Cairnweil standing stone

Trip No.136  Entry No.15  Date Added: 26th Jun 2019
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: Scotland (Dumfries and Galloway)
Visited: Yes on 17th Jun 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: South Carnweil Standing Stone: From Kirkmadrine Church, we travelled back along the road eastwards towards the A716, we stopped off to see this standing stone, by a wall, up a hill, but not quite at the top of the hill. It certainly is a big stone.

The road was narrow, so we bumped right up on the grass blocking a gated entrance to a field, ready to run back if we were causing an obstruction. After such a heavy rainstorm not half an hour before, we got quite wet walking up the hill, but it was worth it.

In some ways, this made up for not being able to see the stones at Kirkmadrine very well.

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.

Kirkmadrine Church Stones

Trip No.136  Entry No.14  Date Added: 26th Jun 2019
Site Type: Early Christian Sculptured Stone Country: Scotland (Dumfries and Galloway)
Visited: Yes on 17th Jun 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Kirkmadrine Old Church & Early Christian Stones: Now this site I was so looking forward to seeing, but in some ways it was the most disappointing.

As we arrived at the foot of the grassy lane to the church, the heavens opened, and my, did it pour. Thankfully, we were sheltered to some extent by the trees on either side of the lane. Eventually, we came to the gate into the churchyard, with the cross on a mound to our right, and the church to our left.

The stones were displayed behind glass at the exterior western end of the church. To even see the stones we had to wipe the rain from the glass with a handkerchief. Unfortunately, raindrops had leaked behind the glass, affecting the clarity of our view of the stones. In addition, the light at this time of evening (around 5pm) was bouncing off the glass, and trying to photograph the most impressive, and oldest, stone at the back left hand side (northern) side of the display proved virtually impossible, despite the UV filter, because the reflections of the trees in the glass were too strong. I tried photographing from various angles, but to no real effect.

I went away really disappointed, as these stones are really impressive and I wanted to see more. I did contact Canmore with a photograph a week ago (today is 26th June) but have had no reply apart from an automatic acknowledgement of receiving my message.

Peter Hill Roundhouse (Whithorn)

Trip No.136  Entry No.13  Date Added: 1st Jul 2019
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement Country: Scotland (Dumfries and Galloway)
Visited: Yes on 18th Jun 2019. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Peter Hill Roundhouse: Part of the visitor experience at the Whithorn Museum. We arrived just after a small guided tour had started. We asked if we could go round after the tour had finished, but were told we could only get in while there was an official guide there. I cheekily asked if we could join the tour for 10 minutes, and to my surprise, were allowed to go in.

I was really surprised and impressed by the inside of the roundhouse - the compartments for privacy, the central fire pits, and the sheer amount of room within it. Shame we didn't have time for the full tour, but I was so keen to see the early Christian stones in the museum.

Shovel Down row 4

Trip No.136  Entry No.7  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 4: From Shovel Down Cairn Row 4, this row started just to the north west, the stones ‘marching’ steadily downhill. These stones were similar in size to the Drizzlecombe Stone Rows 1 & 2, but largely hidden in tall grass.

Whilst everyone else walked down to the Fourfold Stone Circle to start a well deserved lunch break, and see the start of Shovel Down Row 2, I paused to take photographs of row 4. The row reminded me more than a little of Standingstone Rigg in Northumberland, with the size of the stones and the steepness of the slope down which the stones ran (not literally!).

Spittal Croft cairn

Trip No.136  Entry No.13  Date Added: 26th Jun 2019
Site Type: Cairn Country: Scotland (Dumfries and Galloway)
Visited: Yes on 17th Jun 2019. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Boreland Cairn: By this time of the afternoon (early evening) I was getting more than a little ‘cairned-out’ having seen, and still trying to make sense of, all those cairns at Torhousekie. But this was a lovely little cairn, complete with sheep warming themselves by the small piles of stones on top of the cairn.

With rain threatening and the dark clouds feeling as if they were virtually overhead, we walked some way up and down both sides of the road, both the B733 and the minor road running between the B733 and the B7052, but could find no gate into the field, so photographed the cairn as best I could from the dry stone wall.

We did go further up the road to find the standing stones and cairn at NX 3522 5808 and NX 3528 5819 (Canmore 62860 and 62849 respectively), but the field was jam-packed full of cattle.

