If you like playing ‘Spot the cup mark’ then have a walk around the outside. The heather is over 3ft high in places, so who knows what’s hiding under there?
The ditches and ramparts are easily visible from Beacon Cairn, just up the hill, on the other side of the road from the carpark.
Simonside is a heck of a good hill to climb on a sunny day. It would be awful in wet weather. However if you got trapped in a sudden mist, away from the path,you could take cover in one of the rock shelters and wait it out. I wouldn’t reccomend it though, as many clefts have only enough vegetation to hide them from view, not enough to stop you from disappearing. In all, not a place to go near dark on a rainy day, only go if it’s sunny, or if you’re very nimble. especially so if you intend to leave the path.
The path is needlessly wide, due to heavy erosion, but that does make it easy to follow, if a bit covered in the kind of loose stone that gives you a bad time no matter what the weather.
But once you get up to the top of the ridge, 360 deg views, madly eroded patterns on rocks, possible rock art, rock shelter type overhangs, cairns, even a pool at the bottom of The north side of Simonside proper.
The south side of Old Stell crag has a fantastically sheltered cranny with exellent views, but is toatally sheltered, ideal for a rest and a ponder.
Note of caution from a pleasantly unexpected encounter, there are adders, and they ain’t scared of humans or dogs.
Park at Lordenshaws car park for the easiest route, i.e that with the shallowest incline.
Strange weathered formations abound. The horizontally grooved pillar is particularly conspicuous. It’s on the north edge, about 20m NW of the cairn.
It has possible cup marks at it’s foot, a couple of which may be artificially pecked, or may only be solution holes. Better lighting, or a rubbing might make this clearer.
Beneath this are some of the many overhangs which could easily have been effective rock shelters before they silted up.
Another 10m or so along the path from the formation, is a boulder which appears to have definite pecked cups, less weathered, on a few of the side faces. I’m still not 100% sure though. Single cups being tricky to diagnose and all.
It’s not above the doorway, as a childhood memory suggested. Rather it is next to the doorway, opposite the gate entrance, you can’t miss it. It must be some of the easiest to find rock art ever.
Two, possibly three motifs, the upper two connected.
Reasonably good disabled access too, though the cobbled castle entrance is a bit steep.
Shame it’s been moved out of context, but great that it’s survived.
It’s another hypergroovey bit of stone.
The channels down this, and others like the Poind’s man, The Warrior Stone, Duddo, proudly display their centuries of braving the elements.
It’s also got a goodly number of cup marks, on all four sides according to Stan The Man.
There’s something about the grooves though, that taunts my imagination. They are so similar to similar grooves found running horizontally on natural rock features such as Dove Crag on Simonside, or even the vertical ones on Robin Hood’s stride further afield.
Part of me wonders if stones suh as the Matfen stone were deliberately quarried from already weathered rock.
One bad point about this stone, it has a chip recently taken off it near the bottom of the SW corner. Fresh new yellow stone is like a raw wound. Whether as the result of accident or deliberate idiotic behaviour, it’s shocking bad hat.
Keep going through Ingoe hamlet, don’t take the left fork in the village, it gets tangly. Rather, head along to the right. down the dip, and up to Sandyway Heads farm. The short hardcore track not marked on the map leads to the field with the stone.
The associated tumulus is on the other side of the fence, and looks badly ploughed out, can’t be more than 70cm above field level.
Excellent views over the Tyne valley, and further south across to Hexhamshire Common, and to the Simonside hills to the north, though the farmhouse obscures this.
On the way into the hamlet of Ingoe, check out the possible quernstone on the tiny village green by the fork in the road.
The stone itself is deeply grooved stone, like a few of the others in Northumberland.
The walk from the road at the top of the hill is rough. I can’t imagine it would be much fun in wet weather, as it is a rut through about a foot of peat. Could be quite tricky.
However, it’s worth the effort. This is a fantastic space. The slidey metal hatch, the useful torch in a box, the superb quality corbelling and the ladder down into it all contribute as does the excellent view.
