Catshole Tor is one of those bits of Bodmin Moor that very few people visit...which is a shame. The hillside is littered with rocks and the views cross to Brown Willy are superb.
I had not expected to find anything man made up there so was only snapping pictures of the landscape. However when I got home and started reading up on Tolborough Tor I came across a piece in ‘Romance of the Stones’ talking about a chambered tomb on Catshole Tor.
Looking through the photos I realised I had taken several shots of it whilst trying to get some foreground into my Brown Willy photos.
Looks like I will have to go back up there and take a closer look...
Mr Hamhead
Described by EH as a bowl barrow, I though it was just a barrow that had been dug into. It measures about 35 metres across at its widest but is not that high. Although it now has a hedge behind it and a row of trees a little down slope of it I would guess that when it was built it had a commanding view down the valley to the Truro River.
Access is by a footpath from St Clement village or from Malpas village (where there is a very nice pub).
Easy to spot in a field beside the road from jamaica Inn to Codda. Parking is a bit of a problem if you want to be away from the car for a while and I would advise either driving along to the end of the road or parking on the side of the road when it turns to Bolventor Church.
Field is open access so no problems there and you can carry on up onto top of tor from stone.
Stone is about 7ft high and it has been suggested that it is a modern erection...looks pukka to me!
Those who venture west of the Hurlers will come across these two cairns over near the small engine house known as Silver Valley. From here it is a pleasant walk towards the Craddock Moor sites.
One of the most featurless hills on Bodmin Moor, best known for its man made tin streaming remains that encircle it. It is a large rounded lump to the east of Roughtor and Brown Willy best approached from the ford at Bowithick.
I last ventured on to its barren slopes about 20 years ago and my memory was of feeling quite disorientated by the lack of landmarks.
Today, 12 Aug 07, there is a good clear sky and plenty of daylight to let me explore the hill further.
I start up by climbing a gully to where I remember there being some mining remains, these are easily found and I continue on towards the summit, not sure exactly where it is.
I pass what could be a stone row but is more likely to be an ancient field boundry and suddenly Roughtor and Showery Tor can be seen away to the west. Brown Willy appears soon after.
On reaching a highpoint I turn left and make for the summit. Two low cairns can be seen, looking like any other robbed out cornish cairns but as I get closer I can see that the nearest has a stone standing inside it. This cairn is about 12 ft across with the central stone about 3ft high. From this cairn it is a short walk to the larger cairn that crowns the summit. Even from this close all I expect to find is a low pile of stones, all be it larger than the last cairn.
How wrong could I be! The low bank of the cairn, about 30 to 35ft across, surrounds a cist with all four walls intact and the capstone perched over it. The cist is about 6ft long and 3 ft wide with a solid granite floor. How come I have not read about it before? This is one of the best preserved cists I have found on the moor. Part of me starts to think it has been built in later times to fool people like me but....
The OS map marks five cairns on the hilltop, I can only find another two, one of which is just a platform of stones adjecent to the summit cairn. The other sits a little distance downslope to the SE.
From the summit my journey took me down to the source of the River Fowey, which once gave its name to the moor. It is a quiet place, rarely visited by man, and yet his handywork is all around in the form of tin streaming channels, something started on the moor by bronze age man. Somewhere in the area there is a stone row, but today I fail to find it. perhaps next time.....
This collection of stones, three standing and one lying across another is not noted on maps and I can find no references to it in any books. The uprights form a semi circle around the other stone which lies atop of another. Other stones may at one time have compleated the circle but are now fallen or lost. The setting lies in an area of the moor that has been heavily robbed of stone over the years and is only a short distance from a low lying quarried outcrop. Goldiggins Quarry is just to the NE, a good point to make for if trying to find this site.
St Agnes Beacon is a landmark for anybody driving down the A30 towards the END. Surprisingly for such a large and conspicuous hill the barrows/cairns on the summit are just the opposite. My feelings are they have been robbed not only of any remains but also of stone over the years. What is left are a few scattered mounds, and even these can be mistaken for mining remains and vice versa. The hill is great for views..but don’t make a special trip for the archaeology.
