Mothy

To get there: Drive through the centre of South Kirkby, following the signs for Brierley. As you leave the built up area and start to go up a long hill, look out for a wooden fence on your left with an entrance (unmarked) which leads into a very nice car park. The Hillfort is the open access area behind the car park.

Walking around the site reminded me a bit of the interior area of Bratton hillfort in Wiltshire which I used to visit in my childhood (although the surroundings and geographic positioning are completely different). You’ll need boots as there is a spring on the site, which on a wet October day had turned into a stream at the bottom of the site.

A possible stone circle (possible modern folly?) is nearby at Brierley Gap – see notes on Brierley Stone Circle, Barnsley following up on Podofdonnys news post above.

As this is the closest site to home, I went to have a look – but there really isn’t a lot there to see ...

To get there: Take the road from Castleford to Ferrybridge and turn right into an estate called Pollard’s Fields, immediately opposite the main gate for Ferrybridge C power station. Park up and then walk back up the main road towards Castleford, with the power station on your right. There is a farmer’s lane to your left running parallel to the road. Join this, and it takes you into the field where the henge is (see photo above).

This is a very difficult site to decipher when there are crops, and the only above ground evidence I could see was a raised area in the field of crops, which according to the plan provided by the “local site” link below is part of the banking of the henge (see photo).

I also took a photo from the centre of the henge area towards the power station. Apparently the far left of the photo is where the outer banking meets the road.

Walking the perimter of the field / road only confuses matters – particularly with all the road building works which are ongoing at present and which doubtless in the future will have altered the geography somewhat.

Most of this once sacred landscape has been flattened, and I did feel a bit like I was standing in an island between several motorways, what with the the powerstation on one side, the M62 on the other – and now the new A1(M) improvement route is in the process of eating up a large part of the remaining area.

To get there: It can be pretty bleak and wet up here, so make sure you’re well wrapped up and if its wet, suggest good boots as it’s quite squishy. Park outside the pub and head across the road, due South. Make your way through the fence and follow the dry stone wall on the moor side avoiding the sheep poo. When the wall runs out, make across country towards the right hand side of rocky outcrops as shown in photo above.

Following round the right hand (West) corner of the outcrop, you come to the slightly surreal mushroom (or phallic) weathered escarpment shown above. The main stones are further down.

Also worth a look is the main face of the crag, that in my opinion has what looks like a remarkably human face protruding from it – I tried to capture it in the photo above but it doesn’t really do it three dimensional justice. Maybe it was a trick of the light and wet rock – curiously the rain enhancing the appearance of the stone.

Really quite special and feels very isolated.

I have visited the Howe several times over the years and would suggest spring before the crops take over as the best time to get a real sense of its scale. There is a lot of flint in the adjoining field including evidence of tool working (just look under foot if its dry enough).

Cley Hill is, as Julian points out in his book, quite clearly a recumbent mother hill, with Little Cley Hill forming the head. Most interesting is the vulva shaped area between Little Cley Hill and the main hill itself, which is very rich in flint (light area in plowed field) and flint knappings and discarded flint scrapers are all over the place. The round barrow is not on the highest point of the hill, as you would expect, but is instead perfectly placed to overlook this vulva area, with cup and ring markings beneath (damaged by medieval plowing). Does this indicate that the vulva area itself was considered sacred?

I grew up around this area and saw my first crop circle in the far corner of the field bordering the vulva area in 1986, which appeared within the time it took me to walk around the hill. Of course this is area of high military activity and farmers with a strange sense of humour!

In the 60’s and 70’s this area was apparently also associated with “earth lights” and UFO activity, as reported in the Warminster Journal and various Ufology texts, although these reports have subsequently been disputed as hoaxes.

The location of Cley Hill in the surrounding landscape is interesting, being visible from all side of the surrounding valley and escarpment of Salisbury Plain.

The photos are from a visit in 1999. I have blanked myself out from the picture showing the vulva area, cup and ring marks and round barrow.