treehugger-uk

A big old lump of rock in the middle of a very bleak and often featureless moor which makes it very hard to miss!
There seems to be a longheld tradition of carving names on this rock some date back to the 1600’s and are quite beautifully carved for graffiti puts the modern stuff to shame! Theres also quite a few cupmarks carved into the top of the rock.
Some modern steps have been carved into it to and some much older steps carved around the back that look like footprints it would have been very intresting to see the other three rocks and what carvings were on them.
You can just make out the hollows on the ground of where the other stones were.
I was also quite suprised by the number of people that visited the stone.

Bit of a steep climb up to this one. I’m a seasoned walker but i had to stop twice on the way up! The cairn itself is quite substantial still you can make out the basic shape even with the modern interventions. its very easy to see why the cairn builders chose this location its a perfect setting and you can look right down onto Bleasedale from here.

A quite prominent looking cairn in the centre of a field with fairly substantial remains. it was getting late and i only took a photo from the side of the road for this one as it was too late to ask permission at the farmhouse. it does seem to closely resemble the cairn on top of Parlick Pike though.

On this bleak desolate moor on the outskirts of Lancashire bordering Yorshire youll find two tumuli. Neither very impressive now and both heavily excavated, if your in the area stop and pay them a visit and make sure they’re not forgotten.

These are some of the best settlement remains ive seen in Cumbria, the remains are fairly substanstial

Just a stones throw from Hellclough is the Ell clough ring cairn. this is slightly unusual as it has 2 Hollows with an internal bank cutting through and surviving Kerstones are present on the outer edges, i found traces of possible rock art on one stone, there is rumoured to be possible rock art in this area and on the Craggs above, so far besides the possible spiral i have only found some early christian rockart. More moochin about is needed!

This is the most intact and recognisable Tumuli in the area although no stones are standing there are 4 near the entrance one being concrete so not contemporary but the other three may be Extwistle Moor stone circle is 25 metres East of here and Ell Clough is 25 metres Northwest.

Not much now remains at all of Exwistle moor stone circle it looks to have been similliar to Hellclough the banks remain with a few sones still intact. All of the middle of the mound has been dug out

Today i decided to visit Cheetam Close. i was prepared to be underwhelmed but also excited about the prospect of seeing the circle anyway.
What a sorry state this place is in theres still lots to see you just have to look a little harder than most sites! The Mire stone is quite easy to find and from there you can locate the other stones and cairns.
The first thing that struck me was a huge barrow as i approached the hill which i havnt heard mention of before, the cairn on the north side is still intact and has a hollow inside about three feet deep.
If you carry on north over the hill theres a ruined structure more modern than the circles with four more of those perforated stones Mr Treebeard mentions, making 6 in all. theres also a lot of fallen stones almost the same shape as the Mire stone which gives a good indication of how the place might have looked. The views up here are stunning especially looking across Winter Hill

I have heard of an ancient settlement at Slipper Lowe im just not convinced that the one marked on the map is the one. Also a recent tree plantation inside it helps back up what i already thought that it looks like an old quarry. i’ll have to go back for another mooch about soon!