To find this stone requires a bit of hedge hopping..and is on private land. Please make sure no fences are damaged as it allows sheep and cattle from the fields to get into Kilminorth Woods where they have caused great damage in the past.
This stone is mentioned in Paynes ‘Romance of the Stones’ as having been standing 5ft high when seen by OS inspectors in 1962. There is some thought that it might only have been a rubbing post...and who am I to say otherwise, but...
It sits (lies) on a north facing slope that drops steeply into the West Looe river valley. Woodland now hides the landscape and the view up river towards Bodmin Moor. Just behind it is an earth bank that I believe is part of the Giants Hedge or a Iron Age hillfort that was later turned into a rabbit warren. (viewing said hilltop from above the modern wall looks as if the field is circular, it isn’t but if it went right out to the earth bank it might be)
Naturally shaped stones like this do not occur in the Looe area and rubbing stones tend to be made of granite, brought down from the moor.
The stone features on the EH list of sites (hence me seeking it out). A similar but smaller stone lies hidden in the woods just to the south.
The name on the OS map suggests there should be something here....alas, I can find no written evidence of any quoit ever being here and nothing to suggest why the rock strewn hill top should have such a name.
Quarrying was done here in the mid 1800s and all around the area moorstone has been cut and taken. Was there a quiot here that had fallen and was carted off to build a nearby farm?
Despite these facts it is a great place to visit if you like atmospheric woodland and moss covered rocks.
Some additional field notes....
It is possible to access the East Moor area (including Fox Tor and Nine Stones of Altarnun) from the A30 by turning off at Five Lanes and taking the lane to Halvana. After a while you will come to a small group of cottages with a track leading off to a gate on the left. Park here (making sure you are not blocking anybody) and go through the gate and head out onto the moor. Fox Tor towers over you to your left, the east Moor stones and cairns are ahead to the right.
Sits in a field to the south of Boscastle / Tintagel. Easily reached by road with fantastic views out to sea or over to Bodmin Moor and beyond.
The ridge leading out to Tregarrick Tor from Minions contains at least five cairns (or Tumuli if you use the OS map) The two biggest stand proud and can be viewed from some distance away. One is a standard cairn, usual mound of granite boulders although the covering of moss on many I find unusual. The second, that stands just to the west, is a nice ring cairn. Both (in May 07) have been striped of vegitation and are easily seen. The ring cairn has been subjected to fire and all the gorse has been burnt back revelaing its shape.
Not actually marked on the map as a barrow but....that is what it looks like to me! The seaward side has dissapeared and a wall built through it. The whole mound is surounded by barbed wire to keep something out?
Great site to be buried!
Easilly reached from Gwithian Towans by NT road out to the lighthouse.
I am trusting the info board at this site for info on this stone. The stone can be found in the car park of Poldark Mine near Wendron , north of Helston.
I know no more about it .....see image for more info.
Thi is another of those sites in Cornwall that I have past many times but never bothered to explore.....and another that after you make the effort you ask yourself why you have never done it before.
Castle-an-Dinas is LARGE!
Easy to reach just off the A30...which will shortly be closer to it when the new road opens...there is a handy carpark so that even those who do not want to walk far can access the site.
The whole place is full of history, not just the Iron Age fortress but also the 20th century wolfram mine buildings that flank the car park.
But it is the prehistory that will entice those who read this...
Fingerposts now guide you around the castle to preserve banks that have been badly eroded over the years by those who head straight for the top. Follow the posts, its worth it, you get to see far more of the site...in fact I would reccommend walking around in circles until you have done them all....
Once in the centre of the fort you will notice at least two mounds, all that remain of earlier tumuli, and a pond and eveidence of excavation, from a later period. I am sure the views on a good day are fantastic, it was a little hazy when I was there....good excuse to return!
