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Fieldnotes by pebblesfromheaven

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Showing 1-20 of 87 fieldnotes. Most recent first | Next 20

Achnabreck (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art)

Came here as part of the Half Life event.

blogged about it here.

Windy Edge (Chambered Cairn)

Heavy going - he's not joking!

We took the path up from the gate at the eastern end of the plantation. It's a slog of about 1.5 miles uphill, but decent underfoot. Until you get to the top!

The area at the top of Windy Edge is boggy and (as you would expect) covered with hidden treestumps and branches. Normal instincts to use the hillocks as dry stepping stones became scuppered when in fact they were rotten chunks of wood!

That said, there was some lovely moss and lichen action, if that's your thing.

The cairns were very, very interesting. We thought at first they were one rediculously long Long Cairn, as the piles of stones were close together to a length of about 100 metres!

Greenland 3 (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art)

Kelvingrove Museum, Glasgow 25-11-06

Sadly it's been chalked, but displayed well next to a collection of axes, arrowheads and Aberdeenshire Balls.

The museum doesn't say where it was from just who donated it (Ludovic Mann in 1955) but it is the same stone as recorded on BRAC as being Greenland 3.

Honeypot Stone (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art)

This stone which is regarded as one the finest pieces of rock art to survive in Cumbria, is now on display in Tullie House Museum, Carlisle. Also on display are the carved stones from Old Parks.

Townhead (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art)

Talking of excuses to come back another day.... we lasted about a week ;)

This time we were on a mission: to find a particular design we had seen images of (but we'll save descriptions for when we actually find it!)

Where to start? We lifted a random bit of turf to find a tell-tale ring and 3.5 hours later had the whole panel lifted and photographed.

The design left me confused as to the true intentions of the carver (more than normal I mean)... Panels usually appear to have set modes and feelings but this panel felt very sketchy - not only because some markings were faint and unfinished, but because there seemed to be such a mixture of styles and motifs.

HUGE basins next to small pecked cups next to lines linked to shallow rings enclosing another ring of cups, when it's more usually rings around cups?!? So on and on.... some overlapping as if carved by different individuals with no consideration for the previous artists.

Rock art rule number 67 - there are no rules!!!

Tortie (Cup Marked Stone)

A lovely little valley, but not an easy field to get into, and when we visited, very boggy! Thankfully the resident bull and posse stayed at the other side of this vast field while we explored.

I was pleasantly surprised by the details of carving on this stone, expecting it to be a lot more weathered.

Tortie 2 can be just seen on the skyline from here, on the top of the same hill to the east.

.o0O0o.

Tortie 2 (Cup Marked Stone)

It was extremely windy up here today.... Good views, possibly the Tyne valley to the east (?) and to the Solway valley in the north-west.

Townhead (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art)

After asking Townhead farm, we parked at the abandoned worksheds nearby and walked up the path, past Black Hill cottage and stopping briefly to check out the rock art there.

The morning had been very rainy but the sun was out now, giving us a lovely few hours wandering and exploring the sites.

There were cows and associated bulls in all of the fields we wanted access to, but the farmer had reassured us they'd be "nae bother" ... thankfully he was right!!

Our wanderings took us to the far end of the field first, behind a knoll which has a sneaky little southern view of the Solway.

Found the main panel just before the autumn sun sank below the trees, another excuse to come back another day...

Druidtemple (Clava Cairn)

Handy to access not far from the new extended ringroad (B8082) around Inverness. Follow the "General Wade" road until turning right into the appropriately named Druidtemple Farm.

I asked at the farm for directions and permission to park. They gave me instructions to follow the path behind the farm, which gave fantastic views right across Inverness and the Beauly Firth.

This site is one of these wonderfully atmospheric places now protected by trees.

Culdoach (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art)

I love it when rock art is carved on a big hump like this, and although there are quite a few humpy shapes in this landscape for some reason this one was chosen for the carvings.

The day we visited it was one of those autumn days that although you leave the house wrapped up for winter it was actually quite warm. I felt so snug... so I lay against the side of the hump shelter from the breeze and had a little sleep ;)

Nice!

Holme Head (Standing Stone / Menhir)

Spotted this from the M6 because the sun was catching it... on the way back north we came off at junction 41 and took the road for Calthwaite, followed our noses until it was unveiled...

But... no!!! coos!!! Field was full of young playful cows, bah!

Undeterred, I decided to take a shot from the road that runs alongside the railway line ;)

Then sodded it and tried to get in through the field. Chickened out when the cows were getting just a little bit toooooo friendly... jumped behind the sandstone wall and got pics from there; unfortunately the sun was right behind so only got a sillouette. Made our way back towards the car and the coos (who we'd perhaps not given enough credit to) had blocked our way out, and we had to make a dash for it through the river!!!!

We'll go back after market day.

Tealing (Souterrain)

Stopped by on my way past, having previously dismissed the signposts as being not worthy of stopping ("Tealing Earth House"-wtf?)

