Alex Tor Kerbed Cairn

Date Added: 28th Aug 2024
Site Type: Cairn Country: England (Cornwall)
Visited: Yes on 3rd Aug 2024. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 5 Access 4

Log Text: I still have plenty of time, so head over for a walk up to the top of Alex Tor to check out the magnificent cairn with its surrounding circle of slabs. I've not seen anything like this one before, it's marvellous. What a super surrounding kerb of large, leaning and contiguous stones. Is that some sort of chamber remnants within, or just a sort of slotting in the original tor structure? While climbing up onto the nearby tor top highest point, I realise that I have walked into a Bees nest in a gap in the tor rocks which prevented me from getting the best picture looking down on the cairn. Down then out for a look at Middle Moor Cross, before returning to the car and going to the Blisland Inn for crab sandwich and pint.

Selworthy Beacon cairns

Date Added: 27th Aug 2024
Site Type: Barrow Cemetery Country: England (Somerset)
Visited: Yes on 25th Aug 2024. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Several barrows, cairns and tumuli marked at the top ridge of Selwrthy Beacon. Upon visiting in August 2024, most were obscured below the colourful heather and gorse on the top of this fabulous hill, but several lumps and bumps could be nade out. There is a road and car park up to the top of the beacon, but it is much better appreciated if you make the walk up from Bossington, Selworthy or around the coast path. Tremendous views all around from the top of the beacon with Wales and the Bristol Channel to the north, the fabulous north Somerset coast beyond Porlock to the west, and the heights of Exmoor to the south.

Middle Moor Cross

Date Added: 24th Aug 2024
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (Cornwall)
Visited: Yes on 3rd Aug 2024. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: From the top of Alex Tor I decide to head down then out for a look at Middle Moor Cross, which I could not decide whether it had turned since the last time I visited. It is said to turn on hearing the St Breward church bells. I then returned to the car and going to the Blisland Inn for crab sandwich and pint.

Trippet Stones

Date Added: 24th Aug 2024
Site Type: Stone Circle Country: England (Cornwall)
Visited: Yes on 3rd Aug 2024. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Heading down to Padstow, I make a stop at the Trippet Stones. It is nice to see that they now seem a lot tidier and more looked after than my last few visits, where thay were getting all chewed up with 4wd vehicle tracks all over the top of them.

Holme II

Date Added: 21st Aug 2024
Site Type: Timber Circle Country: England (Norfolk)
Visited: Yes on 13th Jun 2024. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 4 Access 2

Log Text: Went for a walk around the marshes from Thornham, and ended up walking out along the coast path to the north and west. I noticed that there were signposts to "the site of Seahenge". Anyways, I just kept going, past all sorts of interesting wildlife including spoonbills, and up to the Norfolk Wildlife Trust's Holme Dunes visitor centre, which was closing. Found myself drawn down onto the beach, and saw that it was quite close to the position of Seahenge, and was drawn to wander towards it. As I got there, I was looking for the post which I think marks the site of Seahenge, all still under water. But the tide was going out, and slowly things came into view. Now knowing where it all is, I headed back to Seahenge 2, and noted a couple of timbers poking through the waves, so I waited. Slowly more was revealed, but much less than a few days ago, the sand now right up over the inland side, leaving just the tops of a few of the major sector I had previously seen. I stayed for ages as the site was slowly uncovered. When you know where it is, its remarkably easy to find, and also so much easier to walk to from the east at Thornham rather than the west from Holme. In fact, along the coast path on top of the seawall, it would be possible to push a wheelchair, and only half an hour from the public parking. This said, it is possible to park at the Wildlife centre. I took a three little words position from the centre of the circle; garlic clockwork mole. TF 71234 45246

Longstone Hill cairn

Date Added: 21st Aug 2024
Site Type: Cairn Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 2nd Aug 2024. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: From the Longstone, I head northwards along the summit trackway which takes me past the stony cairn on my way down to the dam and back across to the car. Now very weary, I head for a well deserved pint at Betty Cottles.