The passages are very low and muddy knees seem to be the order of the day to get into the side chambers.
I visited four tombs (5 if you include Mine Howe), on Orkney, this was the best by far. It isn’t as grand as Maeshowe, but it has a superb beehive corbelled chamber, and a much more emotive sense of place.
Phone in advance to make sure there’s some one there. The hardhats provided are a good idea, as is the removal of backpacks, as it’s very steep, with many chances to bang your head or snag your bag.
The difference in the quality of the corbelling between here and the likes of Wideford or Ibister is quite evident.
There’s lots of information in the cabin, much of which relates to the ‘Time Team’ programme.
It didn’t feel like a burial chamber.
One of the best things about this place is the Simpsons obvious enthusiasm for their prehistoric gem. Visitor centres aren’t usually particularly inspiring, but the opportunity to talk with the fella who discovered it is a fine thing. The hands on approach makes the experience much more real.
As for the tomb itself, it’s canny enough, though the sandbag placed outside to supposedly stop folk from shooting over the cliff if they exit too fast on the skateboard, is more likely to stop them getting minced by the fence.
I found the surroundings are as breathtaking as reported.
If you’re passing, say from Stromness to Kirkwall or Finstown, Unstan is near the road, and has parking.
If you aren’t sure about dark dingy tombs, it’s neither, the whitewashed modern ceiling and the skylights make it quite dry, and well illuminated. To the point where the stones are a vivid green on a bright day, due to the algae growing on them.
There are many inscriptions, you could lose an hour or so trying to decipher if any are prehistoric. Most seem to be 19thC
Happily, Skara Brae can be visited after the visitor centre has closed, so you can have it to yourself, and peruse at leisure.
The glass roof over one of the houses detracts somewhat, but the others are pretty well preserved too, so it’s not that big a deal.
Keep eyes peeles for the carvings, covered by sheets of perspex.
If you’ve a leaning towards gratuitous pondering, also keep an eye out for the suspicious looking stone lying prone between the village and the visitor centre, just inland of the path.
A short hop acros the stile from the stones of Stenness, Barnhouse has two anomalous buildings. They certaintly are bigger than both those surrounding them, and the ones at Skara Brae. It has been suggested that they are not dwellings, but maybe some kind of communal space related to the Stones of Stenness.
There are more structures still under the surface, the whole site having not yet been fully excavated.
Pretty impressive engineering! Big stones, especially the one in the entrance passage. Each of the side chamber blocking stones in isolation are a bit hefty, can’t see that they were shifted in and out very often.
Having said that, the presence of a tombful of other tourists sort of reduced the atmosphere a bit. It had more gravitas the previous evening in the dark, even though the entrance was locked.
Be prepared to crouch on the way in and out.
I don’t know how well accepted the idea that megalithic monuments are placed deliberatly at certain sites to relate to other features in the surrounding landscape is these days. If there’s any truth in it, then ones of the main focal points for this bunch of sites has to be the Isle of Hoy. It keeps popping up as you walk from the various monuments, from Maeshowe to Unstan, From the Barnhouse stones up to Bookan, it’s always there, as much a part of the setting as the Lochs.
If you have the chance to be here, and have the time, leave the car at the first site and walk to the others. Both on the way there and on the way back, each site seems to give out tantalising hints of it’s spatial relationship to the others, and to the area around them.
This place lives up to the hype.
These stones live up to the hype. The flat flagstone means that as you walk around the site, each stone presents a continouously changing aspect. The combination of the three tallest makes the number of angles even greater.
It seemes that the stones have a distinct relationship with the hills of Hoy, which are rather prominent throughout the whole area.
The Watchstone, like the Barnhouse and the Stones of Stenness is clearly visible from the Kirkwall-Stromness road. You cannot miss it.
I couldn’t help but imagine an avenue of stones connecting Stenness and Brogar, though of course, there’s no evidence for this at all.
Like the barnhouse stone, these two are best seen by visiting Brogar from the Stones of Stenness sans automobile. You could see them from the road, but it would be a case of ‘blink and you miss’em’ or even mistake the gateposts up the road for them.
