Go along the A977 road out of Powmill village towards Crook of Devon, and as the road swerves uphill, past the Powmill Milk Bar on the right-hand side of the road, take your next right. Go along this small country lane for a mile or so, past Maidenwells Farm; then as you go uphill, stop at the very top. Look in the field on your left, where a small round clump of trees are surrounded by circular walling. The cairn’s inside the protective walling.
Archaeology & History
This Bronze Age tomb sits quietly amidst the ring of trees and walling which give the site cover and protection and, of course, an excellent view of the landscape for the spirit of whichever ancestor lives here. The place seems to have been described first of all in the Old Statistical Account of the area, in 1796, where they told:
“In the middle of Carleith are the ruins of an old building, perfectly circular, and nearly 24ft in diameter. Not long ago, the proprietor ordered this ground to be planted, and the stones were dug up to make a dyke. Two stone coffins were found each 4 feet long by 3 feet broad, and contained some human bones and teeth.”
The cairn’s within the trees…
Today, the overgrown remains of the cairn measure roughly 10 yards across, with the beeches reaching their great roots into and around the old tomb. The sides of the stone cist are still visible amidst the undergrowth. It was measured and described in a letter to the Ordnance Survey by J.S. Nichol in 1959, who thought there may have been more than one tomb here.
Folklore
Although we don’t know for certain, one of the legendary witches known as ‘Meg of Aldie’ was said to frequent an old site close to where she lived – perhaps the Carleith cairn. The site is a damn good contender for such heathen rites!
References:
Simpkins, Ewart, County Folklore – volume VII: Fife, Folklore Society: London 1914.
Chambered Cairn (destroyed): OS Grid Reference – NN 830 127
Archaeology & History
References to this site are few and far between. I wandered past the place the other day on my way back from the megaliths of Dunruchan and Comrie without knowing anything about the place; but was, for some reason, drawn up the grassy hill slope towards the forestry plantation, where the scattered old walling implied (to me at least) the presence of some old prehistoric ruin… But as the daylight hours were fading, I had to head for home, wondering what it was that was pulling my nose to this place I’d never visited before.
The following day when I was searching for information about the prehistoric archaeology of the area, I came across Audrey Henshall’s (1972) description of some giant cairns that once stood here, upon the hilltop – exactly where my nose had led me! Sadly however, they have been all-but destroyed.
At least two prominent prehistoric cairns were to be found in relative proximity to each other hereby, each with their own name. The site was first described in A. Gordon’s 1726 work, Itinerarium Septentrionale, where he wrote the following:
“On the hill above the moor are two great heaps of stones, the one called Cairnwochel, the other Cairnlee: the former of these is the greatest curiosity of its kind that I ever met with; the quantity of great rough stones lying above one another almost surpasses belief, which made me have the curiosity to measure it, and I found the whole heap to be about 182 feet in length, 30 in sloping height, and 45 in breadth at the bottom. That at Cairnlea is not near so considerable as the former.”
Nearer to the end of the 18th century, Cairnwochel was mentioned again – this time in the Old Statistical Account (1793), where a description was given of some dig into the giant cairn, to see what lay beneath the mass of rocks. The report told that,
“there was found a stone coffin, in which there was a skeleton 7 feet long. The cairn lay from north to south and the coffin was nearly in the middle of it, with the head to the east. Most of the stones have been carried away to inclose the neighbouring farms; but the coffin, with a few large stones around it, has, by the order of Sir William Stirling, been preserved.”
When Miss Henshall explored the site in the 1960s, she found very little left of this once superb tomb, simply, “the only sign of any structure (were) a few laid stones on its S side, possibly part of a revetting wall-face.”
The sheer size of the cairn implies that it was probably Neolithic in origin (its description reminded me of the King’s and Queen’s Cairns near Skipton, Yorkshire). We have hardly any information about the nearby Cairnlea site. The intrusion of the forestry commission here has probably covered over a number of other important Neolithic and Bronze Age remains, but if anyone has further information on this site it would be hugely welcome.
