Kozmik_Ken

Kozmik_Ken

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The Idol Rock

Kozmik_Ken
Kozmik_Ken Nov 6, 2003

The Idol Rock is a natural boulder that lies just south of the cup and ring marked Idol Stone and is a prominent marker visible from many of the other prehistoric sites on this part of the moor.

The rock itself bears no prehistoric markings, although it does seem to bear something akin to a masonic symbol which someone appears to have attempted to grub out at some point (these symbols appear on other rocks elsewhere on the moor).

Nearby prehistoric walling seems to point to this rock being used as a boundary marker and it is clearly visible from the Backstone Circle. West of this point are the living areas of Green Crag and the Backstone Beck Enclosure. East lie the cairns. Maybe this was a division between the lands of the living and the lands of the dead?

Image of Green Crag Enclosure (Ancient Village / Settlement / Misc. Earthwork) by Kozmik_Ken

Green Crag Enclosure

Ancient Village / Settlement / Misc. Earthwork

A large boulder perched at the top of Green Crag Slack which bears large cups and bowls. Most are probably the result of natural weathering, but the larger bowl is interesting as it is over 1ft in width, about the same in depth with a hole through the rock about a third of the way up from the bottom, allowing water to flow out of the bowl and down the rock. This rock must have held some significance in the prehistoric landscape of the area.

Image credit: Andy H
Kozmik_Ken
Kozmik_Ken Nov 6, 2003

Green Crag Enclosure

Kozmik_Ken
Kozmik_Ken Nov 6, 2003

The hillside below Green Crag (on which can still be found enclosure walling) bears a number of marked rocks including the Idol Stone.

On top of the ridge is a huge natural boulder that bears a number of large weathered bowls and cups including a peculiar feature which is a large bowl over 1ft in width about the same in depth with a hole through the rock about a third of the way up from the bottom. All appear to be natural but may have held significance in the prehistoric landscape, as it commands extensive views of the northern edge of the moor all over the cairnfields of Green Crag Slack to Woofa Bank. The rock is still used as a boundary stone and bears a number of more recent carvings including a certain W.M 1785 and an old bell shaped carving.

Below is a large cup, ring and groove marked boulder, prehistoric walling, the Idol Rock and the cup and groove marked Idol Stone.

Image of Rombald’s Moor by Kozmik_Ken

Rombald’s Moor

This strange little carving sits on a rock at Gill Head. The crossing at the top of Backstone Beck. Possibly carved by Victorian Quarrymen... looks like a cheeky little water sprite!!

Image credit: Andy H
Kozmik_Ken
Kozmik_Ken Nov 6, 2003

Thimble Stones

Kozmik_Ken
Kozmik_Ken Nov 5, 2003

Two huge chunks of millstone grit with a recumbent boulder forming a natural ‘altar’ and enclosing niche. The Thimble Stones lay on the path that runs along the boundary wall between Ashlar Chair and the radio masts at Whetstone Gate. Nearby to the south are the Two Eggs.

It is quite likely that these stones had some relevance to the prehistoric inhabitants of the moor although the ‘cups’ are most likely the result of weather erosion.

I visited the stones on Halloween and was caught in a hailstorm whilst there... the place was just buzzin’!!

Hanging Stones

Kozmik_Ken
Kozmik_Ken Nov 5, 2003

Besides the well know carvings at the Hangingstones are two carved bowls set back a little from the main outcrop. They seem just too perfect to be the result of weathering.

Also, if I ever encounter the person who did the knotwork carving on the western rock surface, I’m gonna kick them really hard!

Backstone Circle

Kozmik_Ken
Kozmik_Ken Nov 5, 2003

This is a very peculiar site. I’d walked past it a few times before and thought, “gate posts”. As previously described, a partially ruined circle enclosed in drystone walling (possibly a Victorian sheep fold). I really can’t decide if this site is genuinely prehistoric or not.

The long sedge grass and walling makes the site quite difficult to evaluate but from what I could find it seems like there could be a double circle with a central standing stone. However, just when you think you’ve worked it out, you find something that bucks the plan!