Was this THE Iron Age castle of Cornwall?, I think it’s the biggest...and being central between both coasts I think it must be. The hill fort at St Dennis is just across Goss Moor where evidence of Bronze Age tin streaming has been found. Beyond St Dennis the China Clay waste tips have obliterated any other prehistory many years ago but to the north the Nine maidens and Pawton Quoit are not far away....
But I waffle....make a detour when heading west..climb to the top and take in Cornwall...its worth it.
If you want a nice cliff walk with plenty of changing scenery then the one out to The Rumps is worth choosing. From Wadebridge follow signs to Polzeath..then New Polzeath. Turn off right before you reach the village and take narrow lane out to a NT carpark at the old lead mines...(don’t go on any further, it’s not worth it, theres only space for a couple of cars and they charge you!). From the lead mines take the path going east towards the cliffs. here join the SWCP and turn left heading out towards the Rumps. On a clear day you will get good views towards Tintagel and beyond...you might even be able to see Lundy (not sure about this). Follow the path as it skirts above the cliffs until you reach the headland. Branch off here and walk out passing through the huge ramparts as you go. I chose the left ‘Rump’ to explore but I am sure the other one is just as interesting. Can’t say I spotted any hut circles.
On leaving the Rumps turn right on the SWCP and continue on around the headland as it climbs amongst rocky outcrops. After a while you will pass a footpath leading off on the left to the farm, ignore this and carry on around eventually gaining a view right up the Camel estuary.
Follow the path until you nearly reach Polzeath where you will find a narrow valley causes you to turn inland. Follow the path up the valley to the farm, here turn right and follow the track back to the car park. Walk should take about 2 to 3 hours.
You will need a map to find this beast...or some friendly locals. I had both. After driving up the lane to the farmhouse at the top I turned around and asked the owners where the quoit was and where I could park. They advised me to drive back down the land and park at the first gateway on the left. The field in which the quoit stands is not theirs, so they said they could not give me permission to go in...but as the gate was open and there was only grass growing I went for it.
It is quite a long walk from the bottom corner to the quoit which is at the top of the field. It is also quite muddy..in fact the quoit has a shallow moat around it at the moment.
With all the brambles and whatever else died down it is easy to make out the surrounding mound, made up of quartz stones. Being that this is the common rock around here...is the whole pile made out of them? Are they only on the top? or have they been thrown there by farmers clearing the field over the ages?
The Quoit is not tall by the standards of others in Cornwall but it is the great thick capstone that makes it standout...such a shame that it is in a field with views of a huge modern farm just to the west...somewhat spoils the setting......I would think on a sunny day in times long ago this would have been a fantastic place to be buried.
After viewing the Men Gurta I was dissapointed that I could not get close to this stone. The double row of barbed wire fencing makes it clear that entry to the field is not encouraged! I did think about going in via the gate into the windfarm but it would have then meant a walk down the whole length of the field to reach the stone. There are what looks like a couple of barrows in the field plus one just to the east. This is the eastern end of a row of them that runs past the Nine Maidens and includes around 50 barrows in a seven mile stretch.
What a lump!..and I love this North Cornwall quartz seamed stone. As someone has allready said it is a shame about the rubbish strewn about the site...and I would guess it is a local landowner judging by the type of rubbish.
I waited patiently for the sun to come out from behind the clouds to get some decent photos...not sure if I succeded yet..will look later. Very windy and wet underfoot, I want to return on a drier day!
From here it is not far as the crow flies to Pawton Quoit or the Nine Maidens...but legal rights of way are few and far between and I ended up getting in the car and driving to the others. Perhaps on a nicer day I would have persevered and found a route.
Having just visited the Nine Maidens today I would advise not going after rain! The field was more water than earth.
Could I make a request...Please do not make for the stones by hopping over the hedge by the lay by. You will notice that some new fencing has been erected to stop this but people have obviously decided to go around this. If you walk down the road a short distance there is a nice new stile beside a gate leading into the field. You can then follow the official track across the field to the opposit side where the stones are.
