Showing 1-20 of 123 fieldnotes. Most recent first | Next 20 
Walked up Beacon Hill to the hillfort today. Was in Hampshire with a friend to visit the Sandham Memorial Chapel (which for me was a deeply affecting experience) and the walk up Beacon Hill afterwards somehow seemed totally fitting.
The car park is just off the A34, my first thought was that the noise from the traffic would detract from the enjoyment of the place. Its a long way up though and the noise soon receded - by the time we reached the hillfort at the top the A34 had diminished and could no longer be heard. As we walked round the ramparts a red kite glided by below us. There is a very big sky up there - wonderful cloud formations today and, needless to say, amazing views. Highclere Castle can be clearly seen and the grave of the Fifth Earl of Carnavon aka George Edward Stanhope Molyneux Herbert (Adventurer, Explorer, Archaeologist) who with Howard Carter discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun - is on the edge of the hillfort surrounded by railings.
An amazing place!
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Taken from the Coate Water Country Park FB page:
"Coate boasts a host of Bronze Age, Romano-British and Medieval history that spans a period of up to about 3000 years. The oldest known ancient monuments at Coate are the Neolithic Stone Circle and the Bronze age burial mound along Day House Lane. However, no less than six Stone Circles have been recorded in the Coate area linked up, in part, by avenues of large Sarsen stones. The remains of one of the stone circles probably still lies at the bottom of the lake at Coate Water whilst other ancient finds are dotted around the area that include evidence of Medieval settlements."
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Imbolc today, my favourite day of the year and the winter sun was shining in the promise of spring. Met up with my friend (who owns a car) and we headed off into the Cotswolds to Avening (passing through that parallel universe of Tetbury where no-one is poor, disabled, or in any way dishevelled).
Following the directions of thesweetcheat, Carl and Baza, we found the private road easily (about 200 metres past the local school) on the other side of the road. We quickly spotted the place where others have scrambled down the bank under the barbed wire - a bit steep but we went carefully. What a great surprise these two little chambered tombs are - the remains of a third also visible. Set into the bank they reminded me of some of the Irish wedge tombs in size. I've since learnt they had been moved from their original site - see Rhiannon's notes.
Seeing them for the first time without being aware that this was not their original location I have to say they seemed very 'settled' into the steep bankside, well camouflaged as they are by fallen leaves, soil and moss. A lovely spot overlooking what today was a fast flowing river.
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Today, with an interlude of winter sun for about an hour.
A circular (triangular) walk from Upper Lambourn using OS map 170. Set off late morning along a surprisingly unmuddy byway as far as Postdown’s Farm from where we had to do some road walking. Clear signs of recent flooding, the adjacent fields were lake-like in places – we passed a couple of large round barrows on our left as we walked towards Seven Barrows Nature Reserve. The road was badly flooded by the entrance to the nature reserve and the entrance impassable on foot without wellies, fast flowing water running off into a nearby field (must be springs around here to cause to the water to flow such). We managed to jump across a water filled ditch and scramble under some blackthorn hedging to get a better look at the seven (possibly eight) barrows.
The landscape is astonishing – apparently 26 barrows in all dating back to 2200BC. We didn’t actually count the ones we saw besides the seven in the nature reserve but there were several. The sense of walking through an important Bronze Age cemetery was tangible.
We continued on foot along the road past Seven Barrows House and took the track towards Uffington to look for the long barrow shown on the OS map. Not much left and it would be easy to walk past if you didn’t know it was there as absorbed into a beech plantation – two fine stones remain though.
Picked up another muddy byway back to Upper Lambourn and happily came across the Hangman’s Stone just before the track back down to the village. A small standing stone approximately a metre high – probably a boundary stone.
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Out walking yesterday - one of those November days that feels like a gift. Sunday, the rain lashed down. Monday, the sun came back and warmed the sodden earth. Had arranged to walk with my Gloucestershire walking friend who picked out a route that stuck to green paths where possible. We set off at from the little village of Yanworth (near Chedworth Roman villa) and walked to the village of Hampnett. Hangman's Stone is marked on the OS map about halfway between the two villages, just off the Salt Way and on the Macmillan Way. The stone itself lies on its side and is well camouflaged by the Cotswold stone wall behind it. Now in two parts with a hole through what looks like the top half. (Just read tsc's post which indicates the stone has always been two stones - to me it looked like one standing stone that had split naturally through weathering)
Curious this one - came upon it by chance and it doesn't really want to be seen.
