Tinkinswood

Date Added: 26th Apr 2024
Site Type: Chambered Cairn Country: Wales (South Glamorgan)
Visited: Yes on 25th Apr 2024. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Time for another visit to Tinkinswood burial chamber, where I sit and eat my lunch with lots of birdsong. Since my last time here, there has been a lot of fencing off of the eastern and southern fields, making it impossible to see the other chamber or quarry area. What I remember as a possible avenue to the south seems to have all been ripped up and dumped in a heap. To the north, and taking up most of the parking area, there is a lot of road building going on, presumably to a farm on the north side. So overall, very much not improved.

Tinkinswood

Date Added: 26th Apr 2024
Site Type: Chambered Cairn Country: Wales (South Glamorgan)
Visited: Yes on 11th Jul 2004. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: While visiting Tinkinswood with my Dad in 2004, we could hardly fail to be impressed with the size of the capstone. What a lovely tomb this is. But more intriguing were the other rocks and stones in the vicinity. I knew the layout of the main chamber before I visited, but was surprised to find so many other stones and what looked like structures there were in the area. Since my visit, and before I got round to posting this, Sem has also commented on this, and added a few pictures. After visiting the main site, we spent some time looking at the other stones in the area. The first to be noted, while walking across the fields to the chamber from the little parking area, were some large stones in the field on the left (to the south). Closer inspection of this and it looked like this was the remains of another burial chamber, with a fallen dolmen type of structure, with other stones making out what could have been other chamber stones, or some sort of entrance. Looking carefully and the remains of a mound can be made out. Further on towards the main chamber, and again to the left of the pathway, and there are some large stones in a sort of pile in the hedgerow. All around in this region is an outcropping of a thick slab like rock, which has been used to make the structures. It is possible that these stones have just been moved and dumped into the hedgerow as part of a field clearance. However, it is also possible to my eyes, that these are the remains of some sort of tomb. Still further towards the main tomb, at the gateway used to get from one field into that which the main chamber lives in, are a couple of fairly large standing stones. These also look fairly ancient. Is it possible that they some ancient stone remains, or are they simple the remains of an old stile? In the field to the south of here (the main tomb is to the north) I was intrigued by some rock outcrops which seemed to have some form other than just the natural. Investigating this, and I could not fail to notice what seemed like a stone avenue which lead towards the two large standing stones at the stile. The alignment of this avenue would have been directly to the entrance and main forecourt of the main tomb. It is possible that this is not actually a stone avenue, but perhaps a trackway cut into the bedrock (the 2 foot thick slabstone) with what looks like stone uprights being remnants of the slab. But why would anyone do this ? In the wooded area surrounding the main chamber, there appear to be many more stones, either standing or fallen. Some of these are more clearly seen from the fields around the outside of the fenced region of the large barrow remains. One of the more fascinating things I found is in a little wooded copse to the southeast of the main chamber, between the "avenue" field, and the "dolmen" field. Inside this dark little wood, the natural rock outcrop can be seen clearly at the surface of the ground, as about a two foot thick slab, horizontally positioned on the surface. The real interesting thing here is that this slab has been quarried at some time in the distant past, perhaps by being burrowed underneath before breaking large slabs off. Well by now I might have been imagining things, but I would have put money on one large bit of the slab that was removed being a match for the massive Tinkinswood capstone. It seems that not only the size and shape were a good match, but also the thickness. Had I found the quarry from where the massive stones of the chamber were taken. It was lovely to think so. The area Tinkinswood chamber is obviously so much more than just the large barrow and tombs. Perhaps the entire local landscape is of monumental importance. It would be nice to know if anything else is known.

St Lythans

Date Added: 26th Apr 2024
Site Type: Chambered Tomb Country: Wales (South Glamorgan)
Visited: Yes on 25th Apr 2024. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Time for another visit to St Lythams and Tinkinswood. Very nice in the lush springtime

St Lythans

Date Added: 26th Apr 2024
Site Type: Chambered Tomb Country: Wales (South Glamorgan)
Visited: Yes on 11th Jul 2004. My rating: Access 4

Log Text: None

Graig Lwyd Cairns

Date Added: 7th Nov 2023
Site Type: Cairn Country: Wales (Conwy)
Visited: Yes on 13th Sep 2023. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 2

Log Text: Last on my itinerary for today are the Graig Lwyd Cairns. There is the one large cairn within the open access land which looks like a cartoon volcano, conical, steep sides and a crater in the top. Viewed with Moelfre and the other mountains behind it, it reminds me very much of the chains of volcanoes in the Auvergne. The other cairns are in the walled and fenced off fields to the north, and I have no way through to have a close look. However from a low point in the wall, I can make out a couple of places where there are stones standing proud of the ground, possibly a bit like Circle 275. Time to get back down to Penmaenmawr, I have been up here much longer than I initially intended, but then again it has been glorious up here and I am in no real rush other than to get a pint before the pubs shut. The path down is a killer on the knees, so steep and long, I can hardly walk by the time I get back to the car. In need of a pint, time to check what might be open using the useful WhatPub link on the Portal's sitepages. Disappointingly, if its correct, the Fairy Glen will be closed, but the Gladstone in nearby Dwygyfylchi is open, where I have a nice sit outside in the sunshine with a pleasant pint of Facer's, a new brewery to me.