Be wary though, for the road is not wide, and the cars come down fast.
Wideford’s suggestion that the Comet stone not being part of a cove seems right to my untrained eye. The two little stones are just too wee. The mound is definitely there though.
I got the sense that the stone had been moved from it’s original setting, but couldn’t give a rational reason why.
If you walk up to from the Stones of Stenness, careful not to end up in the middle of the rare lowland bog. It’s full of special plants, and not well signposted if you go through the first gate by the comet stone.
The second gate is far better, as you can be sure of seeing the permissive path to the stones.
To the SW side, look out for the recumbent shattered stone, apparently hit by lightning.
I have a slight suspicion that the stone towards the NW, with a ‘v’shaped notch in the top may be there to mark some sun-setting related event or other. It’s nearly right for the sunset of the night before the summer solstice, but not quite.
Can’t vouch for the claims that the stones have acoustic properties. I didn’t want to make a racket.
This is a smart stone.
It’s tall, has buckets of lovely lichen and moss, and despite the sheep protector fence (I assume it’s there to prevent sheep from rubbing the stone and making it fall on them), it has an air of stateliness. It knows that it gets seen from the road, and is self assured in it’s role as the blocking stone of Maeshowe.
Take the time to stop and get out of the car, or nip over if you’re at the stones of Stenness, it’s not far, though the main Kirkwall-Stromness road is busy at times. It can be easily reached through the gate, though as Kammer suggests there is no path. I tried to check for permission with the house directly across the road, but no-one was in (or not answering).
Probably not good for wheelchair users, or anyone with mobility issues.
An very circular enclosure, that has had allegations of hengedom levelled in it’s direction. It does look as if the ditch is inside the bank, but there’s no berm, and only one entrance, to the west. To make matters more confused, an old raiway cutting slices one edge of the earthwork.
It also looked a bit dodgy as it wasn’t on a flat platform, it’s on the curve of a spur of Ewesly fell, which isn’t very hengey from what I know.
There’s another earthwork, rectangular, in the trees beyond.
According to the RSM, this is a 0.7m tall stone, roughly square in section, with grooves on the top, with modern graffitti on the SE side.
A charter of 1238 refers to the stone as ‘The great standing stone on the height’. It’s always seemed odd to me that a stone described as such could be the same one that’s also described as being 70cm tall. There are titchy standing stones in Northumberland, but they rarely get described as ‘great’. The discrepancy here is presumably due to a data entry error or somesuch, as the stone at Bunkerhill looks more like 1.7m tall rather than 0.7m. So still not great in terms of size, but a nice stone nonetheless.
It’s just inside a patch of trees on a very exposed hill with a fantastic view of Hunterheugh, Beanley Moor and Cheviot.
The remains of a tatty old wooden fence, (the kind that normally gets put up to protect stones from being used as rubbing posts) has luckily protected the stone from the top of a fallen pine tree whacking into it.
It’s a fair hike from the entrance to Hulne Park, and permission should be sought before visiting, as access to the northern tracks in the park is restricted.
Bronze age round cairn, mostly soil, with some kerbstones still in place.
11m diameter, i.5m at it’s highest, with a whopping hole, resulting from antiquarian excavation.
There’s a stone in the middle of the hole, which looks like a standard ‘Am I a gatepost or not?” kinda thing, with a gatepost type squared socket, and what might, at a stretch, be a worn cup mark to muddy the issue.
About 20m to the SSW, there’s another stone, about 1.5m tall. Not a gatepost, I’d say, but been used as a rubbing post. It’s not as weathered as the stone at the Poind, but it’s possibly harder stone. It is more weathered than other stones in buildings, walls, gateposts etc in the vicinity.
Both the cairn and the stone are in a ridge and furrow field to the south of Bolam Church. There’s a handy bridleway down the edge of the field.