Longstone Hill stone

Date Added: 21st Aug 2024
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 2nd Aug 2024. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: After passing the large ring cairn, heading down from Yes Tor to Longstone Hill, there is no semblance of a pathway, but luckily the visibility is now good, and I can clearly see where I am heading towards, and the trackways across it. Its not too bad going down, and once on Longstone Hill, I find the fallen longstone fairly easily. It certainly looks like a shaped menhir to me, and not just a piece of granite!

Yes Tor cairns

Date Added: 20th Aug 2024
Site Type: Barrow Cemetery Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 2nd Aug 2024. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 2

Log Text: Yes Tor is looking good to the north, and it's easily reached, with it's trig point atop a nice rocky outcrop, and although windy, the weather seems to be improving. Now to find the way down, and it's through rough slopes to the west with no semblance of a path. Just below the summit there is a large ring of stones, the messed about remains of a large cairn with massive stony banks. I didn't spend much time investigating, as by now I just wanted to get down from up here.

High Willhays North

Date Added: 19th Aug 2024
Site Type: Ring Cairn Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 2nd Aug 2024. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 2

Log Text: Now heading north across the indistinct top of High Willhays towards Yes Tor, I keep an eye open for what we have marked as a ring cairn, which I find positioned adjacent to one of the rock outcrops at the northern top of High Willhays. It seems to be a sort of ring cairn combined with a tor top cairn like that on Showery Tor on Bodmin Moor. It looks a bit like a semi circular retaining bank for a pool.

High Willhays kerb cairn

Date Added: 19th Aug 2024
Site Type: Ring Cairn Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 2nd Aug 2024. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 4 Access 2

Log Text: From Fordsland Ledge its relatively easy going up to High Willhays, but in a bit of a mist at times which makes me slightly concerned about navigation further on when there will be no obvious trackway. Hard to figure out what exactly this is. There are several side set slabs standing proud just to the east of the top outcrop with its marker cairn on top. It is hard to tell whether these are the remains of a large kerb, or perhaps an internal structure, as in some views it looks to be two parallel rows of slabs.

Fordsland Ledge Chambered cairn

Date Added: 19th Aug 2024
Site Type: Chambered Cairn Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 2nd Aug 2024. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 2

Log Text: A walk up to the top of southern England, I park at Meldon reservoir and head over the dam then around the lake and up the West Okement river to an area of woodland and waterfalls, at which point I head up towards the top of the ridge north of Black Tor. I almost instantly regret this decision, as it is very hard going in very steep rough and wet ground, and I have a couple of falls, in the meantime seeing several other people descending much further upstream below the tor outcrop. Once up to Black Tor, and extremely weary, I have a serious talk to myself about heading directly back to the car along the track via Longstone Hill, as the weather is worsening and I am really starting to ache. However, after eating a sticky bun I feel the worst is over and decide to carry on up to Fordsland Ledge with its army huts and nice cairn with large stones protruding, seeing heavy rainshowers passing around, but none on me.

Pierre des Quatre Curés

Trip No.204  Entry No.182  Date Added: 10th Jul 2024
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Auvergne:Puy-de-Dôme (63))
Visited: Yes on 23rd Jul 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: This crystalline basalt menhir has served as a boundary stone between four parishes since the middle ages, hence it's name. It's not much more than 2 metres high, and looks like it has been mended from broken at some point, but I cant be sure. I was hoping for a bit more from this. On the map it looks spectacularly positioned overlooking the Sancy mountains one way, and the valley of the river Dordogne the other. In practice, it really only overlooks the fields around it. It can be found a couple of fields to the south of the busy D.922 road, with a track and footpath almost right to it, and there is room to park.

Dolmens de Bignon

Trip No.203  Entry No.231  Date Added: 10th Jul 2024
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Aquitaine:Gironde (33))
Visited: Saw from a distance on 3rd Jun 2005

Log Text: I knew things were going too well this morning. I found Frontenac, and from there I eventually found Bignon, but after much searching and some very difficult to understand directions from an old lady living near the farm (they are very big, and only 800 metres away) I could find no signs of the three dolmens here. Supposedly there is one large allée-couverte and two simple dolmens to be found, and I must have spent over an hour looking along all tracks and in all fields. Perhaps they are deep in some woods beside the stream.