The inner circle stones are quite low and in some instances, very square cut. Giving the impression of having been quarried and dressed rather than composed of land-strewn boulders. There is little evidence of weathering on the stones as at the nearby Twelve Apostles circle.

The three larger stones at the back (north west) of the circle are set in a triangle. Two of the stones could possibly form a section of an outer circle, but the third stone appears to be supported by stones similar to those in the drystone walling. One other stone wasn’t even set in the earth, but sat on it’s broad base. The tallest stone appears that have what looks like a figure 8 set on it’s side carved near the top of the stone. This doesn’t appear to have been pecked with stone tools and shows little sign of weathering.

On the southern side of the walling is what could possibly be a ditch and bank, or could equally (or more likely) be a watercourse. This does not surround the site and if the circles were completed to their full circumference, they would cut across the feature.

On the plus side, it commands a wide view over the settlement areas of Backstone Beck and Green Crag. The pointed Idol Rock is clearly visible to the eastern horizon on what could possibly be a Samhien alignment and there would have been good views of sunrises throughout the year, over the cairnfields to the east. Paul Bennett also mentions a fallen monolith to the south at Gill Head (which I didn’t manage to find). He also points out that the Backstone Beck site forms the north western corner of a perfect isosceles triangle with the Twelve Apostles and the Grubstones, with the Lanshaw Lass boundary stone set in the centre of the longest side.

On the question of the Backstone Circle being genuinely prehistoric or not, my inclination is to suspect it as a Victorian Folly. First references to a ‘lost circle beyond White Wells’ come from around this period. However, it is possible that it was constructed on the site of an older monument. Also, medieval masons are known to have erected and moved standing stones around the moor over more recent centuries (Walter Hawksworth of the 14th C in particular) and used the Grubstones and Twelve Apostles for their moots.

I wouldn’t say that I’d rule out the possibility of this being a genuine prehistoric site, but my gut feeling is that what is to be seen there today isn’t entirely prehistoric in origin. The only way to be sure of it’s origins and history is for a full excavation at the site. In the meantime, it’s still a very pleasant spot to visit, so go and make your own mind up.

Ashlar Chair

Kozmik_Ken
Kozmik_Ken Nov 5, 2003

This heavily weathered rock lays at the meeting point of four moors. Ilkley Moor, Burley Moor, Morton Moor and Bingley Moor (thanks Dave). Cup and ring carvings were recorded in the 19th C, but these have now weathered away and no trace remains.

Paul Bennett describes the rock as an ‘Omphalus’ or a universal centre. It’s name probably comes from it’s use by medieval masons. It was also used as a meeting point for the Pendle Witches.

Orkney

Geophysics Surveys of Brodgar Penisnula

Kozmik_Ken
Kozmik_Ken Oct 27, 2003

Source: Orkneyjar Archaeology News (24 October 2004)

For centuries scholars and antiquarians have had their own theories over the activities that once took place in Orkney’s World Heritage Site covering the Ness of Brodgar in Stenness. From druid enclosures to ancestral monuments, each era had its own ideas about the Neolithic ceremonial centre. However, despite the advances in archaeological knowledge, technique, and technology, there is still very little known about the area.

But this looks set to change, with the continuation of a project to use magnetometry to scan the entire Brodgar peninsula. Magnetometry is the technique of measuring and mapping patterns of magnetism in the soil. Ancient activity, particularly burning, leaves magnetic traces that show up even today when detected with the right equipment. Buried features such as ditches or pits, when they are filled with burnt or partly burnt materials can show up clearly and give us an image of sub-surface archaeology.

The full article

Miscellaneous

Cow and Calf Rocks
Natural Rock Feature
Kozmik_Ken
Kozmik_Ken Oct 16, 2003

The most prominent landmark for miles around. There are no visible megalithic remains at this huge rock outcrop, but local folklore refers to this being a place worthy of strong consideration.

I’ve always found it a little strange that as the most prominent landmark for miles around, the Cow n’ Calf didn’t bear any cup n’ ring marks as they can be found both to the left and the right of the outcrop. It is possible that any that may have been on the rock could have been lost under the onslaught of Victorian graffiti or the wear of thousands of pairs of feet every year.

