Percy's Leap (Beanley)

Trip No.100  Entry No.5  Date Added: 26th Sep 2018
Site Type: Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 23rd Sep 2018. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 2 Access 5

Log Text: Percy's Leap, Beanley (associated with Percy's Cross): Labelled ‘Percy’s Leap’ on the OS with a semi-circular enclosure marked against the edge of the road. Having the car pointed in this direction, and curious to see this site, as it sounded related to Percy’s Cross (by the name), we headed up and parked in the small layby by the information/interpretation board.

There is a low stone wall next to the layby and a gate leading into a semi-circular walled enclosure which is heavily littered and not pleasant. Inside the enclosure a two large stones, which look as if they have been dumped there for effect. In fact, these are two glacial erratics. There are two other interpretation boards inside the enclosure.

The first interpretation board inside the enclosure reads: “The Red Rose of Lancaster. For 30 years between 1455 and 1485 the two families of Lancaster and York fought for the Crown of England. Between 1461 and 1464 the North of England was the centre of activity in the Wars of the Roses. Edward IV supported by the Yorkists was on the throne which he had taken away from the weak Henry VI After the Lancastrian defeat in 1461 at Towton in Yorkshire Henry VI and his wife, Queen Margaret of Anjou, fled to Scotland to plan another campaign against Edward. / Sir Ralph Percy third son of the second Earl of Northumberland, changed sides four times in the Wars of the Roses. In Spring 1463 he was in the Lancastrian fold as were his castles at Bamburgh and Dunstanburgh. In 1464 Edward IV decided to seek a truce with Scotland to enable him to take action to crush the Lancastrians to the north. Lord Montague, younger brother of Warwick the Kingmaker, was sent to escort a Scottish mission through Northumberland in safety. / Learning of Lord Montague’s attempts to meet the Scottish mission the Lancastrians tried to ambush the Yorkists in Durham but this failed when Montague was alerted to the threat. Before proceeding further north Montague increased his forces at Newcastle. His path to Scotland was barred here at Hedgeley Moor by the Lancastrian troops of Sir Ralph Percy and the Lords Hungerford and Ros. / At the start of the battle Lords Hungerford and Ros decided to leave the field with their troops. Montague’s and Percy’s troops attacked head on. Sir Ralph Percy is reputed to have charged the Yorkist line at which his horse is said to have leapt and was wounded doing so. Sir Ralph fell soon afterwards and said at his death, “I have saved the bird in my bosom”. It is not known whether his final words meant that he died for his rightful monarch, Henry VI, or whether he had kept the secret of where Henry and Margaret were hiding. / Montague’s troops finished off the remaining Lancastrians quickly. Less than a month later the two armies met at Hexham where the Yorkists won a convincing victory which ended the Wars in the north for the time being. / Legend has it that the two stones in front of you mark the leap of Sir Ralph’s horse at the height of the battle.”

There is no record on HE for this site.

Percy's Cross (Beanley)

Trip No.100  Entry No.4  Date Added: 26th Sep 2018
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 23rd Sep 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Percy's Cross, near Beanley, Northumberland: We didn’t have enough time to head up the hill behind Old Bewick, as it had gone 5pm, and there was about a mile each way to walk to the first site. Having spotted Percy’s Leap and Percy’s Cross on the OS map, we decided to stop off and look at these instead.

It was difficult to park just off the busy A697, but we found the wide entrance to a farm track opposite the sawmill, on the western side of the road, and walked back to the farmhouse on the opposite side of the road.

We could see the cross from the gate into their garden, but the gate had a huge chain and even larger padlock. Fortunately, we spotted a track into the wood a metre or so to the north of the edge of the garden. Following this for about 100m led us to a gateway into a field being used partly for caravan storage, and this gate gave access to the very overgrown cross which was surrounded by iron railings with very sharp ornamental spikes.

Worth stopping off to see, although I wondered if this, being dated at 15th century, was too late to post on the Portal, although it is classed as a wayside cross, so I've posted it, along with its associated 'Percy's Leap' erratic rock site.

Pentre Ifan

Date Added: 27th Aug 2014
Site Type: Portal Tomb Country: Wales (Pembrokeshire)
Visited: Yes on 23rd Aug 2014. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 5 Access 4

Log Text: Pentre Ifan, Pembrokeshire: I was particularly excited to go to the site, as I’d seen many photographs and paintings of Pentre Ifan during our brief visit to Pembrokeshire, together with photographs on the Portal. I was unprepared for the sheer number of visitors who came to see this spectacular burial chamber. However, everyone seemed to respect others need to take photographs and kept out of each other’s way, which was nice. We also got into conversation with a Japanese lady about how they had raised the cap stone.