The cairn is confirmed as BA, but the SMR entry mentions the ‘subsequent re-use’ in reference to the gatepost. I’m not sure what they mean the cairn has been re-used as. A gatepost holder? For a single gatepost? The nearby standing stone is not mentioned at all. So any thoughts of prehistoric provenance for the stone must remain purely speculative.
The Poind (Burial mound) is easily visible from the track from Bolam West houses, where permission to wander about the field can be sought. The Man (Standing stone) is on the other side of the Poind, not visible as you come along the track. It’s a very weathered bit of sandstone with what look like iron deposits, visible as raised veins. It’s wide face faces the Poind, from the side, the deeply eroded runnels form a jagged silhouette. The other thing that stood out, was the cleft in the bottom of the Man. It looked like the Man had been taken from the same rock as the outcrop, and that some of the weathering had taken place prior to it being stood up.
The stone looks like it’s local, as can be seen by the similarity to that of the bedrock outcrop in the same field. It seems that both the Poind and the Man have been placed purposefully in relation to the outcrop. The outcrop itself has what may be the highly eroded remains of cups. But I could see why there might be considerable doubt, but it is very soft stone, as can be seen by the erosion on the Man. The cow, rabbit and sheep crap that covers much of it didn’t help make it any easier to decide if they were solution holes or nearly gone cups. In better light, it might be easier to tell one way o the other.
The Poind is home to a number of rabbits, and the Man has Owl pellets in the grooves on the top. The spot commands a good view over towards Tyne valley to the south, and a clear view of the Simonside hills to the north. It’s easy to see why the historical record states that men were ‘set to watch’ here during the reiver years. They would have had a darn good vantage point to look for the signs of reiving activity.
Easy to find when approached from Hownam. The path is decent, but rough in places. It’s sheep farming country, so the stones aren’t overgrown.
I Counted 23, (5 hidden?) spread over a slight rise, half and half. There aren’t any other field boundaries in the vicinity that have left such stones as their evidence. Nor could I see any trace of an embankment having ever been over them, though the undulating terrain may hide this. It would make sense to put a boundary between the hillfort at Hownam rings, and The Street. But there are a couple of far more suitable rises running parallel with the Street that would seem to have made more sense as places to put a boundary structure.
They’re not in as straight line as the Merrivale rows,which are all I have to compare them with. So I wouldn’t offer opinion on any deliberate alignment (e.g.Astral bodies, parts of surrounding landscape etc). You can over to the other side of kalewater, where the Five Stanes circle is, but the circle is obscured by a slight rise.
Hownam Rings is clearly visible as hut circles and earthworks. And the outer ring of earthworks has a few stones around it. Almost as if there was something surrounding the Rings that wasn’t earthwork. Just to highlight the complex history of the area, one small (1m)leaning orthostat to the south of the rings has a cup-mark on the outer face. This could be somewhere that has been reused a few times for different purposes. The one thing that cannot be overlooked is the south side of Hownam Law. Before the hillfort was made, Hownam Law would have been very conspicuous from the Rings. Add to this the mound and standing stone at Horseshoe wood, and it’s clearly a complex pattern of sites, possibly covering thousands of years.
The stone rests on top of a 30m(ish) long, 15m (ish) wide rounded mound that looks suspiciously artificial. Closer inspection shows it has been excavated in a brutal manner a good few years ago, the southern side has a great scoop out of it. There are stones embedded in the surface, under the turf, but none in the excavated section so it possibly is artficial. On the south side, there is a, small, natural looking hole, which maybe part of the reason this particular stone was chosen.
A chat with a Local farmer revealed that the stone fell over a couple of years ago, but was placed back upright in 2003. The entry at the border-stones website relates that before it fell it was leaning at a 55deg angle.
There’s a cup marked earthfast boulder with a single cup mark to the right of the path just before you get to the stone.
As you start up The Street from Hownam, there’s another possible standing stone in the field to the right of the path, just over the stream. It’s about 1.3m high, wider than it is tall. You can’t miss it. It’s got a vaguely circular mark, and has a chunk missing at the bottom.
