Drizzlecombe Cairn 18

Trip No.134  Entry No.14  Date Added: 17th Jul 2019
Site Type: Cairn Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 15th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: Drizzlecombe Cairn 18: An enormous cairn, which rivals the Giant's Basin in size, so why there is so little information about it, I'm not sure. I managed to clamber up to the top of the cairn and have a look inside, where there is a hollow where it has been excavated. Built almost on top of one of the settlements at the south-eastern side of Drizzlecombe, it looks over the River Plym to the south.

Drizzlecombe Settlement

Trip No.134  Entry No.15  Date Added: 17th Jul 2019
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 15th May 2019. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: Drizzlecombe Settlements: After the stone rows, we move up-slope to try and find row 4. Whilst the rest of the group helped Sandy G identify possible stones in this row, I wandered over to Butler's Cairn 18, photographing what looked like some hut circles embedded in the turf. Arriving at Cairn 18, I walked to the top of to look at the enclosed settlement to its south/south western side, which I found fascinating.

Dave Parks was also meandering around the cairn, so he and I wandered back towards the group, with me taking photos of the long, low banks running across the pasture.

Higher up the hill was yet another settlement(s) which I barely took in. This area is so complex and interesting, yet I confess to 'brain overload' by this time of the afternoon, especially as there was so much more yet to come!

I've since managed to get hold of a pdf copy of Jennifer Robertson's unpublished thesis "Archaeology of the Upper Plym Valley" (all 592 pages), which I'll dip into soon, to try and understand more about this area.

Yellowmead

Trip No.134  Entry No.18  Date Added: 17th Jul 2019
Site Type: Stone Circle Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 15th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: Yellowmead Fourfold Stone Circle: This stone circle has long been on my wish-list, but I thought I’d never be able to see it, because access was described as being difficult.

Fortunately, Dave Parks and Sandy G had been here before and knew the pitfalls, selecting the right route for us. We were also extremely fortunate in coming here after a prolonged dry spell, so we encountered no boggy areas, apart from one by the stream on the way back to the car park.

By this time of the afternoon, I was hot and tired, and my feet ached really badly, but I was determined to see this stone circle. I should have swapped my walking boots for my wellies to make the walking a little softer on the soles of my feet, but stubbornly didn’t. Mistake. However, the walk to see this circle was well worth it, although I need to apologise to the rest of the group for being very grumpy on the way back. Also, by this time the sun had come out and everyone was getting sunburned, despite the continuous application of sun-screen.

It was really good to have the experts here to describe the monuments to us. Gordon and Dave Parks wandered off to see if they could find other stones in the stone row further to the WSW of the row, but the grass was knee high in this part of the meadow.

Andrew, on the way back to the pub after our epic trip, was saying that he didn’t think the stone circle was entirely genuine; his thinking was the Victorians had ‘beautified’ it for tourists, so I spent some time in the car pulling up the different websites. The stone circle is described as having been ‘faithfully restored’, but Andrew still has his doubts.

We all met up in the Prince of Wales in Princetown for a couple of ice cold pints, before dispersing for the evening. I confess to not recognising Sandy G in the bar, as he didn’t have his hat on – I’ve never seen him without it!

Drizzlecombe cist 22

Trip No.134  Entry No.17  Date Added: 17th Jul 2019
Site Type: Cist Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 15th May 2019. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: Drizzlecombe Cist 22: This was an ‘added on extra’ as it was only an additional 100m, and if we took a short detour to cross the leat, was on our way anyway. Located in the valley, north of the river, this would have been a pleasant, peaceful spot, within sight of the stone rows.

Standing Stone Near Cairn at Head of Drizzlecombe Row 4

Trip No.134  Entry No.16  Date Added: 16th Jul 2019
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 15th May 2019. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: Drizzlecombe West Standing Stone: Whilst Sandy and the rest of the intrepid "Dartmoor Expedition" were searching lower down the slope for the enigmatic and mysterious Drizzlecome West Stone Row, I'd wandered up slope, stopping at this stone and looking at the nearby cairn. Failing to attract the attention of my fellow explorers, I wandered off to look at the large cairn near the southern and smaller of the two pounds. When I came back, I found Sandy in full 'Bronze Age Mode' with his ranging pole standing by this stone.