Sadly today was not the best day to take photos..very gray cloudy day...until I got home and as I sit here now the sun is out and there is hardly a cloud in the sky...
These two cairns lie high in the Cambrian Mountains to the South east of Tregaron. They can be reached by walking up an old drove road from a remote chapel at Soar y Myndd on the mountain rd heading towards Builth Wells. As you reach the summit of the track there are several finger like mounds on the left hand side. The cairns lie at the far end of these alongside a sheep fold. Soon after the hillside drops away into a steep sided valley.
My Welsh speaking friend tells me Saith Wraig translates to Seven Women.
Could not get close to this stone that I spotted across a very damp field. I would think it is about 5ft high and quite broad. It is in a triangular field bounded on all sides by minor roads just to the north of Aberporth.
It is marked on the map as Pillar Stone and a bit of searching on the web came up with the facts that it was ‘discovered’ in the early 1800s when a tumulus was removed including a heap of stones. The stone was re-erected and an urn and several supposedly Roman coins were found. These were given to Colchester Museum... who now have no record of them!
The inscription reads ‘Corbalengi Iacit Ordovs‘
The ‘graveyard’ can be seen from the coast path as you walk west towards Cataclews Point. It is little more than a bumpy field and I didn’t even bother to take a photo.
27 Nov 2006
After trudging around trying to find anything that might resemble a fogou to a shortsighted Ordnance Surveyor, I made my way to the top of High Moor. There sat two nice little cairns, which as soon as I approached resulted in me being attacked by huge flies.
Determined to capture the cairns on film..or whatever you call a digital image..I swiped about with my stick before snapping away. It made no difference of course but strangely as soon as I moved away from the cairn they left me alone.
So, not much in the way of fieldnotes about the cairns, I will go back next summer and have another look..and take some deet!
18 September 2009
Three years on from my last visit I find myself on the top of High Moor again...and the flies are still here! This time they are not so much a problem and I am able to inspect the easterly cairn, larger but lying lower than the summit cairn. It is also flooded with the central cairn appearing as a small island inside a circular sea.
This is a wild bit of moorland overshadowed by the hills all around, why it is known as HighMoor I do not know!
Back in the summer I finally made it up onto High Moor. Despite scouring the hillside I could find very little that looked fogou like. The photo shows one of many hollows left by the stone cutters. In winter I would imagine these holes fill with water...perhaps someone imagined a flooded passage running underneath...who knows!
The tor, and the area around it, is still very much closed off to the public...and will be for the foreseeable future as the owner is not prepared to budge on allowing access.
The tor itself can still be seen, and is a fine lump of rock which changes shape as you view it from different angles (as most things do!). Some say it looks like a witch’s head from one side and this ties in with the legend of Vixanna.
In the good old days I regularly climbed to the top, a tight squeeze up a gap in the middle of the tor. From the summit you could look out over the surrounding moorland , just like the witch used to do.
Yet again I get to visit a site that I have driven past hundreds of times but never stopped. To make up for it I spent most of the day in the Merrivale area on Nov 6, starting at 10 with the sun climbing high in the sky, slowly burning the fog away... and finishing at 4.30 as the sun sunk into Cornwall.
I had been told that there is a theory that one of the rows points directly to the Rillaton Barrow on Bodmin Moor, sadly the day was to hazey to pin point the barrow, although I could make out Stowes Hill.
Part of the day was spent with a National Park guide and several young ladies from Cornwall College who had never walked on the moor before. The guide pointed out that the rows run east to west (so!?). From my experience of stone rows I would say that is just coincidence, but there may be something in it.
I find it interesting that someone should have driven a leat right down the middle of the two rows. They obviously had no fear of superstition connected with pagan sites, or did they not realise what the rows were?
I thought that I would have to leave before sunset, but the gods were with me and provided a fantastic sky to end the day. I could post at least a dozen photos, but I won’t. Maybe a couple though.
Just to the south of the two rows stands the lovely menhir. between it and the rows is a circle of a decent size although none of the stones are of much more than a foot or two tall.