There are actually two ruined circles. They’re on a flat gravel plain, in a sheltered valley, next to a river. The access is good, as there is a car park at the edge of the field. There’s even an information board, which curiously makes no mention of the circles.
The northern circle is almost totally wrecked, with only a couple of boulders standing to over 1m. The circles are the largest I’ve found in Northumberland, and quite unlike those to the south on the Whin Sill, and very different from that at Duddo. They don’t even bear a passing resemblance to the nearest circle across the hills at Five Stanes.
The southern circle is slightly better preserved, but still has only 9 stones easily found. And 7 are now recumbent, though the packing stones around them indicate this was not always so. There are other stones buried beneath both circles. It’s difficult to say if these were always such open circles, as there were a lot of stones removed in medieval times. Smaller ones would leave no trace. There is a artificial bank leading down to the river, and building on the other side, so this might be a place to look for any of the missing stones.
The English Heritage description describes this as the remains of a stone circle, 16m in diameter. It gives the details quoted above by BG, and goes on to say “Within the SW part of the circle there is a small circular mound of stones and earth standing to a height of 0.1m.”
This is pretty accurate, but stretching the meaning of “standing”. Leaning at 45 degrees more like. It’s rather overgrown, and the smaller stones are almost invisible under the marram grass. The circular mound was only discernible as rougher going underfoot
The placement of the circle within the surrounding landscape is worthy of note. It is tucked away in a fold in Ridley Common. Cuddy’s crags to the south, and Greenlee Lough to the north are imposing features, but neither is visible from the circle. A gap in the horizon draws attention to the snazzy natural feature at Queen’s Crags. Investigation of alignments between the circle and this feature may prove interesting. There are a few subliminal recumbent figures in the horizon for those who care to look. The overall effect of it’s placement in the landscape is to make the circle appear to be hiding from any possible viewers.
The circle is close to the Pennine way, but is reached via a private track. It’s also not accessible to anyone who might have trouble getting over a stile. Also note that the private track is marked as unfenced on the OS map. It’s not, so trying a shortcut will probably mean getting entangled in barbed wire.
It’s about 45-60mins from the B6318, which has small lay-bys available for those with cars to park. The spot on the map with the blue phone symbol is probably best for this, but in the real world, there’s not actually a phone to mark the spot, so blink and you miss it.
Panel of approximately 40 or so cup marks. The panel is on the most prominent spur of a low ridge of bedrock. Most of the cups are about 5cm diameter and are very worn with a thick covering of lichen. Hence the approximation of the number, some of them may be bumps on the natural surface of the rock.
The panel is easier to find if approached from the south. The ditches and banks of the nearby settlement and the disused quarry make the ridge easy to find. The panel appears to mark the northern edge of the cairnfield. Most of the cairns are quite low and overgrown, but there seemed to be more than are marked on the OS map. The ground is typical Northumberland swampy hillocks and tussocks, so is not suitable for anyone with mobility issues. Permission for access can be sought at Byers Hall.
Slab of groundfast stone on the ridge directly above Kellah burn. It has 50 or so very worn cupmarks most of which are about 5cm diameter. Some have faint grooves connecting, others are slightly eliptical. The slab is about 1.5m by 0.7m, maybe a cist cover.
It’s easily found amongst the irregular line of what look like stones removed for field clearing. This row extends along the length of the ridge, but the cup-marked slab is next to the tallest of the stones in the row. Easiest access from the south via the bridlepath, leave the path next to the small cairn marked on the OS map. The wall extending north to Black Rigg on the OS map is not there now, skirt round the side of this and head down to the ford over Kellah burn. Not suitable for those with mobility issues. Permission for access can be sought at Byers Hall.
Small Hill fort with a large white recumbent stone in the centre.
This is a very different type of stone from that which is found in the immediate vicinity. There’s a hollow just next to the stone, possibly it was underground at some point, but I can’t see how it could be a glacial erratic, as the stratum it seems to come from is nearly at sea level, well below the height of the Tal-y-fan. So my instant response to seeing it was to think that someone had gone through a lot of bother to drag it up here. Mind, I’m no geologist and could be totally wrong about this. There are also cavalry tripping stones in the main entrance, that I am sure of.
