Old Soldier, with a jacksprat for scale...
Image credit: Barry Lalanne
jacksprat
I don’t drink mushroom tea so maybe it’s my love of Brian Froud, too vivid an imagination, not enough sleep? Who knows. I can definitely make out faces though...
Image credit: Barry Lalanne
It’s tricky parking nearby so I use the verge before the turning. By the gate as you turn into the hamlet. This is the view walking down the lane. The remains of a cross in the background that was used to protect the villagers from the evil spirits in the stone can be seen behind. I don’t think he’s evil. Just curious.
Image credit: Barry Lalanne
If you venture into Old Taston,
You’ll see along the road’s edge,
A curious nosey old stone there,
peering shamelessly through the Hedge!
Image credit: Barry Lalanne
This is the face of the stone that has recently been defaced with the initials MW. Swines...
Image credit: Barry Lalanne
I don’’t know if it’s my love of Brian Froud’s illustrations but I always see faces in the stones I meet. In the Hawkstone I see many, this being the most obvious.
Image credit: Barry Lalanne
In the garden of my friend the Hawkstone.
Image credit: Barry Lalanne
A good view of the valley, the Jarrassic way runs along behind those hills.
Image credit: Barry Lalanne
How I chuckled at the phallic cloud in the background. I swear it’s not photoshopped.
Image credit: Barry Lalanne
Lyneham Longbarrow is apparently underneath this mess of briar and thistle. stone in foreground
Image credit: Barry Lalanne
Vandalism at the Hawkstone – apologies for the picture quality, it was taken with the camera on my phone.
Image credit: Barry Lalanne
The Capstone of St. Lythans Cromlech will spin round three times on Midsummer’s Eve. Wishes made at the site on Hallowe’en are guaranteed to come true, apparently. Guess where I’ll be in late October...asking for a million pounds.
Maen Madoc, the standing stone’s latin inscription reads: ‘Of Dervacus, Son of Justus. He lies here’. This dates from the fourth century, although the stone may be much older.
It is unclear whether the romans chose to bury Dervacus at this site because their road, Sarn Helen, passed it and it was an obvious landmark, or they raised it to commemorate him. To some the inscription may negate the stone’s validity as a prehistoric monument.
There is more to the story of the White Cow associated with the Callanish Stone Circle. It is said that a woman was on the point of throwing herself into the see and drowning at a time of famine in the area when a beautiful white cow appeared from the sea. It ordered her to take her milking pail to Callanish, where she and her neighbours were able to milk it each night.
Everyone was able to milk a single pail until a witch came and milked the cow into a sieve until she was dry. The cow vanished from Lewis and never returned. (Source; Secret Britain, Guild Publishing, London).
In ‘Secret Britain’, (published by Guild Publishing, London), it was said ‘that in lean times, a beautiful white cow appeared at Mitchell’s fold. No matter how many came to milk her, so long as each person filled just one pail, she would never run dry. But when an old witch called Mitchell milked her dry by milking her into a sieve she vanished, never to return.‘
In some versions the cow is said to have transformed into the rampaging Dun Cow of Dunchurch, Warks, which was eventually killed by Guy of Warwick.
The story of the Witch and the White Cow is said to have been attached to the circle in the 18th Century. At around the same time, another story told of ‘Medgel’s Fold’, a place where a giant kept his cows. The name is a suggestion that the circle was a ‘pound’ or ‘fold’ of a giant.
The story of the magic white cow is also associated with the stone circle at Callanish, Lewis.
You can still see paint on some of the stones...
Image credit: Barry Lalanne
Nearly two years after it was first perpetrated, unsightly reminders of that mindless vandalism are still clearly visible on the King’s Men
Image credit: Barry Lalanne
The Rollrights on a cold February afternoon
Image credit: Barry Lalanne
In the foreground are some of the remains of stones that won’t make it, with one that did in the middle ground.
Please note that there is still NO public access to the site.
Image credit: Barry Lalanne
You can see the richness in colour of the new stones. It gives a tangible view of how the original stones must have looked, before the lichen and weather took hold.
The foundations are very fresh and the whole site looks very ‘new’ and ‘constructed’ for want of better words. But when it has been completed and nature has taken her course, I can see Devil’s Quoits becoming a major attraction in years to come.
Please note there is still NO public access to the site.
Image credit: Barry Lalanne
When the sun came out the whole site shimmered silvery white from the down and feathers from the birds’ ‘base camp 1’. You can see the reconstructed henge in the background.
Please note there is still NO public access to the site
Image credit: Barry Lalanne
A view of the largest newly erected stone.