Around the menhir there are possibly the remains of another circle/row. A small cairn and what is thought to be a fallen menhir.
Is this all part of the settlement and stone row complex? the cairn is similar to the one found in the middle of the southern stone row, only really big enough for ashes, but if they do all date from the same time what is the realtionship between them all?
Brian Byng’s book “Dartmoor’s Mysterious Megaliths” mentions settlement remains to the north of the B3357. He also talks about a fallen menhir and the fact that it might have lined up with Pew Tor on the winter solstice.
The field, now open access, is full of stone and also full of bracken. Even with a sketch of what I am trying to find I fail miserably. Nevermind, I decide to explore the hut circles and enclosures, again hidden amongst the bracken.
I found four huts, I think!, none of them easy to photograph, then crossed the road to head back towards the stone rows.
Shortly after crossing the road I came across the biggest stones I have ever seen used to build a hut circle...if thats what it is. The hut itself was not large, perhaps 15ft across but the stones used in the construction are not your usual random moor stones.
The hillside is dotted in circles and enclosures, one even features an 18th century millstone, balanced on granite uprights, inside its perimeter.
Slightly to the north west of the western end of the northern stone row (are you following?) there is hidden amongst the grass what Byng calls a stone circle. The National Park booklet about Merrivale calls it a cairn. I thought it looked like a small circle, there are three or four stones in the circle plus one in the middle, not very cairn like.
From here it is a short walk to the stone rows
Stuck out on the middle of the moor between Jamaica Inn and Brown Willy, this cairn is not the most easily accessible monument on the moor. It can be found by walking up the valley to the left of Codda farmhouse (Nth of Jamaica Inn) until you come to the boundry wall between the two parishes (Altarnun and St Breward) It sits close to the wall on the north side of the valley.
In shape it resembles a boat with a headstone at the upper blunt end. I would estimate it is about 15 yards long and 6 yards wide at the top end.
A real bu***r to find! Sits in the valley between Louden and Roughtor, just a low assortment of rocks orientated north south. I would not have found it with out a line drawing of what to look for..and then I was not too sure at first.
30 m long by 12m wide at the north end this cairn was not discovered until 1976 and only recognised as a long cairn in 1984.
Don’t go looking on Louden Hill for this circle..it’s to the south of it. The circle lies on a plateau just to the south of the track to Fernacre Fm from Middlemoor Cross. Visiting in August most of the stones are well obscured by the grass..although there are very few to be seen anyway. To be honest it is not worth making the trip just to see this circle...good job Fernacre is just up the track and Stannon just over the hill..oh and Roughtor and Brown Willy looking down on you from above...and all the stuff to hunt for on Loudon Hill..and just the thrill of being out on Bodmin Moor.
What more could you want?
Just when you think you know of all the sites in West Penwith you find Ocifant has posted some info on one you are not familiar with..so you have to have a look.
A couple of weeks ago at the Dry Tree Menhir on the Lizard I was having a discussion about the biggest menhir in Cornwall. I was adamant that nothing compared with Dry Tree.....then I find this beauty!
OK, so she is not so broad, but height wise she must come pretty close. Positioned on the brow of a hill with far reaching views eastward into Cornwall and over St Ives bay at one time this must have been a wild windswept place. Now the stock fencing and nearby development take away some of the feeling for the place but standing to the north of the stone looking back towards Trencrom Hill you can just about imagine the Bronze Age landscape.
As with Ocifants instructions, park by the big bowl and take the footpath up past the cottages. It starts off as a nice Cornish lane and then as you pass the last cottage turns into a narrow path before entering the field. Stone is over to right, can’t see any reason for not being able to walk to it.
Mr H
For some strange reason I have never visited Chysauster before....is it cos you have to pay! No..can’t be that, I flashed my Tour Guide badge and got in for nothing.although I did by a book.
I chose a great day to visit, the sun was shining, the whole site bedecked in flowers, gorse and foxgloves prominent. The only slight problem was the easterly wind...but this did at least mean that the casual visitors didn’t stay long.