The surface of the outcrop is worth a view just for the modern (mostly Victorian) graffiti, which is similar to dobbing around a churchyard reading gravestones.

It is thought that the Cow n’ Calf name originates not from it’s appearance, but from a tradition of lighting beacons on the rocks.

“The larger rock was once known as the ‘Inglestone Cow’... The Scottish dialect word, ingle, ‘fire burning on a hearth’, may come from the Gaelic aingeal, meaning ‘fire’ or ‘light’.

“There is strong evidence of an old calendar custom in the British Isles, around Beltaine or springtime in general, where the old fires are extinguished and new ones are lit. Cattle are then driven between two fires to divinely protect them from disease. ‘Imbolc’ means ‘purification’. Inglestone Cow... Fire-stone Cow.”

Gyrus – Verbeia: Goddess of Wharfedale

The Cow and Calf rocks were once accompanied by a huge Bull Stone. But this was quarried away in Victorian times.

Folklore

Ashlar Chair
Natural Rock Feature
Kozmik_Ken
Kozmik_Ken Oct 16, 2003

Said to have been a moot point for the Masons, and the Pendle Witches, standing on the border of four moors. The rock was reported as bearing cup n’ ring marks in the 19th C, which have now presumably weathered away.

Folklore

Barmishaw Stone
Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art
Kozmik_Ken
Kozmik_Ken Oct 16, 2003

Barmishaw is said to translate as ‘Spirit in the woods’. This area of the moor has supposedly played host to a number of strange phenomena including fairies, alien abductions, earth lights and healing wells. Strangely enough the common thread between all the apparitions that have been reprted here is the colour green.

It’s obvious that the moor’s prehistoric inhabitants placed a strong importance in this area due to the number of rock carvings around the hillside spring.

Great Skirtful of Stones

Kozmik_Ken
Kozmik_Ken Oct 16, 2003

According to Paul Bennett the inscription reads, “This is Rumbles Law” and was erected by William Hawksworth in the 14/15th C. He originally erected it at the Grubstones which was used as a moot by local masons, but was ordered to remove it to his own land. The Great Skirtful was just inside his boundary.

Suffolk

Prehistoric finds at an US airbase in Suffolk

Kozmik_Ken
Kozmik_Ken Oct 14, 2003

The skeleton of a muscular 30-year-old, who could have been an ancient Iceni warrior, was found buried face down in earth that was part of rich Fen lands (Suffolk, England) and now is behind the fortified fence of an American base.
These human remains are only one of five that have so far been unearthed during a dig that has produced remnants of buildings, pottery, animal bones and flint tools, dating to between 2500 BCE and 410 CE.
Archaeologists say finds made at the 25,000 sqm site at RAF Mildenhall reveal significant detail about how different peoples co-existed in the turbulent times of the late Iron Age and early Roman era, when the conquerors brought their new culture and religions into the country.
Suffolk County Council’s archaeological service’s senior project officer for the dig, Andrew Tester, said it was an important excavation. “It has been a settlement from pre-history; particularly, it was well-used through the Iron Age and Roman times. They used to herd cattle here through the Iron Age and Bronze Age,” he said.
The team of 15 has found a pear-shaped corral and a watering hole, in which they found cattle bones. “We have excavated three burials – two were crouch burials, which are more traditional to Bronze Age and Iron Age. We found one that is a proper interment, and he was buried face down. According to our bone specialist, Sue Anderson, he was aged 30 and had a lot of muscle.” said Andrew Tester.
“In the early Roman, late Iron, Age there were many changes in religious practice and ideas.” added Mr Tester, “People were choosing to be buried in different ways. He was almost certainly Iceni and he could have been an Iceni warrior. This was an Iceni area and they were a traditional people. The Romans adapted and adopted other religions.”
Within a few weeks, the dig will be over and work will start on turning the site into a baseball pitch for USAF servicemen.