Please note there is still NO public access to the site.
Image credit: Barry Lalanne
Please note there is still NO public access to the site.
Image credit: Barry Lalanne
When the sun came out the new stones almost seemed to glow a gloriously rich deep yellow.
Please Note there is still NO public access to the site.
Image credit: Barry Lalanne
Eight new stones have been erected at the site, all quarried locally. You can see in the foreground that markers have been erected to indicate the placement of future stones.
Please note there is still NO public access to the site.
Image credit: Barry Lalanne
A view of the reconstructed henge with some of the replacement stones. You can see the damage caused by rabbits to the ditch in the foreground. Please note there is still NO public access to the site.
Image credit: Barry Lalanne
Two of the three original stones have been re-erected... And obviously used as a preaching post for various hundreds of waterfowl at the site.
Please note there is still NO public access to the site.
Image credit: Barry Lalanne
This is the third and final (and significantly larger) of the original stones to be re-erected. You can see the foundation for it in the bottom left of the picture. In the middle ground is a view of the ditch and henge that encircles the stones.
Please note there is still NO public access to the site.
Image credit: Barry Lalanne
There is a story that tells of how the henge was given its name.
In the book ‘Oxfordshire Folklore’, by Christine Bloxham (tempus 2005), it is said that the Devil was playing a game of quoits and was told off by God, because it was a Sunday and there was to be no recreation.
In a petulant fit of anger the Devil threw the quoits as far as he could and where they landed became the site we now know.
If you go into old Taston,
You will see, along the road’s edge,
A curious, nosey old stone there,
Peering shamelessly through the hedge.
I was lucky enough to meet up with Jane and Moth two weekends ago and we went to visit Devil’s Quoits.
It has to be stressed that there is still NO PUBLIC ACCESS to this site and they do not welcome visitors, but Jane was able to work her magic and we were granted brief access to the site. This point needs to be made as if you try and make your way to the site you are going to be setting yourself up for disappointment and a wasted journey. It is well and truly off limits.
I have to say I was impressed by what I saw. Much work has been done since the last postings and the site now resembles a henge and stone circle, as opposed to a filthy great pit or building site.
The henge has been fully reconstructed and two of the original three stones, in addition to six new stones have been erected. There is still much to be done but it was wonderful to gain a tangible view of what the henge must have once looked like.
The largest of the original stones has still to be erected but it’s trench is dug and it has been raised on to wooden struts, so hopefully this will be done soon.
Slightly disappointingly, the company that bought the site from Hansen, WRG (Waste Resource Group) Ltd’s PR Manager said that no work was scheduled for the foreseeable future.
Two factors are affecting the site, feathers and rabbit holes. I would say, when building a rabbit fence around something, that you check there’s no rabbits inside what you’re enclosing. Either that or the fence is completely innaffectual. One area of the henge has become riddled with rabbit holes.
And when the sun shines the whole area shimmers silvery white, by the feathers shed from various thousands of geese and other birds that have used the site as a temporary home whilst they make use of the lake to the south of the area.
In the North Oxfordshire countryside, about one mile from the village of Tadmarton, you will find a triangle of steeply banked hills. They are known as Jester’s Hill, Round Hill and Madmarston Hill.
Madmarston Hill is the site of an ironage hillfort which dates back to circa. 200 BC. The site is now used for farming purposes and nothing remains of the original fort, although it is possible from the west and east, to detect the remains of the earthworks that would have surrounded it. The earthworks enclose a site of around seven acres.
A roman road, now a bridle way, popular among horse riders and walkers, runs south along the site so it is possible to get a good view of the place, despite the land being private.
The site was the interest of an archaelologist, P J Fowler, and he spent two years from 1957-58 excavating the site. Several row barrows were uncovered and pits containing fractures of pot, animal bone as well as a natural spring were also discovered.
Madmarston hill and Jesters hill are both natural formations and both plateau to an even flat summit. Madmarston was presumably chosen as the site for a fort as it is a rounder formation to its longer narrower neighbour.
The Ordnance Survey map of the fort (ref SP386389) illustrates the remains of the earthworks on the hill in good detail.
The view from left to right of Madmarston Hill (where the hillfort was sited), Round Hill and Jester’s Hill.
Image credit: Barry Lalanne
Madmarston’s neighbour, Jesters Hill, can be seen in the background to the left of the image. Jester’s hill is not thought to have been built upon.
To the right of the image you can make out darkened lines near the brow of the hill. These are remains of the earthworks.
Image credit: Barry Lalanne