References:
Henshall, Audrey, The Chambered Tombs of Scotland – volume 2, Edinburgh University Press 1972.
A helluva climb to get here. Take the last road up towards Mill Burn at the west end of Tillicoultry and go to the picnic area & carpark, just below the footpath that takes you up the eastern slopes of the gorge. Walk up and up the steep footpath for nearly a mile and, as the landscape begins to level out a bit and turns more into a slope, watch out for a split in the paths and make sure you hit the one that veers you to the right, towards King’s Seat instead of the one that runs alongside the edge of the Gannel Burn valley below you. Walk along this path for a few hundred yards and you’ll come across a large pile of rocks placed atop of a much older and overgrown mass of stones, right by the path side. .
Archaeology & History
View of the green cairn, looking north
Due northwest of the curiously named Elistoun Hill, is this seemingly isolated overgrown prehistoric cairn. Measuring some 8 yards across and more than a yard tall, this compacted fairy-mound of a hillock has the crown of many large, more recent blocks on top, thankfully highlighting it making it much easier to find! But its isolation here is truly curious – as is the location halfway along hillside, quietly hidden away, calling out for no attention to any ancient traveller. It was listed as an ancient monument when surveyed by Ordnance Survey in the 1970s, although I have to be honest in saying that I doubt the prehistoric prevenance of the site. I may be wrong, but an excavation here would prove worthwhile.
First highlighted on the 1850 Ordnance Survey map of western Addingham in the same year William Howson described it, this large oval embankment sits on the eastern side of Counter Hill, amidst its gigantic earthworks, with attending tumuli, cup-and-rings, buried standing stones and other enclosures, like one huge prehistoric family of ancient sites! The earthworks here are in slightly better condition than the nearby ones at Marchup, as we can still make out the ditch marking the site.
There have been many literary visitors to the Round Dikes and its cluster of sites. One of the early ones was by the renowned historians and antiquarians, Forrest & Grainge (1868) who, in the second part of their ‘rambles’ exploring the prehistoric sites on and around Rombald’s Moor in the 1860s, told us:
“The Camp—known locally as Round Dykes—is of an irregular oval shape, the longest axis measuring over all 300 feet, and the shorter 250 feet. The trench outside the vallum is about 15 feet wide, and 4 or 5 feet in depth. The area is level, showing no indications of buildings or works of any kind. A feeble spring of water rises at one corner. The trench is regular and even, and does not appear to have ever been used as a series of pit dwellings. This work commands a large and splendid view of Wharfedale…”
Although suggested by Thomas Whitaker (1878) in his magnum opus on the history of Craven, to have been constructed by the Romans—who laid a road nearby on top of another earlier trackway—the site is obviously prehistoric. But when the late great Harry Speight (1900) ventured over for a gander at the end of the 1890s, he too thought it might be Roman. Finding the place to be “thickly overgrown with ling,” it was still in very good condition he said, telling “how its outline is almost as perfect as when made seventeen or eighteen centuries ago.” He continued:
“The form bespeaks a rather late date, having the characteristic angles, which makes the ordinary streight-sided rectangle into an octogan, giving it the appearance superficially of a round or oval. Its dimensions are based on the most approved form of castramentation, the length being one-third greater than the breadth, namely sixty yards wide and eighty yards long. A watch-mound has been thrown up within the southwest angle, and the whole camp defended with a double rampart having an intervening ditch. There is an old and excellent spring of water on the east sie of the camp; the site having been well chosen, commanding as it does, a splendid view of the valley and Street as it runs towards Olicana.”
By the time Eric Cowling (1946) came and looked at these earthworks, the opinion had truly swayed to seeing Round Dikes as a prehistoric site and not Roman. Cowling placed it firmly in the Iron Age! His profile of the site told:
“On the Western slope of Counter Hill and with a wide view of Wharfedale to the east is a second enclosure with five sides. Three of these form the three sides of a square and the remaining two bend outwards to enclose a spring on the lower eastern side. This enclosure is one hundred feet across from east to west and in the opposite direction the greatest measurement is seventy-three feet. The ditch is fifteen feet wide and varies in depth from three to five feet and there appears to have been an entrance in the eastern angle. There is an unfinished look about the earthwork; the inner and outer banks vary in height and are not continuous. The position is badly sited for defence, being overlooked from the higher ground to the west. The site would be very suitable for excavation, for it has been untouched by cultivation and is undisturbed.”