We photographed it and took a grid reference with our GPS. More research to be done on this stone - not apparently recorded in Butler or any of the other Dartmoor Archaeology books I now possess. Have asked the rest of the group to contribute to the information on this stone, if they are able. Sandy plans to return in September 2019, so more information to follow.

King Arthur's Well (Walltown Gap)

Trip No.143  Entry No.2  Date Added: 12th Jul 2019
Site Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 8th Jul 2019. My rating: Condition 1 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: King Arthur's Well, Walltown Crags: Whilst this well may now be destroyed or lost, the scenery here is fantastic, and it was well worth coming out to look.
We were unable to find this holy well, despite having the GPS to guide us to the spot. However, we did see signs of reeds and tall grasses where the water might have pooled and flowed.

On the way up to the nick in the crags where the well is located, there is water emerging from the hillside at NY 68041 66551, which runs in a small stream down the slope, feeding two drinking troughs in the field below. We did visit after a period of prolonged dry weather, so wondered if the water emerges from higher up the hill after wet weather.

Hadrian's Wall (Turret 44b)

Trip No.143  Entry No.3  Date Added: 11th Jul 2019
Site Type: Misc. Earthwork Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 8th Jul 2019. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Turret 44b, Hadrian's Wall: Located on the crag above King Arthur's Well, this is a lovely spot. We had difficulty in locating the holy well, so whilst I continue to search for the it and see if I could find any structure or water course, Andrew ascended the steps to the top of the crag, and came back about 20 minutes later.

This turret is on the Hadrian’s Wall path, which runs almost due east-west here. It is in a very pretty spot. Even with it being a Monday afternoon, and a very warm day, there were lots of walkers here. Many passed me on the paved section of path but none appeared to stop and look at the turret, as no-one seemed to linger at this point. Perhaps they had already seen too many turrets around here - there are certainly a lot of them!

Whittenknowles Rocks

Trip No.134  Entry No.2  Date Added: 11th Jul 2019
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 15th May 2019. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: Whittenknowles Rocks Enclosed Settlement: We parked in the small car park at SX 57880 67316 next to a small stream and a ford. Walking across the road bridge, we dived off across a small stream and walked next to a small wood, entering the moorland and continuing in a southerly direction, following an old dry stone wall, then turning eastwards. Most of the walking was really easy, even though this was rough moorland.

We started to come across wall lines and groups of stones, and as I started to ‘get my eye in’, the hut circles and compounds became much clearer (see Butler’s plan, “Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities”, volume 3, page 126). The hut circles and enclosures were inter-dispersed with uncleared lines of rocks, which Sandy said were natural, and the occupants had just left them as they were.

Towards the southern side of the site, towards the long houses, we came across a small leat, where Sandy explained there had been ‘in the past, a natural disaster’ and all the soil had come down the slope, presumably leaving no soil for growing crops.

I couldn’t believe how far this site extends – some 4.7 hectares (11.61 acres).

I took photographs, blithely thinking the external GPS device on my camera was capturing the locations of the photographs. It wasn't until a couple of days later that I realised there was no lat/long information on the photographs, so I've had to guess, from Butler's plan, more or less where the photos were taken.

Hadrian's Wall (Poltross Burn)

Trip No.143  Entry No.1  Date Added: 11th Jul 2019
Site Type: Stone Fort or Dun Country: England (Cumbria)
Visited: Yes on 8th Jul 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Poltross Burn Milecastle: We last visited this site on 27th October 2013, and it hasn’t’ changed at all. Andrew, in typical engineering fashion, went round and talked about the offsets and revetted construction of this small fort. It’s layout is remarkably easy to read.

Andrew recalled reading about a house built right on top of the wall, but we were unable to find it.