Source: EDP24 News (10 October 2003)

Cumbria

Heritage Hopes For Lake District

Kozmik_Ken
Kozmik_Ken Oct 8, 2003

An estimated £300,000 will have to be spent over two years to make the case for turning the Lake District into a World Heritage Site, it has been claimed. The Lake District National Park Authority has been trying since 1985 to win World Heritage status by Unesco, which is part of the United Nations.
Organisers said it would bring the sort of kudos which might attract more visitors and help when getting finance from the government.

However, some people have expressed concerns it could lead to even stricter controls on development and damage the tourism industry.

Supporters have said that although the status would not attract money directly, the government would be more likely to give extra funding if the area had world status.

Inward investment

Paul Tiplady, from the National Park Authority, said the money would be well spent.

He said: “We believe the Lake District is the country’s finest landscape.

“We need the government to believe that too so that thy will start putting the resources into Cumbria that Cumbria desperately needs.

“One way of achieving that is to get the world to say that Cumbria has England’s finest landscape.

“World Heritage status gives a very simple marker that the area is very special.

“I estimate we would need something like £300,000 over two years to undertake the project work.

“Cumbria and the west coast needs more inward investment and £300,000 may be a very cheap way of getting it.”

Source: megalithic.co.uk/

Royd Edge and Oldfield Hill Earthworks, Meltham

Kozmik_Ken
Kozmik_Ken Oct 8, 2003

The earthworks lie either side of Wessenden Head Road between Marsden and Marsden Moor. Maps have variously described the sites as either settlements, homesteads or henges. Both earthworks are on farmland, so permission to visit needs to be requested from the nearby farmhouse.

I last visited the site during the mid 1980’s and only had time to see the Royd Edge earthwork. A roughly circular enclosure about ten yards in diameter, with one entrance and now partitioned by a modern drystone wall.

A magnometer survey bu West Yorkshire Archaeological Services follows.

Magnetometer surveys were undertaken at 2 earthwork enclosure sites, to determine whether gradiometry would identify archaeological features on Millstone Grit geology and to find evidence for other domestic activity or a ditched field system outside the main enclosure. Although outwardly similar in form and function, the magnetic responses from the monuments were markedly different. At Oldfield Hill there was virtually no detectable response from the infilled ditch. It was thought that thisprimarily reflected the high percentage of stone in the fill. At Royd Edge the infill was predominantly silty soil and the ditch gave a strong magnetic signal, demonstrating that features could be identified on Millstone Grit geology under the right conditions. Isolated anomalies thought to have been caused by archaeological activity were identified inside both enclosures. There was no geophysical evidence for the continuation of archaeological activity outside of the enclosure at Royd Edge but isolated responses north of the enclosure at Oldfield Hill could have been indicative of further human activity.

New Method For Dating Pottery

Kozmik_Ken
Kozmik_Ken Oct 6, 2003

Researchers at the University of Bristol (England) have developed the first direct method of dating ancient pottery, through analysis of animal fats preserved inside the ceramic walls. The new technique will allow more accurate determination of the age of pottery and, by extension, the age of associated artefacts and sites.

Although chemical analysis has, in the past, been used on residues found on the surface of pottery and shards, contact with the soil was always likely to produce corrupt data. Now research carried out by Richard Evershed, Ph.D and colleagues from the University has discovered that lipids (animal fats) are preserved through absorption into the material, in large enough quantities to allow radiocarbon dating. “Lipids are absorbed because most interesting pottery of any respectable age is unglazed,” says Evershed. “We’re taking a piece of pot and grinding it to a powder, and then extracting lipid that’s penetrated right down into the fabric.” A technique called capillary gas chromatography isolates the lipids. Purified compounds are then radiocarbon dated using an accelerator mass spectrometer at the Oxford University Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit.

Pottery is essential for dating archaeological sites. Although organic material can be dated by radiocarbon techniques, the results are not always reliable. Wood, for instance, can decompose over time; and animals often move bones around a site. Ceramics, on the other hand, have a long and stable lifespan. Later pottery can be easily dated by typology, but earlier ceramic material can be much harder because of its crude appearance. In the earlier research that led to the development of the new technique, Evershed’s team found the first direct evidence that people were dairy farming in Britain as long as 6,000 years ago. The prominence of fats in material from Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Age sites is consistent with their wide range of uses in the ancient world: lubricants, waterproofing agents, cosmetics, ointments, perfumes, varnishes, etc.

