Glennan Standing Stone

Trip No.83  Entry No.3  Date Added: 1st Aug 2018
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: Scotland (Argyll)
Visited: Yes on 18th Aug 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 5 Access 4

Log Text: Glennan Standing Stones and Cairns: What could top Kintraw Standing Stones & Cairns? But we found places that almost did. Carrying on down the A816 towards Kilmartin, we turned east on the road towards the small village of Ford, travelling along a very beautiful valley. We stopped at Old Glennan farmhouse (pulled into the gateway to the track up to the house, which looked as if it hadn’t been used in ages, and was in sight of the stone). Letting ourselves in through the gate, we followed the track up, with the line of an old stone wall, now only ankle height, up to where it turned a corner, just to the north of the house. The stone appeared to be incorporated into a taller part of the wall.

Walking back to the car, I spotted what looked like a cairn with a slight ditch around it. Andrew looked up the Canmore reference on his phone and determined there were two cairns near the gate, one much reduced. According to Canmore there is a cup marked stone on one, although both cairns were well grassed over at the time of our visit.

Glenquicken Circle

Trip No.139  Entry No.1  Date Added: 22nd Jun 2019
Site Type: Stone Circle Country: Scotland (Dumfries and Galloway)
Visited: Yes on 17th Jun 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Glenquicken Stone Circle:
Our first stop of the day, and in a delightfully rural location. There was a small layby just to the east of a bridge over Englishman’s Burn at NX 50847 58492 which was large enough for one car. Walking to the gate into the field at NX 50904 58456, the gate had been tied up with the Gordian Knott, but was eventually undone. There was an easy enough walk of a couple of hundred meters across a lush field of knee deep pasture and wild flowers.

The stone circle was indeed over a fence topped with barbed wire, but a gate to its east at NX 51057 58211 (opposite a modern cairn) let us in to the field, and we followed the small trails through the grass where other people had walked.

This was the first stone circle I’ve seen with a large central stone – can’t recall seeing any like this in Northumberland.

Glyn Gath Barrow

Date Added: 28th Aug 2014
Site Type: Round Barrow(s) Country: Wales (Pembrokeshire)
Visited: Yes on 21st Aug 2014. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: Glyn Garth Ring Cairn, Pembrokeshire: After visiting a series of standing stones on the northern side of the Afon Gwaun river, we headed eastwards back towards the hotel at Gellifawr. We passed directly by the Glyn Garth ring cairn, so stopped to take a look.

Even with a detailed map, without the marker stone, we wouldn’t have been able to easily identify this cairn, but walking into the heather and gorse we could make out the perimeter banks (easier to do this with the eye than demonstrate with the camera – I’ve yet to learn the technique to do this well).

It was an impressive location; With Myndd Dinas behind and Newport Bay to the north, this was a fantastic place to be buried.

On the drive southwards from Glyn Garth to Pontfaen, we were doing double-takes at most field entrances, as the gateposts all seemed (to our novice eyes) to be standing stones which had been perhaps been relocated and recycled.

Also of notes to future visitors, it is well worth popping into the Dyffryn Arms at Pontfaen. It is like walking back into time; the main bar is like small sitting room from the 1930s and the landlady serves ale from jugs from a serving hatch – brilliant!

Goatstones A

Date Added: 23rd Sep 2014
Site Type: Rock Art Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 21st Sep 2014. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 3

Log Text: Goatstones A to P, Simonburn, Northumberland (excepting K, L and P): Having previously wasted time hunting for rock art we couldn't find, my husband splashed out on a cheap, but cheerful GPS device in Carlisle yesterday. We decided to put it to use today by going to find the rock art near Goatstones Four Poster, which I've longed to see. This might have been a mistake, as not even having read the manual, we set off with the grid references of the stones SolarMegalith had posted, and off we went.

Actually, the trip was a success! Without a GPS system, we would have had no hope in finding these stones, buried as most of them were in deep marsh grass.

Apart from stones K, L and P, which we decided to save for another visit, as there were some extremely LARGE (and magnificent) cattle in that area - even husband, Andrew, who was brought up with livestock and is used to them, was keen to avoid them.

I have to confess that compared to some rock art we’ve seen recently, this was only a 3 out of 10, but even so, it was a fascinating journey through the landscape of our ancestors. I usually try and put myself into their mindset and try and identify why they put rock art in certain places. Given that Goatstones Four Poster Stone Circle is to the west of this rock art, and further south west is the wonderful Standingstone Rigg double stone row, this place must have been part of a thriving Neolithic/Bronze Age landscape.

