Tag: Stone Circles

Kinnell, Killin, Perthshire

megalithix

Stone Circle:  OS Grid Reference – NN 57699 32805

Also Known as:

  1. Killin P1/3 (Thom)

Getting Here

Kinnell stone circle, with Mheall Clachach rising

At the pub by the bridge which crosses the Falls of Dochart (aptly called the ‘Falls of Dochart Inn’), walk downstream following the dirt-track which runs parallel with a section of the river for a good 5-600 yards.  In the field that appears on your right, watch out for the rise of the stones as you approach the large gates which take you into the ground of Kinnell House.  You can climb over the gate just into the field and go straight to the stones.

Archaeology & History

Found on the field called Kinnell Park in the grounds of Kinnell House, less than a mile out of Killin, this is a well-preserved site consisting of six stones. It appears to have been described first of all by Thomas Pennant in 1772, in the same breath as the megalithic remains at Lawers on the other side of Loch Tay.  Pennant wrote:

“In going through Laurs observe a Druidical circle; less complete indeed than one, that should have been mentioned before, at Kinnel, a little southwest of Killin; which consists of six vast stones, placed equidistant from each other.”

Coles’ 1910 plan of Kinnell
Thom’s geometric plan

It would seem that the site has changed little since Pennant’s visit.  Sitting on a reasonably level grassy plain, the hills rise and surround the small ring of stones, with the lower horizons running along the south.  Due west (equinox) we have the large pyramidal hill of Meall Clachach; whilst to the north are the legendary hills of Creag na Cailleach and Ben Lawers, each with their own rich mythic archaeological legacies.  Legendary stones and wells are also close by, some with rites still enacted by old local people keeping truly ancient traditions alive.

The first detailed archaeological survey of the Kinnell site was done by Fred Coles and published in 1910.  It has yet to be superseded.  Mr Coles wrote:

“Taking the Stones in the usual order…I here give their dimensions and characteristics: Stone A, 6 feet 3 inches high, springs from an oblong base which girths 11 feet 4 inches, to a rough irregular top; Stone B leans forward towards the centre of the Circle, and measures along its sloping back 6 feet 9 inches, the present height from the ground to its upper edge being 4 feet. It is of smooth garnetiferous schist, and free from the deep fissures and rifts so common in these Stones. Stone C, a very rectangular but narrow block of schist, has a 15 Feet-girth at the base of 9 feet, but tapers up from both ends to a pyramidal summit, 5 feet 4 inches above ground. Its inner face is over 6 feet in breadth. Stone D, 4 feet 6 inches high, is a broad, flat-topped, very massive block, measuring 9 feet 5 inches round the base, but near the middle of its height 11 feet 2 inches. Stone E, the shortest of the group, is only 4 feet high, has a rough, uneven top, and a basal girth of 8 feet 11 inches. Stone F, the tallest, measures 6 feet 4 inches in height, but in girth only 7 feet 3 inches. It is very rough, vertically fissured in many places, and full of white quartz veins.

“Neat, well-defined, and comparatively small as this Circle is, it is to be noticed that the positions of the Stones do not conform to perfect regularity as points on the circumference. On working out the plan, the measurements prove that a diameter of 29 feet exactly bisects three of the erect Stones, B, C, and F, but leaves the other two untouched. The interspaces of the settings are not all quite equal, a space of 14 feet 8 inches dividing the centres respectively of F and A, A and B, F and E, and E and T); but between D and C it is 13 feet 8 inches, and between 0 and B I S feet 5 inches. Yet, the Stones stand proportionally near enough to each other to give one a satisfying impression that these six megaliths represent the group in its completeness, and that there were no smaller blocks between any two of them. The space enclosed by these stones is quite smooth and level, bearing no indication of having at any time been disturbed.”

Many years later, the late great Alexander Thom came here and, with his geometric perspective, gave a more precise ground-plan and lay-out.  Thom (1980) defined the site as a “Type B flattened circle, or possible ellipse,” with a perimeter of 35 megalithic yards and diameter of 11.8 MY.  Aubrey Burl’s commentary described Kinnell as:

“Six stones of schist stand evenly spaced on the circumference of an ellipse 32ft 7in x 27ft 5in (9.9 x 8.4m) in diameter.  The stones are graded in height towards the SW where the two tallest are over 6ft (1.8m) high.”

One of the upright stones was said by Hugh MacMillan (1884) to have had cup-markings on it in the 19th century, when he told of the circle possessing “some seven or eight tall massive stones, with a few faint cup-marks on one of them.”  But these appear to have faded, or were cut into the one of the missing stones.

Folklore

Close to the Kinnell circle could once be found a curious large boulder, covered in moss, but with a large cavity in which water gathered.  Local lore ascribed the rock to actually be a well, as it was known as ‘The Well of the Whooping-Cough’, or Fuaran na Druidh Chasad, measuring some eight feet long and five feet high. Local people visited the site to be cured of the said disease, but Hugh MacMillan also suggested that the miraculous well-in-the-stone was connected with ancient rituals once enacted at the Kinnell circle, saying:

” it is a reasonable supposition that the Fountain of the Whooping-Cough may have had some connection in ancient times with this prehistoric structure in its immediate neighbourhood…”

He may have been right!