The researchers have now analyzed 15 pieces of pottery ranging in age from 4000 BCe to the 15th Century AD. These were blind-dated using the new method and then compared with verified dates. In all cases there was good correspondence of blind and validated dates. Evershed and his colleagues now plan to study mummies. “A lot of mummies were exported out of Egypt by the Victorians, and they often applied modern treatments to preserve them.” The researchers hope to distinguish between modern treatment and the original embalming agent.

According to Evershed, his method could be used to date any material that has preserved organic compounds. “You could even isolate individual amino acids by this preparative GC approach, but no one’s tried that. That’s the next step.” Evershed’s findings were featured ‘Analytical Chemistry’, the journal of the American Chemical Society.

Stone Pages
Source: American Chemical Society (29 September 2003)

Norfolk

Site Dig Points To Rich Historical Seam

Kozmik_Ken
Kozmik_Ken Oct 3, 2003

It will soon be a shrine to the modern age of commercialism, where shoppers park their cars as they head into the city. But excavation work on the new park-and-ride site at Harford, south of Norwich, has revealed an insight into a rich and intriguing period of the area’s ancient history.
The discoveries made at the site, next to the junction of the A140 and A47 Southern Bypass, have been described as “one of the most important” finds ever recorded in Norfolk.

As well as evidence of settlements from a number of different ages, exciting finds relating to the Neolithic age between 4000 and 2300BC were made. Among them was a Neolithic timber structure.

Gary Trimble, project manager, said: “We already knew this was a very rich Bronze Age site but this is the first time we can push back time to the Neolithic age. It is tremendously exciting and a once-in-a-lifetime dig.”

Archaeologists were also excited by the discovery of what is believed to be a mortuary site – the first of its kind in Norfolk. Massive holes show where huge wooden poles would have been and indents reveal where timber walls would have run alongside.

The find has great similarities with a site discovered in Hampshire in the 1950s but, unlike that one, there was no mound at Harford, although it is possible it has been ploughed away.

Another major find was a rectangular enclosure, about 35-40m by 60m, which is also thought to have been used in mortuary activity. At the southern entrance there was a pit containing a broken flint axe.

And the finds did not end there. The dig took place over four months during spring and early summer this year, and items unearthed have now been removed from the site for restoration and cataloguing.

According to David Gurney, principal archaeologist for Norfolk Museum Service, what is particularly exciting about the site was the time-scale covered by the finds.
“It would have been good to have found just the Neolithic finds but to get the rest from the Bronze and Roman Age too is just remarkable. It is the sort of find you get once every 100 years,” he said.

Arrowheads and examples of Beaker pottery dating back the late Neolithic or early Bronze Age were also found, as was a cremation burial site containing two bronze axes and bits of burnt bone.

Close to the burial at the highest point of the site was the remains of a Roman aisled building that was possibly used for storage.

Mr Trimble, whose special interest lies in prehistoric archaeology, said the immediate area of the finds, close to a confluence of rivers, was very sensitive, with Arminghall Henge and the Roman fort at Caistor St Edmund nearby.

“I think it was when we found the mortuary structure that we realised we had something very significant and exciting because it was so different for the region. This was an important area where people would probably meet to trade and congregate or for a multitude of different reasons,” he said.

But he said it was difficult to be precise about the lifestyles of people from the Neolithic era from these finds. “What the settlement looked like is more complicated than we first thought and it is difficult to know how people lived,” he said.

It is now his job to write up his finds in a book. The site is currently being turned into a 1100-capacity car park and in January, the area of land which has been rich in archaeological pickings will begin its new phase.

megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=2146411134

Source: Norfolk Now 02/10/2003

Link

Mains of Gask
Clava Cairn
Kozmik_Ken
Kozmik_Ken Oct 1, 2003
Stone Pages

This is a log of visits to various sites from a number of Ambient Rambles over the years, with a number of people. Mostly around the Yorkshire Dales and the Scottish Highlands.

