Hob

As you can probably work out from the name, I’m not sure about these stones. For two reasons:

1) They are low, no more than half a metre.
2) I’ve never seen any mention of them anywhere, despite the area having been quite popular with antiquarian/rock art spotting/archaeologist type people (and golfers).

In defence, I must point out that they are conspicuously placed on the ridge, near shedloads of rock art, enclosures and a small circle. Furthermore, they display erosion patterns that indicate they’ve been stood up for very long time. Similar amount of erosion as the stones of the circle. The grain of the stone is perpendicular to that of the bedrock outcrops the nearby RA is pecked onto, so I don’t think they’ve gotten like this of their own accord.

Happily, they are within easy reach of the path that marks the east edge of the golf course.

Any one visiting Doddington without a guide who’s been there before, should bear in mind that the OS map is woefully out of date in regard to the footpaths.

The main panels are easy enough to find following the path from the Golf Club up the course (marked on map as a track). Other than this route, the rest marked on the map are all screwy.

The worst offenders are the 2 paths marked from the top of Dod Law and the one from the quarry, which allegedly cross each other, and head east across to Horton Moor. I dispute this vigorously. Insted, there is a path from the main panel, up to the trig point, which then forks.
The left path cuts through the east enclosure, and follows the line of the wire fence which forms the edge of the golf course, ending up at the quarry, passing the possible standing stones, and near the quarry site rock art on the way.
The right hand one leads to west plantation, and I think it’s the most reliable route to the circle.

The enclosure next to the circle is very faint, I could hardly make it out, and the Quarry site eluded me again. But it’s a damned excellent place is Dod Moor, so I’m glad, as it gives me the perfect excuse to go back.

I was most upset to see that one of the stones has fallen over since I last visited. It’s marked on the map as ‘rems of’, and it seems that’s a better description than ever. 3 down, 2 to go... :(

The hard way to find it is to try and follow the paths marked on the map. This involves bouncing through seriously deep heather, and annoyingly clingy bracken, trying to follow a path that isn’t really there any more, with optional extant paths that aren’t on the map and will lead you astray. But if you keep going downhill, you’ll hit the wall eventually, then you just have to decide on right or left. Whilst this can be fun, it’s not particularly recommended. It’s probably wiser to follow the path down from the Dod Law trig pillar, then turn left when you get to the wall, which I did this time, and it was quite straightforward to find the stones.

I am highly suspicious of the placing of this little circle, it draws a bead from Dod Law to the rocky outcrops of the Bowden Doors, an enigmatic site of mesolithic activity a few mile to the east.

As you follow the path past the trig pillar, you can just about make out the enclosure, the cairn and the RA are about 10m to the left of the path, where the land starts to slope down again, and the bracken starts to give way to heather.
This one’s actually a bit easier to find in summer, as the bracken doesn’t grow on the cairn, making the barer patch easier to spot.

Note that the paths marked on the OS map bear only a vague resemblance to the paths visible on the ground, largely due to bracken infestation.

Park on the Golf Course carpark, ask permission (it’s only polite, and they don’t seem to mind at all). Head straight up the course, don’t be distracted by the earthworks, keep to the left of them, then just as you spot the cottage, look to your left, they’re about 3m from the path.

The view to the south is excellent, and the carvings are unusual, cups in rectangles.

It’s a strange looking place. The circumference seems too small for the height of the earthwork on the west side. You get the impression that they were once much higher all around, in which case it would have been quite an imposing structure, especially with a pallisade on top. Apparently there have never been any excavations, so it remains undated.

The bloke at Highburn House campsite can be petitioned for access permission.

The ramparts and ditches are still quite well defined, it seems as though there are at least two distinct sections to the fort. The bracken was quite rampant, but there were what were probably hut circles visible in places.

You can scramble up the SW side from the Kings Chair, though the route from the northern side is much easier, the path is nice and easy to follow from Waud House.