…to be continued…

References:

  1. Burl, Aubrey, A Guide to the Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany, New Haven & London 1995.
  2. Coles, Fred R., “Report on Stone Circles Surveyed in Perthshire (Aberfeldy District),” in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 44, 1910.
  3. Fraser, Duncan, Highland Perthshire, Standard Press: Montrose 1973.
  4. Gillies, William A., In Famed Breadalbane, Munro Press: Perth 1938.
  5. McKerracher, Archie, Perthshire in History and Legend, John Donald: Edinburgh 1988.
  6. MacMillan, Hugh, ‘Notice of Two Boulders having Rain-Filled Cavities on the Shores of Loch Tay, Formerly Associated with the Cure of Disease,’ in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 18, 1884.
  7. Pennant, Thomas, A Tour in Scotland, 1772 – Part 2, Benjamin White: London 1776.
  8. Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland, Archaeological Sites and Monuments of Stirling District, Central Region, Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 1979.
  9. Thom, A., Thom, A.S. & Burl, H.A.W., Megalithic Rings, BAR: Oxford 1980.
  10. Wheater, Hilary, Killin to Glencoe, Appin Publications: Aberfeldy 1982.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian 


Kirkmoor Beck Farm, Fylingthorpe, North Yorkshire

megalithix

Cairn Circle:  OS Grid Reference – NZ 9253 0306

Also Known as:

  1. Kirk Moor Beck Farm
  2. Kirkmoorbeck Farm

Archaeology & History

Plan of Kirkmoorbeck circle (after Radley 1969)

Although originally classed as a stone circle, this site should more accurately be described as a form of cairn circle, as burial remains were found in the middle.  This is noted by both Aubrey Burl (2000) and John Barnatt (1989), who thought it to be a kerbed cairn.  It’s only a small circle aswell, about 5 yards across and is found not far from other burial cairns in the neighbourhood.

First discovered around Easter in 1965 by the then owners of the farm, Mr & Mrs K. Jarman, parts of the circle were dug into by their children, who subsequently informed Sheffield City Museum of their finds.  Subsequently, the circle was then described in a short article by J. Radley (1969) in ‘Notes on Archaeological Finds’ for the Yorkshire archaeology group.  He wrote:

“The circle is 15ft in diameter and is made of ten stones which protrude a few inches above the turf cover.  Inside the circle the ground is slightly concave.  A two-feet wide trench was dug across the circle and a large stone was revealed at the centre. On the stone was a fragmented urn, remains of a cremation, and one fragment of flint. There are signs of burning on the stone, and also under the stone, but no other burial has been discovered.  The whole burial was so shallow that it was in the root zone of the overlying grass.  The survival of many pieces of bone in such a wet location suggests that the area must have been protected by a mound until quite recent times…

“The urn is too fragmentary to be restored.  Of the hundreds of fragments, only a few retain both faces, and these are generally one centimetre thick.  The urn appears to have been made of a fine clay with large grits and has a smooth brown surface marked in places with impressions of blades of grass. The urn may have been biconical in form with bands of horizontal grooves around the upper part, with vertical grooves below them.”

References:

  1. Barnatt, John, The Stone Circles of Britain – volume 2, British Archaeological Reports: Oxford 1989.
  2. Burl, Aubrey, The Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany, Yale University Press 2000.
  3. Radley, J., “A Stone Circle on Kirkmoor Beck Farm, Fylingdales,” in Yorkshire Archaeological Journal, part 167, volume 42, 1969.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Swinside Stone Circle, Hallthwaites, Millon, Cumbria

megalithix

Stone Circle:  OS Grid Reference – SD 17163 88174

Also Known as:

  1. Chapel Sucken
  2. Chapel Suke
  3. L1/3 (Thom)
  4. Sunkenkirk
  5. Sunken Kirk
Swinside stone circle, under Knott Hill

Getting Here

Bittova journey this — but well worth it!  From Broughton-in-Furness take the A595 road west, past Duddon Bridge for about another 1½ miles, turning right up the small single-track country lane beloved of city-mind drivers, up the fertile scruffy road, past Broadgate and stopping just before Cragg Hall Farm.  There’s a dirt-track running up the back of Cragg Hall.  Go up here and keep walking for a mile or so until, as you approach Swinside Farm and the fields open up in front of you, the stones begin to appear.

Archaeology & History

Swinside, looking east

The Swinside stone circle is Aubrey Burl’s favourite.  And for good reason!  Like other impressive megalithic rings of the region, the stones are large, well set, and the landscape holds the stones finely in the hills.  Without the landscape here, Swinside (like Castlerigg and elsewhere) would not have such grandeur.  When you sit in the ring, or walk round it, Knott Hill to the south was of obvious mythic relevance to the people who built this stone circle four or five thousand years ago.  But this can be said of many of the surrounding crags.  A few miles southwest we see the top of the haunted Black Combe rising into clouds, still speaking to some with spirits from animistic realms, long known to our ancestors.  Following the skyline west and past the small falls of Whicham stream, whose name speaks of long past trees, we reach the near-west skyline with the cairn-looking pap of the Raven Crag, symptomatic of magickal rites calling to and beyond the circle.  To the north is the symbolic ridge of Lath Rigg.  Along the craggy eastern ridges from here you get the impression that you’re more in Argyll than Cumbria; and the break in the hills to the southeast reaches to the distant pinnacle of Kirkby Moor, where the midwinter sunrise emerged to tell of solar calendrical motions and the coming of the dark season to our megalithic tribes.  But enough of the landscape!