Battery Point

Date Added: 6th Nov 2023
Site Type: Modern Stone Circle etc Country: England (Somerset)
Visited: Yes on 3rd Mar 2016. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 5 Access 4

Log Text: A nice stone with many fossilised shells to be seen within it, stands strategically at Battery Point, Portishead, as the Seafarers Memorial Stone, a memorial to seafarers of the west country. The stone monument marks the closest place on a UK coast which large ships pass. The dedication is to the seafarers of the West Country who, “since the Middle Ages, on voyages of discovery in times of peace and war, have passed this point, some never to return.”

Eastwood Fort, Portishead

Date Added: 6th Nov 2023
Site Type: Hillfort Country: England (Somerset)
Visited: Yes on 3rd Mar 2016. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Ancient woodland covered limestone hill, now a nature reserve, to the north of Portishead, beside the shipping channel into Portbury and Avonmouth docks, and the river Avon up to Bristol. As such has been an important strategic place since history began. There's a lot of history to the area - the remains of an Iron Age fort can be seen above the path on the north side of the Wood. The Romans also arrived at some point. World War 2 gun emplacements were sited at Battery Point and a military presence has been here as far back as the Civil War when a fort on the site was stormed by parlimentarians.

Blaise Castle

Date Added: 6th Nov 2023
Site Type: Hillfort Country: England (Gloucestershire)
Visited: Yes on 29th Aug 2011. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: None

Burwalls Camp

Date Added: 6th Nov 2023
Site Type: Promontory Fort / Cliff Castle Country: England (Somerset)
Visited: Yes on 28th Aug 2011. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: The Burwalls Camp hillfort is one of three iron age forts here probably guarding a ford crossing of the river Avon at the bottom of the Avon Gorge, below where is now the Clifton Suspension Bridge. Now mostly destroyed, with the western end of the Clifton Bridge and massive houses built all over it, a few remnants of the original ramparts can still be seen among the gardens of Burwalls. The neighbouring forts are Stokeleigh camp, just across Nightingale Valley, also on the western side of the Avon Gorge, and Clifton Down Camp on the eastern, Clifton side.

Stokeleigh Camp

Date Added: 6th Nov 2023
Site Type: Promontory Fort / Cliff Castle Country: England (Somerset)
Visited: Yes on 28th Aug 2011. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Iron age promontary hillfort on a spur overlooking the Avon Gorge from the high plateau at the western side of the Gorge, now a part of the large Leigh Woods nature reserve. This is one of three iron age forts here probably guarding a ford crossing of the river Avon at the bottom of the Avon Gorge, below where is now the Clifton Suspension Bridge. The promontary points towards the east, with the steep sided Nightingale valley marking the southern edge, where the hillside has been sculpted, with another smaller steep sided valley making the northeastern edges of the camp. The camp is completed around its northwestern sides by a double arc of massive ditch and bank ramparts, both once topped with stone walling. The main entrance was probably at the northern edge of the plateau, beside the steep cliff edge, where there is a third row of ditch and bank to help gaurd. I decided on a walk round Leigh Woods and to take in Stokeleigh Camp, on a showery bank holiday afternoon. Several things took my notice since my last visit here many years ago, firstly that it has all been tidied up by National Trust and much of the woodland cleared around the ramparts, making them very visible (I wasn't expecting to really be able to see them or get any decent pictures at all). I was most impressed with the massive size of the main ramparts, the inner bank being about 5 metres above the ground level inside, while the ditch outside must be almost of equal depth, making a top to bottom height of between 8 and 10 metres! Massive! Outside the inner bank and ditch is a second ring of bank and ditch, this time the relative heights and depth being about +/- 2 metres. At places around the top of the major rampart, there are places where stretches of vertical stone walling can be seen. In order to keep the vegetation down, NT and English Nature have decided to graze half a dozen Devon Red cattle around the camp.

King's Weston Hill barrow cemetary

Date Added: 6th Nov 2023
Site Type: Barrow Cemetery Country: England (Gloucestershire)
Visited: Yes on 29th Aug 2011. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: Walk several hundred metres west along the hilltop ridge from the Kings Weston Hillfort, past the large circular earthwork, across the roman road and its earthwork bank, and the open grassland of the hilltop now has several bushy clumps dotted around. Some of these clumps hide the remains of several bronze age burial mounds. The burial mounds are not in the best of condition, but are thought to date back to almost 2000BC. It is a very pleasant spot up on this hilltop, surrounded by the northwestern suburbs of Bristol, but you would hardly know it, and can easily get taken back in time while up here.

King's Weston Hill stockpound

Date Added: 6th Nov 2023
Site Type: Misc. Earthwork Country: England (Gloucestershire)
Visited: Yes on 29th Aug 2011. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: A few hundred metres west along the hilltop ridge from the Kings Weston Hillfort can be seen the remains of a large circular earthwork, of unsure date. People have been living and working on this hilltop ridge since neolithic times, and it is thought that this earthwork is some sort of stockpound dating from perhaps bronze or iron age times. It is a very pleasant spot up on this hilltop, surrounded by the northwestern suburbs of Bristol, but you would hardly know it, and can easily get taken back in time while up here.