I was truly amazed at how the cap stone balances on the pointed tips of just three uprights. All around are larger stones which may have been part of the structure in the past.

The views over to Newport sands and the sea are wonderful. I would like to go back to the site at a quieter time and just sit and absorb it.

Penrith Museum

Trip No.189  Entry No.1  Date Added: 25th Feb 2023
Site Type: Museum Country: England (Cumbria)
Visited: Yes on 13th Oct 2022. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Penrith Museum: With relatively few trains running between Penrith and Carlisle, and recovering from a broken shoulder, this was of necessity a brief, but reasonably interesting visit. Only a relatively small museum, it has a surprising number of exhibits, although not displayed in any cohesive way, and with frustratingly little information about the items on display. However, I was made very welcome by the staff (volunteer?) members manning the reception desk.

I asked permission to take photographs of some of the exhibits, particularly the cross base, and this was readily granted, providing I didn't use flash. I would go back for another look next time I'm in Penrith, feeling better, and able to carry my proper camera with me, rather than using my mobile phone. Am planning on going back in the not too distant future.

Pencraig Brae

Trip No.52  Entry No.2  Date Added: 9th Oct 2017
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: Scotland (East Lothian)
Visited: Yes on 27th Sep 2017. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Pencraig Hill Standing Stone, East Lothian: Standing just north of the A199, Pencraig Brae Road. There was room to pull the car onto the grass verge next to the tumble-down gate into the field, which we managed to squeeze our way round the edge, as it hadn’t been opened in many a year.

The field was planted with mature cabbages, with the farmer and a small team harvesting a couple of hundred yards to the west. There was sufficient space between the rows of cabbages to pick our way very carefully up to the stone and photograph it. The workers didn’t seem to mind us, as they could see us taking care in picking our route.

A tall, fine standing stone, and one I’m glad to have seen. Despite the cabbages, this was a lovely location and an atmospheric stone.

Pen Y Beacon

Trip No.167  Entry No.7  Date Added: 27th Jul 2021
Site Type: Stone Circle Country: Wales (Powys)
Visited: Yes on 12th Jul 2021. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 2 Access 4

Log Text: Blaenau Stone Circle (remains of): At first view, there was only one standing stone here, immediately adjacent to the car park park, where people were picnicking in their cars and rubbish all around. Rather than there being a footpath, it was a short walk across the grass to the standing stone.

I was very disappointed, but we got out to explore anyway, and found what appeared to be three other stones lying flat in the grass, and other lumps and bumps around that could have been stones lying under the turf.

We had the Coflein record up on our phones, so tried to trace the 29.8m diameter of the circle, and thought we spotted part of the outer arc of the circle away from the car park.

The one standing stone has a well-worn bench mark on its southern side, almost at ground level.

Pathfoot Stone

Trip No.51  Entry No.3  Date Added: 9th Oct 2017
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: Scotland (Stirling)
Visited: Yes on 26th Sep 2017. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: Pathfoot Standing Stone, University of Stirling: Walking back across the campus from Logie Old Church, we got caught in a very heavy shower of rain and had to shelter by the student residences at the western side of the campus.

When I caught sight of this, I thought this was a sculpture, not a real standing stone at first. It is at the side of Armitage Road, just north of its’ (busy) junction with Grange Road at the north western side of the campus. We clambered up the wet, slippery slope to take some photos, stared at by the passing students.

By this time, my feet were aching, as we’d spent the best part of 2 hours walking round and round the campus. With Stirling Castle still to come, I welcomed getting back into the car.

Patervan Settlement

Trip No.82  Entry No.3  Date Added: 23rd Jul 2018
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement Country: Scotland (Scottish Borders)
Visited: Saw from a distance on 12th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Patervan/Polmood Settlement, just west of Patervan Farm Cottage: After the Meggat Stone, we stopped off at Henderland Chapel (aka Chapel Knowe and Cockburn’s Tombstone) at NT 23112 23414, which was well worth a look, but too modern for the Portal!

