11 July 2006 Margaret Curtis explains that the left face of the nearest stone in this picture is the one that guides the eye to the site of the fallen Airigh Mhaoldonuich standing stone, which would be visible against the horizon on the hillside. (Also known as Callanish XVII). L-R Juamei, Margaret, moey, joolio geordio & Vybik Jon.
12 July 2006 Margaret Curtis says that if you ‘sight’ along one face of one of the Bernera Bridge stones, it leads the eye to where this huge stone would have been clearly visible on the horizon. She has demonstrated this by placing people on the hillside where the stone would have stood.
12 July 2006 It would have been an imposing stone when upright – Juamei for scale
12 July 2006 As the tide was coming in we were thinking we weren’t going to find any cups. But then I started randomly ripping seaweed off rocks & this was about the 3rd one I tried....
12 July 2006 The setting of the cups we found – with Juamei for scale
10 July 2006 Margaret Curtis calls this site ‘mission control’, as it oversees most of the other “Callanish” sites. With a big lens, it’s easy to pick out Callanish I, II & III....
11 July 2006 The remaining stone (badly!) cloned to show (very roughly) what the circle might’ve looked like. (See also joolio geordio’s pic taken at the same time).
On the subject of the Jethro Tull references, last night at Reading Hexagon, they played Dun Ringill. Ian Anderson introduced it as a song about a neolithic (sic?) hillfort & went on to talk about it being used to try to see off the Vikings....
He’s usually reasonably knowledgable about stuff, so I suspect he was simplifying it for the plebs in the crowd. Or not.
Mentioned in Frances Lynch’s ‘Prehistoric Anglesey’. Exact map ref is SH 5190 8275.
Thanks to Dunston & FourWinds for clarification – I’d previously used the name for Glyn when I couldn’t find any info on it.
5 July 2006 Entrance – B9119 is just the other side of the signpost
5 July 2006Jane goes round the bend (sorry, couldn’t resist!)
5 July 2006 Thank goodness for the sign! The souterrain is incredibly well hidden in plain sight! The entrance is just the other side of the little just visible towards the bottom left, the B9119 on the right
8 July 2006 We were all looking SEish awaiting the moon to do its skim thang, but this was going on behind us!
Note that the site is actually to the right (south) of the B8060 – I think the OS ref must be slightly ‘out’. I’d say more like NB286189 by my guess.
Access Not good for people with limited mobility. The hill is reasonably short, but fairly steep. Probably boggy & maybe slippery in the wet/damp.
Approaching on the B8060 from Sildinis, park at the second loop of old road on the right (south) of the present road. (The first one seems just to be marked as a path on the Landranger, but on the ground – & the Explorer, I think – it looks more like a bit of old road.
Probably best to park by & use the second gate on the right of the disused road. You should be able to see the 2 stones protruding from the mound on the nearest hilltop. Just go for it!
14 July 2006 Talking to Margaret Curtis in the morning, she suggested we see what we think of this site, while we were in the area visiting Fangs circle. As it happened, I had the TMA page printed out, but didn’t register that it was the same place until I checked later!
Juamei & I immediately agreed that it looked genuinely ancient but neither part seemed really like a ‘pure’ stone circle, which I believe it is being reported as. (This was also what it was noted as on this website at the time.)
The circular setting is very small, with fairly small stones, and pretty wholly uncharacteristic of the stone circles in the area. In many ways, it seemed to us more like the kerb of a cairn, though the stones are far from contiguous – in fact fairly widely spaced for the size of the circle. There are also some stones within the circle that could possibly be the remnants of a cist. (Not that that rules out ‘stone circle’ in those parts!)
The other ‘monument’ is another interesting one. At first glance, it immediately screamed “cairn!” at me. But on closer inspection, some of the stone further down the mound that appears to be kerb material, is in fact bedrock. And the 2 stones protruding from the ‘mound’ seem kind of out of place if the mound represents a fair proportion of the remains of a cairn.