Swinside on 1867 OS-map

Although the name Swinside can be traced back to the 13th century, the local folk-name of the circle—Sunken Kirk—was mentioned for the first time as “the Chapell Suke” in Parish Registers of 1624.  No earlier literary source has yet been identified, probably because of the isolation of the site and the lack of people writing about the area.  Swinside stone circle is, just about, a perfect circle, give or take a foot here and there, holding the circular dome of the heavens within its domain.  Yet despite its almost regal appearance, early references to the site seem scant.  It seems to have been first described in William Hutchinson’s huge History of Cumberland (1794), where he told:

“In the neighbourhood of Millum, at a place called Swinside, in the estate of William Lewthwaite Esq., of Whitehaven, is a small but beautiful druidical monument; it is circular, about twenty eight yards in diameter; the stones of which it is composed are from six to eight feet high, all standing and complete.  A little to the south, is another of larger dimensions, but not in so perfect a state: the neighbouring people call those places by the emphatical names of Sunken Kirks.”

A few years later, William Camden’s legendary text Britannia was edited and reprinted again, this time by Richard Gough (1806), who told:

“At Swineshead, a very high hill…is a druidical temple, which the country folk call Sunken Kirk, i.e., a church sunk into the Earth.  It is nearly a circle of very large stones, pretty entire.  No situation could be more agreeable to the Druids than this; mountains almost encircle it, not a tree is to be seen in the neighbourhood, nor a house, except a shepherd’s cot at the foot of a mountain surrounded by a few barren pastures.  At the entrance are four large stones, two placed on each side at the distance of six feet.  The largest on the left hand side is five feet six inches in height, and ten feet in circumference. Through this you enter into a circular area, 29 yards by 30.  This entrance is nearly southeast.  On the north or right-hand side is a huge stone of conical form, in height nearly nine feet.  Opposite the entrance is another large stone which has once been erect, but is now fallen within the area: its length is eight feet.  The left hand or southwest is one, in height seven feet, in circumference 11 feet nine inches.   The altar probably stood in the middle, as there are some stones still to be seen, though sunk deep in the earth.  The circle is nearly complete, except on the western side some stones are wanting.  The largest stones are about thirty one or two in number.  The outwards part of the circle upon the sloping ground is surrounded with a buttress or rude pavement of smaller stones raised about half a yard from the surface of the Earth… This monument of antiquity, when viewed within the circle, strikes you with astonishment, how the massy stones could be placed in such regular order either by human strength or mechanical power.”

Tall, northernmost stone to centre
Northeast section of the ring

It seems he was impressed!  Yet despite this, in the 19th century not many folk strayed this far into the western edges of Lakeland to look upon Swinside.  There were occasional descriptions from travellers and antiquarians such as J.T. Blight (1843) and Edwin Waugh (1861), each speaking of the site’s visual magnitude, but it wasn’t until archaeologist C.W. Dymond came here, first in 1872 and then again in 1877, that a fuller account of the site came into being.  In his essay on a “Group of Cumberland Megaliths,” he said how the stones were still in excellent condition and that,

“few of the stones seem to have been removed — probably because plenty of material for walling and road-making could be collected from the neighbouring hillside.” (Dymond 1881)

When Mr Dymond first came here he told of the remains of a rowan tree which had split one of the stones, but this has long gone.  More than twenty years after the archaeologist’s first visit, he returned with R.G. Collingwood to make a more detailed evaluation of the ring.  He measured and planned Swinside like it had never been done before and his ground-plan (below) is still very accurate indeed.  Aubrey Burl (1999) takes up the story:

“The ring was partly excavated by Dymond, Collingwood and three men from midday Tuesday, 26 March 1901, until the close of the following evening.  They dug two long, intersecting 46cm-wide trenches, NW-SE, NE-SW, across the ring with a curious zigzagging pattern of others between southeast and southwest: an investigation of some 51m² of the central area.  Within the circle the trenches represented less than a thirteenth of the 642m² of the interior.

“Below the grass and turf was a thin layer of soil under which yellowish marl or ‘pinnel’ varied from 15cm to 75cm in depth, being deepest at the entrance which had been dug into earlier around 1850.  Wherever it was uncovered the gravelly marl was wavily uneven, presumably the result of ploughing.  The bases of the circle-stones rested on the pinnel, held firmly in their holes by small cobbles with others heavily packed around the sides.  The only finds were a nut-sized lump of charcoal just northeast of the centre with others near the entrance; a minute splinter of decayed bone near the first bit of charcoal and two pieces of red stone.  There were also some contemporary glass sherds and a Lancaster halfpenny dated between 1789 and 1794 lying in the uppermost turf layer.”

Dymond’s 1881 plan of Swinside

Since these early archaeological digs, Swinside has given up little else.  Much like other stone circles in the British Isles, few real clues as to exactly what went on here have been forthcoming.  But in the 1960s, investigations into megalithic sites made a bit of a quantum leap and some old ideas about astronomical ingredients were resurrected.

