<< Events >> The Megalithic Portal Live in the Derbyshire Peak District - Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature in England in Derbyshire
Submitted by Andy B on Thursday, 22 November 2012 Page Views: 40921
EventsSite Name: The Megalithic Portal Live in the Derbyshire Peak DistrictCountry: England County: Derbyshire Type: Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature
Nearest Town: Matlock Nearest Village: Birchover
Map Ref: SK236621
Latitude: 53.155513N Longitude: 1.648536W
Condition:
5 | Perfect |
4 | Almost Perfect |
3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
0 | No data. |
-1 | Completely destroyed |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
4 | Short walk on a footpath |
3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
2 | A long walk |
1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
0 | No data. |
5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
0 | no data |
Internal Links:
External Links:
The Megalithic Portal Live in the Peak District was held on Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th July. Part of the Festival of British Archaeology. A free weekend of guided walks and talks with archaeologists, prehistory experts and enthusiasts.
With talks, displays, book stall and refreshments at Birchover Reading Room, near Stanton Moor. There are dozens of ancient sites within easy walking distance, just see the map further down this page.
Saturday Morning, 28th July
Walk with Tim Prevett from History and Mystery Tours to Nine Stones Close and other sites around Birchover such as Robin Hood's Stride. Start time 10am running through until about 12.30pm.
Start outside Birchover Reading Room, past Rowtor Rocks, walking to Nine Stones Close, Robin Hood's Stride, Castle Ring, Hermit's Cave, Cratcliff Rocks, and also featuring three locations from the film The Princess Bride. Please ensure you are geared up for a longish walk and be prepared for the weather conditions.
A guided walk with Peak District National Park archaeologist and stone circle / cairn circle enthusiast John Barnatt, who will be leading a 2-3 hour walk with lots of stops to look at the various fascinating and little known prehistoric sites on Beeley Moor.
If you missed out on a place, see the details of the other Saturday and Sunday walks as there is bound to be something else of interest. You are also welcome to come over to Birchover Reading Room on Saturday morning where there will be other things getting started.
Saturday - Talks and Events in Birchover Reading Room
From 11am (setup permittiing) we hope to be showing some films of visits to various ancient sites made by Dick Diamond - see note below for more details
1pm Erin Robinson from the Heather and Hillforts project. Conserving the hillforts and habitats of the heather moorland while reconnecting people to the uplands of the Clwydian Range and Llantysilio Mountains in North Wales
2pm John Charlesworth, interpretive guide from Creswell Crags Museum and Visitor Centre who will focus on the recently discovered rock art.
3pm Q&A session with Peak District National Park archaeologist John Barnatt who is a great stone circle and ring cairn enthusiast so have your questions ready.
4pm Daniel Brown and Andy Alder from Nottingham Trent University talking about their recent 3D modelling of the standing stone on Gardom's Edge, and research into archaeoastrnomical alignments
From 4.50pm - unfortunately due to other commitments Tim Prevett hasn't been able to complete the research for his talk on Ritual Landscapes of Mid Wales so we're going to postpone that to our next event.
Instead we'll fit in some short slide shows, these are likely to be Eileen Grimshaw with the Sacred sites of Tibet and Peter Boyle with some slides from the Outer Hebrides. There should also be time for another film from Dick Diamond and perhaps someone else would like to step up at the last minute for 15 minutes - let Andy B know.
Saturday Late Afternoon / Evening
6.30pm Guided Walk led by Guy Stephenson, meeting at Birchover Reading Room: 'Stanton Moor - A journey into Bronze Age Derbyshire'. Around 2.5 hours with frequent stops looking at the many cairns and stone circles on Stanton Moor. Please ensure you are geared up for a long walk on the moor as it will get chilly as the evening progresses. To finish with a chill out at Nine Ladies Stone Circle
Sunday 29th July: Morning
Semi guided Walk around Gardom's Edge with Jamie Stone. Meet at 9.30 for 9.45am in the public car park next to the Robin Hood pub just off the A619/B6050. (Ordnance Survey grid reference: SK280721, Postcode: DE45 1PU) Walking up onto Gardom's Edge spotting archaeology as we go. Taking in the cairn circle, Three Men barrow, Megs Walls (Neolithic enclosure), the standing stone, the famous cup and ring carving and one lesser known cup and ring carving. We will also try and locate one other potential piece of rock art below Birchen Edge as we head back to the car park. Estimated walk time 2-3 hours. The walk will mostly be on well trodden footpaths, but will be through high heather and boggy ground at times so may be hard going for inexperienced walkers.
Sunday Talks in Birchover Reading Room
11am Andy Burnham - The Megalithic Portal - Little known stones from around the world, an illustrated talk.
12pm Rose Welch - The Folklore and Practice of Well Dressing in Derbyshire, an illustrated talk.
12.50pm Eileen Grimshaw - Prehistoric Rock Art in the American South West - An illustrated talk featuring prehistoric villages on top of the Grand Canyon, Spider Woman in Canyon de Chey, rock art in the Painted Desert, the Valley of Fire, Chaco Canyon, Horseshoe Canyon and lots more.
In some of the breaks we will showing films of visits to various ancient sites made by Dick Diamond
2.15pm Simon Charlesworth - The Brecon Beacons - Megaliths, Myths and Mysteries.
Simon will outline his latest research which aims to show how the myths, legends and archaeology of the area may be more inter-linked than previously thought.
3pm Dr Ian Parker Heath - Research Archaeologist speaking about the Arbor Low environs Project and how you can get involved as a volunteer.
Unless you know the area well we suggest you come into Birchover from the B5056. The turning is signposted Birchover 3/4mi from the B5056 and with a brown sign for The Druid Inn.