So perhaps these are meant to protrude and there should be more – like the neighbouring circular setting. It was interesting to note that they seemed, at least superficially to point towards Sleeping Beauty’s feet, where Fangs circle lies....
Discussing the site afterwards with Margaret, we got the impression that she is dubious over whether either of the settings is a stone circle, but she did NOT seem to doubt that they are ancient. At mentions of kerb circles and cairns there was much nodding, as if this is her suspicion.
14 July 2006 Circle with Loch Dubh magically blue in the background. Not sure exactly where this monument lies – somewhere between stone circle & cairn, but it’s certainly stunningly beautiful!!!
14 July 2006 Circle with Juamei for scale & Baile Aileen village in background....
14 July 2006 The kerb-like circle with the cairny thing in the background, Sleeping Beauty’s head just discernable around 3/4 right
14 July 2006 The cairny mound with Sleeping Beauty (her head anyway!) in the background on the right
14 July 2006 For what it’s worth, we thought that on the mound, the 2 exposed/remaining protruding stones seem to align (at least approximately) towards Sleeping Beauty’s feet (and Fangs circle)
14 July 2006 Cairn-type mound looking towards kerb-type circle (with Juamei for scale)
14 July 2006 The approach to the stones from the loop of old road
9 July 2006 The moon performing its lunar standstill dance, taken from the western avenue fairly near the circle. Unfortunately, it very soon danced behind the clouds....
9 July 2006 Moon over Loch Ceann Hulavig with the eastern stone that Margaret Curtis ‘rediscovered’ on right of frame. Shame I couldn’t see the fencepost on the edge of the reflection – it was dark!!!
Sunday 3 July 2005 View along the main rows from the southern of the smallish twin cairns
Sunday 3 July 2005 One of the local divebombing wheatears takes a rest while a passing family examine the stones.
Sunday 3 July 2005 The main rows and longstones looking SSW, the northern of the smallish twin cairns in the foreground, and the NW standing stone just visible on the right
Sunday 3 July 2005 The main row leading NE from the southern longstone, towards the Giant’s Basin on the right and the northern longstone
Sunday 3 July 2005 The kist in the cairn at SX591672 with the main rows marching past in the background to the south
Sunday 3 July 2005 The standing stone to the NW of the main rows and its stone row leading to the northern of the smallish twin cairns
Sunday 3 July 2005 The smaller part of the ‘main’ rows, leading NE to the southern of the smallish twin cairns
Sunday 3 July 2005 The length of the main row is pretty impressive!
Sunday 3 July 2005 A marker stone on the hillside in the foreground on the way towards the complex from Yellowmead
Sunday 3 July 2005 Approaching roughly from the south, it appeared somebody had beaten us to the circles.... Luckily, I don’t mind horses & Jane loves ‘em
Sunday 3 July 2005 Working around the ponies, we could see the diminutive rows (in the foreground) leading away roughly N from the circles
Sunday 3 July 2005 It becam apparent that the monument was well-guarded as the ponies were reluctant to vacate....
Sunday 3 July 2005 Eventually the ponies moved far enough that we could actually make out the format of the monument. This is looking roughly SW (I think!)
Sunday 3 July 2005 Looking roughly W towards Yellowmead farm
Sunday 3 July 2005 The circle approaching from Brisworthy, which is to the SSE
Sunday 3 July 2005 Looking across the circle with the row on the far side, centre, marching off NNE across the moor
Sunday 3 July 2005 The circle at the end of the row nearest Brisworthy, looking roughly SE
Sunday 3 July 2005 The circle looking SSW along the end of the row
Sunday 3 July 2005 An attempt to showthe length of the row, looking NNE away from the circle. Jane is around 2/3 to 3/4 along the row
Sunday 3 July 2005 A fair portion of the row looking SSW, with the circle at the end just visible on the horizon
Sunday 3 July 2005 The far part of the row from the reave looking NNE, away from the circle