There was more to see than I thought, and much easier to decipher what’s what than at Carn Uny (although the guide covers Carn Uny as well). There are 9 houses to explore, in different stages of preservation and after a while they all start to follow the same pattern, eastern entrance, courtyard, bay on the left, long room on the right and round room opposit entrance. Each house has at least one “stone with hollow”, not allways in the original position and most have the remains of water channels, lines of stones running down across the courtyard.
I know English Heritage come in for critism sometimes on this site but I have to say I was happy with the way Chysauster was presented. Yes there are info boards dotted around the area but they are not too intrusive..and not everybody wants to buy a book. The gray hut at the eastern end could be moved a bit further away from the main village. I was not sure if it was a tea shop at busy times or where the lawn mower is kept. That was another thing, the site was tidy, the grass was short in the houses but the flora was allowed to grow elsewhere. Some clearence of gorse has taken place, but all in all there was a nice ballance.
Good clean toilets at the car park..nice to know if you are walking in the area.
26.5.06
You wait nearly 30 years to get back into a site...and you are met by thick mist!
As a young army cadet I spent several weekends at the MOD camp at Penhale...with no interest in history. Now that I am a big boy I finaly get to go back in on a fieldtrip to look at landscape (sand dunes).
Walking down through the radio station at the north end the low banks of the Iron Age cliff castle were pointed out to us...through the mist...I was not allowed to go too close so the only photo is the best I could get.
Who knows what the strange hoops are that sit inside the banks...the MOD guy had no idea!
The SWCP runs the other side as far as I know but they were keen to stress that trespassers are not tolerated!
Mr H
Can’t find any documentary evidence on this one, but....
Unless you knew it was there it can only be spotted from the bottom of the permissive footpath that exits RedMoor nature reserve and climbs to meet the Saints Way. Once you start climbing it is hidden by gorse bushes and once on the Saints Way the banks are so high you can see nothing.
It’s a big stone!...and just outside the area enclosing Helman Tor. An ancient trackway passes just down slope from it and in the hedge/scrub behind is a large dump of granite that has been cleared from the field. Why was this stone left?
So, I can not prove its origins or find a record of it on maps or any of my books...but it feels right!
I have now had it suggested to me that this stone has been moved from elsewhere in the field...and that they had dowsed the field and found an area with a stone setting in it...
Go look for yourself..and while you are there enjoy the “prehistoric” wildness of Red Moor reserve.
Brown Gelly is one of those hills you see from miles around...and notice that it has features on top. Right of access has always put me off climbing it, but now that it is open access I decided to take a stroll up onto the summit on a glorious May afternoon.
There are a couple of gateways along the Dozmary Pool-St Neot road that give access to the hillside and then another couple of gates give access into the summit field.
Please use them and don’t go scrambling over walls or fences.
The top of the hill is reasonably flat and featurless, several wet areas are best avoided and it is only the southern end that has rocky outcrops.
Along the ridge run five cairns, the size of which you only realise once you get up close.
At the northern end a large cairn has had its top compleatly taken away and the inside scooped out. Uninterupted views of Dozmary Pool and Brown Willy and Roughtor can be had from the cairn.
The second cairn I found the most interesting. I suppose it would be called a ring cairn..but on a giant scale. The outer bank is about 3 ft high with a depresson about 4 or 5 ft across inside of it before reaching the central mound. The central mound has been dug into deeply, and looked like it might be holding water...I didn’t investigate.
The central cairn is the largest and I would think about 15 ft high. It stands proud on the hill with steep sides and a good dome shape. Although there has been some excavation on the summit it is not too severe.
The fourth cairn is a mess. It has been dug into and pulled about and is just a low pile of stones. A Trig point stands beside it, built onto what looks like a base of stones taken from the cairn.
The last cairn at the southern end has again been dug into but not to the extent of cairn 1 or 4.
Sitting on the side of the hill that eventually becomes Brown Gelly, I can not find any info on this earthworks to date it. Marked on the OS map as a three sided square, the south east side was not visable but may be over the wall.