E.T. Cowling’s plan
And as far as I’m aware, no such excavation has yet been done here; and as we all know the local archaeologist is pretty poor when it comes doing such things round here, so god only knows when the real explorers and scientists will ever get their teeth into the place! However, the writers and archaeology consultants John and Phillip Dixon told that “a limited survey of parts of Round Dykes defined nine hut circles or parts of circles and possible hearth sites” in the 1980s. And although they ascribe the large earthwork as being Iron Age, the tumulus which sits near the southern edge of the enclosure is ascribed as Bronze Age.
It’s likely that the internal tumulus (a separate profile of it is forthcoming) was of communal and religious importance at Round Dykes. There was probably ritual function here within the enclosure, though only at certain times, when and where the ancestral spirits in the tomb awoke or were required to help the living. The spring of water on the eastern side of the enclosure, above the tumulus, was obviously not just the main drinking supply for the people who stayed here, but would also have had ritual importance (water, forget not, is tantamount to blood in ancestral cosmologies, and not a ‘commodity’ as the half-witted retards in modern culture have profaned it in their shallow beliefs). In the Lands of the Dead, water is vital for gods, spirits and the sustenance of the underworlds. (Eliade 1979) You might not think that; judæochristians might not think that — but the worlds of experience are much wider and deeper than the failing beliefs of atheists and monotheists…
…to be continued…
References:
Bennett, Paul, The Old Stones of Elmet, Capall Bann: Milverton 2001.
Bennett, Paul, The Prehistoric Sites of Counter Hill, Addingham, forthcoming 2013.
Cowling, Eric T., Rombald’s Way, William Walker: Otley 1946.
Forrest, C. & Grainge, William, A Ramble on Rumbald’s Moor, among the Dwellings, Cairns and Circles of the Ancient Britons in the Spring of 1868: Part 2 – Counterhill and Castleberg, W.T. Lamb: Wakefield 1868.
Dixon, John & Phillip, Journeys through Brigantia – volume 1: Walks in Craven, Airedale and Wharfedale, Aussteiger Publications: Barnoldswick 1990.
Eliade, Mircea, A History of Religious Ideas – volume 1, Collins: London 1979.
Howson, William, An Illustrated Guide to the Curiosities of Craven, Whittaker: Settle 1850.
Speight, Harry, Upper Wharfedale, Elliott Stock: London 1900.
Whitaker, Thomas Dunham, The History and Antiquities of the Deanery of Craven in the County of York, (3rd edition) Joseph Dodgson: Leeds 1878.
Follow the same directions to reach the Little Skirtful of Stones giant cairn. From here, walk 200 yards straight north until you hit the footpath at the top of the Woofa Bank crags. Walk left along the footpath and where it begins to slope downhill, note the large boulder right by the path and another 30 yards further on. Between these large rocks, turn left into the heather some 20 yards. You’re damn close!
Archaeology & History
Close-up of covered tomb
Rediscovered on March 17, 2012, this small untouched prehistoric stone cairn, measuring 3½ yards by 2½ yards across and about 1 yard tall, was found thanks to the moorland heather being burnt, which has stripped the covering vegetation from the monument. It rests just a couple of yards away from a small, almost dried-up stream, seemingly in isolation. There are scattered remains of medieval workings nearby, between here and the Little Skirtful—some of which have intruded upon and destroyed earlier sites—but this particular cairn has a prehistoric pedigree. An excavation here would be worthwhile sometime in the future; but the problem is, there’s so much neolithic and Bronze Age material all over this area, it’s hard to know where to start!