This settlement is (almost!) easily reached. We parked at a layby on the western side of the A701, just north of the entrance to Patervan farm at NT 10850 28570. To think we’ve driven this way many, many times before over the years, but didn’t even consider exploring this area.

We crossed over the River Tweed (with its river monitoring station) via the robust bridge, and followed the track up to Patervan farm. We passed the cottage on our right hand side. then diverted on the footpath which led into the field just before the sign for ‘Patervan Steading’. The gate into the field on the other side of the track at this point was chained and padlocked, along with an electrified fence. We clambered over the wooden fence next to the gate, only to be confronted by another chained and locked gate. As we wanted to get on and climb up to the hillfort and another, larger settlement, we decided to hedge out bets and simply looked over the stone wall, deciding if there was time on the way back, to hop over and take a closer look (but we ran out of time).

I was really surprised to find so many ancient sites, almost an entire archaeological landscape, in a relatively small area. Worth investigating again, although not hugely, hugely exciting.

Patervan Cairn, Buildings & Mound

Trip No.82  Entry No.4  Date Added: 23rd Jul 2018
Site Type: Cairn Country: Scotland (Scottish Borders)
Visited: Yes on 12th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Patervan Cairn, Buildings & Prehistoric Mound, Scottish Borders: There is actually a rich archaeological landscape around here, although I’m pleased we’ve been out with an Archaeology Group, or I would have had trouble interpreting what we saw. We passed all of these features, all of which are within 100m of each other, on the way to the Laigh Hill settlement, just to the north east, so stopped with the GPS to make sure I was photographing the right thing!

They are perched on top of a river terrace above the alluvial (flood) plain of the River Tweed, which is 100m to the west. The surrounding hills provide an atmospheric backdrop (especially with black clouds (but no rain) looming above us).

Parkmill Cross (Alloa)

Trip No.84  Entry No.7  Date Added: 26th Jul 2018
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: Scotland (Clackmannanshire)
Visited: Couldn't find on 14th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition -1

Log Text: Parkmill Cross, Alloa: Could not find this – the grid reference seemed to be somewhere in a breaker’s yard. Parking in the nearby housing estate just to the south west of this location, we followed the footpath sign to the footpath which ran west-east along the bottom of the field this cross base is supposed to be in, the tall fence and padlocked gates prevented entry. Andrew tried to gain access from the car breakers yard to the north-west, but said it looks as if their site has been extended to cover where this cross might have been.

Park House (West Allen)

Trip No.112  Entry No.2  Date Added: 13th Dec 2018
Site Type: Marker Stone Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 9th Dec 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Boundary stone (?) near Parkhouse, Mohope Burn, West Allen: Andrew found this stone in a book about Isaac’s Tea Trail in Waterstones in Hexham, and as this is an area we’ve not really explored before, we decided to drive out and take a look. Andrew says no one is sure what this stone is – an old standing stone or a boundary marker, or something else.

We walked down the lane eastwards towards Park House, where a sign post directs you to ‘Malakoff Bridge 1”. The path goes through the garden of the house and along its north-south eastern boundary with the Mo Hope to your right hand side. A kissing gate leads onto Isaac’s Tea Trail, running north south. The stone is approximately 2/3rds of the way into the second field. We needed wellies at there was a considerable amount of standing water near the field gates.

This valley is really beautiful. Such a remote valley, but with lots of houses scattered about. The Mohope Burn meanders to your right (eastern side). The stone sits in a row of trees, and my immediate thought was that it was a gatepost, but it doesn’t line up with the other gaps in the stone walls.

There is nothing recorded on Historic England or Pastscape for this location, although the HE map shows the stone lies between the Mohope Burn (to its eastern side) and Blind Burn (to the west). A quick search on Pastscape reveals the whole area has lead mines within 1km of this stone plus lime kilns. Pastscape 957727 records a lime kiln nearby the stone at NY 7750 5106, some 30m to the north.

Going to the next field boundary, a track carries on north-south, but another drops down to the Mohope Burn. Perhaps the stone marks the edge of a trackway and a possible ford across the river?

Parc y Meirw

Date Added: 28th Aug 2014
Site Type: Stone Row / Alignment Country: Wales (Pembrokeshire)
Visited: Yes on 21st Aug 2014. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Parc-y-meiry standing stones, Pembrokeshire: After having visited the Llanllawer Holy Well, we set off eastwards up the road towards Trellwyn farm, where there were two sets of standing stones marked on the southern side of the road.