Alexander Thom’s plan of Swinside

Swinside was one of the places explored by engineer and megalith enthusiast, Alexander Thom.  Thom was one of the prime figures instrumental in the resurgence of interest in megalithic sites — and his finds of megalithic astronomy and prehistoric mathematics had a lot to do with it.  Although we know today that some of Thom’s work isn’t correct, his explorations and research stand him far ahead of most archaeologists who pretended to represent this area of research.  He left us with the most detailed ground-plans of megalithic sites to date and, of course, showed some fascinating alignments.

Thom listed Swinside as site “L1/3” and made the most detailed and accurate ground-plan of this and 18 other megalithic rings in Cumbria.  He found it to be 94 feet in diameter, with an internal area measuring 6940 square feet.  The one major alignment Thom found at Swinside was of the winter solstice sunrise, lining up just on the edge of the ‘entrance’ to the circle’s southeastern side.

Folklore

Like a number of other stone circles, folklore told that you couldn’t count the stones.  Janet and Colin Bord (1997) also told that people once tried to build a church here in early christian days, but once the builders went home in the evening, the Devil pulled down what they’d built during the day. A motif found at Ilkley’s Hanging Stones cup-and-ring carvings and many other prehistoric sacred sites in the country.

…to be continued…

References:

  1. Armstrong, A.M. et al., The Place-Names of Cumberland – volume 2, Cambridge University Press 1950.
  2. Bord, Janet & Colin, Prehistoric Britain from the Air, Weidenfeld & Nicolson: London 1999.
  3. Burl, Aubrey, “‘Without Sharp North…’ – Alexander Thom and the Great Stone Circle of Cumbria”, in Ruggles, Clive, Records in Stone, Cambridge University Press, 1988.
  4. Burl, Aubrey, A Guide to the Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany, New Haven & London 1995.
  5. Burl, Aubrey, Great Stone Circles, Yale University Press: New York & London 1999.
  6. Burl, Aubrey, The Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany, Yale University Press 2000.
  7. Dymond, C.W., “A Group of Cumberland Megaliths,” in Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society, volume 5, 1881.
  8. Dymond, C.W., “An exploration at the Megalithic Circle called Sunken Kirk at Swinside, in the Parish of Millom, Cumberland,” in Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society, New Series volume 2, 1902.
  9. Gough, Richard (ed.), Camden’s Britannia, J. Nichols and Son: London 1806.
  10. Hutchinson, William, The History of the County of Cumberland – volume 1, F. Jollie: Carlisle 1794.
  11. Seton, Ray, The Reason for the Stone Circles in Cumbria, R. Seton: Morecambe 1995.
  12. Thom, Alexander, Megalithic Sites in Britain, Oxford University Press 1967.
  13. Thom, A., Thom, A.S. & Burl, H.A.W., Megalithic Rings, BAR: Oxford 1980.
  14. Waterhouse, John, The Stone Circles of Cumbria, Phillimore: Chichester 1985.
  15. Waugh, Edwin, Seaside Lakes and Mountains of Cumberland, Alexander Ireland: Manchester 1861.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

Huge thanks to Brian Else for his photos. And to Paul and Tricia for taking us here, in awesome downpour weather!

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Newtyle, Dunkeld, Perthshire

megalithix

Standing Stones:  OS Grid Reference – NO 04489 41057

Also Known as:

  1. Doo’s Nest
  2. Druid’s Stones
  3. New Tyle

Getting Here

Newtyle’s standing stones

From Dunkeld travel southeast on the A984 road to Caputh and after about 1½ miles, set back a few yards from the road amidst the trees below the Newtyle Quarries (whose mass of slate and loose rocks cover the slopes), you’ll see these two large monoliths.  There’s nowhere to park here, but there’s a small road a coupla hundred yards before the stones aswell as a space to park on the verge by the side of the road a few hundred yards after them.  Take your pick!

Archaeology & History

When we visited these two tall standing stones a few weeks ago, guerilla archaeologist Hornby and I were a little perplexed at the state of these stones, wondering whether they were a product of the fella’s who dug the quarries above here, or whether they were truly ancient.  It seems the latter is the consensus opinion!

They were described by the great Fred Coles (1908) in one of his lengthy essays on the megaliths of Perthshire, where he thought the two stones here were all that remained of a stone circle that once stood on the flat, above the River Tay, but whose other stones “were destroyed in the making of the road” which runs right past here.  Not so sure misself!  He told that,

“An old cart-track runs up between the stones, leading from the main road…up to the quarry. The mean axis of the two stones runs N 13° W and S 13° E (true), and although their broader faces do not point towards the centre of a circle on the west, it is certainly much more probable that the other stones were on this side, the lower and flatter ground, than on the east, where the ground slopes and is more broken and rough.

“Both stones are of the common quartzose schist, but they differ considerably in shape.  A is 6 feet 7 inches high at the north corner, but only 4 feet 10 inches at the south, and its vertical height at the east is only 3 feet.  The basal girth is 13 feet 3 inches, and in the middle 15 feet 9 inches.  The broad east face measures 5 feet.  Stone B is level-topped and 5 feet in height; it has a basal girth of 12 feet 4 inches, and at the middle of 11 feet 8 inches.  Its two broad faces are of the same breadth.”

Little else was said of the two stones for many years and, to my knowledge, no real excavation has been undertaken here.  But when Alexander Thom (1990) visited the site he found that,

“This two stone alignment showed the midsummer setting sun.  The south stone may possibly, by itself, have shown the setting Moon at major standstill.”