The Witch’s Pool and Glen Elg Brocks

On a trip into the Highlands with Scott and Shaun in May 1998, we’d stayed with a guy called Geordie who was building his own house near Drumnadrochit, overlooking Loch Ness and were now making our way over west for a couple of nights in the Bothy at Glen Torridon.

Near Loch Arkaig we came across a waterfall near an old bridge, down what is known as the ‘Dark Mile’ that seemed like an ideal place to have a poke around. Shaun and I climbed the path at the side of the waterfall and found a wonderful spot at the top. The hillside stream enters a natural rock basin where the water bubbles and boils as if in a deep green cauldron. The water then tumbles over a short ledge and on to a big waterfall into the pool below. The rock around the basin has an amazing swirly, almost psychedelic stratification. Not a megalithic site as such, but I can’t imagine that this place went unnoticed and it must have had some pretty powerful associations in pre-history.

The folklore of the site tells that it got it’s name after the Camerons once chased a witch, in the form of a cat, over these falls to her death. But I suspect that the name originates from the time of Christianisation of Scotland and reflects it’s older pagan associations.

Carrying on northwards we took a diversion over Bealach Mam Ratagan with it’s stunning views over the Five Sisters of Kintail, down into Glen Elg. Near the old Red Coat Barracks and the ferry to Skye are two magnificently preserved Iron Age Brocks, Dun Telve and further down the glen, Dun Troddan.

Both brochs retain about a half of their walls up to about 25ft high and many of the steps and galleries within the walls. Dun Telve still has its entrance intact, which is pretty megalithic looking. They must have been pretty forbidding when they were complete and inhabited with people defending it!

Clava Cairns

Later the same year I returned to Geordie’s, this time with my old friend Carol and her two young lads. Before we made our way over to Glen Torridon, we went for an Ambient Ramble around Loch Ness. After appeasing the young ‘uns with a visit to Urquhart Castle (nice loch, nice ruins, but clipped and pruned to death and crawling with punters) we headed out to more remote areas to seek out the local pre-history.

Trundling along we spotted signs for Corrimony Cairn in Glen Urquhart. A beautiful example of a Clava type cairn with a surrounding stone circle. When excavated in the 1950’s, many of the stones were found to be replacements and the outline of a crouched burial was found. There is also a cup marked slab which may have been part of the cist cover.

Onwards over to the eastern side of Loch Ness for a trundle over the higher moors. Skirting the edge of a plantation near Inverness, I spied a very obvious standing stone in the field. Gask is a Ring Cairn with most of the kerbstones still intact. Three standing stones remain from it’s circle, the largest being the one I had seen from the road, which is a massive flat slab about three meters high and the same wide. I liked this site as it hadn’t been trimmed or prettied up for visitors at all.

Next stop, the Balnuaran of Clava. Three of the many cairns in this area, situated in a wooded glade, with attendant stone circles. A beautiful spot, but we didn’t get long here as a coach-full of huge American tourists turned up and began to squeeze through the entrance, shattering the ambience of the place (I’ve never seen so much hardware in my life – video cameras, dicta-phones.... bet the BBC aren’t as well equipped as this lot!).

Also worth a visit just around the corner (while your there) is the Culloden Battlefield. Again, not a prehistoric site, but interesting non-the-less to see where it all came to an end. A very poignant place.

Ilkley Moor

Managed to fit a couple of trips onto the moor in with a couple of Ambient Rambles around the Dales, staying with friends at the study centre on Malham Tarn. The first being in Autumn 2000, my first time back on the moor for nine years, with a quick stomp up to the Twelve Apostles. I was disappointed to find that a couple of stones had fallen since my last visit. A thin pointed stone at the north eastern point of the circle that had leaned perilously a few years ago, had now completely fallen and lays partially embedded on the ground. Also, a low, flat stone that had stood on it’s longest edge had fallen and been re-erected nearby on it’s short edge. Many of the stones that had lain loose had been propped up with small rocks.