Driving slowly up this single track lane, trying to look over the tall banks and fences rising above us on either side of the road to spot the stones, a tall standing stone by a field gate suddenly appeared, looming above us from the grass verge – impressive!

We stopped the car in the gate entrance and hopped out to take a look. Only the large stone There was nothing in the field, so we unlatched the field gate to take a closer look.

Unusually, I haven’t been able to find out much about these stones, apart from a short entry on the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments For Wales, where the stones are referenced as SAM PE126.

Panorama Stone

Date Added: 19th Apr 2015
Site Type: Rock Art Country: England (Yorkshire (West))
Visited: Yes on 17th Apr 2015. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: Panorama Stones, Ilkley (Rock Art): Climbing up out of the town centre, we found St. Margaret’s Church on Queen’s Road easily and parked outside it. Just across the road there is indeed a small wood and the enclosure around the Panorama Rocks can be clearly seen.
I have to say it felt like a “Do not feed the rock art” notice should have been placed on the railing around the enclosure (sorry, just my sad sense of humour), and although worn the rock art was good to see although very worn and it was easy to understand the railing was to stop people clambering all over the rocks and wearing them away further.
Of the three stones, the rock art on the largest stone (broken into four pieces and reassembled) was easiest to see. I could just about make out some cup marks on the two smaller stones.
Whilst we were there another couple came along, studied the board and said “Oh, rock art” then wandered away again - clearly impressed.
Worth a visit if you're passing.

Paines Bridge, Wallington C

Date Added: 4th Aug 2014
Site Type: Rock Art Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 29th Jul 2014. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Full visit report under 'Wallington A', as there are three boulders with rock art within 2 metres of each other in the same location. Worth a visit if you pass over Paine's Bridge or are visiting Wallington House.

Paines Bridge, Wallington B

Date Added: 4th Aug 2014
Site Type: Rock Art Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 29th Jul 2014. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Visit report logged under 'Wallington A', as there are three stones within 2 metres of each other. Worth looking for if you are passing by Paine's Bridge/Wallington House.

Paines Bridge, Wallington A

Date Added: 4th Aug 2014
Site Type: Rock Art Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 29th Jul 2014. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: “Just for some fun, how about going to Wallington to try and spot the three rock art portable stones that Stan Beckensall says are near the bridge?” my husband said. “The web site says they are set into concrete, so they should be easy to find.” It was a beautiful sunny afternoon, so I said “why not”. Wallington isn’t far from our house, and we managed to park at the small lay-by off the B6342, just 20 metres south east of Paine’s Bridge, where the road turns sharp left hand to go over the River Wansbeck.

Immediately across the road from the lay-by was the gate and footpath leading down to the river and the bridge, then carries on further eastwards to the stepping stones which form part of the walks around the Wallington Estate. Following the path under the bridge, there is a stile (with a doggy gate) at the far side. Climbing over this, we turned immediately round to the bridge parapet and walked onto the bridge pier. The river was only a trickle after all the dry weather we’ve been having, and Wallington A was easily identifiable at the far end of the bridge pier.

The bridge being so narrow, I then took my life in my hands (particularly when a large lorry with large wing mirrors went by) and leaned over the western side of the bridge to look down at Wallington A from a different angle.

We struggled to identify the other two stones mentioned in the Beckensall Archive, and I wished we’d brought photographs. After hunting for some time, and exploring the parapets at the northern side of the river and beyond, we were at a loss. There being no service on my mobile to access the Portal, we drove to the cafe in Belsay, and over tea and cake looked again at the images on both the Portal and the Northumberland Rock Art web site, before setting off again back to the bridge.

This time, it was easy to spot Wallington B – we knew it was 80 cm east of Wallington C. The light had also changed, as it was early evening, and we wondered how we could have missed the markings the first time.

Wallington C, 95 cm east of Wallington B, was trickier, and I photographed several more of the stones, and we ended up comparing them to the Beckensall archive images once we’d arrived back home. If I hadn’t had these images to compare, and the photo with the stones marked by SolarMegalith, I never would have known this was a piece of rock art.

I would have loved to have seen these portable rocks in their original locations. If the river is high, and covers the bridge piers, it will be impossible to see these pieces of rock art.

[As an aside: We found it amusing that there are large signs either side of the bridge saying to “sound your horn” (before crossing); hence the peace of the countryside was endlessly shattered by the cars having to cross Paine’s bridge in single file. My husband commented that we were lucky not to have seen two cars meet in the middle!]

Packman's Grave (Whiteadder Reservoir)

Trip No.105  Entry No.3  Date Added: 4th Nov 2018
Site Type: Stone Row / Alignment Country: Scotland (East Lothian)
Visited: Couldn't find

Log Text: Packman's Grave, Whiteadder Reservoir: Despite having the grid reference, we were unable to find anything at this site, which was disappointing. We did find something remarkably similar at NT 62814 64541 - five stones in a kite-;ike shape, not far to the south west of the Mayshield Stone Setting.

Oxenham Cross

Trip No.132  Entry No.4  Date Added: 6th Jun 2019
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 13th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: Oxenham Wayside Cross: This wayside cross was placed high above a cross roads of two narrow, busy minor roads, where it was difficult to stop. I took photos while Andrew moved the car out of the way. I tried to get a photograph from inside the field, but the gate had been nailed shut with wire underneath, so I did the best I could in between tractors, cars and large farm trucks whizzing past.

Oxenham Arms

Trip No.132  Entry No.8  Date Added: 7th Jun 2019
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 13th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Oxenham Arms Menhir & Roman Stone: We originally headed off to the wrong pub, at the north western end of the village, but having thought the name of the pub wasn't what we remembered, we found the Oxenham Arms just down the hill from the village cross.

Walking into the pub from the bright sunshine of the street took my eyes some time to adjust, but we welcomed the coolness and the opportunity of a long, cold, icy drink.

I asked the barman if I could ask a cheeky question, and he said “on the scale of 1 to 10, how cheeky?” I replied “4”. He said “that’s not cheeky”. He very patiently told us where to find the standing stone, and also told us about the Roman pillar in the restaurant at the back. He very kindly said it was OK for me to take photos.

He also added (tongue in cheek?) that they thought it had taken 40 years to carve the granite standing stone, although how he knew, I don’t know. The stone apparently continues in one of the rooms upstairs.

Lovely atmosphere here. If we go back to Devon, I’d like to go for a meal here. A chance to see a couple of fine stones and have a drink at the same time - only the second time ever (the first being at the Templar Preceptory at Rothley).

There are several notices hanging on the wall and I’ve typed this up.

Over Rig

Date Added: 11th Apr 2015
Site Type: Misc. Earthwork Country: Scotland (Dumfries and Galloway)
Visited: Yes on 6th Apr 2015. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Over Rigg Enclosure/Settlement, Eskdalemuir (south of Bessie's Hill but before reaching Castle O'er): We saw this natural amphitheatre to the right hand side as we drove down towards Castle O’er, seeing what looked like man-made banks and ditches on its slopes with the meandering White Esk glinting in the evening sunlight below. Rounding the corner, we came upon an information board and screeched to a halt, to the annoyance of two cars which had suddenly appeared behind us (not having passed much traffic all day); fortunately there was room to park on the verge near the board.

There was an information sheet in a wooden box below the board which visitors were free to take with them on a walk around the site and replace when they’d finished with it. This told us “Over Rig now consists of three well-defined banks and ditches, forming a deliberately designed concentric system which is surrounded by a further (and later) rectangular ditch .... this is one of the few Prehistoric Trail sites to have been excavated recently (note: in the 1980s) .... revealed that a platform had been constructed of clay material that had sealed off sections of the site. Beneath this, on the eroded river side of the site, were discovered the partial imprints of two circular constructions identified as houses.”

The RCAHMS records (site 67422) state that this “enclosure was presumably originally circular, but has been eroded away by the White Esk, almost to a semi-circle, which a chord of 200 ft and a radius of 85 ft. It is surrounded by an inner ditch 3 to 4 fet deep and 13 feet wide, a concentric rampart 5 ft high and 18 ft broad and an outer ditch 3 ft deep and 15 feet wide.”

We debated the use of this site; whilst a lovely place to be located, the lower part of the site must be a flood plain for the river. Whilst the information sheet/board indicate it might be for habitation or industrial uses, other sources I’ve looked at since our visit suggest it could be a funerary or religious monument, an enclosure for animals or an unfinished settlement.

If you are passing, it is well worth stopping to look. Apparently the acoustics, should you wander down to the river, are amazing. There is a good view of another settlement on top of a hill across the valley.