Aubrey Burl’s description of the stones was succinct and echoed much of what Coles had said decades earlier, telling:

“Two very large stones stand only 9 feet (2.7m) apart in an unusually closed-in environment for a Perthshire pair.  The ground rises very steeply to the east.  To the west the stones overlook the valley of the River Tay.

“Both are of local quartzoze schist and are ‘playing-card’ in shape.  As usual it is the westernmost stone that is taller, 7ft 2in (2.2m) in height.  Its peak tapers almost to a point.  Conversely, its partner is flat-topped and only 4ft 9in (1.5m) high.  The pairing of such dissimilarly shaped stones has led to the interpretation of them as male and female personifications.”

Alex Thom’s groundplan
Back of the smaller stone

Burl’s latter remark thoughtfully recognises that such animistic qualities are found in many other cultures in the world and this ingredient was also an integral part of early peasant notions in Britain; therefore such ingredients are necessities to help us understand the nature and function of megalithic sites.  We must be cautious however, not to fall into the increasingly flawed modern pagan notion of such male and female ‘polarizations’, nor the politically-correct sexist school of goddess ‘worship’ and impose such delusions upon our ancestors, whose worldviews had little relationship with the modern pagan goddess fallacies, beloved of modern Press, TV shows and pantomime festival displays.

Folklore

In Elizabeth Stewart’s history of Dunkeld, she narrates the tale told by an earlier historian who told that,

“these two upright stones at the Doo’s Nest, but says they are supposed to mark the graves of two Danish warriors returning from the invasion of Dunkeld.”

References:

Burl, Aubrey, From Carnac to Callanish, Yale University Press 1993.
Coles, Fred, “Report on Stone Circles Surveyed in Perthshire – Northeastern Section,” in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 42, 1908.
Stewart, Elizabeth, Dunkeld – An Ancient City, Munro Press: Perth 1926.
Thom, A., Thom, A.S. & Burl, Aubrey, Stone Rows and Standing Stones – 2 volumes, BAR: Oxford 1990.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Turley Holes Stones, Cragg Vale, West Yorkshire

megalithix

Standing Stones: OS Grid Reference – SD 9954 2199

Also Known as:

  1. Turley Holes Moor Standing Stones

Getting Here

The 3 main stones (on a piss-wet thru afternoon!)

Get right to the top of the valley, past the end of the tree-line where the moor opens up ahead of you. Keep going till you reach the farmhouse on the left (there are usually sheepdogs outside, barking their heads off!). Take the track on the right, making sure y’ close the gate (the farmer here is infamous – so please shut the gate!). Cross the yummy stream at the bottom & double-back on y’self. If or when y’ reach the derelict house (an old shooting house), drop down the small valley, over the stream and stick to the bottom edge of the slope. (if y’ don’t reach the house, just cross the stream and keep to the contours) Keep walking for about 200 yards, keeping your eyes peeled for some uprights!

Archaeology & History

As with the Turvin Stone a half-mile southwest of here, this too is a very peculiar site.  ‘Peculiar’ inasmuch as no-one really seems to be able to make head or tails what the place actually was.  As you’re approaching the place, it looks like some decent ‘four-poster’ stone circle is ahead of you; but once you reach the place there are a veritable number of other earthfast rocks and tumbled stones all round, making your initial appraisal of the place suddenly grind to a halt! Added to this is the oddity of finding the standing stones on a considerable geological slope, unlike most other megalithic sites in the region (and elsewhere for that matter!).

The tallest standing stone

The tallest, easternmost of the three stones (SD 99547 21992) is more than five-feet tall and is lower down the slope than the other uprights here.  Almost ‘surrounded’ by some denuded stone enclave (a large robbed cairn perhaps?), this is the most visually impressive of the stones here.  Up the slope from here 15 yards (13.56m) away is what may, or may not, be a simple earthfast boulder (at SD 99535 21999): but it’s upright, about 3 feet tall, and due to proximity gives the impression that it was part of whatever monument this site once was.  Due west of the tallest standing stone nearly 20 yards (17.6m) away, is a more rounded stone of ‘female’ character, less than 4 feet tall (at SD 99528 21993).  That’s the general gist of the place.

If you visit here you’ll notice another smaller upright a short distance further down the slope in the green, less than three feet tall  And there’s possibly another one of similar stature more than  200 yards SSE.  But what is this place?  Is it prehistoric?  Was it built in the Dark Ages?  Medieval times?  Does anyone have a clue!?

References:

  1. Bennett, Paul, The Old Stones of Elmet, Capall Bann: Milverton 2001.
  2. Burl, Aubrey, Four Posters: Bronze Age Stone Circles of Western Europe, BAR 195: Oxford 1988.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Carse Farm (north), Dull, Perthshire

megalithix

Stone Circle:  OS Grid Reference – NN 8022 4873

Also Known as:

  1. Carse Farm I
  2. Weem circle

Getting Here

To get here, follow the same directions to reach its nearby colleague of Carse Farm south — but instead of walking down the track to where its companion is found, this small ring of stones is found a coupla hundred yards into the first field by the roadside.  Unless the field’s fulla corn (in which case, give it a miss cos even if you do find it, you won’t be able to make much out), y’ can’t really miss it!

