This is a very simple and small dolmen of three stones holding up a capstone. It sits on a small bank at the laneside in the hedgerow on the edge of a pretty hamlet near the main road.This post appears as part of the blog post " Crozon crazy" |
On a spectacular high rocky, heathy promentary facing west once stood some more alignments at Lostmarch. Now there are very few left, but enough to interest the more anorakky megalith-hunter, including a couple of very large menhirs. The beach to the south was obviously a favourite with surfers, catching the great Atlantic rollers. The whole place reminded me a lot of Rhossili on the Gower.This post appears as part of the blog post " Crozon crazy" |
Here 84 bright white quartzy stones of varying shapes are lined up on their parade ground, a sandy heath by the sea. The tallest is 2.5ms, but on average about they're about 1.8ms. The principal alignment is about 200ms long running NE to SW and has two shorter rows running away from it to the west. It feels incomplete (was this once a quadrilateral? Did the lines run further – I bet they did) but no less beautiful or impressive for that.
They don't overwhelm the visitor like the squillions of stones Carnac, instead they invite you to almost be part of them, to line up with them and join in the fun.. The whole shebang is on a human scale and had an ambience of Callanish about it. And with the bright sunshine casting long shadows on the dewy grass it felt very like this monument was something to do with telling the time, the seasons and calendars.
They are worth the trip out as far west as this. Absolute magic.This post appears as part of the blog post " Crozon crazy" |
Oh la la, it's big. Very big. They say the tallest still standing menhir in the world. And I can believe it. It's 9.5ms, for goodness sake! That's 31 feet in old money. And it used to be taller still! A lightning strike a couple of centuries ago knocked 2ms off the top apparently. Quite apart from its sheer dizzying height, it is a curious shape; not even and slender like most of the menhirs, but wider than it is thick.
It has two curious sticky-outy hemispherical lumps carved on either side, each about the size of half a football. Each is at about belly height. I could well imagine superstitious people wanting to increase their fecundity coming to the menhir to rub their abdomens on the lumps in the hope of getting babies. They'd have been better off just having sex…This post appears as part of the blog post " In the land of the giants" |
Kergadiou menhirs are a pair: the standing one (or should I say towering?) is 8.75ms tall and an utter beast! Some books say it's the second tallest menhir in Brittany.
Eighty metres away in the same field, its partially fallen twin is no less impressive. Lying like a beached whale at perhaps 25 degrees, like a giant sundial, it is an unbelievable 11ms long - 11ms! It is less of a menhir and more of a runway on an aircraft carrier. It simply invites you to run up its flat surface and stand on the summit from where there's a good 4m drop to the ground.This post appears as part of the blog post " In the land of the giants" |
After having seen what was beginning to feel like a million menhirs in a matter of minutes (such is their frequency) the sight of a dolmen was too good to miss. It wasn't clear where the dolmen was; all we had was the sign by the field edge and we couldn't see it at all. Moth stomped off down the field anyway – surely we'd bump into it. But we didn't.
The maize in the next field was tall and ready for harvest. Moth stood on a rock to gain height and survey the landscape. It was only by getting this extra height that Moth could see Poulyot's capstone. I was standing only metres away from the dolmen but couldn't see it for the crop. We scrambled over the brambly field boundary. The farmer had helpfully left an uncropped section so we could reach it this dreamy dolmen easily.
And four large granite slabs of picture perfect proportions sparkled in the September sun.
|
This is a very nice pair of menhirs standing 60ms apart in the same field. One measures 4ms and the second 3.9ms. Slender, finely and evenly shaped all the way to the top, like most of the menhirs here, each one seems to have four distinct sides.This post appears as part of the blog post " In the land of the giants" |
The pair of menhirs at a fork in the road near St Denec are each individually relatively small for round here. One measures 3.2m, and the second 3.1m, but add that up and you have a total befitting of Finsterian menhirs! Small and pointy, they reminded us strongly of The Pipers. There's also a fallen one of a measly 2.7ms, so once this was almost certainly an alignment.This post appears as part of the blog post " In the land of the giants" |
The menhir of Kerhouezel has many names. I've also seen it called Kerdelvas, and in our 1984 edition of 'Megalithic Brittany' Aubrey Burl calls it Kerreneur. Well, whatever it's called it's another six and half metre whopper, very slim with four rounded sides and a gracefully tapering top.This post appears as part of the blog post " In the land of the giants" |
|
As we were driving through the village of St Gonvel near Landunvez I spotted a 'dolmen' road sign. The monument wasn't marked on our map, but as it was there on a plate, we got out to walk the 20 metres or so down a little track between gardens to have a shufti, stopping to admire a large chirping grasshopper en route. And what a sweet little dolmen it is, crouching low into the ground with a capstone like a Tintin quiff and of the same blondeness as the young Belgian adventurer. Very dinky and charming.
|
This huge and impressive cairn was built on what is now a rocky promentary and is only accessible at low tide. When we arrived we were unlucky and although the tide was going out, the channel of water about five metres wide was too deep with too strong a current for us to cross. However, we scrambled over the rocks, leaping over rockpools to get as close as we could.
