antiquarian – Page 14

Kirktonhill, Channelkirk, Berwickshire

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Stone Circle (destroyed): OS Grid Reference – NT 474 548

Archaeology & History

Included in Aubrey Burl’s (1976) first gazetteer, without comment, the site was subsequently added to John Barnatt’s (1989) magnum opus. He tells that in the 19th century, “early Ordnance Survey records…note a destroyed stone circle” here, but draws a somewhat sceptical opinion of its very existence as “the Ordnance Survey frequently made mistaken interpretations in the 19th century and hence this should be treated with caution.”

Despite this, early local historians refer to the site, albeit in the past tense. The first would seem to have been Walter Elliot (1869) in his address to the respected Berwickshire Naturalists Club. Some members of this group had visited a number of ancient sites the previous year:

“A camp above Channel Kirk was also indicated, near which a stone circle formerly existed, but it has been destroyed and the materials used for building dykes within the last five or six years.”

The “camp” was an old Roman one which has itself been almost completely destroyed, despite it still being shown on modern OS-maps.

The circle was mentioned in passing in Mr Thomson’s (1902) huge work on his descriptions of the many local hillforts. Close to one at Kirktonhill known as the Roman or Agricola’s Camp, “forty years ago, there was said to have been a stone circle.” This was reiterated in Craw’s (1920) survey of prehistoric monuments in Berwickshire.

Perhaps the most curious omission is in Mr Allan’s (1900) huge survey on Channelkirk parish. His description of the Roman camp was considerable, but he made no mention of an adjoining circle. The best we got from him was a vague allusion about some ancient pre-christian site not far from the church, when he wrote:

“Whether or not some rude form of a place of worship might then exist on the spot where now a church has stood for so long it were rash to assert, but there are certain indications that some particular place, specially marked as consecrated to religious rites, was then a local possession.”

(it should be noted that the Canmore entry for this site has its location at the prehistoric camp due west of Kirktonhill, which is incorrect)

References:

Allan, Archibald, History of Channelkirk, J. Thin: Edinburgh 1900.
Barnatt, John, Stone Circles of Britain – volume 2, BAR: Oxford 1989.
Burl, Aubrey, The Stone Circles of British Isles, Yale University Press 1976.
Burl, Aubrey, The Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany, Yale University Press 2000.
Craw, J H., “Early types of burial in Berwickshire“, in History Berwickshire Naturalists Club, volume 24, 1920.
Elliot, Walter, “Anniversary Address Delivered at Berwick on the 30th of September, 1869,” in History Berwickshire Naturalists Club, volume 6, 1869-72.
Thomson, A., Lauder and Lauderdale, Craighead Brothers: Galashiels 1902.

Little Almscliffe Crags, Stainburn, North Yorkshire

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Legendary Rocks: OS Grid Reference – SE 23237 52275

Also Known as:

Little Almes Cliffe
Little Almias Cliff Crag

Getting Here

Little Almscliffe Crag (photo – James Elkington)

Coming from Harrogate, take the B6162 and B6161 road to Beckwithshaw, through the village and, 4-500 yards on, turn right onto Norwood Lane. 2 miles along, keep your eyes peeled on your left for a gravelled parking spot and you’ll see the large rock outcrop 200 yards south of the road. …Otherwise, from Otley: go over the river bridge and turn right up Farnley Lane and follow the B6451 for a few miles, thru Farnley village up the Washburn valley, past Norwood and at Bland Hill, turn right along Broad Dubb Road for 1¾ miles where you’ll reach that same gravelled parking spot.

Archaeology & History

Very much the ‘little brother’ of Great Almscliffe, 3 miles (4.83km) to the southeast, this site would be more of interest to the travelling geologist, perhaps, than to antiquarians. But that depends what tickles y’ fancy I s’ppose.

In 1702 when the northern antiquarian Ralph Thoresby mentioned this and its big brother to the southeast, he described the “two famous crags of Almes Cliff—in some old writings called Aylmoys ut dicitur—but have seen nothing memorial of it, saving its remarkable lofty situation.” He missed the cup-and-ring carving on the east-side of the crags, obviously, which indicates that it had some form of animistic sanctity in ancient times.