The Goatstones rock art stones seem to form three separate groups within the same general area, but apart from F, which was perched on the brow of a hill, and stone J which was on a cairn (but portable - it would have been so tempting to pick it up and take it home, but NO!), I couldn’t make out any obvious reason for placing the art where it was. A mystery I will continue to ponder on.

It is still in a beautiful and peaceful spot, and I enjoyed this warm, but misty afternoon.

Goatstones B

Date Added: 22nd Sep 2014
Site Type: Rock Art Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 21st Sep 2014. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 3

Log Text: Goatstones B, Simonburn, Northumberland: see visit report for Goatstones A (14 rock art stones in near to each other).

Goatstones C

Date Added: 22nd Sep 2014
Site Type: Rock Art Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 21st Sep 2014. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 3

Log Text: Goatstones C: see visit report for Goatstones A (group of 14 stones in same area).

Goatstones D

Date Added: 22nd Sep 2014
Site Type: Rock Art Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 21st Sep 2014. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 3

Log Text: Goatstones D, Simonburn, Northumberland: see visit report for Goatstones A (14 stones near to each other).

Goatstones E

Date Added: 23rd Sep 2014
Site Type: Rock Art Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 21st Sep 2014. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 3

Log Text: Goatstones E, Simonburn, Northumberland: See visit report for Goatstones A (14 rock art stones within a couple of hundred yards).

Goatstones F.

Date Added: 23rd Sep 2014
Site Type: Rock Art Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 21st Sep 2014. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 3

Log Text: Goatstones F, Simonburn, Northumberland: See visit report for Goatstones A (14 rock art stones with a couple of hundred yards of each other).

Goatstones Four-Poster

Date Added: 1st Jul 2014
Site Type: Stone Circle Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 30th Jun 2014. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: There are a couple of parking spaces next to 'Manor House' on Ward Lane, just below Ravensheugh Crags, and followed the footpath up to the crags, turning right up to the stone circle.
It is an easy walk, with spectacular views - the visibility was around 30 miles - we could see the Cheviot Hills in the distance.
The stones of this unusual four poster stone circle are low to the ground (with other outlying stones buried in the grass around?) but very atmospheric. It feels very remote, with very little noise apart from birdsong, although there is a steady (but small) stream of traffic along Ward Lane.
There are very definite cup marks on the eastern most stone, and other possible cups on the southern most stone (now partly toppled and hidden by marsh grass).
We met the farmer from Great Lonbrough, at the very end of the footpath, and he told us more about the hut circles and cairns in the fields below. We checked the Portal when we got home and were inspired by the photographs of the rock art at Goatstones, so we intend to go back and look again in the next few weeks and look at these, plus also walk along to Standingstone Rigg.
Will most definitely visit again.

Goatstones G

Date Added: 23rd Sep 2014
Site Type: Rock Art Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 21st Sep 2014. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 3

Log Text: Goatstones G, Simonburn, Northumberland: See visit report for Goatstones A (14 rock art boulders within a couple of hundred metres)

Goatstones H

Date Added: 23rd Sep 2014
Site Type: Rock Art Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 21st Sep 2014. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 3

Log Text: Goatstones H, Simonburn, Northumberland: see visit report for Goatstones A (14 rock art boulders within a couple hundred metre area)

Goatstones J

Date Added: 23rd Sep 2014
Site Type: Rock Art Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 21st Sep 2014. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: Goatstones J, Simonburn, Northumberland: This was a real treat - a marker stone on top of an apparently undisturbed cairn. For rest of visit report, see Goatstones A (14 rock art boulders within a couple of hundred metres).

Goatstones N

Date Added: 23rd Sep 2014
Site Type: Rock Art Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 21st Sep 2014. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 3

Log Text: Goatstones N, Simonburn, Northumberland: See visit report for Goatstones A (14 rock art boulders all within a couple of hundred metres)

Goatstones O

Date Added: 23rd Sep 2014
Site Type: Rock Art Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 21st Sep 2014. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 3

Log Text: Goatstones O, Simonburn, Northumberland: See visit report for Goatstones A (14 rock art stones/boulders within a couple of hundred metres).

Gogar Stone

Trip No.25  Entry No.4  Date Added: 21st May 2017
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: Scotland (Midlothian)
Visited: Saw from a distance on 18th May 2017. My rating: Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: The Gogar Stone, West Lothian: This stone was conveniently located on our way back into Edinburgh, although we were only able to see it from a distance. Sited towards southern edge of a huge field, about 300 metres south east of East Norton Farm, access to the field can be gained from Freelands Road through the large gaps in the hedge which runs to the northern side of the road.