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I omitted to add this when I wrote up my fieldnotes on Gower. This atmospheric cairn is about 30 metres from Maen Ceti and the two sites seem connected. I don't know if there is any archaeological data concerning this cairn - it just seems to be in the right place. Stopped here for bit to enjoy the estuary view towards Llanelli. Anyone visiting Maen Ceti would feel naturally drawn to walk over to it.
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Sunday 21st October 2012
The day started overcast but quickly turned into an amazing day full of blue sky and sea. Rhossili soon became very busy because of the lovely weather (surfers out in droves). Fortunately we had made an early start so avoided the crowds until later in the day. The plan was to walk to Hillend from Rhossili along the top of Rhossili Down and return along the beach (which I believe is the largest in the UK). Sweyne Howes burial chambers came into view at about the half way point of the walk - one is ruined with the stones scattered. The larger and more intact chamber is reminiscent of some of the wedge tombs I saw in Ireland. Unlike the wedge tombs, however, these two are hidden from the sea view being well below the high ridge of the Down.
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Saturday 20th October 2012
Starting from Penmaen, three miles along the Gower Way - the walk along the top of Cefn Bryn made the visit to this astonishing site all the more memorable. It was a beautiful mid October morning - the sea visible on both sides. So much to see and enjoy, not least the free range Welsh ponies which galloped across the brown bracken.
Maen Ceti is astonishing - a massive capstone standing on several small stone 'legs' with a scatter of smaller stones around. The legs stand in water and the surrounding ground is boggy in places - I believe there are a few springs nearby. Close by too, is a large stone cairn (which felt related).
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Cat Hole Cave is just a short walk from Parc Le Breos (about 200 yards north) uphill into a wooded area. Access is no longer possible as the cave has now been closed to the public with bars in situ. A local person said this was because the bats were being disturbed by people going into the cave looking for the 'reindeer rock art'.
In 1968 excavations recovered flint blades of the 'Creswellian' type which indicated this cave was the home to hunting parties towards the end of the Ice Age some 14,000 years ago.
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Visited Friday 19th October 2012 - first port of call of weekend on the lovely Gower Peninsular. About half a mile up the hill from the Park Mill Heritage Centre, this chambered stone long barrow is hard to miss. This was my first encounter with a 'cairn' type long barrow. Now open to the elements in the same way that Nympsfield in the Cotswolds is - the chambers are impressive.
The Cat Hole cave is a short walk away up into a wooded area.
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24/8/2012
In the grounds of an early 17th century hunting lodge now owned by the National Trust. There is public access to the barrow field though today there was a large herd of young frisky pedigree cattle also in the field. They didn't notice us until we were making our way back (a little too frisky for my taste).
This long barrow is now protected by an electric fence - I imagine to keep cattle, rather than people, off. Easy enough to step over if you want to. The barrow looked in good condition and no signs of the past damage recently reported by Evergreen Dazed. Three of the stones from the chamber still remain (reminded me of a small wedge tomb).
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Second visit to this spectacular hill fort today. Incorporated it with a stop off in Andover to visit the superb Museum of the Iron Age based on the excavations at Danebury but which also attempts to give a general impression of life in the Iron Age. Well worth a visit - lots to see, lots to learn.
It was a hot afternoon but the walk up to Danebury somehow felt breezy and just the right place to be. Wonderful views across the now golden grain fields of Hampshire. We had gone back specifically to see the wild flowers which seem to grow in such profusion at other hill forts like Barbury. The predominate wild flowers today were great stands of yellow ragwort - a wild flower I have reservations about as believe it is poisonous to horses and cattle. Lots of delicate harebells growing too.
Butterflies galore ... which was a bit of a joy as its been a bad year for butterflies up till now. Saw my first red admiral of the summer, along with chalk blues, marbled whites and many more.
Danebury had a little surprise for us - we found a small wooded area to take shade and stop for a drink. Three brown ponies (possibly Exmoors) appeared and calmly walked past unperturbed by our presence. I was particularly surprised to see them as there was so much ragwort around. I guess they just know not to eat it.
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We've all been to an ancient site and left with a sinking heart because of litter or the vandalism of past excavations. Today I almost wept - had to go to Stroud in Gloucestershire, the sun came out so thought to make a day of it and walk up to Painswick Beacon. A place I've visited once before three years and, although then the whole of Painswick Hill seems to be a golf course, it seemed peaceful and the views across the Severn Valley are pretty amazing.
Today I discovered part of the hillside is missing - a great yawning chunk of hillside gone. The noise from the diggers moving great lumps of Cotswold stone around destroyed any peace. Cotswold stone has always been quarried but I've never seen it done on such a destructive and industrial scale.