The site has a clear view of the Conwy estuary and the Great Orme, but is still nicely tucked away from sight from the immediate locale. In retrospect, how I wish I’d tarried longer. The white stone of Caer Bach can be blamed for all of the posts I’ve clagged this website up with, it was the one that sent me looking for an online version of tma in the first place.
Best approach from the north-west side. There are a number of spots to park a car on the road in the glen, but the one by the disused mineworkings is easiest. The ground is dense heather, so not easily accessible to those with mobility issues. The fortlet wall is clearly a discernible oval, about 20m on its longest axis. I was confused that I couldn’t work out where the entrance had been. Excellent views all round, particularly to the south, where ancient field patterns and drove roads are clearly visible.
More of a fortlet really, worth a visit more for the view and the ambience, than for any great remains. I visited here in summer 1994, and (assuming the intervening years have been kind) the remains of the fort are still covered with trees, and the ramparts are still visible in places. The area was littered with stones that may have been bits of the fort. It definitely affords excellent views over the sands, with the southern lakes hovering in the background.
If you go to visit the three brothers,
( themodernantiquarian.com/site/80 )
the fort is easily reached from the bridleway, through Strickland Wood. However the path involves rough woodland surfaces, not suitable for those of limited mobility. The area is a nature reserve, noted for it’s unusual lepidoptera, so tread extra careful.
Much easier to find in good weather.
Accessiblity note: Probably OK for those with sticks, though slightly uphill. Ground too uneven for any but the most rugged wheelchairs.
If you’re up here, find it. It’s strange, weathered boulder with a depression and notch eroded/carved? Right at the top of the northern peak of Rough Tor, just along from the war memorial plaque with the dragon on it.
It is little, but well formed. The tallest of the stones (all of 0.8m) has fallen slightly. There are no visible signs of the alleged cist in the middle of the four-poster. The cup marks on the SE stone are very worn, and this and two others have definite grooves, how much of this is simply weathering, I couldn’t say. There are many large stones lying nearby, which could be who knows what. Numerous hut circles about 50m to the south and north. The Crag is covered in them. Though some may be quarry remains, there’s nothing to indicate this in any references I have found so far. The crag does look as if they have been quarried. Excellent views, even better from the nearby Ravensheugh Crag trig point.
Regarding access, The track is passable to vehicles and runs within 20m of the stones. Probably easily accessible to a bod walking with sticks, but would require a big rear wheelchair and someone to help navigate the uneven ground between the track and the circle. You’d need at least 15cm clearance on the wheels.
This is a very poorly monument. It’s been got at by Victorian robbers, it’s got rabbits and badgers and the plowing seems to be getting closer each year.
Some kerbstones are still there, yet some of them are being dragged into the plough soil. The badgers clean their straw fairly regularly, so the heaps of earth may contain artefacts.
It’s on land belonging to Crescent farm so best to ask there. If you don’t have a metal detector and no spades, they’re O.K. about interested visitors. They also have some intruigingly weathered stones in their drive.
You can see it from Ponteland Rd, if you can’t get across plowed fields. You can also get there via the number 21 bus from Newcastle if you don’t have a car.
There’s also a councils dump at Dewley House which has many many lovely “Did I used to be part of a site?” stones, lined up for inspection.
Sandstone, very weathered, probably due to effluvia from the nearby, but now defunct, Blyth power station.
The stone is on the NE edge of the caravan site. Nearby beach has many unusual lumps of rock, and the erosion of the coast may throw things out of the fields onto the beach.
In terms of disabled access, they don’t come more accessible than this, it’s tarmac all the way.
20th July 2005
Still not fallen over.
Closer examination of the bluestone outside the pub is starting to convince me that it might be an artificial cup mark, but the stone is seriously igneous, so I’m not 100% convinced.
6th May 2004
May Day inspection of this thing showed it hasn’t fallen over yet.