The hall is at SK 236 621 (Postcode: DE4 2BL). Suggested parking is along the road 'The Mires' as you come in to Birchover from the B5056 - along from the modern stone carving with the hole in it - see the Street View link below. Note there is NO parking immediately by the hall. Parking for Stanton Moor is at the east side of the village at SK 241 625 (see this Street View link). From here follow the footpath from the rear of the car park, which is a 500 m walk downhill to Birchover Reading Room. The footpath is quite steep so please be careful. Or please park considerately in Birchover village. The Druid Inn also has a car park next door to the reading room that you can use if you are going to be partaking in their hospitality.
Refreshments
Delicious home made food to raise money for The Mustard Tree charity who support the homeless in Manchester, including:
Choice of sandwiches
Home made cakes with vegan options
Teas, coffees and herbal teas.
Cans of non alcoholic drink and probably juice.
Various chocolate and healthy bars.
11.30am to 5pm Saturday 28th July
11.30am to 4pm Sunday 29th
Book Stall with DVDs, exclusive Megalithic Portal T Shirts, greetings cards, 2013 calendars and more - same hours as above. Note that payment will be cash only and purchases over £10 will get a free Megalithic Portal fridge magnet.
Refreshments and book stall will be out the front of Birchover Reading Room in a marquee we have bought and are putting up for the occasion.
We would advise arriving early to secure a parking space or seat in the hall, and to allow plenty of time to meet fellow Megalithic Portal readers and contributors. Due to the limited space we cannot guarantee seats will be available to members however they will get priority in the members seating area for all talks. We reserve the right to decline entry once the safe limit on numbers is reached.
Birchover Reading Room is located in Rowtor Lane, Birchover, nr Matlock, DE4 2BL
There are two excellent pubs within walking distance in the village of Birchover, the Red Lion and the Druid Inn. There is a very good camp site at Barn Farm and others will be camping close by. Why not make a weekend of it?
Become a member of our society now for just £10.
For any questions post a comment below or email: andy@megalithic.co.uk
Contact Tel or Text, including on the day: 07910 900298
Please tell your friends, post on your blog, follow us on Facebook.
Also see more details on the various talks and walks at Lanyrd.com.
Photos from the day can be found here
Note: Questions and answers with Megalithic Portal members and John Barnatt the Peak District National Park archaeologist and stone circles enthusiast. An hour long video with ideas on how stone circles were constructed, thoughts on archaeoastronomy and lots more.
You may be viewing yesterday's version of this page. To see the most up to date information please register for a free account.
Do not use the above information on other web sites or publications without permission of the contributor.
Andy B has found this location on Google Street View:
Nearby Images from Geograph Britain and Ireland:
The above images may not be of the site on this page, they are loaded from Geograph.
Please Submit an Image of this site or go out and take one for us!
Click here to see more info for this site
Nearby sites
Click here to view sites on an interactive OS mapKey: Red: member's photo, Blue: 3rd party photo, Yellow: other image, Green: no photo - please go there and take one, Grey: site destroyed
Download sites to:
KML (Google Earth)
GPX (GPS waypoints)
CSV (Garmin/Navman)
CSV (Excel)
To unlock full downloads you need to sign up as a Contributory Member. Otherwise downloads are limited to 50 sites.
Turn off the page maps and other distractions
Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
30m W 270° St Michael’s Church (Birchover)* Carving (SK23576210)
71m NW 315° Rowtor Rocks* Rock Art (SK23556215)
381m W 265° Rockingstone Farm* Rock Outcrop (SK2322062065)
806m NNE 17° Doll Tor* Stone Circle (SK2383062873)
919m WNW 283° Cratcliff Rocks* Hillfort (SK227623)
991m NNE 26° Andle Stone (Stanton Moor)* Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature (SK2403162993)
995m NE 45° Stanton Moor Cairn T14* Cairn (SK24306281)
1.0km NE 48° Cork Stone* Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature (SK2434662788)
1.1km NE 41° Stanton Moor Cairn T13* Round Cairn (SK243629)
1.1km WNW 286° Robin Hoods Settlement* Ancient Village or Settlement (SK22576238)
1.1km W 278° Robin Hood's Stride* Rock Art (SK22476225)
1.1km WNW 286° Robin Hood's Stride* Rock Outcrop (SK225624)
1.2km WNW 297° Nine Stones Close* Stone Circle (SK2253762643)
1.2km W 266° Dudwood* Stone Circle (SK224620)
1.3km ENE 57° Stanton Moor Cairn (TBC)* Cairn (SK2467562791)
1.3km NW 305° Nine Stones Cup Mark (Harthill) Rock Art (SK22546284)
1.3km NW 306° Harthill Cairn* Cairn (SK22556286)
1.4km NE 51° Stanton Moor Cairn T25* Cairn (SK24656297)
1.4km NE 54° Stanton Moor 4* Ring Cairn (SK24716290)
1.6km NE 50° Stanton Moor Cairn T55* Round Cairn (SK24826313)
1.7km WNW 295° Castle Ring (Derbyshire)* Hillfort (SK221628)
1.7km NE 46° Stanton Moor 3* Stone Circle (SK24806326)
1.7km ENE 62° Gorse Stone* Rock Outcrop (SK251629)
1.7km NE 45° Stanton Moor Cairn T24* Cairn (SK24806333)
1.9km NE 43° The King (Stanton Moor)* Standing Stone (Menhir) (SK24876347)
View more nearby sites and additional images
<< Sacrilege - lifesize Bouncy Stonehenge on tour until the 9th Sept