So, what is left?
Two low ridges with a shallow ditch on the outer side, all getting eroded by cattle. As can be seen in one of my photos there is some stonework remaining at the north east end.
Access is by a gate off the Dozmary Pool to St Neot road and is on open access land.
Just to the east of the huge Boconnoc estate in east Cornwall sit a group of 6 or so barrows. They may be linked to the Taphouse barrows on the other side of the estate, the two groups between them certainly form a impressive collection of large barrows.
The Buckabarrows stretch out along the eastern boundry road of the estate. The four photgraphed here are joined on the OS map by two others, one deep in the woods at SX166607, which I never got to and one supposed to be in a field at SX174611, which I failed to spot.
Bucka or Bucca is a Cornish word for ghost but i have not come across any tales about these barrows being haunted....barrowwrights in Cornwall! ......there’s a thing!
I have been intrigued by the Giants Hedge for many years...Living in Looe at it’s supposed eastern end I could never understand why it was called giant..it is just like any other hedge...more like a bank as it runs through Kilminorth Woods beside the West Looe river.
It is only when you see it towards its western end at Lerryn that you realise it is no ordinary field boundary.
But when does it date from?...the general consensus is that it is post Roman...so it really should not be on here, but...
There are several Iron Age and older settlements inside the hedge (between it and the sea), but then again there are a good dozen or so barrows just to the north of it....but none as grand inside.
Walking along the top of a short section of it this morning i noticed how good the view was across the Cornish countryside. It does in many places run along the side of a steep escarpment..and if topped off with a wooden fence would have been quite impenetrable.
Whatever it’s history, I’m sure no giants were involved in its building.......just some very hard working Cornishmen of old.
...and I would love to know where the bit is that’s 8 yards across !
With only half a day to explore and a bitter wind to contend with... and no map or guidebook, I hope I can be excused for not finding any ancient sites! However I did drive past the Culverwell site on the way out to Portland Bill. It sits right beside the road, which was how I spotted it, with a sign saying middle stoneage site (or something along those lines). All I could see as I drove past were two B&Q sheds and a larger wooden construction that was obviously covering something. The site was not open and you would have to walk to it from the car park at Portland Bill (pay and display) as parking on the road is not allowed.
For more information on site see links.
Leaning beside a wall just off the military road that runs along the coast at Whitsand bay is this former gatepost. I have to call it that because of the fact that it still has the rusty hinges embedded in it. But it is alone... I could find no other granite gateposts in the area during a two hour walk. The stone is long and slender and stands very near to a field called barrow Field. This is supposed to be the site of the Treninnow Stone Monument (see other posting). Could this stone have been part of the monument?
22.10.05
Drove up through village to the end of the tarmac. parked and followed sign up track rather than cross fields on footpath. Passed the farm and hit the mud! Once out onto the open moor it is a short walk to the right to find the stones. There is now no sign of the burning from a year or so ago, infact the stones are now surrounded by a good covering of bracken. The sky over Keninjack was ever changing from gray to blue as the sun threatened to come out...I waited patiently and finally got my rewards. Behind me from atop of the wall the Scilly Isles stood out proud whilst St Just church tower gleamed in the sunlight...I would have loved to have walked up to the carn but time was against me...perhaps next time.
Third time lucky....
October is not the best time to be up on Bodmin Moor looking for sites..bracken is covering almost everything. However, at the third attempt I found the Bearah Long Cairn. If others wish to follow in my footsteps then i would advise taking the minor road from Minions to Henwood. Once in Henwood turn right and climb up beside the riding stables. As the road drops down again there is a road going off to the right. Park on the left and take the track that goes up on the left.
After going through a gate this opens out onto moorland in the bottom of a valley. Follow the track as it climbs and snakes towards Bearah Tor. After most of the bends are negotiated look out for the cairn on the right hand side. The stone that is still “upright” is half surounded by a hawthorn tree and is obscured by it if approaching down the track.
