there somehow.
A confusing site. I’d come here for the Boulder Burial, but other aspects intrigue. There appears to be a ruined circle, what looks like a ‘mini-cove’ enclosing a cairn, and a couple of large boulders which may have been burials in their own right at some point in the distant past. All accompanied by the sound of running water from the nearby river. Too much for me to make sense of.
A wonderful site, well worth the climb up the hill. There is now a rather obvious unlocked sprung gate, with the now obligatory ‘No Trespassing’ sign attached, leading to the site from the top of the hill. It took some time to traverse the boggy ground leading to the stones, and approaching the site I was sure there was a recumbent sheep guarding the way. It turned out to be a smooth boulder, outside and away from the main complex. The cairn has a couple of bushes growing well in the middle, but I was amazed at the intricacy of the cairn and the sheer number of stones.
The uprights have a very pronounced male/female aspect to them, but I couldn’t spot any glaring alignments to them in the surrounding scenery.
I’ll confess I was so blown away by the cairn, uprights and views, I didn’t really take much notice of the circle at the time. I did notice the gradation appeared to be opposite to other circles in that the stones increase in height toward the axial stone as opposed to the more usual decrease in height. I must study my photos closer.
I could only get the barest glimpse of these stones. The cows I saw weren’t as friendly as the ones in the pictures here, and had horns. Bullocks!
I could barely make these out from the road, above all the vegetation. It’s no surprise I couldn’t find the Clodagh circle on the ridge on the opposite side of the road with this level of growth...
Looking at the map, this sits beyond a farmhouse at the end of a trackway. I followed the track past the house, but couldn’t see anything of note. I was being watched by a clan of kids, so couldn’t go past the gate to see what was further in the field.
Fourwinds reported on his website that a ‘demon dog’ from the adjacent house guards this site. As I parked the car, a dog did indeed come bounding out, barking aggressively. The dog’s owner soon followed, and I explained that I wanted to see the stones in the adjoining field. She was very friendly, coming from London (Wembley) herself, and was amazed when I told the story of the ‘demon dog’. I made friends with both her dogs, and used her garden to take photos of the stones themselves. Sadly, I couldn’t get into the field to see the circle close up, due to the presence of a couple of young bullocks, but it’s plain that only two stones remain of the circle.
If you do visit here, the house owner desperately misses a good English cheese and I’m sure would appreciate someone dropping some in!
Parking in the farmyard, follow the track through the farm, which eventually snakes up the hill (it’s marked on the OSI map). The stones are beyond the second gate on the track.
I found it difficult to make out the form of the circle, which doesn’t seem to follow the Irish RSC pattern. I may just not have seen it, as all the stones are quite low, only about a foot or so high. A nice setting though, even if the stones aren’t that great.
The map also shows a Standing Stone and Burial Ground close by, but I didn’t spot them.
This circle is incomplete, but sits in a wonderful setting near the banks of the Ardrigeen River.
Unusually, it seems to be situated at the foot of a rise rather than on the high point.
Not much left of this, unfortunately. Just a pile of stones, looking like field clearance, on the ridge. A couple of uprights on the edges provide the clues.
‘Stone Circles of Cork and Kerry’ suggests parking at the road junction and approaching the hill from the West. I parked on the junction as suggested, opposite a gate to a field full of cows. That’s the one, I told myself, leapt the gate and set off. Crossing the field, I was aware the cows were watching me. As I’d passed them and was starting to climb the hill, I heard the thunder of hooves behind me. I turned to find two of the beasts charging me! I waved my stick while backing away, which confused them for all of 5 seconds before they started forward again. Luckily I was close to the electric wire fence, and ducked under it quickly. The power wasn’t on, but I hoped they didn’t know that. I’m sure they could have uprooted the fenceposts easily by just leaning against the wire. They came right up to the wire, and looked around the corner of the hill, where I’d started climbing. I looked back to find they’d doubled their numbers! I continued up, but drew a complete blank. I was on the wrong damned hill, trapped by a herd of manic cows! Maybe waving my stick hadn’t been such a good idea…
I looked around, and found another trackway up the adjoining hill, so decided to try my luck that way. On top of this hill, I found two very sad looking stones. Surely this can’t be it? Half a page in Roberts’ book for this? I looked around, almost in desperation now, and spotted, just on the brow of the next hill along, what might have been a glimpse of a stone. No turning back now I thought, and made my way across. Electric wire was everywhere along the field boundary, which also had a substantial hedge. Milling back and forth, I found only one spot that looked traversable, and what looked like a droveway on the other side.
