Yellowmead cairn

Trip No.134  Entry No.20  Date Added: 19th Jul 2019
Site Type: Cairn Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 15th May 2019. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 3

Log Text: Yellowmead Cairn: Whilst we started walking back to the car park, trying a different path mown through the grass, first running uphill then eastwards then south, we passed this cairn and stopped to take a closer look.

Whilst we were doing this, someone mentioned that the photo of the stone row on the Portal wasn’t the row we’d just looked at, but looked more like a line of stones running above, and parallel to the leat to the south west of the circle, and which we’d crossed to reach it. Some of the group split off to look at this more closely, and decided that the stones in the photo were of tin workings and an old track.

There was not much left of this cairn at all, although the slight mound did stand out nicely at the top of the slope.

The Round Pound

Trip No.135  Entry No.1  Date Added: 19th Jul 2019
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 15th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 5 Access 4

Log Text: Round Pound Enclosure (part of the Kes Tor Settlement): For our first stop of the day, this was only a very short walk north-eastwards from the car park, and so visible from the single track road, I was left with open-mouthed and couldn’t wait to get over to this monument to take a closer look.

With Sandy knowing this site so well, we had an almost intimate walk-round this impressive part of the Kes Tor settlement. Little did I appreciate, until we walked over the road to the east, that so much more lay in store.

A superb area, and so easy to reach!

Kestor Settlement

Trip No.135  Entry No.2  Date Added: 31st Jul 2019
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 16th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Kestor Settlement (of which Round Pound is part of): Only across the road from the Round Pound, which I learned later was part of this settlement and not separate from it, as we walked up the slope to the east of Round Pound, I couldn’t believe the amount, and quality, of the structures that remained here.

At first, it was all a little mind-boggling, but then Sandy G produced a plan of the site, and I kept asking where we were on the plan, so I could sort my photographs accordingly. The views to the east and north east would have been quite amazing, had it not been for the mist around that day.

At home, I poured over Butler's "Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities", volume 2, pages 170 onwards, which has a map of the settlement and descriptions of the field systems and the individual houses and enclosures within it. Brilliant!

Modern Stone Circle near Kestor Rock

Trip No.135  Entry No.3  Date Added: 19th Jul 2019
Site Type: Modern Stone Circle etc Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 16th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: Modern Stone Circle near Kestor Rock: As confirmed by the Dartefacts website, This stone circle is on land that used to the belong to Aid Edmundson and Jennifer Saunders. It is not recorded on Pastscape or Historic England.

The stone circle is on private land, but can be viewed over the fences to the west and southern sides.

We were also lucky enough to be with Janet Daynes and Gordon Fisher who had spent some time on this property doing excavations in years gone by. It was absolutely fascinating to hear them talk about the things they had found. Apparently the whole of the stone circle had, at one time, been surrounded by trees which had blown down or been cut down. The area is surrounded by Historic England List ID 1016691, “Coaxial field system and prehistoric settlements at Kestor”, but this area is not included in the scheduled area.

Kes Tor Rock Basin

Trip No.135  Entry No.4  Date Added: 31st Jul 2019
Site Type: Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 16th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: Kes Tor Outcrop: My fear of falling stopped me from going to the top of this amazing outcrop to see the rock basin (I saw another walker trip over and narrowly miss going over the edge whilst I was there), but I admired the outcrop from down below. I hope I can still tick this site off my Dartmoor list as having visited!

Kes Tor Cairn

Trip No.135  Entry No.5  Date Added: 31st Jul 2019
Site Type: Cairn Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 16th May 2019. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 3

Log Text: Kes Tor Cairn: As the group gathered around the western side of the tor, we saw what I initially thought was a tumble of smaller rocks from the side of the Tor, but as I walked around photographing it, thought it resembled a cairn. Walking back to join the group, Sandy and Dave were in conversation, concluding it was indeed probably a cairn. Dave took a gps with his garmin, remarkably similar to mine with my basic model, and has now included the cairn on Prehistoric Dartmoor Walks as a 'reported cairn' (site 1923).

Shovel Down Fourfold Circle

Trip No.135  Entry No.8  Date Added: 1st Aug 2019
Site Type: Stone Circle Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 16th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 5 Access 3

Log Text: Shovel Down Fourfold Stone Circle: Again, so many monuments in such a short walk – but by now, I should have stopped being surprised! At Kes Tor, Sandy G had spotted AngieLake, who had arrived a little later than us at the car park, and who had wandered about looking for us. By this time, it was lunchtime, and we were pleased to re-group and sit and take a welcome break, using the two large stones as the head of row 2 as a convenient picnic spot.

Whilst everyone was sharing out their sandwiches and tea/coffee, I took a few minutes to try and photograph the small-ish stones of the fourfold stone circle, largely hidden by the grassy tussocks, but none-the-less still recognisable as a kerbed cairn, although a little similar (if smaller) than Yellowmead.

With its proximity to row 2 and row 4, and other rows and features I'd not yet seen, this was an amazing spot.