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm200/TJJackson66/012-19.jpg
Painswick hillfort and beacon are still intact, the views still terrific, a kestrel still hovered but what a travesty.
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Visited on Friday 18th May , the one really wet day of the week. I have to say unfairly perhaps, that after the remote, mysterious circles, wedge tombs and standing stones situated on mountain sides, often in peat bogs almost always facing towards the sea – this stone circle was an anti-climax. Near the centre of the town of Kenmare (Ceann Mara - the head of the sea) it is the largest and most well preserved circle in the south-west measuring about 17 metres in diameter with 15 uprights and a large boulder dolmen at the centre. Boulder dolmens are rarely found outside south-western Ireland and are thought to be ‘memorials set above burials rather than formal chambers intended as receptacles for burial deposits’ (quote:* Sean O’Nuallain). The local information leaflet says that this bears some relationship to Stonehenge.
When Julian Cope visited in 2002 he describes it thus “ in their current state these stones remind the traveller of a fussy, ersatz and over-presented garden centre feature … “
Nicknamed the Shrubberies by the locals and ten years on - fast growing conifers have been planted completely enclosing it. And yet, and yet ... as the disappointment settles over you, you know the Caha Mountains are there though cannot been seen because of the plantings; you can hear, though cannot see, a rushing river nearby. Give this stone circle back to Nature and the ‘sense of place’ recently discussed on the forum would be there in abundance.
*from: “Stone Circles, Stone Rows, Boulder-Burials and Standing Stones”
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Visited 19th May 2012:
Needless to Drombeg (Droumbeag) was very high on my list of stone circles to visit in Cork. However, as it was on the south coast my companion (and driver) sensibly suggested we visit on our return journey to Wexford. So it was with something of a heavy heart that we drove away from beautiful, wild, West Cork towards the more lushly green pastures of the south. I'm not sure if this coloured my visit - Drombeg is in a wonderful setting but I didn't experience quite the same thrill as on the Beara Peninsula - coming across Cashelkeelty by chance on our first full day, followed by Ardgroom. Once again I refer back to Jack Robert's marvellous little book - full of inspired drawings and a comprehensive guide to all the many ancient sites in West Cork. I can't recommend it too highly (can be obtained from bookshops in Bantry and Kenmare).
Taken from “Exploring West Cork” by Jack Roberts
Droumbeag, stone circle, Fulach Fiann and Fort
Named after the townland in which it stands- drum beag (the small ridge) this is perhaps the most well known prehistoric monument in West Cork and easily found as it is liberally signposted from Rosscarbery or Leap. The circle and its attendant Fulach Fian were excavated in 1958 and the findings from this circle constitute a large proportion of our present knowledge of the use and age of these monuments.
The circle has survived in an almost perfect state of preservation, only one of the stones on the eastern side have fallen, and it probably appears now much as it did to those who came here in pre-Christian times. The circle consists of thirteen stones around an area that was cleared and paved with small flat stones. The excavations have revealed a number of burial pits, one of which contained cremated human remains. Unfortunately none of the findings has established a date for the structure but it is thought it may have still been in use towards the beginning of the Christian era.
The name ‘Recumbent Stone Circle’ is thought to have originated from this circle in which the features of this type of monument are particularly pronounced. The recumbent is a large flat-topped block that is loosely set on the ground, not embedded like all the other stones, and bears three deeply carved cup and ring marks. On the opposite side of the circle are the ‘Portal and Pillar stones’, and it is thought that the circle is set in alignment running through the pillars and across the recumbent. This alignment at Droumbeg is towards the winter sun-set which sets in a cleft of the hill to the south-west.
To the west of the circle are the foundations of what are called ‘hut sites’ one of which is set around a hollow in which there is a stone basin fed with water from a nearby spring. This type of monument is also called a Fulach Fian – cooking place of the hunters - and it is thought that the basin was used as a cooking pot. All around this area are the remains of fires and burnt stone and it thought that the pot was heated by dropping hot stones into the water. However there is some thought that says the use of such sites was actually more ritualistic in nature, a steam bath or early sauna?.
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Visited 14/5/2012
After visiting Kealkil we walked down the lane, then turning left walked back uphill to find Breeny More. Views even more spectacular than Kealkil. Breeny More is not signposted and, as we were unable to open the gate, we climbed over.
Again I quote from Jack Robert’s “Exploring West Cork”:
“This was once the largest stone circle in West Cork and its quadrant of cromlechs at the centre formed probably one of prehistoric mans’ most important structures. Unfortunately the destruction of this monument has left few of its original stones intact and the destruction continues into the present day. Even the sign erected at the site which establishes it as one of the few protected monuments of the area has been torn from the ground and is heaped up with some stones that originally formed part of the circle.