Upon leaving the circle and making our way back down the boardwalk, a plane circling Leeds/Bradford Airport skimmed low over the top of the moor and turned up into sky above us. Quite a sight!!

We returned to the dales the next spring, this time with Shaun along too, and fitted a day on Ilkley Moor in. I did my usual route over the moor – Cow n’ Calf, Haystack, Backstone Beck, Twelve Apostles, The Grubstones, Little Skirtfull, Idol Stone and the Pancake Stone.

While we approached the Grubstones, I notice some folk on a quadbike tearing up n’ down the moor. “Rich kids from Ilkley” I thought at first. We reached the gamekeeper’s hut and found the small path through the heather down to the Grubstones. No sooner had we reached the circle than I saw the quadbike twatting across the heather towards us. It was the flaming Gamekeeper!

“What you doin’ here” he shouted at us.

“Just looking at the circle mate” I replied.

“Keep t’fooking path. You’re disturbing the grouse”.

I pointed out that we’d quietly walked down a path disturbing nothing, whilst he’d just torn up about 20 yards of open heather with his four big wheels.... it didn’t go down well.

“If it were up to me I wouldn’t let no fookin’ c*nt up here”

“Good job it isn’t then!.... hang on a minute, you’ve just called us f*cking c*nts!”

And so it carried on until we walked off n’ left him to it. He got back on his bike with his two square-headed kids and rode off to find someone else to take a pop at. Sure enough, he was back ten minutes later to see if he could catch us in the circle! He became the winner of our first ‘Ambient Rambler’s Monumental Twat of the Week Award’!

So a word of warning to those who like to frequent Ikley Moor... if you see someone on a quadbike, avoid him n’ wait for him to sod off before you wander off the path.

Appletreewick

A bit of a flying visit this one as we were passing through Grassington. A hop over a rickety old dry-stone wall, scamper uphill a while and a bit of a search over scrubby, boulder strewn ground. A very small, low circle, not obvious until you’re right on top of it.... lots of sheep shit too.

Link

Corrimony
Clava Cairn
Kozmik_Ken
Kozmik_Ken Oct 1, 2003
VBT

This is a log of visits to various sites from a number of Ambient Rambles over the years, with a number of people. Mostly around the Yorkshire Dales and the Scottish Highlands.

The Witch’s Pool and Glen Elg Brocks

On a trip into the Highlands with Scott and Shaun in May 1998, we’d stayed with a guy called Geordie who was building his own house near Drumnadrochit, overlooking Loch Ness and were now making our way over west for a couple of nights in the Bothy at Glen Torridon.

Near Loch Arkaig we came across a waterfall near an old bridge, down what is known as the ‘Dark Mile’ that seemed like an ideal place to have a poke around. Shaun and I climbed the path at the side of the waterfall and found a wonderful spot at the top. The hillside stream enters a natural rock basin where the water bubbles and boils as if in a deep green cauldron. The water then tumbles over a short ledge and on to a big waterfall into the pool below. The rock around the basin has an amazing swirly, almost psychedelic stratification. Not a megalithic site as such, but I can’t imagine that this place went unnoticed and it must have had some pretty powerful associations in pre-history.

The folklore of the site tells that it got it’s name after the Camerons once chased a witch, in the form of a cat, over these falls to her death. But I suspect that the name originates from the time of Christianisation of Scotland and reflects it’s older pagan associations.

Carrying on northwards we took a diversion over Bealach Mam Ratagan with it’s stunning views over the Five Sisters of Kintail, down into Glen Elg. Near the old Red Coat Barracks and the ferry to Skye are two magnificently preserved Iron Age Brocks, Dun Telve and further down the glen, Dun Troddan.

Both brochs retain about a half of their walls up to about 25ft high and many of the steps and galleries within the walls. Dun Telve still has its entrance intact, which is pretty megalithic looking. They must have been pretty forbidding when they were complete and inhabited with people defending it!

Clava Cairns

Later the same year I returned to Geordie’s, this time with my old friend Carol and her two young lads. Before we made our way over to Glen Torridon, we went for an Ambient Ramble around Loch Ness. After appeasing the young ‘uns with a visit to Urquhart Castle (nice loch, nice ruins, but clipped and pruned to death and crawling with punters) we headed out to more remote areas to seek out the local pre-history.