From Burley train station walk up the road, turning right as you meet the moorland road. Go on for a couple of hundred yards until you run parallel with the Coldstone Beck stream. Walk up here for about 800 yards until the full moorland begins to open up ahead of you. Walk up the slope on your right (west) about 30 yards above the first of the ruined grouse-butts, towards the scattered mass of rocks before the small crags. The small standing stone on the edge of the ruins will catch your attention!
Archaeology & History
A fascinating small cairn which initially had us puzzling as to its very nature. Was it a cairn? Or was it a section of prehistoric walling? The former would seem to be the more likely, though an excavation here would obviously be helpful.
Standing stone, cairn-spoil & Coldstone valley to rearColdstone Cairn 2, looking west
Scanning the Earth hereby we found no surface remains, merely a section of disturbed ground where the small stones were placed and, obviously, removed in some number not too long ago. Stones from the cairn had obviously been robbed to construct the grouse-butts close by (something the local council officials seem to find acceptable). It would appear to be consistent in structure with many of the other cairns on this moorland, some of which are neolithic, but the majority date from the Bronze Age.* This particular cairn seems to be Bronze Age in nature.
The most defining element in the cairn is the small standing stone, less than two feet tall above ground level, within the southwestern area of the denuded tomb. No carvings could be noted on the stone, nor marks of any significance on the other smaller stones. Another cairn of similar age but in much better condition—the Coldstone Beck Cairn 01—can be seen when the heather’s burnt back, some 20 yards north.
* More than 100 singular small cairns exist around here, most of which have never been archaeologically assessed.
From Burley train station walk up the road, turning right as you meet the moorland road. Go on for a couple of hundred yards until you run parallel with the Coldstone Beck stream. Walk up here for about 800 yards until the full moorland begins to open up ahead of you. Walk up the slope on your right (west) about 40 yards above the first of the ruined grouse-butts, towards the scattered mass of rocks before the small crags. You’ll have to scout about a bit when the heather’s deep, but it’s there, hiding away!
Archaeology & History
Cairn in centre, looking east towards Otley Chevin
Like many prehistoric tombs on this moorland, this one has never before catalogued. Found about 20 yards north of Coldstone Beck Cairn 02, this larger and more complete megalithic structure, probably Bronze Age in nature, is of the traditional construction for cairns in this region: of small to medium-sized rocks that can be carried quite easily and deposited over a specified site, beneath which we’ll find either a ruined clay urn, or skeleton, or ashes.
The cairn measures just over 3½ yards in diameter east-west, and 3 yards north-south; it rises nearly a yard tall above ground level at the centre. Much of the internal construction has been compacted through centuries of soil and vegetational growth, with only the outer rocks of the structure being slightly loose. There are several other prehistoric cairns of the same size nearby, none of which have been recorded by the regional archaeologist round here.
Tumulus (destroyed): OS Grid Reference – SD 873 277
Archaeology & History
A prehistoric cairn or tumulus could once be found close to the grid-reference cited here, but all trace of it has long since been destroyed. The site was mentioned briefly in Thomas Booth’s (1899) short survey on the prehistoric tombs of the area, telling:
“I have omitted to mention in its proper place a find which took place at Holmes Chapel about the year 1826. The particulars are very meagre but, according to a local journal published some fifty years ago, called The Comet (edited by the late Abraham Stansfield), some workmen who were engaged in pulling down a barn at Thieveley discovered an ancient urn, whose contents were of a similar kind to those of other urns of this class.”
The “other urns” he mentions are those that have been found in prehistoric tombs on the north side of the same valley, including those at Cliviger Laithe, at Catlow, at Delf Hill and other sites close by. Remains of another prehistoric cairn can be found close by on top of the hill at Thieveley Pike to the south, where a beacon was built, damaging the original tomb.
A prehistoric round barrow with an ancient literary pedigree, dating back to Anglo-Saxon records according to A.D. Mills (1989), when is was described in the boundary records of 833 AD as ‘on burg‘. It was described again in local records as Buleberwe in 1270, then more like the form we recognize today as the Bulbarowe in 1545, and variants thereof many times since then.