Shovel Down row 2

Trip No.135  Entry No.9  Date Added: 1st Aug 2019
Site Type: Multiple Stone Rows / Avenue Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 16th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 5 Access 3

Log Text: Shovel Down Row 2 with fallen standing stones: We enjoyed a much welcome lunch break at the two pillar stones at the head (southern end) of row 2. Angie got some photographs of Andy B sitting on the larger of the two pillars, and later I wished I’d have stood over her shoulder to get similar shots.

I didn’t walk to the northern most end of this stone circle, as I thought we proposed to visit it on the way back to the car park, but we took a slightly different route, so didn’t see the stones at its other terminus.

By this time of the day, the number of monuments we'd seen already was getting a little overwhelming (so many in such a relatively small piece of moorland), I was really glad I’ been very careful to write down the numbers of the photographs I’d taken for each monument, making it easier to sort the photos out into ‘which monument was which’ that evening.

Shovel Down row 3

Trip No.135  Entry No.10  Date Added: 1st Aug 2019
Site Type: Multiple Stone Rows / Avenue Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 16th May 2019. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 3

Log Text: Shovel Down Row 3: To the west of stone row 2, and to the north of row 4, there was not much left to see of this row, which I tried to trace (without much success due to the high, tussocky grass on this part of the moor) as we walked down towards the stone circle.

Now writing up my photojournal, I’m pleased to see that Sandy G’s photographs, whilst showing a lot more stones, are a little similar to mine, largely showing the tops of stones peeking out of the grass. Good job for our superb guide, who pointed out the row to me.

Shovel Down stone circle

Trip No.135  Entry No.11  Date Added: 1st Aug 2019
Site Type: Stone Circle Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 16th May 2019. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 3

Log Text: Shovel Down Stone Circle: Before we visited this site, I thought there would be nothing to see, but I was wrong. Whilst there are just three stones remaining, they appear to the eye to sit along the arc of a circle. However, the authenticity of this stone circle is queried by Pastscape.

The stones are sited in deep, tussocky grass, I was very pleased to be able to reach this stone circle, not far off the main footpath, using my walking poles to balance.

Our GPS recorded the three stones at:
SX 65830 86187, SX 65822 86196 and SX 65823 86199

Shovel Down row 1

Trip No.135  Entry No.12  Date Added: 1st Aug 2019
Site Type: Stone Row / Alignment Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 16th May 2019. My rating: Condition 1 Ambience 3 Access 3

Log Text: Shovel Down Row 1: My goodness, this row was difficult to spot! Thank goodness for Sandy’s patience, his wellington boots and his pole in pointing out a few of the stones!

Shovel Down row 5

Trip No.135  Entry No.13  Date Added: 1st Aug 2019
Site Type: Multiple Stone Rows / Avenue Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 16th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: Shovel Down Row 5: Having been a little mystified by trying to find Rows 3 and 1, and having to rely on Sandy G to point out a few of the ground-level small stones, to find this stone row, running towards the Longstone, was really good. Glorious views over to Kes Tor, although it was still a little misty to get great photos.

The Longstone (Shovel Down)

Trip No.135  Entry No.14  Date Added: 1st Aug 2019
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 16th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: The Longstone: A welcoming standing stone, very prominent in the landscape, sitting between rows 5 and 6. I had fun posing the group for photographs around the stone.

Shovel Down row 6

Trip No.135  Entry No.15  Date Added: 1st Aug 2019
Site Type: Multiple Stone Rows / Avenue Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 16th May 2019. My rating: Condition 1 Ambience 3 Access 3

Log Text: Shovel Down Row 6: Nothing is visible of this row now, although we walked down the line of the row to get to the Three Boys.

Three Boys

Trip No.135  Entry No.16  Date Added: 1st Aug 2019
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 16th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 2 Access 3

Log Text: Three Boys: This was our last stop of the three days, and a lot of a let-down as someone had very recently used this stone as a toilet and left a great deal of white toilet paper around it. Yeuk! I think Gordon and/or Dave may have reported this to the authorities to clear up.

After this, we walked steadily back to the car park, took a few final photographs of the group altogether, using Janet and Gordon’s camera on my tripod on a timed setting. Then Andy, Dave, Andrew and myself headed back to Princetown to look inside the Visitor Centre.

High Moorland Visitor Centre

Trip No.135  Entry No.17  Date Added: 1st Aug 2019
Site Type: Museum Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 16th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Thornworthy Cist and Ter Hill Cross, Princetown National Park Visitor Centre: We had about 15 minutes before the centre closed on the Thursday, so we flew in with Dave Parks for me to see and photograph the Thornworthy Cist and the Ter Hill Cross. There was scaffolding around the back of the building, so I used this to step onto the weedy garden to photograph the cist slab from the top.

By the time I'd taken some photographs, I was being ushered out of the garden as they wanted to close the centre for the night, but I was bid 'you are more than welcome to come back tomorrow if you can".