Trundling along we spotted signs for Corrimony Cairn in Glen Urquhart. A beautiful example of a Clava type cairn with a surrounding stone circle. When excavated in the 1950’s, many of the stones were found to be replacements and the outline of a crouched burial was found. There is also a cup marked slab which may have been part of the cist cover.

Onwards over to the eastern side of Loch Ness for a trundle over the higher moors. Skirting the edge of a plantation near Inverness, I spied a very obvious standing stone in the field. Gask is a Ring Cairn with most of the kerbstones still intact. Three standing stones remain from it’s circle, the largest being the one I had seen from the road, which is a massive flat slab about three meters high and the same wide. I liked this site as it hadn’t been trimmed or prettied up for visitors at all.

Next stop, the Balnuaran of Clava. Three of the many cairns in this area, situated in a wooded glade, with attendant stone circles. A beautiful spot, but we didn’t get long here as a coach-full of huge American tourists turned up and began to squeeze through the entrance, shattering the ambience of the place (I’ve never seen so much hardware in my life – video cameras, dicta-phones.... bet the BBC aren’t as well equipped as this lot!).

Also worth a visit just around the corner (while your there) is the Culloden Battlefield. Again, not a prehistoric site, but interesting non-the-less to see where it all came to an end. A very poignant place.

Ilkley Moor

Managed to fit a couple of trips onto the moor in with a couple of Ambient Rambles around the Dales, staying with friends at the study centre on Malham Tarn. The first being in Autumn 2000, my first time back on the moor for nine years, with a quick stomp up to the Twelve Apostles. I was disappointed to find that a couple of stones had fallen since my last visit. A thin pointed stone at the north eastern point of the circle that had leaned perilously a few years ago, had now completely fallen and lays partially embedded on the ground. Also, a low, flat stone that had stood on it’s longest edge had fallen and been re-erected nearby on it’s short edge. Many of the stones that had lain loose had been propped up with small rocks.

Upon leaving the circle and making our way back down the boardwalk, a plane circling Leeds/Bradford Airport skimmed low over the top of the moor and turned up into sky above us. Quite a sight!!

We returned to the dales the next spring, this time with Shaun along too, and fitted a day on Ilkley Moor in. I did my usual route over the moor – Cow n’ Calf, Haystack, Backstone Beck, Twelve Apostles, The Grubstones, Little Skirtfull, Idol Stone and the Pancake Stone.

While we approached the Grubstones, I notice some folk on a quadbike tearing up n’ down the moor. “Rich kids from Ilkley” I thought at first. We reached the gamekeeper’s hut and found the small path through the heather down to the Grubstones. No sooner had we reached the circle than I saw the quadbike twatting across the heather towards us. It was the flaming Gamekeeper!

“What you doin’ here” he shouted at us.

“Just looking at the circle mate” I replied.

“Keep t’fooking path. You’re disturbing the grouse”.

I pointed out that we’d quietly walked down a path disturbing nothing, whilst he’d just torn up about 20 yards of open heather with his four big wheels.... it didn’t go down well.

“If it were up to me I wouldn’t let no fookin’ c*nt up here”

“Good job it isn’t then!.... hang on a minute, you’ve just called us f*cking c*nts!”

And so it carried on until we walked off n’ left him to it. He got back on his bike with his two square-headed kids and rode off to find someone else to take a pop at. Sure enough, he was back ten minutes later to see if he could catch us in the circle! He became the winner of our first ‘Ambient Rambler’s Monumental Twat of the Week Award’!

So a word of warning to those who like to frequent Ikley Moor... if you see someone on a quadbike, avoid him n’ wait for him to sod off before you wander off the path.

Appletreewick

A bit of a flying visit this one as we were passing through Grassington. A hop over a rickety old dry-stone wall, scamper uphill a while and a bit of a search over scrubby, boulder strewn ground. A very small, low circle, not obvious until you’re right on top of it.... lots of sheep shit too.

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