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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

Duddo Five Stones

Trip No.137  Entry No.1  Date Added: 12th Jun 2019
Site Type: Stone Circle Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 29th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 5 Access 4

Log Text: Duddo Five Stones, Northumberland: We had three tries at reaching this stone circle, until we discovered the actual, relatively new 'permissive path'. Our first attempt was using the footpath to the north of the stones, but the footpath had been ploughed out and we had to retrace our steps. Then we used the marked footpath which ran from NT 93907 42659, through the Duddo Farm cottages onto open land full of wild flowers, to NT 93495 43489, where we could see the stones atop a small rise in the field. Andrew walked further on to see if there was a footpath from the north/north east, but nothing, so we decided to follow the tractor tracks through the wheat field, to NT 93084 43470, where we spotted a line of marked canes and a proper path through the crop to the stones – this was the last part of the permissive footpath, which we followed up to the stones.

Stan Beckensall is certainly right in saying this is a spectacular site – the views all around are amazing, and far-reaching. The stones are very attractive, with their very fluted profiles.

There is an interpretation board (put up by DEFRA, facing away from the stone circle, at NT 92968 43718.

I took my time photographing the stones from different angles, and each individual stone. I did manage to catch the four cup marks on the eastern most stone, but how ERA/NADRAF spotted these amongst the natural features, I’m not sure!

We followed the permissive footpath all the way back down to the road, to the west of the village, running from NT 93221 42619 all the way to the stones. There were a number of cars parked here (there wasn’t when we drove past the first time), together with a small sign saying ‘stone circle’ (which I’d missed) and also a sign explaining about the permissive footpath).

St Mary's Well (New Etal)

Trip No.137  Entry No.2  Date Added: 12th Jun 2019
Site Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 29th May 2019. My rating: Condition 1 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: St Mary's Well, New Etal: The ford across the river from Etal village was pretty high, so we decided not to chance wading across it, but drove round to New Etal and used the farm tracks to walk back down to the western side of the ford to find the remains of this chantry chapel and well.

No signs of the chantry chapel - the foundations are now mostly under the river. All that remains of the well is a rectangular concrete slab with a modern small drain cover at its western side and an access hole to the side nearest the river.

It is a peaceful spot and worth the walk, even though there wasn't a lot to see.

Alnmouth Wall Rock 32

Trip No.138  Entry No.1  Date Added: 13th Jun 2019
Site Type: Rock Art Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 3rd Jun 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Alnmouth Wall Rock Panels, Alnmouth: A short walk up a lane towards the trig point, with some very friendly horses in the field and some lovely views over the sea and beach. The wall runs for quite a long way, with its eastern side up a slope so it was a little precarious (for those who don't like slopes!) to photograph those panels.

If you visit, there were many, many rabbit holes, so be careful when walking, especially around the trees and the base of the wall.

I have recorded these panels in the order we saw them on the day. Some of the wall was hidden by wooden fencing (a small fenced off area for farm bits and pieces) and brambles/barbed wire, Many panels at the base and top of the wall are covered by turf, so we only managed to see 11 out of 39.

I have three panels I'm trying to match up my photos with those recorded on ERA (138.7, 8 and 11). Despite having reasonably accurate grid references, it's been a bit of a challenge to match up the and will add these when I can.

Alnmouth Wall Rock 37

Trip No.138  Entry No.4  Date Added: 13th Jun 2019
Site Type: Rock Art Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 3rd Jun 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Alnmouth Wall Rock Panel 37: See visit report for Alnmouth Wall Rock Panel 32

Alnmouth Wall Rock 36

Trip No.138  Entry No.3  Date Added: 13th Jun 2019
Site Type: Rock Art Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 3rd Jun 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Alnmouth Wall Rock Panel 36: For main visit report see AWR Panel 32. Trying to match these panels with the photos on the ERA records was interesting, but using the grid references taken with our GPS and the photos, I've managed this as best I can.

Alnmouth Wall Rock 34

Trip No.138  Entry No.2  Date Added: 13th Jun 2019
Site Type: Rock Art Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 3rd Jun 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Alnmouth Wall Rock 34: see main visit report for Alnmouth Wall Rock 32.