Little Almscliffe was one of many impressive places located within the ancient Forest of Knaresborough; and although it wasn’t on the original boundary line, a perambulation (i.e., annual ritual walking to the old stones, trees and wells defining the region) of the area written in 1770, in what Mr Grainge called “the Copyhold Forest”, was undertaken by the Enclosure Commissioners. It differed from the more ancient perambulation rite, in that the newer one included a mention of,

“five bounder stones also marked F to an earth-fast stone, lying northeast of Little Almes Cliffe, marked also with an F; (and) from thence by other four bounder stones marked F to Sandwith Wath…”

The letter ‘F’ here signifying the word ‘forest’, as in the Forest of Knareborough.

William Grainge (1871) also believed these crags to have been a place of druidic worship. He wasn’t the only one. Many other writers of the time thought the same thing; and although we have no concrete evidence to prove this, it is highly likely that these rocks would have served some ritual purpose in pre-christian days. Certainly in more recent times (during the 1980s and ’90s) we know that ritual magickians used this site for their workings. On a more mundane level, the crags were previously used as a site for for beacon fires. One was erected here in 1803 when the first Bonaparte threatened to invade England; but I can find no written accounts of earlier beacons here.

References:

Bennett, Paul, The Old Stones of Elmet, Capall Bann: Milverton 2001.
Bogg, Edmund, From Eden Vale to the Plains of York, James Miles: Leeds 1895.
Bogg, Edmund, Higher Wharfeland, James Miles: Leeds 1904
Cowling, E.T., Rombald’s Way, William Walker: Otley 1946.
Grainge, William, History & Topography of Harrogate and the Forest of Knaresborough, J.R. Smith: London 1871.
Parkinson, Thomas, Lays and Leaves of the Forest, Kent & Co.: London 1882.

Lauder Common, Lauder, Berwickshire

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Cairn: OS Grid Reference – NT 49340 46162

Getting Here

Take the B6362 high road between Lauder and Stow and, regardless of which direction you’re coming from, when you reach the top heights of the moorland road with views all around, you need to keep your eyes peeled for where a dirt-track runs south and, diagonally across the road on its north side, is a dirt-track-cum-parking-spot (if you came from Stow, you should’ve already noticed the cairn on the skyline on your way up). There’s a hut circle in the heather by the parking spot. From here, just walk over the heather nearly 300 yards north. Y’ can’t really miss it.

Archaeology & History

The first thing that you see as you approach here is a modern cairn which is sat upon the more ancient and completely overgrown one. You can’t really see the “ancient” section of it until you walk round to its more northern side, where you’ll then notice how the new cairn has been built on top of a small but artificial rise in the ground, about ten yards across. This is the original ancient cairn. Sections of the ground have come away on its southern side, revealing a scattered mass of loose stones. It doesn’t seem to have been excavated but has all the hallmarks of being typically Bronze Age by the look of it. Of particular note is the superb view from here, not least towards the legendary Fairyland of the Eildon Hills, standing out clearly about 10 miles to the south…

Lauder Common, Lauder, Berwickshire

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Hut Circle: OS Grid Reference – NT 49490 45962

Getting Here

Take the B6362 high road between Lauder and Stow and, regardless of which direction you’re coming from, when you reach the top heights of the moorland road with views all around, you need to keep your eyes peeled for where a dirt-track runs south and, diagonally across the road on its north side, is a dirt-track-cum-parking-spot. Park up here and walk 10 yards or so into the heather on your left. You’re probably stood at the side of it!

Archaeology & History

A very distinct, but isolated hut circle can be seen here when the heather is short. It’s most notable by seeing the slightly elevated circular rise in the ground with the rough ring of long grasses in the middle of it. To be honest, unless you’re a mad archaeo-geek into these sort of things, it’s not gonna send a rush of blood to your head.