Archaeology & History

As with its nearby companion of Carse Farm south, this small “ring” of four stones is found along the Tay valley floor and, though cited as a stone circle in many archaeology tomes, should more accurately be defined as a cairn circle of sorts.  Structurally akin to other four-posters, it reminded me of a distant companion in North Yorkshire more than 200 miles south: the Druids Altar at Bordley, which is also a robbed prehistoric tomb and not a stone circle.  But it’s a fine little site sat amidst the majestic temple of surrounding hills on all sides, bar east, where the Tay valley reaches into the distance.

Faint cup-marks
Carse Farm, looking north

Like its damaged companion in the field below, some of the stones in this circle also have well-defined cup-markings on top of the uprights; although when we visited here, low cloud and late daylight conditions prevented us from getting good images of the cup-marks concerned (as the photo of one of them here illustrates).  The cup-markings are, curiously, carved on the top of the small standing stones.

Described briefly in Alexander Thom’s Megalithic Rings (1980), he regarded its geometry as “circular” in structure.  Aubrey Burl (1988) gave the lengthier archaeological history of the site, telling:

“On the ‘carse’, or lowland…this 4-poster was excavated in 1964.  When Coles saw it in 1907 only three smallish stones remained standing although “it seems clear that at this site there were originally four Stones as in so many other Perthshire groups”… The SW stone was missing but halfway between the NW and SE stones a long, thin slab lay half-buried.

“Coles noticed that there were cupmarks on the tops of both the NE and SE stones.  The SE had three carvings but the top of the NE had no fewer than 17, the largest ‘cup’ being 4 by 3½in (10 x 9cm).  In the group were two ‘dumb-bells’.  In the same field the farmer had dragged away a buried stone which was also cupmarked.* (my italics, PB)

“Of the three standing stones, the NE is 3ft 11in (1.2m) high; the SE, 5ft 1in (1.6m); and the NW, 4ft 1in (1.3m).  These heights…are almost double those cited by Coles (1908: 126).

“”The 1964 excavation discovered the SW stonehole.  The 5ft 10in (1.8m) long stone lying at the centre of the 4-Poster was erected in it, a task made easier by the fact that its base had been keeled… The base was unweathered showing that the stone had been toppled in quite recent times as had the stones of the two Fortingall 4-Posters…3¾ miles to the WSW. The four stones stood at the corners of a rectangle 12ft by 8ft (3.7 x 2.4m) on a long ENE-WSW axis.  They also stood on the circumference of a circle 14ft 5in (4.4m) in diameter.

“A tapering pit was discovered against the inner face of the NE stone, about 2ft 6in (76cm) across and 1ft 2in (37cm) deep.  It was filled with cremated bone and sticky black earth and charcoal.  At the bottom, a collared urn lay on is side, its rim decorated in geometrical designs.  A flint flake lay near it.  Within the 4-Poster there were three shallow pits, two between the NW and NE stones, another between the SE and SW.  Their edges were clean and they had been backfilled with brown loam.  The excavators thought they might have “been used for stabilising props during the erection of the stones.” …As the heaviest block, that at the NW, weighed about 6 tons it would have required 20 to 30 people to drag it upright…and the use of such props would have made their insertion safer.”

Burl’s collated ground-plan
Fred Coles’ 1908 drawing

Unless the people building this site were dwarves, we’ve gotta re-assess this latter remark (which Burl quotes from the earlier archaeologist’s report from the 1960s).  Having personally been involved with the creation of modern stone circles with stones larger than the ones here, we know that the uprights here could have been erected by 8-10 people at the very most.

Archaeology and folklore records describe many other prehistoric sites along this section of the upper Tay valley, but it’s also very likely that other “circles” or cairns of similar structure to the two known at Carse Farm once existed close by that are not in modern literary accounts.

References:

  1. Burl, Aubrey, Four Posters: Bronze Age Stone Circles of Western Europe, BAR 195: Oxford 1988.
  2. Coles, Fred, “Report on Stone Circles Surveyed in Perthshire – Northeastern Section,” in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, volume 42, 1908.
  3. Stark, Gordon (ed.), Cupmarked Stones in Strathtay, Breadalbane Heritage Centre 2005.
  4. Stewart, M.E.C., “Carse Farm 1 and 2,” in Discovery & Excavation, Scotland, 1964.
  5. Thom, A., Thom, A.S. & Burl, H.A.W., Megalithic Rings, BAR 81: Oxford 1980.

* Is anyone aware of further details about this carving? Do we have any sketches of it?

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Carse Farm (south), Dull, Perthshire

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Stone Circle:  OS Grid Reference – NN 8026 4847

Also Known as:

  1. Carse Farm II
  2. Tegarmuchd

Getting Here

Carse Farm Standing Stone

Pretty easy to find – assuming it aint at the height of summer and the crops are approaching maturity, otherwise you’re only gonna see its head!  But, this aside: from Aberfeldy, take the B846 road over the river bridge that bends you along the valley of the River Tay towards Appin of Dull.  After some 2 miles you’ll pass the right-turn up to Dull.  Go past this for another coupla hundred yards or so, watching out for the left-turn down towards the farmhouse of Carse and park up where you can (if you go past it, there’s the second turn up to Dull, again on your right, where you can turn round). As you walk down the track towards Carse Farm, watch out on your right in the field below Carse I, in the second field down.  You can’t really miss it. (and the farmer here is spot on if you ask to check the stone – as long as the crops aint growing)

Archaeology & History

Although all that’s left of what is thought to have been a once proud stone circle is the singular upright standing stone in the middle of the field.  Aubrey Burl (1988) thought that this was one of the typical “four poster”rings that scatter our isles, but I’m not so sure misself.  There were other stones associated with the site when Burl described it, but these were covered over in our visit here a few months back — which is a pity, as two of the stones are reported as possessing cup-markings (if/when we revisit the site, I’ll try get some images of the respective stones and add them on TNA as individual carved stones).  The site gives the distinct impression of it having a funerary character of some sort and not a true stone circle — and this was strongly suggested by some of the finds inside the “ring”, described below.