High Moorland Visitor Centre

Trip No.136  Entry No.1  Date Added: 12th Jun 2019
Site Type: Museum Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 17th May 2019. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Princetown Visitor Centre, second visit: We had arranged to meet one of Sandy G's intrepid Dartmoor Explorers here at around 10.30am, to have a final look around before starting our journey back home. .

I confess to being really disappointed with this Centre as there was only the cast of a standing/inscribed stone and a prehistoric trackway. There were lots of information banners and photographs. The main entrance was really a shop front for cards, maps, books and guide books. I photographed the stone then we left to start the journey home.

The centre was advertising an exhibition due to arrive shortly.

Wells Cathedral

Trip No.136  Entry No.2  Date Added: 12th Jun 2019
Site Type: Early Christian Sculptured Stone Country: England (Somerset)
Visited: Yes on 17th May 2019. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: AS Corpus Wells 4, Wells Cathedral: We'd been seriously held up by traffic on the major and minor roads from Exeter to Wells, then by seriously slow roadworks, so were really rushed for time. I'd previously contacted the cathedral to find out if it was possible to see AS Corpus Wells 3, which the Corpus said was in the cathedral store, but the cathedral said they were unable (unwilling) to find it. Thinking the other fragments would be on display, we still went to the Cathedral. Throwing the car into a car park just inside the city centre, I managed to photograph the Market Cross/Bishop Beckington's Conduit before going to the Cathedral.

I showed one of the guides the AS Corpus notes and asked if he knew where they might be on display and were told ‘try the undercroft’. Nothing of note in there – it was very bare with very little displayed.

After wandering up and down the nave and chancel, I stopped another guide, showed her my notes, explained I’d previously emailed. She told me one of the stones was in the library, but a special tour had just started and it would be at least an hour before we could get in, and to look at the fragments built into the walls of the cloisters. She then said she’d find one of the vergers and ask him if he knew where the others were.

Eventually, this very kind lady came to find us and took us to the verger’s office, where he looked at my papers. “Oh, yes”, he said, “I remember the email. Everything is now in storage in the triforium, either in boxes or cages, and can’t be accessed.” “That’s disappointing”, I replied, “why did no one tell me that in the email reply?” We were dismissed without a further word, with the verger turning back to another visitor to his office.

We went to find a late lunch in the cathedral cafeteria, only to find it almost empty and only serving coffee and cakes. We left, rapidly, with only a few postcards as souvenirs, and feeling the cathedral had been stripped bare of its medieval treasures and soul.

Not a very satisfactory visit, possibly spoiled by the huge rush we'd been in, the lack of finding the recorded stones on display and being badgered on several occasions to make donations.

St Andrew's Well (Wells)

Trip No.136  Entry No.3  Date Added: 12th Jun 2019
Site Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring Country: England (Somerset)
Visited: Saw from a distance on 17th May 2019. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: St Andrew's Well, Wells Cathedral: After having had an abortive trip trying to find the sculptured Anglo Saxon stones (now shut up in boxes and cages on the triforium, only accessible by cathedral staff) I only photographed this through the hole in the garden wall separating the cathedral from the Bishop’s Palace. We didn’t have time to go to the Palace as we needed to beat the traffic and get to Deerhurst or Bradford on Avon before the churches shut for the evening.

St Laurence's Church (Bradford on Avon)

Trip No.136  Entry No.4  Date Added: 12th Jun 2019
Site Type: Early Christian Sculptured Stone Country: England (Wiltshire)
Visited: Yes on 17th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 5 Access 4

Log Text: St Laurence's Church, Bradford on Avon: From Wells, we had to decide which church was going to be the very last visit of our Dartmoor Expedition, as we were rapidly running out of time – Deerhurst or Bradford-On-Avon. In the end, the decision was down to knowing that St. Laurence’s Church would be open, although only until about 5pm or 5.30pm, so the race was on to battle the traffic to get here in time. Eventually we made it with about 45 minutes to spare, managing to park just round the corner from both St. Laurence’s and Holy Trinity.

What a treasure! I’d read that it was as complete as Escombe Saxon Church, but it felt so different – more doorways and very, very dark. The only spotlights were on the angels over the chancel archway, a small light in the sanctuary, then the rest through the narrow doorways and tiny windows.

The church was a real tourist magnet and I had to wait several times to get a shot without people in the photo. I’m sure I annoyed everyone with my flash, but that was the only way I could photograph the stone fragments.

I’m really pleased I’d printed of the Corpus of Anglo Saxon Stone Sculpture pages before we went, as I understood what I saw at the time. I put my papers down to take a photograph of the altar, coming out of the sanctuary to find someone had picked them up and was reading them. I had to ask nicely for them back and explain these were mine, but there was a leaflet in a box on the south wall of the nave.

I was really sad we couldn’t get this little church to ourselves for ten minutes or so. We ended up having 15 minutes to look into Holy Trinity Church opposite, only to almost get locked in, although we spent 10 minutes or so talking to the very knowledgeable church warden. Then we walked around the town after to avoid the queues of traffic that had built up.