Probably constructed in the Bronze Age, it’s a plain little thing about six yards across, making it suitable for perhaps just a couple of folk to have lived in. The overgrown walling is very low (between 12-18 inches high) and about a yard wide all the way round it. The main thing that you’ll get from this place is not only the sense of isolation, but the beautiful view…

Drumderg (2), Tullymurdoch, Perthshire

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Cup-and-Ring Stone: OS Grid Reference – NO 18523 54950

Getting Here

Two ways: i) up the A93 road from Blairgowrie, after 5 miles turn right at the Bridge of Cally and up Glen Shee. After another 3½ miles, keep your eyes peeled for the tiny road on the right signposted to the Drumturk Cheese farmshop. Go up this long tiny winding road for a mile up to the cheese place and keep on this road for another 2¼ miles where you can park up near the entrance to the huge wind-farm; or – (ii) from Alyth, go up the long winding tiny Bamff Road and keep to the signposts for Bridge of Cally Glen Shee until, after about 4 miles, you reach the entrance to the windfarm. Walk up the track to the windmills, bearing right at the first junction, then right again at the next one. From here, shortly before the second windmill, walk down into the moor for nearly 200 yards. It’s quite a large stone.

Archaeology & History

This is impressive. Very impressive! Found within a huge mass of other prehistoric sites in the Forest of Alyth, its only known petroglyphic bedfellows—Drumderg (1) nearly 500 yards yards south, and Drumderg (3) 120 yards north—have nothing on this one! Where the others have basic cupmarks, this bears a series of multiple interlocking cup-and-ring designs, some with one ring, others with two, and one with four, albeit incomplete rings.

The design is etched onto the sloping face of a curved triangular ‘female’ stone. An eroded cutting all but separates the two main components of the design, but this cut has within it a distinct singular cup-and-ring almost linking each side together. On one side (which is near the middle of the stone) we have a complex series of multiple cup-and-rings that seem to be sequentially moving and (almost) growing into each other in some form of organic pattern. The bottom of this growth begins from a standard cup-and-ring and runs immediately into a vulva-like slit of a cup-mark surrounded by four incomplete rings. As the photos show, this keeps climbing upwards.

A more simplistic basic design has been etched onto the more western side of the stone, on the other side of the eroded cutting. Two of the cup-marks have rings around them, with one of them seeming to give birth to another upward “growth”, but this time comprising merely of a line of more cups, curving ever-so-gently towards the middle of the stone. Along with this there are also cup-marks on the top ridge of the stone; faint carved lines curve and intersect. Movement seems embedded in this fixed non-linear design. That’s my impression anyhow!

The only literary attention given to the carving seems to have been by the Scottish Royal Commission (1990) lads in one of their Perthshire inventories. It’s simple as always, telling basically,

“this heavily weathered cup-and-ring marked boulder lies 150m south of the hut circles… The carvings are on the southwest face of the boulder and comprise: at least four cups surrounded by single rings; two cups surrounded by triple rings; an oval cup measuring 100mm by 70mm surrounded by four rings; and twenty-two plain cups marks, the largest 60mm in diameter.”

If there’s anything extra that we should puzzle over, it’s this: why do we have such an intricate carving here, living in near isolation in the midst of countless other prehistoric remains? The answer, most likely, is that it’s not alone. I highly suspect that others are waiting to be found up here beneath the endless ocean of heather…

References:

Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland, North-East Perth: An Archaeological Landscape, HMSO: Edinburgh 1990.

Wheen, Glen Clova, Angus

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Settlement: OS Grid Reference – NO 3661 7044

Getting Here

From Kirriemuir town centre up the B956 Kinnordy Road, turn left where it goes along the B955 road for several miles towards Cortachy, following the same route as if you’re going to the curious Whitehillocks stone circle. Literally two miles (3.2km) along the road past Whitehillocks farmhouse, a large “parking” spot is at the right-hand side of the road. From here, walk along the road for 230 yards and go thru the gate on your left. The first low-rise hut circle is to your immediate right; and from here, meander along the track ahead of you, keeping your eyes peeled…

Archaeology & History

Despite being initially difficult to make out (as the photos here indicate), once your eyes have adjusted to the landscape morphology, you realise what an impressive prehistoric complex you’re wandering through. Saying that, it’s primarily a site that’s gonna be of interest to antiquarians, archaeologists and historians, as this is a settlement you’re looking at, lacking in megaliths, petroglyphs and similar ritual sites.