This time I think I can state that despite the lack of professionally countenanced provenance, it’s not a medeival boundary marker.
It may have been used as such, and is still only a few yards away from the county border, but close inspection of the marks leads me to think that it has been pounded with stones, not with metal tools. It also has a shoulder, and is not regular all over. I suspect that these marks, and the rectangular cross section, may have led it to be discounted as a megalith by any surveying archaeologists.
There is another stone very similar to the bluestone (see the nearby pub), at the SE edge of the field. Like the bluestone,his igneous looking stone also shows signs of extreme heating, and has a shallow, 6” wide depression pecked into it. Curious, but not really proof of anything at all I guess
18th Sept 2003
The upright stone is clearly visible from the Blyth-Whitley Bay road. It’s about 2m high, easiest way into the field is to park in the Deleval Arms and use the gate in the NE corner.
Disabled Access poor as the gate is wired shut and ground is rough and uneven.
The blue stones are in front of the Pub and in the carpark behind it.
Some general waffle about the surrounding landscape:-
Anyone interested in the neuro-electromagnetic aspects of prehistoric sites should out the area, as this stone is rather close to a heavy-duty faultline which emerges into the sea at nearby Collywell bay, causing lines of lava intrusions that have warped the rocks into strange formations. (This bay may once have been held special due ti the crystals found in the cliff, digging of which has now resulted in the bay being visually marred by the protective concrete).
The nearby natural harbour would have long been recognised as a place of much worth to sea-faring folk, and there is a possible causewayed enclosure a mile or so to the north of the Hartley stone, and another closer circular(ish) earthwork of ancient, but unsecified purpose. The ridge upon which the former enclosure sits also has the particular silhouette view of the Simonside hills that is often associated with prehistoric sites in this end of Northumberland.
Add to this the island with St. Mary’s lighthouse, and the local landscape, though much ravaged by millenia of constant human activity, is still capabe of betraying the occasional hint of ancient activity.
The Keeper arrived and was mildly dissapproving. He didn’t know the site was there, which is not surprising as these stones are well hidden by the grass. None of them are upright. The nearby area towards the road is littered with industrial archaeology, making me wary of interpretations of the many other large stones in the 200m(ish) radius I explored.
Look for areas where the grass is thin, with more heather and moss hummocks, these seem to be the areas with the “arrays”. If you’re heading from the B-road, the site is on a slightly sloping flat area, just after the marshy bit. There’s a low, linear bank and ditch affair about 60m to the east.
There’s no walls to climb over, but the going would be difficult for wheelchair access.
Lovely place.
Approach from the road to the east and scramble up through the undergrowth.
On top is a large cairn which has been tweaked at some point to include a rectilinear side space and a smashing cupola on top. Another smaller cairn a few yards to the north
It’s got a excellent view of both coastlines to north and south, across to the hurlers and cheesewring to the east and some overgrown industrial nastiness to the west.
One of the best things is that the cupola makes a brilliant place to sit out of the wind and enjoy the place. Nice way to get a feel for the moor and look for cropmarks etc.
There are also extensive bronze age settlements on the SW side of the tor.
Two good sized rows of stones. Tourist guff suggests “gateways to the land of the dead etc.”
Very close to the B road so convenient parking, but get there when there’s not traffic (i.e. early or late), lest the ambience be poor. Alignment is east-west (ish) so maybe sundown would be good as this might afford a nice view into the sunset.
Look out for the cracked burial cist in the middle of one of the rows.
It’s Not surprising that this site has a strange atmosphere. Iv’e talked to a few people who’ve visited and most of the seem to have has a fairly depressing time. (no objective statistics availble). Personally, Iv’e had a spectacular argument with my spouse there. Which we both afterwards put down to disruption of the local ambient E.M fields caused by the combined effects of the copper mines and the T>V mast screwing up out central nervous systems. If ever there was a site that can mess with your mind, this one rates highly.
Having said that the next time we went there, it was lovely. No wierdness at all, nice and peaceful.