The stones sit atop a cairn that is very overgrown with bracken and i could not make out too much of what remains of the surrounding stones. The central stones, at least three large lehgnts, are laying as if fallen, the one remaining standing being at a angle of about 40 degrees.
It is only in the last 20 years that this cairn has been recognised and i am not sure if any dig has ever taken place. One wonders what form the cairn took in the past? Did all the stones stand upriight and was there a capstone, making it more of a quoit.
I will try to return when the bracken dies down and the rain that soaked me has departed.
Far, far away from civilisation, deep in the wilds of Dartmoor lies the Erme Pound. It is a collection of broken walls once used to hold animals. It may not be prehistoric but around it lie several stone rows the most famous being Stall Row, perhaps the longest on the moor. It actually crosses the River Erme jus above the pound and goes off into even wilder countryside.
To reach this point requires a stiff walk from Harford. The reward being that you can take in many antiquities along the way including following the stone row if approached from the western side of the valley.
For those wanting isolation, this is the place...especially on a wet misty day like I had!
Is this the longstone still marked on the latest OS map as recumbent? I have visited it twice now and can find no other stone in the area that could be the longstone.
Found on the southern side of Piles Hill just to the left of the Two Moors Way. It has a boundry stone beside it and tends to be surrounded by mud caused by cattle using it as a rubbing stone.
With so much to see in this area, I missed this the first time around. My second visit this year was with the owners of the land and with their guidance I was led to this site. As Lubin says it can be found by heading north from Harford gate (Not a place to leave valubles in your car) and following the highest edge of the field walls. A track runs to a gate in the field system and then on wards towards Piles Wood. The cist lies on the hillside above the track just before the gate.
No sign of the capstone unless it is the stone a little further up the hillside.
Although this area of the Lizard is covered in barrows there are very few other remains to be seen except for the odd menhir like Dry Tree. WARNING! Not all is as it seems...during the 2nd WW the RAF set up a base here called RAF Dry Tree. Much of the base was to do with radar and telecomunications, hence the dishes we see today. The other remains that lie across the landscape are whats left of the station, including some of the “barrows”. Take a closer look and you will see that some of the humps and bumps hide modern buildings, all part of the war effort to camoflage the area.
27th Sept 05
The EH carpark has now been tarmaced and the whole area tidied up. Three info boards now tell the story of the whole region. Paths have been improved and new permissive rights of way opened up. You are now free to explore the whole of Goonhilly from here down to the sea.
It is still posible to follow the path along the perimeter fence of the telecom ststion but a nicer route is to head south of the dishes around a large almost hidden 2WW building (it is possible to climb on top for some great views over the downs, but be carefull..there is a double wall with a big drop in between). Go past this and around to the south of a large cream coloured domed building. Once around the dome you will see the dishes to your left, head towards the fence and a kissing gate at the right end of the fence. Go through this and you will find the menhir. You can then return to the car park via the original walk beside the wire.
A bit of a swine to find......
Take the road from Heamoor up Bone Valley then go straight ahead at the crossroads (signposted Carfury). The road descends into the valley winding past an abandoned quarry on the right. Just as you reach the bootom of the valley a path/track goes off on the left. There is room to park a car here.
Walk down the track ( I would guess it is muddy after rain) and when you reach the bottom there is a wall goes off on the right. If you are agile enough you can scramble carefully up the tumbled boulders here and get into the upper field. Walk out into the clearing and look up to your left. You should be able to see the stone standing proud above the vegitation.
From here you can continue up through the field. If you have decided to stay on the track then continue up to a gate. Go through the gate and then wind your way through the gorse, bracken, brambles and rhododendrons arcing around to the right but always climbing. At some point the stone will come into sight...but it is not easy to find this way.
The stone itself is a stunner..it stands about 10 ft tall, built into the ancient wall. From it Mulfra Quoit can be seen as can the sea to the south. I did not find the other stones that are supposed to lay in the area, due to lack of time....and a rumbling belly.