It was built in the same way as Barnenez 50 miles or so further east; a massive step-pyramidal cairn of stones featuring, in Ile Carn's case, three chambers. The central chamber has a tall corbelled roof. From where we were standing it looked a bit of a muddle and we longed to leap across the water and have a good poke around. Alas! Alas! If you visit, check out the tides.
|
At six and half metres tall with a rounded profile this monster stands proud on a little rise of land surrounded by huge fields, which today are inhabited by a nervous flock of partridges which exploded noisily out of the field next to it.
You can drive right up to it, the lane runs right past it.This post appears as part of the blog post " In the land of the giants" |
Quoit a resurrection
WOW! It's true, the stones are all finally up!
Me and Rupe walked the dog round the bottom end of the lake this afternoon (rather than parking up by the recycling centre) to find this:
http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/post/68766/images/devils_quoits.html
http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/post/68767/images/devils_quoits.html
As well as the stones going up, the henge had been mown and looked all 'coifed' and magnificent, and the hundreds of rabbits I saw last month with ocifant were gone.
We paused by the biggest of the original stones – it was thrilling to see it back up again, looking just like in the 1882 photo by Henry Taunt. I took a photo, as the shadows looked remarkably similar to that in Taunt's picture.
http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/post/68765/devils_quoits.html
To my knowledge this complete reconstruction of a site using what is left of the original stones, plus some new ones, is unique. Interesting that it's the painstaking excavation of Oxford Archaeology working with site owner Hanson who have made it happen.
As we were leaving, two blokes wearing florescent yellow jackets and hard hats from the portakabin at the dump approached us. They had seen us as we walked round the top of the bank. One wore a tie and had clean hands (obviously the site manager) and the other wore a sweaty T-shirt, big shit-kicking boots and had dirty hands (obviously a workman). They asked what we were doing there as there is no public access. I told them the dog gets walked up there every day (by my kids) as we only live 'over there' *points towards to village*.
A charm offensive was needed to diffuse any whiff of trespass, so I enthused about the stones (not difficult!) and how over the years we'd watched the work continuing and how excited we were to see the stones go up on Wednesday. This seemed to do the trick.
The man in the tie said they'd be a public opening in late August/early September. He also told me that once it was open, they planned to limit access to it with a fence "like at Stonehenge", he said, to stop people walking all over it, wearing it down and to prevent rabbits recolonising it and denuding it. "Like hell that's going to happen" I thought. He said that all the rabbits had been gassed last week and they were keen to keep them off – they were damaging the ditch and bank very badly.
I asked the man with the dirty hands if he was part of the team who put the stones up. He was! He said it felt pretty special to be part of it, which I thought was nice.
So there you have it.
And as we walked back to Rupe's house he said: "your stone-hugger friends will be excited … ooh, there's two of them now!" and at that moment Vybik John and Common Era pulled up in a car. I told them which way to walk round the lake to the stones without being spotted by the site staff.
Please remember if you visit the henge that you are technically trespassing.
|
This single menhir stands against a hedge at the back of Eynsham's catholic church, once the site of a flourishing Benedictine abbey.
The stone was found by Oxford Archaeology (OA) who were excavating the site (in 1989-92) of the abbey enclosure which had been built over a much earlier Bronze Age one.
The very rich ancient archaeological landscape around Eynsham (including the Devil's Quoits stone circle just 3 miles away; the now trashed Tarr's Grave close to the A40 and large circular crop marks in fields around the village) means the ditch in which OA found the stone may have been part of a thriving early settlement.
The stone was re-erected in its current position thanks to the then priest John Tolkein (nephew of JRR) who offered it a safe haven in church land next to the graveyard.
It is of oolitic limestone, the same kind of stone used to build the Rollrights and many other monuments in Oxfordshire. And looks to be weathered in the same way.
There's more information in 'Aelfric's Abbey: excavations at Eynsham Abbey, Oxfordshire', 1989-92, by Alan Hardy, Anne Dodd and Graham D Keevil.
This stone is marked 'of disputed antiquity' because it's not in its original position and just because it was found in a Bronze Age ditch doesn't actually mean it was a standing stone of that period, even though its discovery, size and weathering all point to an ancient provenance.
|
It was our final day in Sardinia and we wanted to return to Coddhu Vecchju to enjoy the morning light on the stones.