Leeden Tor

Trip No.133  Entry No.13  Date Added: 9th Jul 2019
Site Type: Stone Row / Alignment Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 14th May 2019. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: Leeden Tor Stone Row: It was now the afternoon of 14th May. Having driven from Merrivale to the small car park nearest this site at SX 56725 71397, we had 10-15 minutes to spare before everyone arrived. In the meantime, Sandy led us up the hill to look at this stone row. By this time the wind was howling around us, with strong gusts that threatened to blow me over - thank goodness for my walking poles! I took a little satisfaction in watching the small group of soldiers out on exercise also being pummelled by the wind.

When the stones in the row and the cairn at its head were pointed out to me, I could see the alignment and also its relationship to the reave.

Whilst this stone row is near the car park, the tussocky grass made walking a little tricky.

Chesters Roman Site b

Trip No.142  Entry No.2  Date Added: 7th Jul 2019
Site Type: Rock Art Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 4th Jul 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Chesters Roman Site b, Chesters Roman Bridge Abutment: Whilst we were here to photograph the bridge abutment, we took the opportunity to look for this panel again to see if it had changed. It was very much the same.

Hadrian's Wall (Chesters Bridge Abutment)

Trip No.142  Entry No.2  Date Added: 7th Jul 2019
Site Type: Misc. Earthwork Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 4th Jul 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Chesters Bridge Abutment: It's been some time since we came here to photograph the rock art panel, which is still here (although heavily lichen covered). This is where “The River Hunters” did a search in their series not long ago, just opposite the bath house at Chesters on the opposite bank. This was visible from the bridge abutment.

We met the American party again and another gentleman who said he had been walking round the poppy field trying to get some good photos. I set him a challenge - looking for the phallus symbol and the rock art. He got quite excited about the symbol and told me that he walked the wall looking for these symbols. He'd recently been trying to find one near Gilsland but without success.

One of the sources used by Historic England is my book bought for £1 from Hexham car boot sale: Bruce, J C, Handbook to the Roman wall, (1863), 117-120 and Bruce, J C, Handbook to the Roman wall, (1863), 109-111

Merrivale circle

Trip No.133  Entry No.7  Date Added: 7th Jul 2019
Site Type: Stone Circle Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 14th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Merrivale Stone Circle: Will you forgive me for saying I wasn't hugely impressed by this stone circle. For some reason I was expecting the stones to be larger and for it to sit more dramatically in the landscape.

On walking to the circle from the western end of Row 2, we came across an impressively large, black coloured boulder buried in the grass, which does not appear to be marked by Butler. I estimated its grid reference to be SX 55304 74704, or just south of this.

The group walked round the circle and the menhir, looking at the pits in the ground, wondering if these could possibly be the remains of holes for other stones. Dave Parks said he had read somewhere that there was thought to have been a double stone circle here, but no proof had yet been found. He later came back to tell me that Butler has marked the pits on his diagrams of Merrivale, see pages 29-31 inclusive of Volume 3 of "Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities".

I do like Butler's description of the circle: "Their arrangement is markedly eccentric, perhaps deliberately so, with the majority of stones up to a metre off a true circle 19m across and with very variable intervals between" and his notes that the numbers of stones seem to vary across the ages: "several detailed nineteenth century accounts of the site show that the number of stones has actually increased, a most unusual phenomenon, from 9 in the early part of the century, 9 in 1828 (Smith), 10 (1827, Rowe, 1829 Kempe), and 9 (1859 Wilkinson), before reaching the present total of 11 in Worth’s 1895 plan. It seems at least 2 stones have been added, probably by some of the early investigators who were not always particular in recording their restorations, which in any case were often somewhat arbitrary".

Merrivale Centre S

Trip No.133  Entry No.6  Date Added: 7th Jul 2019
Site Type: Cairn Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 14th May 2019. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Merrivale Centre S Cairn (cairn at the head of Merrivale 3/C stone row): Thank heavens for Sandy G's Stone Rows of Great Britain and Dave P's Prehistoric Dartmoor Walks websites to help sort out the photos for Merrivale 3and its cairn. This area certainly has a glut of stone rows and cairns, and the GPS device on my camera had failed. Whilst I carefully wrote down the numbers of the photographs and the sites they related to, and constantly asked Sandy G on the day which site I was looking at, there's nothing like being able to make a direct comparison almost two months later. Thanks, guys!