At the time of our visit, a crop of wheat was almost knee high in the field. We walked along the crop-free area of the field running alongside Freelands Road side, seeking a tractor track we could walk along to reach the stone. Not finding this, we turned and walked north, following the edge of the field along Gogarstone Road. Again, no track. I started trying to place my feet carefully between the densely planted rows of wheat without damaging them, but even my feet were too large to fit sideways inside the rows; it took me five minutes to get some 20 rows in, and only 1/10th way there!

I could have kept walking round this enormous field, but time was running short. We decided to come back once the crop had been harvested, and moved on to the Physic Well in Corstophine.

Gogar Stone

Trip No.105  Entry No.6  Date Added: 6th Nov 2018
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: Scotland (Midlothian)
Visited: Yes on 28th Oct 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: The Gogar or Easter Norton Standing Stone: The last time I visited this stone, the field was planted with crop with no easy way of crossing the knee high rows of plants, so we viewed it from a distance. On this visit, the field had been left fallow, so we parked in the small layby on Freelands Road and walked through a gap in the hedgerow up to the stone. A large rook was perched on top of the stone, but flew off before I could take a photograph of it.

This stone has lots to keep it occupied during the day – planes taking off from Edinburgh airport to the north, trains on the mainline to the south, and cars on the M8. It was nice to be able to wander up to it, take photographs and see the stone up close.

The satnav took us by a funny route back to the A8 and whilst waiting to move off, a white van ran into the back of our car, just as a blue light ambulance was trying to get past. Not a good end to the day, but we decided to stop off at the Boar Stone on the way back as there was still just enough daylight.

Goggleby Stone

Date Added: 1st Jul 2014
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: England (Cumbria)
Visited: Yes on 28th Jun 2014. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: After failing to park along the narrow lanes around Keld, to see various stones in Shap Row, we finally parked outside the Fire Station on the A6 running through Shap, and followed the footpaths westward to the Googleby Stone and the partially toppled stone in Asper's Field.
This is a short walk, with a couple of stiles to cross, but easy enough.
I was impressed by the size of this stone, although we could discern no cup or ring marks anywhere on it.
I was a bit disappointed to see this stone had been concreted into place to keep it upright!

Gormyre

Trip No.49  Entry No.4  Date Added: 6th Oct 2017
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: Scotland (West Lothian)
Visited: Yes on 22nd Sep 2017. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Gormyre Stone, Torphichen: Ever since I went to Torphichen on 13th May 2017, I’ve wanted to come back and not only look round the Preceptory, but also try to find the other refuge stones associated with the Sanctuary Stone in the churchyard.

Today, despite not feeling 100% I was glad to be in search of this stone, and delighted to be able to see it from the road. We parked at NS 98072 72853 (there was just enough room by the gate to pull off the road), approximately 1.2 km east of Torphichen Preceptory.

The farmer had padlocked the gates into the field and the track which ran alongside it; these were really high and a little precarious to climb over (didn’t want to break them), so I ended up clambering gingerly over the wooden fence next to the gate. Following the grassy trackway north, just over 200 metres further on there was another gate, again padlocked, so we negotiated the wooden fence next to it. Thankfully, the huge bull and his ladies were in the adjoining field.

This stone sits on top of a natural mound. We couldn’t see the outline of the Maltese Cross on the north face of the stone, despite careful looking at a number of different angles and distances (although looking at one of the photographs, it does stand out a little). A really nice location, and a very friendly stone.

Gors Fawr Outliers

Date Added: 28th Aug 2014
Site Type: Standing Stones Country: Wales (Pembrokeshire)
Visited: Yes on 23rd Aug 2014. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 5 Access 4

Log Text: Gors Fawr Outliers, Pembrokeshire: It was an easy walk of about 150 metres or so north-northeast across the moorland to the Gors Fawr Standing Stones/Outliers, which were visible from the stone circle.

Standing at the Outliers looking towards the circle, they do appear to be an entrance. We spotted other shaped stones lying in the grass, which looked like they may have formed part of a stone avenue at some point in the distant past.

One of the Outlier stones was shaped, as if it could be used to sit on. I understand from reading the Ancient Wisdom of Wales web site that this is called ‘the dreaming stone’ and has magnetic qualities.

With the Presili mountains in the background, I certainly had the sense of an ancient landscape with huge meaning for our ancestors, and wished I could tap into their thinking today.

I am interested in finding out about possible alignments between these Outliers, the circle and the Solstice – once I’ve processed all the photographs and notes I’ve taken from this trip!