Tombi di giganti are aligned south-south-east, towards the morning light, which I suppose is symbolic of life and rebirth. This is certainly the case in ancient Egypt. The tombs' grave corridors point north-north-west, towards evening and sunset, perhaps symbolic of death. So to get the best modeling light on the stones (for painting and photography) you need to be there late morning, so the sun is high enough to cast shadows and reveal the carving and sculpting.
At Coddhu Vecchju the carving is not deep at all (not like those more southerly stele we'd seen) so we needed all those shadows. And I wanted to see the pink granite sparkle in the sun.This post appears as part of the blog post " The birds and the bees at Coddhu Vecchju" |
High on a hill at the back of the town of Silanus in the grounds of the chapel of San Lorenzo are five more of these short bullet shaped standing stones. One stands in front of the chapel and four clustered behind. So randomly placed are they we felt they were originally more.
None of the stones had breasts or froglet eyes, like at Tamuli, and one had been broken off half way down. But one has a huge slit carved long its top – deliberately made - and looking very phallic. We both felt that this slit carving was original. After all if you were a 16th century xtian, looking to destroy the nasty pagan stones, you'd hardly go about doing so by making it even more cock-like would you?
We wondered why the betili were here, so high above the town. Then as we returned to the car I found out why – I could hear the sound of running water. There was a spring.
|
There are six standing stones, conical and pointing out of the ground like bullets and all absolutely round in section. Quite phallic. And the best bit is that three of them had small breasts carved on them.
And the more I looked the sillier these (no doubt once serious) fertility totems became. At one moment they were froglets from the Clangers, the next they we giant mudskippers poking their fishy heads up. I loved them; I'd seen nothing like them before and they left me wondering about a whole bunch of questions which I've long given up thinking about other monuments for lack of answers. In the case of these betili, questions like: were they painted or perhaps anointed with liquid – milk, blood or something else, like the Shiva lingam are in India today. Were they dressed or decorated at ceremonial times? How were they used? And so on…
Intriguing!
|
It lacks flanking slabs and only has a little rubble each side and vestiges of tomb material behind it. It's that whopping stele, standing there all alone in the field which struck me.
Like Imbertighe and Figu I could see that thickness of width in proportion to its height again, (in Bainzu's case 3.24ms high).
|
I'd noticed at nearby Figu that the stele (or what was left of it) seemed chunkier than the stele at tombi further north. At Imbertighe this regional stylistic difference was confirmed to me. The stele here was chunkier too – bigger, thicker, deeper and with far deeper carving. The depth of the carving was about 9". Up north, you're lucky to get an inch.
Imbertighe still had its curved arms. Like Figu, these were constructed from big blocks rather than a line of slabs. Not much of the tomb remains – through the deep meadow grass we detected a few stones, but nothing grand.
|
The thick stele is cracked and broken vertically so that only one side of it remains up with the top arch curling over like Hokkusai's tsunami wave or a giant F.
Most of the tomb section is gone, though there is a lot of rubble under hoof and one or two stones lurking higgledy piggledy in the grass. Some of the tomb material seems to have been assimilated into the wall beside the lane.
Like at Imbertighe the forecourt area seems to have been constructed like wall from big blocks of stone rather than a line of standing slabs
|
|
Habitat: Commonly sighted in fields round Oxfordshire and Wiltshire.
Distribution: Widespread; occasional migrations to overwinter in Africa or other hot climes.
Characteristics: A tall, blonde, opinionated bird with feisty temper when provoked. Prone to spells of gloom during winter months. Usually sporting dark plumage, except for golden head, can often spotted with sketchbook and brushes near megalithic sites.
Feeding habits: Easily tempted with cheese (any variety) or a nice cup of tea. Unfeasibly fond of curry.
Behaviour: Unpredictable, approach cautiously. Responds very favourably to flattery.
Abhors: slugs, invisible sky gods, Tories, the Daily Mail, bigots, eggs, the cold, walking and timewasting.
Adores: a man called Moth, painting, live music, furry creatures, tea administered frequently, hot places, cheese, writing crap poetry, David Attenborough, Ernest Shackleton, Vincent van Gogh and the English language.
Want more?: see her website.
Big old rocks I find appealling
Their secrets they are not revealing
Some are chambers, some are tombs
Hidden in valleys and in combes
Some are said to act like clocks
With shadows cast out from their rocks
I like the way they just survive
When I visit, I feel alive
So I chase my rocks around the maps
Round England, Ireland and France, perhaps
But there ain't nothin' that I liked so much
As to see the Hunebedden, dem is Dutch.
|
Log in |
Register
Previous 20 | Showing 41-60 of 518 fieldnotes. Most recent first | Next 20 
Top of page