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.

Torhouse North Cairn

Trip No.136  Entry No.11  Date Added: 26th Jun 2019
Site Type: Cairn Country: Scotland (Dumfries and Galloway)
Visited: Yes on 17th Jun 2019. My rating: Condition -1 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Torhouse North Cairn (now destroyed): Being so close to the stone row, the stone circle and other cairns, I was curious to see where this cairn might have been, and what views from it. From the Torhousekie North Side Cairn (to the left/west of the track – see above) we continued up the track for another 100m or so. The site of this cairn can be found at the top of a natural knoll with a view of the stone circle below.

There were no signs of the cairn (we looked around for any humps and hollows and stones at the top of the knoll but were unable to find anything), but took some photos showing where it would have been.

Using the zoom lens I took a couple of photos of the stone circle from just below the top of the knoll (see the Torhousekie Stone Circle entry).

Torhouse North Side Cairn

Trip No.136  Entry No.10  Date Added: 25th Jun 2019
Site Type: Cairn Country: Scotland (Dumfries and Galloway)
Visited: Yes on 17th Jun 2019. My rating: Condition -1 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Torhouse North Side Cairn: We had the Canmore ID record printed off for this cairn, but we were a little confused. One entry in Canmore said the cairn had been almost entirely removed and the site used as a dump for field clearance stones, but at the grid reference point there was nothing but a ploughed field.

I've marked the location of where the cairn should be with an arrow on the photograph. It is in precisely the location identified by SumDoood, although we could make out nothing on the ground.

Torhousekie East

Trip No.136  Entry No.8  Date Added: 25th Jun 2019
Site Type: Stone Row / Alignment Country: Scotland (Dumfries and Galloway)
Visited: Yes on 17th Jun 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4

Log Text: Torhouseskie Stone Row: Crossing the road from the layby by the stone circle, we entered this field through the gate at NX 38340 56494. This proved a little tricky, as it was two gates bolted together, then tied with multiple loops of string. Whilst I managed to untie the knots, and Andrew and I between us bolted the gates back together, a later visitor told me he’d had to climb the gate!

Three large boulders with some smaller stones between them. Standing on this small knoll, looking south towards the River Bladnoch, with the stone circle to our south west, and cairns to the west, it felt like a very prehistoric landscape.

Whilst the stone circle was proving very popular with visitors who came and went every five or ten minutes, only one other of the visitors came across to see the stone row.

Torhousekie Farm Cairn

Trip No.136  Entry No.12  Date Added: 26th Jun 2019
Site Type: Cairn Country: Scotland (Dumfries and Galloway)
Visited: Yes on 17th Jun 2019. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Torhousekie Farm Cairn: With tea-time fast approaching and cars whizzing up and down the road at high speed, Andrew pulled into a gateway opposite the cairn whilst I hopped out to take some photos.

It was a lot more interesting than it looked, with definite structures on the sides and top. I could only view it from the field to the east, where part of it protruded into the field, cut by a dry stone wall.

Torhousekie N

Trip No.136  Entry No.9  Date Added: 25th Jun 2019
Site Type: Cairn Country: Scotland (Dumfries and Galloway)
Visited: Yes on 17th Jun 2019. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Torhousekie N cairn: We had a cairn further up slope recorded to find, together with one by the farmhouse, so it came as a surprise to find this cairn here. I took some photographs on the day (a few before a heavy shower of rain, one after in the sun), and found out about it later.

Recorded as Canmore 62839, it stands just to the north of a milestone which stands out bright white against the side of the road, and just to the west of a dry stone wall. It looks as if it may have been robbed in the middle.

Torhousekie Standing Stone

Trip No.136  Entry No.7  Date Added: 25th Jun 2019
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: Scotland (Dumfries and Galloway)
Visited: Visited (still working on) on 17th Jun 2019

Log Text: Torhouskie Standing Stone: At the time of our visit, the only route to this stone was either along the very busy minor road then down the farm track (didn't fancy getting run over as sight lines for cars weren't very good) or across the field. With The Huge Bull standing guard, and watching our every move, we had a quick chat with another visitor who was keen to see the stones, we decided we were not brave enough to risk it!

Seeing SumDoood's photographs of this stone on the site page, the size of the stone is very similar in size and shape to the one lying in the field just to the east of the stone circle.

On my list for another visit.

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.