I wasn't disappointed! My first soutterain, would you believe.

I wish I'd seen Nick's instructions first, though... I followed the signs and continued down a farm track, until I spotted something in the distance that looked a likely candidate... Walked through a couple of fields and it turned out to be an old concrete air-raid shelter!! Well, it was very well-preserved... ;)
So don't do that, kids! The real thing is just through the little metal kissing gate in the hedge on your right, up the little path and over the style. About 50 yards from the road.

Torrs 3 (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art)

Second visit to Torrs and this time we'd done our homework... but of course, we only spotted the path after struggling through the gorse!!

Lovely fine day, clear view over to the sea.

Torrs (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art)

29-5-05

Unsure as to what to call this site... answers on an electronic postcard please....

This was just inside the danger area but the flags weren't up and we reckoned the lambs wouldn't be there if there was any danger ;)

The panel was very weathered and the surface of the rock was shaped as much by the natural clefts and cuts as by the carvings. A real shame as there were some very nice shapes.

Another one biting the dust...?

There was a ring around five cups which looked like a clover. A bit like the one on page 75 of Stan B's "British Prehistoric Rock Art" but not quite the right layout...?

High Banks (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art)

29-5-05

The road to the farm looks very rough - we weren't sure whether it was wise to go up - but glad we did because it was quite a way and there was an actual car park at the top!!

Well sign-posted, over two stiles through open farmland which this day was home to some very excitable young bullocks.

I was initially disappointed with this site, because maybe my hopes had been built up, but like Fitz and Stubob before, this was a "must do" and justifiably so. The panel was very overgrown....

Maybe cups are for growing offerings to the great god of moss.

Bombie (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art)

Not far from High Banks... took a little while to find the right path into this field, had to dodge a couple of electric fences on the way. It's in an area with roaming cows and the surrounding land had also been recently ploughed roughly, so the ground was hard-going...

The panels are on higher ground near to some gorse bushes (an obvious place for RA really!!)

Some of these were hidden so we replaced the turf. There are surely more under there, too. The bedrock is particularly fragile so I think it's best these are protected from hoofs etc...

We spotted the best panel just as we were leaving to move on to the next place... there are very good pick marks on it and even some small holes as if the tool slipped and hammered a few pecks by accident ;)

One panel overlooked the little watering hole - a spring or a quarry? wasn't clear.

Newlaw Hill 1 (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art)

Visited 29-5-05. Parked nearby at the junction into a farm. Walked about 50 yards west to a place near a tree where we could get over the wall. The ground over to the hill was a bit boggy in places but not too bad...

6-fig GPS coordinates would have taken us further up the hill but found it on the way. 10-fig coordinates NX 73322 48861

Spent a little while cleaning it up ready for its pictures and the true character was revealed - wow!!! Really impressed by this one. Two cups in particular were really deep, as if they were natural holes that had been enhanced...

The view from the site is towards inland hills, can't really see the sea from here.

Back at the car trying to decided where to go next a helpful woman (did she really exist?!) came to offer directions...must have been the fact we were wrestling with maps in the car that made us look helpless!!

Stronach (Standing Stone / Menhir)

14-10-03.
I visited Arran for work reasons so I was limited to the sites I could see... this one is conveniently on the verge of the main road road through Brodick A841, almost opposite a school.
An impressive slab of sandstone, there are faint signs of graffitti / letters carved into it.
.o0O0o.

Hully Hill Monument (Artificial Mound)

24-9-03.
I wouldn't like to count the number of times I've driven past here... not sure I'll be back much though. I felt the place had a miserable feel... in an absolutely disgusting state, used as a playground by local kids. Two of the stones have serious red graffitti. Gave the stones my apologies before I left, I will think of their sorry plight each time I pass.

Directions to the site: follow the A89 towards Broxburn from the Newbridge roundabout and turn left after the garage. Left again, behind the garage, to the dead end. The site is on the right hand side, announced by a worn out board.

Access: Right next to the road and up a short path about 30m. There is a wide gate which was padlocked, but also a reasonably wide gap alongside. There is a rocky path leading up to and amongst the stones.

.o0O0o.

Heddon Hill (Ancient Village / Settlement / Misc. Earthwork)

13-9-03.

This hillside is easy to locate, a short drive into the Ingram valley, signposted from the A697.

.o0O0o.
Showing 1-20 of 87 fieldnotes. Most recent first | Next 20
Previously known as Pebblethief...

Based currently in north Northumberland but soon to be returned to Cumbria.
Area covered by travels includes Scotland and north of England.
Often to be seen wandering aimlessly staring at the ground dragging a large rucksack (contents usually assorted cameras, GPS, batteries, bananas, plastic bags, pebbles).
Favoured habitats are places with plenty of sky and powerful scenery.

http://www.pebblesfromheaven.blogspot.com

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