King's Weston Hillfort

Date Added: 6th Nov 2023
Site Type: Hillfort Country: England (Gloucestershire)
Visited: Yes on 29th Aug 2011. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: At the northeastern end of the ridge that is Kings Weston Hill, now in the northwestern suburbs of Bristol, is to be found the remains of an iron age hillfort and farmstead. It is situated in parkland, just to the southwest of the more impressive Blaise Castle. The hill and immediately surrounding area is nowadays parkland, a part of the Blaise Castle estate. The steeply sloping sides of the hill are thick woodland, while the flat top of the ridge is open grassland, and makes for a nice walk. There is an informative noticeboard. The defended enclosure at the end of the ridge has been dated to 800BC and was in use until Roman times. The steep northern edge of the ridge still has some remains of earthern ramparts, while on the flat top of the hill is a rectangular banked enclosure.

Cors Y Carneddau

Date Added: 6th Nov 2023
Site Type: Stone Circle Country: Wales (Conwy)
Visited: Yes on 13th Sep 2023. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 2

Log Text: I head down to the west and back to the lower track in order to find the Cors Y Carneddau circle. At first I found lots of stones all seemingly scattered around at random, with nothing obvious representing a circle. Some stones are standing proud of the ground over by the wall. But nothing that shouts circle to me. Having a more detailed search of the area, I was at one point heading back to the east, and then an arc of stones came into view. Was this it? Looking closer and several more stones were found under the surface, and for sure this is the remains of a circle, perhaps 10 stones remaining in the circumference, with a diameter of 15 metres or so. The giveaway to being in the right place is a steel bar sticking out of the ground, probably once a fence post, nearby to the two most obvious stones.

Cefn Coch (Penmaenmawr)

Date Added: 6th Nov 2023
Site Type: Ring Cairn Country: Wales (Conwy)
Visited: Yes on 13th Sep 2023. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 2

Log Text: Having done my research beforehand, I now know to head up and over the nearby ridge to the south and there is the lovely ring cairn, about 10 to 12 metres diameter. It doesn't stand very proud of the ground, and has quite wide "walls".

Monument 280

Date Added: 5th Nov 2023
Site Type: Ring Cairn Country: Wales (Conwy)
Visited: Yes on 13th Sep 2023. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 2

Log Text: Over a couple of mounds, and there is another catchily named site, Monument 280, of which I have no idea what type of site this is. There are many stones stood and arranged, but with no obvious pattern. There is a circle in the middle of them, and several in a straight line through the middle. Is that a burial cist beside one of the large stones? I see online something which states that in 1845 this was described as three circles. Time for lunch, and I notice a pair of glasses within what looks to me like a burial cist, with a leather strap hanging over the large stone beside it.

Druids Circle (Penmaenmawr)

Date Added: 4th Nov 2023
Site Type: Stone Circle Country: Wales (Conwy)
Visited: Yes on 13th Sep 2023. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 4 Access 2

Log Text: From circle 275 the stones of the Druids Circle can be seen up on the hill against the skyline. I make straight for it, but this is probably not the best way as it takes me through a little valley with lots of boggy area to get through. The site is positioned on a flattened platform area, with an embanked circle of stones about 35 metres diameter. Several of the stones are large and standing upright, many much smaller and some are flat to the ground. The position up here is gorgeous with the views out and over the sea with the Great Orme to the east, and Anglesey to the west. There are a couple here taking it all in, with the lady sat sketching the circle. I was intending having my lunch here, but I move on to the next site for that, so we do not disturb each other.

Circle 275

Date Added: 30th Oct 2023
Site Type: Stone Circle Country: Wales (Conwy)
Visited: Yes on 13th Sep 2023. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 2

Log Text: Next up is the snappily named Circle 275, which is to the south of the trackway in the long grass and heather. This is a lovely little circle of five stones with diameter about 3 metres, and in a most gorgeous setting with views out over the sea and up to the hills with the druids circle visible on the skyline. Is that a spiral carving I see on one of the stones?

Fridd Wanc

Date Added: 30th Oct 2023
Site Type: Round Barrow(s) Country: Wales (Conwy)
Visited: Yes on 13th Sep 2023. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 2

Log Text: Moving on and the next site just to the north of the trackway is the Fridd Wanc mound, with a telegraph pole standing from its centre. Just to the southeast are several boulders, three obvious large stones, with a couple more not so obvious. Is it the remains of an ancient burial chamber? Or on later thinking, another little circle?

Maen Crwn

Date Added: 30th Oct 2023
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: Wales (Conwy)
Visited: Yes on 13th Sep 2023. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 2

Log Text: A bit further southwest, and now into an open paddock like area below the farm, and this large stone is stood in the open grass below an avenue of trees. It has a scratches T + J on its southern face, along with other graffitti.