I clambered through and let myself down, only to find myself being sucked under into very soft earth. I lost my balance whilst trying to reach firm ground on the bank, slipped and put my hand down into a bed of nettles! “This can’t get any worse”, I thought. “There’s nothing left to happen. I’ve been chased and trapped by cows, sucked at by the ground, and my hand bloody stings all over! Get some dock, quick.”
Back on firm ground, I started toward the crest of the hill, when I spied more cows looking at me. For once, luck was with me when I saw at least two lengths of cattle wire separating us. And there were the stones! I boldly marched up to take my pictures. Sadly, the ground was too overgrown to actually enter the circle and I didn’t want to antagonise the cows any more than I had already done by approaching the boulder tomb a little way off, so I turned to try to find my way back to the car.
The droveway seemed the best idea, despite the soft ground, so I followed it for a short way, only to find it petered out after 50 yards or so. The farm was obviously in the other direction! Undeterred, I continued on through the nettles. Hey, my hand and leg were stinging like nothing I’ve ever felt before. There was nothing left to go wrong, was there? I came to a field boundary, like a small thicket, but one that the cows had been through before. The ground was soft here again, and there were other more obvious signs. Must be a way through then, right? Well almost. I battled my way through, then came to the ubiquitous electric wire fence again. A nervous glance around, no cows, and over we go. I’m now in a field, that appears to border a road, and there’s a gate! I rush across to it, scale the gate and find myself less than 50 yards away from the car. Sweet mercy! Back in the car and relating the adventure to Mikki, bugger me if the original bolshie cows don’t come right up to the gate where I started and look straight at us, as if to say “if this gate weren’t here, pal, we’d have you!” So take Jack Roberts’ advice and park where he suggests, but walk up the road a short way before looking to head across the fields.
I took Fourwinds’ advice (see his website for details) and ignored the sign about the bull (on the road to the northeast, which our landlady’s local handyman had confirmed was only there to scare off the tourists and avoid any litigation if they hurt themselves), and used the next gate down with an overgrown track. This led directly to a field boundary, through which I could see the circle. Unfortunately, there was no obvious way through the boundary so I made my way to the corner of the field, and shimmied over the wall. Looking around the field I now found myself in, I couldn’t see any break in the boundary at all! There must be one, as the cows had obviously visited recently.
Anyway, the stones were a wonderful introduction to the Irish style, and I could see the cottage from within the circle! Must remember to check when we get back ‘home’ later.
The views from here are wonderful.
The capstone sits, looking like some futuristic airship briefly docked on the uprights. My imagination was playing overtime just standing staring at it...
Went there. Loved it.
Mikki wants the house next door, just so we can say “look what we live next to!”
I should have read the previous fieldnotes! I scrabbled around trying to see anything, until I stumbled upon the bridle path. I managed to spot the stone through the hedgerow, and grabbed this shot.
Mentioned on an information board at the west end of the village, but I couldn’t locate it, and a local postman wasn’t aware of it when I asked.
There is a quarry to the north of the village, and the chamber is shown on the OS map as close to the quarry. Hopefully its still there...
Spotted this from the N25 on our way home. It looks to be around 5 feet tall. Once again, cows in the field prevented a closer look.
Marked as ‘standing stones’ on the OSI map, I’d expected to find a pair here. What I actually found was a three stone row. Two of the stones are similar in size, and about 5 metres apart. The third is much smaller and about 25 metres to the NE of the other two, but in line with them. The middle stone had a small boulder placed atop it. I didn’t enter the field due to the presence of cows nearby.
The instructions below are spot on for finding the stone(s), but I think Grid Ref SP782416 is more accurate than the one given.
Lying within a nature conservation area, the walk alongside the river is well maintained, and it’s possible to see that the stones are resting on the surface rather than being embedded in the ground. That suggests to me that the stones are not that old, but I’d be happy to be proved wrong.
I parked spot on the grid ref given, but couldn’t see the stone anywhere. There’s a footpath leading behind the houses, but nothing to be seen there, and a footpath on the open ground on the other side of the road. I drew a blank.
Any specific directions to find the stone would be useful (unless the grid ref is actually wrong)