Measuring about 18 yards across and standing four feet high, Grinsell (1959) defined the monument as a ‘Bowl Barrow’, due to the shape of the mound. A brief description of the site by the Royal Commission (1970) lads told:
“Bulbarrow (77500574), bowl, lies at about 870ft above sea-level near the summit of the chalk escarpment, here known as Bulbarrow Hill. The centre of the mound has been dug into. Diameter 54tf, height 4ft.”
Grinsell and the Royal Commission both made note of a “sharpened bone of deer”, reported by Mr Woolls (1839), but pointed out there was an uncertainty whether the bone was dug “from this or the Bull Barrow in Holt” parish.
All early forms of the burial mound’s name strongly suggest it derived to a once great bull. The reason for this cannot be known for certain, but if we follow Conrad (1959) or Eliade’s (1986) rationale, the animal here was very likely a sacred bull — akin to the more famous Bull of Minos, or Apis, or Nandi. The religious importance of sacred animals was just as widespread in the British Isles as it was elsewhere in the world (examples of bulls relating to prehistoric remains scatter the British Isles with a similar association: see the Bull Stone, Guiseley; the Creagantarbh stones and hillfort, Argyll, etc.). It would be good to know of any local folklore relating to oxen or other bovines in the Woolland area.
References:
Conrad, Jack Randolph, The Horn and the Sword: The History of the Bull as Symbol of Power and Fertililty, MacGibbon & Kee: London 1959.
Eliade, Mircea, Zalmoxis, University of Chicago Press 1986.
Grinsell, Leslie V., Dorset Barrows, Dorset Natural History & Archaeological Society 1959.
Mills, A.D., The Place-Names of Dorset – part 3, English Place-Name Society 1989.
Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset – Volume 3: Central Dorset, Part 2, HMSO: London 1970.
Cup-and-Ring Stone: OS Grid Reference – SY 6800 8601
Also Known as:
Winterborne Came 18b Carving (Grinsell)
Archaeology & History
Charles Warne’s 1848 drawing of the old tumulus
On January 27, 1848, the great Dorsetshire antiquarian Charles Warne sent a letter to the British Archaeological Association about a series of three large tumuli he’d explored south of Dorchester in Dorset, within which he’d found some fascinating remains. And in what he called “the last of these mighty mounds (and well do they merit the appellation from their vastness),” which “measured rather more than ninety feet in diameter, and sixteen feet in height,” the most intriguing remains emerged. In the middle of what L.V. Grinsell (1959) catalogued as the Winterborne Came 18b tumulus, Mr Warne told:
“About the centre, at a depth of some three feet from the surface, was found lying flat a rough unhewn stone, with a series of concentric circles incised; this, on being removed, was seen to have covered a mass of flints from six to seven feet in thickness, which being also removed we came to another unhewn irregular stone, with similar circles inscribed, and as in the preceding case, covering another cairn of flints, in quantity about the same as beneath the first stone.”
“…It will be seen that the most singular feature connected with this tumulus, is that of the incised stones: examples of which I am not aware have before been met with in like situations. It may be as well to forego any attempt at an elucidation, which must be purely hypothetical; but it seems more reasonable to believe that they bore some mystic reference, rather than that they were the unmeaning amusement of some Celtic idler.”
One of 2 carved stones found in the tumulus
Sir James Simpson (1867) described these carved stones in his 19th century magnum opus, giving an early illustration of one of them, as shown here. You’ll note that the carving is devoid of any central ‘cup’ as commonly found, consisting simply of a mere series of concentric rings.
If anyone knows the whereabouts of this and its companion stone today, it would be good to see them. Are they kept in some local museum?
References:
Grinsell, Leslie V., Dorset Barrows, Dorset Natural History & Archaeological Society 1959.
Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset – Volume 2: South-East, HMSO: London 1970.
Simpson, James, Archaic Sculpturings of Cups, Circles, etc., Upon Stones and Rocks in Scotland, England and other Countries, Edmonston & Douglas: Edinburgh 1867.
Warne, Charles, “Removal of Three of the Large Tumuli on the Came Estate, near Dorchester,” in Journal of the British Archaeological Association, volume 3, 1848.