Presumably built to guard the ravine running between Kenterdale Hill and the Horsden, the Kettles now seems to hold the pine plantation of Kenterdale hill at bay, which lurks threateningly to the west, looking like a coniferous shieldwall, possibly ready to charge down at any second.

Mrs Hob was keen to revisit, having been here just after the big storm of ‘87, when she says some of the trees got toppled.

Plenty trees now though. Whilst this may wreck any chances of checking out inter-visibilty with other stuff, it does make it superbly tranquil and welcomingly cool on a hot summer’s day.

In full agreement with PureJoy’s comments about the 4x4s though. They are knackering the ridgeway, and can temporarily spoil the ambience.

The holey stones on the facade are marvellous examples of domesticated sarsen. This place lives up to the hype.

I assumed the eastern end was the front of the cairn, as it seems to be the highest. It definitely slopes down towards the west end.

Toyed with the idea that the ditch may have been part of the orginal setting, but couldn’t convinvce myself. Summer probably isn’t the best time to visit, probably better in winter with less undergrowth, it would be easier to make out more details.

Revisit March 26th 05

Lack of undergrowth helps a bit, but makes things even less clear in some ways. the stones are easier to see as is the overall shape, but this just muddies the water as it makes the front (Eastern) end look like it has a platform at the front.

Saw a Harris hawk in the trees on the cairn, presumably from the nearby Bird of Prey Centre. Nice.

There’s space to park a car just on the other side of the A6, by Mount Clifton farm. The follow Tinklers Lane, over the M6. Not a long walk, easy going, gates not stiles.

I think these would be OK(ish) in terms of disabled access, though the track is a little rutted in parts.

I couldn’t help wonder if the larger stones is related to the pink granite of Shap.

We’d been told that the access had been improved since last we were here, and indeed the path is much easier to get a buggy up, but why go through all that bother and leave the manky old metal kissing gate? Thus not making it any more accessible? World Heritage Site rules and regs I guess.

There were folks doing the ‘stoneage soundtracks’ thing, humming and ohmming etc. And from my postion at the time, in the ‘courtyard’ down on the deck, looking at the textures, it did seem to have a definite effect. Mucho resonance etc. The hummers then spoiled this by making gyets of themselves, but it’s West Kennet, it attracts all types. At least they didn’t damage anything in the name of being reverent.

Really smooth polisher on the inside, to the right. Not noticed it before reading this website.

No fences/stiles to climb from the carpark! Hoorah! Fairly easy to get the buggy up to the top.

Slightly perplexed by the amount of chalk and stuff being excavated by the wildlife, but hey, I guess this place has put up with a lot of that over the years. Mildly intigued by the horseshoe shaped patches of darker colour in the grass, mycelial? Or archaeological? There are numerous wee hollows, maybe traces of old stuff? Some are big enough to hide from the wind.

Not very quiet on a summer afternoon, due to the near constant thrum of ‘copters and microlites photographing the inevitable crop circles below the scarp. Combine this with the noise from Salisbury Plain, and it may be better to visit a it later in the day if you want to let your mind drift and ponder in peace.

If you are in a car, and heading up this way, it’s not as bad a climb as it looks from the road. We managed to get the three-wheeler buggy up there, but had to lift it over a couple of stiles.

The mound and the view are as amazing as is related below, as is the whopping great sense of place, though I think the mound is an essential part of this. I found it to have a sentinel-like air to it. As if it were monitoring those who pass from the Vale of Pewsy, whilst keeping an eye on Salisbury Plain. It felt to me like there should have been biiiig music. If you plan to spend time here, take some sounds, maybe something soaring...

Ahem. ‘Nuff blurble. The thing that really got me about this place is the little earthworks at the sides, and the (presumably quarried) bit to the NE. Perfectly ambiguous, what are they for? Ae they contemporary with the mound? Have they anything to do with the mostly dissappeared stones of the facade? Speaking of which, have a root about and they can still be seen. They looked a bit like limestone, possibly brought a distance, making the place even more special.