At present only three of the circle of stones are in their original positions. These may have been the ‘portal’ stones if it was in fact a ‘recumbent stone circle’. Fortunately the enclosure and its cromlechs have yet to be invaded and these, the most curious aspect of the site, are set in an offset square formation and are facing the south west. A complex site of this nature could possibly have been valuable in the search for clues to the original purpose and use of these types of monuments, had it been handed down to us in good order. In its present condition it is possible that its original meaning has been totally destroyed and so we might never know what our ancestors were trying to achieve by building this puzzling structure.”
“Exploring West Cork” was first published in in 1986, the revised and edited edition was republished by Bandia Publishing in 2009.
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Visited 14th May 2012
Wrote impressions down immediately after the visit "Brilliantly atmospheric site overlooking Bantry Bay and the western mountains". This site is well signposted and involves an uphill walk on a narrow road. It is possible to drive up but parking spaces very limited.
In his superb little book “Exploring West Cork” Jack Roberts has written about Kealkil as follows:
“This is deservedly one of the best known and most important sites in the area consisting of an alignment of two large standing stones, a five stone circle and a radial cairn. The site is situated on a hill to the south of Kealkil village and is sign posted at major junctions.
The site was excavated in the 1930’s and the largest of the alignment stones was replaced in its socket. This originally stood at over 5 metres high (17 ft in the original excavation report) but about two metres of the lower portion had broken when it fell. The cairn was one of the earliest radial stone cairns to be properly identified and these comparatively rare and very curious monuments still baffle archaeology in the present day. Perhaps the suggestion that they were used as astronomical calendars is the best interpretation so far put forward but as yet no one has deciphered how they may have served this function. If megalithic architecture was based on a system of orientation and astronomy then this site with its outlook across a mountainous panorama to the west and north could lend itself to a wide range of interpretive possibilities.”
Footnote: The information board says Kealkil is from 'An Chaolchoill' meaning 'the narrow wood'.
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This site blew me away, totally unexpected. The credit for finding it goes completely to my companion who is a bit of an OS map devotee. On the other side of Eagle Hill, still with sea views - the path leads first to a large thin standing stone about three fields from the narrow road where we left my friend's car. Some barbed wire needed to be negotiated as we couldn't get the gate open (tightly tied up). This site was not signposted so I am guessing we were trespassing.
The wedge tomb is tucked away in the top right hand corner of the field adjacent to the standing stone. It was a perfect small wedge tomb, similar in size to the Cloontreem tomb though in considerably better condition. There seemed to be cup marks on the inside wall of one of the upright stones. A curved row of stones drops down from the tomb towards the standing stone a field away. I had a distinct feeling that tomb and the standing stone were linked together as one site.
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16th May 2012:
Back in Castletownbere and a beautiful sunny day, we follow the sign pointing to the Derrymihane West Boulder Burial and Cloontreem (Clountreem) Wedge Tomb. We opt for a walk uphill to look for the wedge tomb on Eagle Hill. The walk is way marked and we were told by a friendly local resident that the capstone has fallen so easy to miss. And miss it we did; it didn't seem to matter much though as we sat for a while in the lea of some rocks looking out over Bere Haven Harbour glistening in the sunshine. On the way back down we stuck to the trail path and there it was right in front of us. This was the first wedge tomb I had seen and it was much smaller than I imagined and camouflaged by the larger surrounding natural rocks.
The local resident who had given us directions earlier also said there was the shape of a deer on the fallen capstone - we did see this though thought it might be a horse.
Note: there had been a spell of dry weather so the going was relatively easy but be aware this is peat bog land.
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Found this lovely stone circle quite by chance. Whilst wandering around Castletownbere we read about it on an tourist information board. Very easy to find as just uphill out of the town and well signposted. In Jack Robert's "The Antiquities of the Beara Peninsula" it is described as follows: "The Stone Circle can be found in a field on the right of the lane less than 2 km from the main road. Mind you go left at the one junction. The orientation of this circle seems to be towards the Equinox sun-set. The land around the circle, particularly on the west side, contains much burnt material and in the neighbouring field is a Fulach Fiadh, or ancient cooking place."
Close by is Teerniatallane (Tir na hAiohleann) Ring Fort.
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Passionate about:
Nature; stone circles and all ancient sites that involve walking through unspoilt countryside/being near the sea; islands around the the British Isles, especially those with ancient monuments.
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