As the cairn has a separate site page, but I've recorded them both together, as per the Pastscape record (440357), I've given these two the same visit number.

Merrivale SW row 3

Trip No.133  Entry No.6  Date Added: 7th Jul 2019
Site Type: Stone Row / Alignment Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 14th May 2019. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Merrivale Row 3/C: Without Sandy G being there to tell us, I would have struggled to identify this as a stone row in its own right, but with Sandy pointing out where it joining up at an angle with Merrivale 2/B and with the cairn at its head, it became more obvious. The cairn is recorded as a separate site page here, so I'm adding the same visit report number, as I've recorded them both together, as the Pastscape record (440357).

Hadrian's Wall (Brunton Turret)

Trip No.142  Entry No.1  Date Added: 7th Jul 2019
Site Type: Misc. Earthwork Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 4th Jul 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Brunton Turret 26b, Hadrian's Wall: Parked at the layby by the stile. We met a party of four Americans who were walking the wall and who had started at Newcastle on Monday, and from Corbridge this morning. I wished them a ‘happy 4th July’ and one of the ladies replied “Good job we’re friends again”, which raised a smile.

There was also a spring at NY 92109 69847 with the remains of a structure around it, flowing quite quickly and forming a small stream running downhill and round the bottom end of the turret.

The information sign at the top end of the site reads: ”Turrets were positioned equidistantly between largely milecastles where small garrisons of soldiers guarded gates that allowed for trave lthrough the Wall. Shortly after work on the wall started, large forts, such as Chesters, were also constructed to house garrisons of between 500 and 1,000 soldiers.
(Image) Right: layout of Brunton turret. The ‘curtain’ wall is a different thickness on each side of the turret. The turret was laid out with short ‘wing’ walls either side. These were supposed to be incorporated within the curtain wall once it was finished. But between completing the section of the Wall to the west and that to the east, the builders were ordered to narrow the curtain wall. This left about 1m of eastern wind-wall exposed”.

Merrivale Cists

Trip No.133  Entry No.5  Date Added: 6th Jul 2019
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 14th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Merrivale Cist: I've seen quite a few cists, largely in Northumberland, and none this large. Impressive. I tried to persuade Janet to get into the cist to model it, but she politely declined (it would have made a nice refuge for the wind).

At this point, Angie got her dowsing rods out and was meandering around the cist and the stones. Very interesting to watch.

Smith's Shield Milestone

Trip No.142  Entry No.3  Date Added: 6th Jul 2019
Site Type: Marker Stone Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 4th Jul 2019. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Smith's Shield Roman Milestone (base of): The base of this Roman milestone, located at the northern side of the road which runs east towards Vindolanda, is easy to spot.

A note of warning to future visitors - we had a run in with the AD122 local bus service who told us off for parking in what he thought was a passing place, but wasn't; there was plenty of room for him to pass, and he parked alongside us before he started yelling. I think he just wanted to shout at someone, but it certainly ruined my day.

There is a second, intact milestone at the eastern entrance to Vindolanda, which we have yet to go back and see.

Merrivale Centre Row

Trip No.133  Entry No.4  Date Added: 5th Jul 2019
Site Type: Multiple Stone Rows / Avenue Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 14th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Merrivale 2/Merrivale Centre Row: As we progressed further south over the moorland, and not far from Merrivale 1 (the northern-most row) at that, the stone rows kept getting better and better.

The row features a triangular blocking stone at the eastern end and twin blocking stones at the western end. It runs for 262.5m from SX 5530 7475 to SX 5556 7478 - see Pastscape 44056. The stones seem to vary in size quite a lot, and generally larger than those of the northern row/row 1/row A.

Merrivale Centre N

Trip No.133  Entry No.3  Date Added: 4th Jul 2019
Site Type: Cairn Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 14th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Merrivale Centre Cairn with Cist: Half way down Merrivale North (Row A or Row 1), we hopped across to row 2 to take a look at the cairn in the middle of the row. Fascinating. Worried about the complexity of recording all these sites in my photo/walk journal, Angie Lake told me about the Butler "Atlas of Antiquities" series of 5 books, which has hugely increased my understanding of these sites. Thanks, Angie!