First enclosure, through the gate on your right

The first site that you’ll probably notice is visible from the road—but it’s not the first part of the settlement that you’ll pass. Immediately through the gate (as I’ve said) is the embanked rise of earth—only one or two feet high—making up the first notable hut circle (NO 36612 70453), measuring roughly 15 yards across. The shape and form of this circle typifies the others in the arena ahead of you, so that once you’ve made yourself aware of what this one looks like, you’ll be able to see the others with greater ease. Another low embanked circle of roughly the same size is just a few yards away at NO 36605 70439.

Straight back onto the track you’ll notice another larger D-shaped enclosure immediately on your left (NO 36622 70406), about 17 yards across; this is accompanied by what looks like a cairn immediately right of the track (NO 36609 70413), but this is actually a much smaller D-shaped enclosure, just right for one or two people.

The small rounded hill in front of you has what may be a circular enclosure on its top, but I wasn’t too sure about it. But looking down from this hill is the most visible of all the structures in the settlement (NO 36580 70307)—and the one I mentioned as being visible from the road. At first it’s a little deceptive in appearance, as you get the impression that the oval of stones (top photo) is what constitutes this hut circle, when in fact this element may be mediaeval in nature as it’s been built on top of an earlier Iron Age (?) enclosure. You can barely see this earlier form at ground level, so it’s best to walk back up the rounded hillock and cast your gaze back and forth and round the side of the ring of stones. You’ll see, eventually, the shallow overgrown walling of a larger oval-shaped enclosure, measuring eighteen yards across, whose edges start from the bottom of the hillock and arc around to the outer edges of the stone construction.

Back onto the track and further into the meadows, the next hut circle you’ll meet is (keep your eyes peeled) right by the track-side (NO 36573 70230). It has wide embanked walls that are low to the ground and completely overgrown, measuring 15 yards (E-W) by 18 yards (N-S), with what looks to be the original entrance or door on its south-side. A similar large circle exists on the other side of the track a little bit further along (NO 36499 70138).

There’s much more to this settlement, including lengths of walling in the grasslands below the last two circles and where, if you look carefully, you’ll see one of at least two cairns in this area. On the other side of the road are one or two other small hut circles and a much larger construction in the field further down the road, measuring 25 yards in length (NO 36569 70481). This would seem to be the largest of the lot.

The age of this settlement probably covers a considerable period of time: beginning perhaps in the Bronze Age, certainly in the Iron Age and all the way through into the mediaeval period where, all down Glen Clova, remnants of such hamlets still live beneath the soil. This entire arena is bathed in silence, save the wind and call of the birds. Tis a beautiful space to spend a few endless hours…

Whitehillocks Farm, Glen Clova, Angus

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Stone Circle: OS Grid Reference – NO 37095 66958

Getting Here

From Kirriemuir town centre up the B956 Kinnordy Road, turn left where it goes along the B955 road for several miles towards Cortachy. Keep going on the B955 for a few more miles into the quiet beauty of Glen Clova. A third-of-a-mile (0.5km) past Glenarm house, the road splits. Take the right-hand road, which goes down and across the river below. Keep on this road for just over a mile (1.8km) and as you approach the large farmhouse of Whitehillock—about 200 yards before it—keep your eyes very well focused in the field on your left and you’ll see a mass of large fallen stones right up against the other side of the fence. You’ve arrived.

Archaeology & History

A half-mile north of Clach na Brain, or the Stone of the Raven (a stone that was traditionally used to beat woven cloth after it had been washed), we come across this ruined stone circle, which has seen better days. Not shown on any of the early OS-maps, nor found in the standard megalithic catalogues (Barnatt 1989; Burl 2000), its existence seems to have been logged for the first time by some of the Royal Commission doods in 1999, but of late its veracity as a prehistoric site has been questioned as the local farmer alleged it to have been built by his father sometime in the 20th century. It might have been – but if he did, he made a bloody bad job of it! The site doesn’t have that “new” look about it and, unless someone told you that this was a stone circle, you wouldn’t give it a second look! That aside…

The stones have been placed around the edge of a small rise in the land, within which is a scatter of small and reasonably large stones that give the impression of a cairn at its centre. All but one of the stones (the eastern one) is still standing and measures about 3 feet in height. The rest are either laid down or near to collapse and measure between four and six feet in length. Without an excavation of the site, we cannot be certain of its age, but the official records still have it listed as a stone circle. We await further examination…

References:

Dorward, David, The Glens of Angus, Pinkfoor Press: Forfar 2001.