Sits ‘On top of the world’.
A really strong sense of ‘up-aheightness’.
Made all the more so by the low scudding cloud.
Combined with the lumpen bumpiness of the earthworks and the gnarled chunks of prone stone, the position in the landscape makes this a memorable place, and well worth seeing, even for a bit of a detour on a dreary day.

There’s such a contrast betwen the limestone here and the sandstone over on Stanton moor. Check out the grooves, bowls and hollows, imagine the stones they’re on standing, illuminate them in your mind, with sunrises, sunsets and moonlight. Imagine their silhouettes and changing shadows as the light plays across them throughout the years.

It’s always good to see what can be done when careful attention is paid to the arrangement and placing of stone and earth. Nice one ArborLow-building-people of yesteryear, a job well done.

Definitely one of the more peculiar visits I’ve ever made to a stone circle.

Arrived in Matlock late, on the way down south, and thought ‘What the hell, it’s not dark yet...’ Predictably, by the time I was half way there it was dark. But that’s no problem. The Quarry site is impossible to miss, and the nice ‘eco-warriors’ (daft label) have enough banners to direct the hapless nocturnal wanderer.
Equally helpfully, on a friday night, the dark isn’t as much of a problem as you only have to follow the sounds of the drums...

However, I wouldn’t reccomend this route. It involves scrambling up the side of a slope that could be classed as a cliff in places, with sufficient foliage in summer to make it pitch black.

I was shocked at how close the old quarry is to the stones, to think of starting it up again seems gut-wrenchingly vile. The landscape around here has already been trashed enough. For example the highly unplesant mineral processing factory on the road to Matlock, which thrums and glows in the night like a giant malevolent predatory alien insect. Bleurgh!.

Here’s hoping the quarry remains forevermore dormant, and also that the toxic factory gets bored and flies back to its home planet. Leaving Stanton moor to recover it’s dignity and peace, with no need for caravans up trees or tunnels beneath them.

It’s not big but it is clever.

An excellent counter point to the likes of the massive Swindon stone and al the other massive testimonies to stone age know how, this is an absolute gem. If you have your fill of Avebury, make the effort. It’s such a superlative illustration of the amount of time and effort taken by humans to work stone.

To be get a sense of just why this is such a significant bit of rock, try grinding two small bits of (non-archaeological) sarsen together. This is hard stone, so to polish it to this degree is no mean feat, even if it did take 1200 years.

Can’t really testify to the difficulty in finding it, as I was well guided by people who had been there on more than one occasion. But I reckon that if you look at the photos with the tree and the triangular stone, they are effective markers.

Cheers for posting this one Mr Paulus. It’s much appreciated as the presence of RA not only this far south, but in the area of all the Avebury stuff is very interesting.

The cups themselves are very smoothed out, and fit the bill from the drawing. The horseshoe is very evident, as is the ‘slug’ mark, possibly a half-finished groove from one of the cups near the horseshoe. There are also some angular, yet serpentine (?) grooves at turf level on the south side of the stone. These look like they might be enhanced natural marks in places.

Thy were easy to find, as the result of a very well informed guide, who knew of it in advance, and accompanied myself and diverse others, right to the stone.

It’s in a section of the IA field system adjacent to that containing the pollisoir. If you find the polisher, look to the east, just beyond the first of the old field boundaries, where the land starts to rise again.

To my mind, the most remarkable thing about these marks was the fact that they’re on Sarsen. It’s bloody hard, and would take some pecking even with modern metal tools, let alone another bit of sarsen. Much discussion ensued regarding the techinique used, and what they might mean. There may be more in the area, and it’s unsure if this one is in situ, or has been shifted during the construction of the field system. Fyfield cup spotters should note that as the local sarsen has so many natural holes, it’s not a straight forward business, for example, there’s a stone to the SE that has a lovely natural bullaun-type basin. Others have possible small horseshoe motifs.