Team effort, Postie, Mr D and all........... perhaps together we can make a difference and show what these Isles are all about. Boundaries are only lines drawn on maps, after all....He says after several pints of Guinness on Paddy's Day
Brilliant fieldnotes, heard a few people going on about this place. I've been loads of times to Ireland why didn't I go there? Aargh!!!! Great stuff Mr G.
Really really proud of you ( trying not to sound condescending), sneaking about on farmland ? Trespassing ? Yeeeaaah baby !!
Somewhere else I must to return to, if not East barrow then certainly Avebury as a whole, never been on the ridgeway, or up windmill hill, or the greywethers.
Footpaths? where were going we don't need footpaths.
>Did you get permission for going up the drive and onto the land?
Highly unlikely; there's no obvious place to ask. The land belongs to the church and the driveway leads to some community buildings up the hill and in the village.
So, if yoiu want to see the chambers then you have to venture up here:
D'oh, how slow of me not to put one and one together, a bit typical i'm afraid.
Ive got free reign for a few days next week, so anywhere within a five hour drive is in consideration, i've sadly neglected your patch of the world as I've only been up that way twice, so it's high on me list, but as ever its a long list.
Bloody romans !!
Thanks Po
The history of this site is even more involved. Ballykissane or the town of Kissane was a small settlement of people known as crypto Jews who fled the Spanish Inquisition and were settled in Galway until Williamite times when they were resettled in County Kerry. The Christian authorities (RC and CoI) did not allow Kissane burials in Christian grave yards as they were considered beyond salivation as they were Crypto Jews. The ring marks are of of kabbalistic significance. The history of the Kissane family can be found on the facebook site relating to the Kissane family and can be traced for 40 generations
A very atmospheric account of this mysterious barrow; on the edge of the Avebury complex, it is astonishing that it has never been excavated (except by badgers). Along with West Kennet Long Barrow it is the oldest monument in the area - may it hold onto its secrets for a few thousand years more.
Eyup Postie, It *is* the big rock chair. It's weird. From the side it looks like a half-disk buried halfway into the ground, but from the front, it looks like this.
The cairns are directly below this natural monolith, and the two stone circles either side may (heavy emphasis on the may) align onto the cleft between the monolith and the outcrop behind it. If you're ever up this way, gie's a shout. I've got a purpose built map showing where the interesting bits are. It's one of those spots that's right on the edge of two OS maps, which might be partly why the area gets bog all recognition, being overshadowed by that daft wall thing the romans built. I can waffle on for a good while about half baked theories of what may have been going on in this patch of the world :-)
Hi Hob,
Wow thats a big stone, where is it in relation to the cairns, and the big rock chair ?, you dont mention it in your fieldnotes.
Looks like it belongs on Machrie moor.
Cheers Postie
these last few weeks ive been re-exploring some of the places I went to
when I first started megalith hunting, and a few new ones. Ive been so far over such a long period its been great to go back to the beginning and see everything with almost new eyes.
This place looks insane. How is that capstone staying on?? I'm surprised you didn't push it off. I went to Carreg Sampson a few years ago - it looked an easy walk from the road past that depressingly pebbledashed? farm, so I knew I could get away with it with company. But this one was seemingly so near and it cries out for a revisit to the area. It's just soo bijou. And so unfeasible.
Thanks, wish I was there in Wales now, if I remember there was a road/track on the other side went along to Nevern church? and then turned right. Moss must have pushed through, but its best to respect farmer's wire fencing, even though I was on a vague public footpath ...
Edit; And you made it to Bedd Franc as well you lucky creature, thats another one I could'nt find ;) I could'nt even find Brynberian village, they must have turned the signposts round the wrong way ;(
Thanks for the encouragement. It's been very good for my head to be able to get out there, maybe things are getting better now spring's finally here. I might head out somewhere this afternoon in fact. Doubtless you're right about the kissing gates, that can't go amiss either.
You should just go for it with the drawing. Ditch the pencil if it makes you worry and fiddle about too much, take something like a big fat oil pastel and a bit of charcoal and say hell to that nagging voice in your head with its unhelpful taunts about unartisticness. Drawing'll make you stop properly and empty your mind :)
It's really nice to hear that youve been out and about and youve picked a couple of crackers to visit, I might even try putting pencil to paper this summer myself, though i'm a terrible artist.
What more could people want ?
more kissing gates maybe and someone to kiss whilst in them.
The stone coffin recorded in the 1880 O.N.B. as located in this region is allocated tentatively as a cist from the mound HY21SE 24 it strikes me that the description of the site as "an eminence 'thrown by the Brecks' " could perhaps apply to the northern half