Fred Cole’s old drawing
Aubrey Burl’s groundplan

Both this and its associated “circle” a few hundred yards away — known as Carse Farm north — sit on a flat level of ground in the Tay valley, with rounded hills all most sides.  This landscape setting was obviously of some importance to the people who put the circle here in the first place but, not living in the region, it’s difficult to assess the mythic relevance some of the hills will have obviously played in the siting of these stones.

In bygone days, it was reported that the much of the site was ploughed away due to agricultural excesses, so there was obviously much more to it in earlier centuries.  Describing the solitary stone that’s left today, along with the earlier excavation results, Mr Burl (1988) wrote:

“The stone still standing, of quartziferous schist, is 6ft 3in (1.9m) high.  Its longer faces are aligned NW-SE.  32ft 6in (9.9m) to its SW is a large prostate block, sub-elliptical and about 8ft long and 4ft 3in wide (2.4 x 1.3m).  It has probably fallen outwards. (my italics, PB)  If so, when standing near the top of its inner face were four cupmarks in a cross pattern.

“About 32ft ((9.8m) to its NW is a fallen and enormous schist slab, 11ft long and 5ft wide (3.4 x 1.5m).  It also appears to have toppled outwards.  Near the bottom of its inner face are two cupmarks.  The situation of these three stones suggests that they once stood at the corners of a rectangle some 32ft (9.8m) square, the pillars of a huge four-poster nearly six-times the national average and with an internal area ten times bigger than the small 4-poster (Carse Farm north, PB) just to its north.

“Excavation  in 1964 found the socket from which the great prostrate slab had been dragged… Cash (1911) had noted the presence of a small stone inside the ring about 20ft (6.1m) west of the standing stone.  It proved to be 4ft (1.2m) square with a carefull-dressed face.  It had been set upright, standing about 1ft 4in (41cm) above the ground.  Three sides of the worked face ‘had been carefully chiselled away to a straight edge.’ It may have been a slab lining the inner central space of a destroyed ring-cairn.  Burnt bone was found near it. There was also a rounded river pebble with a worked hollow on one side…”

Folklore

Carse Farm stone

Stewart (1964) described the site as having been “christianized” not long ago, by having the northernmost standing stone in the ring removed.  This is intriguing inasmuch as “north” is the place of greatest symbolic darkness in the pre-christian mythos, and represented death and illumination in magickal terms.  North was also the point taken by witches and shamans in their excursions into Underworlds, usually via the North Star, which tethered the Earth to the heavens (see Godwin’s Arktos [1993], and Grant, The Magical Revival [1973])  In the removal of this northern stone for the reasons given, that implies some magickal events or folklore were in evidence here when this took place.  Anyone got any further information along these lines, or has it long since been subsumed?

References:

  1. Burl, Aubrey, Four Posters: Bronze Age Stone Circles of Western Europe, BAR 195: Oxford 1988.
  2. Coles, Fred, “Report on Stone Circles Surveyed in Perthshire (Aberfeldy District),” in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, volume 44, 1910.
  3. Stewart, M.E.C., “Carse Farm 1 and 2,” in Discovery & Excavation, Scotland, 1964.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Mudbeck Ring, Arkengarthdale Moor, North Yorkshire

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Stone Circle:  OS Grid Reference – NY 95626 07618

Also Known as:

  1. Arkle Beck Stone Circle
  2. Thom L6/5

Getting Here

Truly takes some finding this one and you’ve got those energy-depleting tribbles (tussocks) to contend with in your journey here!  But if you’ve good ankles and enjoy bouncing the moors, it aint too bad.  It’s 4 miles east of Tan Hill, some 700 yards west of the confluence of Mud Beck and Arkle Beck, and some 300 yards north of Arkle Beck amidst the grassy open moorland.  Look around and you’ll find it!

Archaeology & History

Located on a prominent position on a ridge at the head of a pass into Upper Arkengarthdale, this site was first found in 1982 by local Shepherd William Stubbs, who informed Tim Laurie, who then contacted Archibald Thom – son of the legendary Alexander Thom – who went on to survey the site in 1983.  Thom “recorded five stones in the ring, one slab buried on the line of the perimeter, and a small stone just inside the ring.” He reckoned the outlying stone 55 yards ENE was also part of the original complex. His survey found its geometry to be a perfect circle in design.  And, in good old-fashioned Alex Thom fashion, measured the diameter of the circle at precisely 22.53 megalithic yards; that’s about 20 yards to you and me!