Red Rocks

Date Added: 4th Jul 2024
Site Type: Ancient Mine, Quarry or other Industry Country: England (Merseyside)
Visited: Yes on 11th Sep 2023. My rating: Condition 1 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Visit to Hilbre Point and a walk out to the Red Rocks

Warham Camp

Date Added: 22nd Jun 2024
Site Type: Hillfort Country: England (Norfolk)
Visited: Yes on 10th Jun 2024. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: A recommended visit from the bar lady at the Binham pub, to occupy a loose hour. Its really impressive in its scale and completeness. Lots of orchids are flowering on the banks in the sunshine.

Seahenge

Date Added: 21st Jun 2024
Site Type: Timber Circle Country: England (Norfolk)
Visited: Yes on 10th Jun 2024. My rating: Condition -1 Ambience 4 Access 2

Log Text: After many years, and a fair bit of planning, I got to visit the site of Seahange. I started from the pay car park at Holme, near the golf course, and followed the well marked and made coast path to the north then east, through the marshes and sand dunes. Whern I got to near where I thought the site was, I started looking for the signboard, but it had been knocked over so was not easy to find. I then tried to get down onto the beach, which was not easy with cliffs in the dunes and fences, so I retraced my steps back for a fair old way until I could get down onto the beach, before heading back east to the area of the site. After a fair bit of searching around, near to where it is marked on our map, I first saw a pole and stump sticking up, but nothing else. I wondered whether this was a marker for the site of the original Seahenge now removed.

Holme II

Date Added: 21st Jun 2024
Site Type: Timber Circle Country: England (Norfolk)
Visited: Yes on 10th Jun 2024. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 4 Access 2

Log Text: After many years, and a fair bit of planning, I got to visit the site of Seahange. It needed a significantly low tide, and a long walk with no features to aim for. It was also a complete unknown as to whether any of the timbers would still be there, and not covered by the sands and mud. I started from the pay car park at Holme, near the golf course, and followed the well marked and made coast path to the north then east, through the marshes and sand dunes. Whern I got to near where I thought the site was, I started looking for the signboard, but it had been knocked over so was not easy to find. I then tried to get down onto the beach, which was not easy with cliffs in the dunes and fences, so I retraced my steps back for a fair old way until I could get down onto the beach, before heading back east to the area of the site. After a fair bit of searching around, near to where it is marked on our map, I first saw a pole and stump sticking up, but nothing else. I wondered whether this was a marker for the site of the original Seahenge now removed. Walking in the wet mud and sand further to the east, I some dark shapes. Is this it? I walked over, and indeed it was a sector of timber stumps poking above the water. Further looking, and there were some more sectors, generally under pools, with a few other stumps showing above the sands, which would have made a circle about 15 metres diameter. Fantastic, and well worth the effort. I noticed that there were a few large timbers on their sides nearby, and many other odd stumps. Nearby were a couple of places with arrangements of stumps showing above the sands, are these remnants of other structures. There are a couple of much more modern linear timber structures heading directly towards the sea from the shore, arranged in pairs, and when speaking to a local, he told me that these were constructed by the army and used as devices to move targets up and down the beach, for training the gunners and tanks that were there at the time. These can be used to give a good indication of where the site is.

Kings Lynn Museum

Date Added: 21st Jun 2024
Site Type: Museum Country: England (Norfolk)
Visited: Yes on 11th Jun 2024

Log Text: A visit to the Lynn museum in Kings Lynn, hopefully to see the remains of Seahenge, removed from Holme beach and displayed here. I had seen online that the gallery in the museum was closed for building work, stating that it would reopen in "early June". It is now the 11th June, so not expecting to be able to see it, I was hoping! Upon getting to the museum, the people at the reception told me that the building work was over running, it was not open, but they were now hopeful for some time in July 2024. No good to me.

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.