Holy Well, Nether Heyford, Northamptonshire

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Holy Well (lost): OS Grid Reference – SP 66 59 (approximate)

Archaeology & History

In George Baker’s (1822) massive regional history work he spoke of the village being “well supplied with springs, one of which, called Holywell, is medicinal.” But it would seem to have fallen foul of that thing called progress, as no one has spoken of it since then. When the Northampton historian, Beeby Thompson, looked for the site early in the 20th century, his enquiries drew a blank and he reported simply that “at the present time no one in the village appears to know of such a well.” A field-name survey of the area may prove worthwhile…

References:

Baker, George, The History and Antiquities of the County of Northampton, J.B. Nichols: London 1822.
Harte, Jeremy, English Holy Wells – volume 2, HOAP: Wymeswold 2008.
Thompson, Beeby, “Peculiarities of Waters and Wells,” in Journal Northamptonshire Natural History Society, volume 17, 1914.

Dun Mor, Glen Clova, Angus

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Hillfort: OS Grid Reference – NO 2900 7600

Getting Here

From Kirriemuir town centre up the B956 Kinnordy Road, turn left where it goes along the B955 road for several miles towards Cortachy. Keep going on the B955 for a few more miles into Glen Clova, past the Caddam stone and eventually, after going over the bridge into Clova village, you turn left and go up towards the mountains. Nearly 3 miles along you see the very conspicuous and impressive rising crag, like a small volcano on the right-hand side of the road, which is Dun Mor. Walk up the steep climb round to the back of it – and you’re in the middle of the old ruins…

Archaeology & History

Highlighted on the 1865 OS map of the region, Dun Mor is Gaelic for a “large or great fort” – and such it is! Those of you with a nose for these sorts o’ things will no doubt take to the remains pretty quickly. Its position in the landscape is a bit of a gem! On its north-side— invisible to anyone in the glen below—an overgrown arc of walling some 3 feet high and about 70 yards long bends towards the crag of rocks on each side, with a notable “dip” or entrance about 8 feet wide in the middle of it. The walling itself averages about 4 yards wide all along its arc.

It’s quite impressive once you get a good feel of the place and envisage it as it once was. The sheltered fortress within the rise of Nature’s crags is about 100 yards across and would be ample space for several families to live in when it was first built, in those mythic times of so so long ago. It was probably constructed in the Iron Age, although several ruined rectangular stone structures inside it are thought to be mediaeval shelters; and even in those more recent times, the people here would have regularly heard the howl of the wolves, whose names are kept in the hills above as reminders of a world not too long past….

Caddam, Clova, Angus

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Standing Stone: OS Grid Reference – NO 33546 72144

Getting Here

The only real way to get here is via Kirriemuir. Head north to the hamlet of Cortachy and past it, as you enter Glen Clova, where the road splits make sure you bear to the left-hand (western) side. Nearly 5½ miles along, keep your eyes peeled on your right where you can’t really miss it. The stone’s less than 100 yards into the field. …It may perhaps be a bit easier if you take the eastern road of the glen all the way to Clova village. Turn right from there, over the small river bridge and as it curves to go back down the glen, a half-mile along you pass Caddam house. Keep going for another 500 yards and you’ll notice it in the field.

Archaeology & History

Not to be confused with the ruined stone circle of the same name 10 miles to the south, this small standing stone—only some three feet in height—is at the eastern edge of a small overgrown hut circle measuring some 3 yards by 4 yards across. You can just make out the overgrown low walling in the second photo (right). The stone probably had some architectural relationship with the hut circle, but without an excavation we can’t know for certain what that relationship might have been. A settlement of much larger hut circles can be found on the other side of the river, near Rottal, two miles southeast of here.