All the stones in the ring are pretty small and unassuming and the site gives more an impression of having burial associations, but I’m unaware of any such finds.  There are other little known sites scattering this region and we need a few ventures scouting around to see what more can be found…

References:

  1. Curtis, Ronald, ‘The Geometry of Some Megalithic Rings,’ in Records in Stone (edited by Clive Ruggles), Cambridge University Press 1988.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Delf Hill, Extwistle, Burnley, Lancashire

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Ring Cairn:  OS Grid Reference – SD 9006 3373

Also Known as:

  1. Delph Hill Pasture

Archaeology & History

Rare 1842 photo of urn from Delf Hill
Rare 1842 photo of urn from Delf Hill

Described in Walter Bennett’s (1946) magnum opus as a “stone circle” and repeated in Aubrey Burl’s (2000) magnum opus under the same category, the site here seems more likely to have been an old cairn circle, or perhaps even a simple tumulus — and a small one at that!  It was first noted in June of 1842 when the antiquarian, Mr F.C. Spencer of Halifax, “had his attention called to a circle of stones in a field called Delph Hill Pasture by Jonas Lee, a Thursden farmer, and a somewhat noted character in his day” who knew the location very well. It didn’t take long for Mr Spencer to realise that this was “an ancient British barrow,” as he called it, and made plans to excavate the site soon after seeing it.

Following Spencer’s dig, a short account of the finds was made in the Gentleman’s Magazine, telling of the remains of this “small circle of stones” and the burials therein.  The account said:

“The circle originally consisted of rock pillars (five of which remain) , standing about 18 inches above the surface, and being about 2 feet square.  The diameter of the circle is about 5 yards.  Mr Spencer directed an excavation to be made without delay, the result of which was the discovery of two very antique earthen urns, curiously marked, containing fragments of human bones, of small dimensions, mixed with charcoal and black mould.  The tops of the vessels were covered with small flat slate-stones, but little larger than the urns, over which larger heavy stones were placed for their protection.   The urns were found about 2 feet beneath the surface of the field, in the centre of the circle, embedded in soft clay, with many pieces of charcoal interspersed.  About 300 yards from the barrow are the bold remains of a British circular camp…”

A few years later, Tattersall Wilkinson (1893) told that “three unglazed urns, with human remains and flint arrowheads” (my italics) were found at the locale.  Curiously there has been some confusion as to the number of urns that were actually found at Delf Hill by different authors over the last 175 years (numbering between 1 and 3, depending on whose account you read!), but it would seem this has occurred due to the proximity of other tombs close by.

An excursion to Delf Hill a few years after Spencer’s first dig is described in an article by L. Clement (1874), where several members of a local history society reported that the mound here consisted of a “small circle of stones, seven in number, fourteen feet in diameter”, that probably surrounded the hillock.  One of the stones had been knocked over and moved, so the group took it upon themselves to place the monolith back into what they thought was its original setting within the monument.

References:

  1. Abraham, John Harris, Hidden Prehistory around the North West, Kindle 2012.
  2. Barnes, Bernard, Man and the Changing Landscape, Merseyside County Council 1982.
  3. Bennett, Walter, History of Burnley – volume 1, Burnley Corporation 1946.
  4. Booth, Thomas, Ancient Grave Mounds on the Slopes of the Pennine Range, R. Chambers: Todmorden 1899.
  5. Burl, Aubrey, The Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Britanny, Yale University Press 2000.
  6. Clement, L., “Roman Remains in Marsden, Briercliffe and Extwistle,” in Transactions of the Burnley Literary & Scientific Club, volume 1, 1874.
  7. Gomme, George Laurence, The Gentleman’s Magazine Library: Archaeology – Part 1, Houghton, Mifflin & Co.: Boston 1886.
  8. Watson, Geoffrey G., Early Man in the Halifax District, HSS: Halifax 1952.
  9. Wilkinson, Tattersall, “Extwistle Moor, Burnley,” in Transactions of the Lancashire & Cheshire Antiquarian Society, volume 11, 1893.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Stannary, Halifax, West Yorkshire

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Stone Circle (destroyed):  OS Grid Reference – SE 088 256

Archaeology & History

The place-name authority A.H. Smith (1961), in searching for the meaning behind the old region in Halifax known as “stannary”, just west of the town centre, was puzzled by its implications and found it wanting, so he took the most likely option as he saw it, writing,  “probably it is a stone circle,” from the archaic verbs stan (stone) and hring (ring).

First recorded in the Halifax Court Rolls of 1575 as “Stannerying”, this implied it to be a place where tin-ware was sold in a field, “though that word belongs rather to Cornwall,” he said, and it appeared out of place at the time it was written.  So he looked elsewhere.  The Halifax Parish Registers of 1578 didn’t help much, describing the place as “Stanerye.”  However, the Halifax Rent Records of 1588 named it as “Standeringe”, which is much closer to Smith’s idea.  With each written instance we certainly find the old English stan, but the suffix in two instances is difficult to assess with firm conviction.

If we could locate additional folklore or other historical data that might throw further light on this, it would be an important find.  The finding of prehistoric burial remains less than a mile south of Stannary on the other side of town shows that ancient man was in Halifax, but it would be good if we could find more…

References:

  1. Smith, A.H., The Place-Names of the West Riding of Yorkshire, Cambridge University Press 1961-63.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian