St Mungo's Well (Cumbria)

Trip No.91  Entry No.8  Date Added: 18th Aug 2018
Site Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring Country: England (Cumbria)
Visited: Yes on 14th Aug 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: St Kentigern's Well, Caldbeck: This was our last stop of the day, and to a part of Cumbria we've never travelled through before. From St. Bridget's in Brigham, we followed the B5299 to Caldbeck village, which took us over cattle grids and moorlands, with only sheep and the occasional other car in sight.

Caldbeck is a really pretty little village, and we resolved to come back during the daytime, when the shops, church and café were open.

The well can be easily found by walking down the footpath to the west of the church, until you get to the bridge over the river. As it says in the "Holy Wells of Cumbria" booklet, turn left just before the bridge, and you immediately come to some steps down the (steep-ish) bank to the river. We heard the trickle of water down the slope, and the well basin comes into view as you look down. At the time of our visit the water missed the basin and was trickling down the rock, under the shrubbery, into the river. There was a fair flow of water coming down the bank.

We walked along the footpath along the northern side of the churchyard for about 100mand found a lovely weir with small waterfalls. It was possible to walk down to the gravel beach. A lovely spot indeed.

St Bridget's Church (Bridekirk)

Trip No.91  Entry No.5  Date Added: 18th Aug 2018
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (Cumbria)
Visited: Yes on 14th Aug 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: Font with Runic inscription, St. Bridget's, Bridekirk: We had an hour to fill between appointments between churches, so headed off to Bridekirk to see the font with runic inscription, which we'd missed during our last visit on 1st May 2015. The notice said the church was "normally open during daylight hours" but on this occasion the main door appeared to be bolted at the top from the inside, so we couldn't get in. This time, not having a six month old granddaughter with us, we walked round the outside of the church and noticed a collection of old grave slabs displayed against the exterior of the apse at the east end of the church, including an old cross base. None of these in mentioned on Pastscape.

Checking back in my photos, I had taken a photograph of the font. The middle band (when enlarged) does indeed have a runic inscription on it.

Kilmartin House

Trip No.88  Entry No.10  Date Added: 18th Aug 2018
Site Type: Museum Country: Scotland (Argyll)
Visited: Yes on 18th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: Kilmartin Museum: We managed to get a space in the car park. From the number of cars parked outside the museum and along the roads, we thought the place would be heaving with people (including a bus tour which had turned up), but the café was quiet and relaxing and there was only one other lady and a younger man who was with her, in the museum.

The museum was small, and a bit disappointing for the £7 entry fee, but it was nicely laid out and they gave you a map of the sites to visit. The lady on reception told us we were allowed to take photographs, but as long as they were not for publication on the internet.

I bought 4 postcards and “In The Footsteps of Kings” book of walks around the Kilmartin area, which gave a lot of information about the area, together with photographs and what to look for, which helped inform our visits greatly – wonderful photos in it, too!

I photographed Glebe Cairn from the path running outside the conservatory.

I have since been in contact with the Visitor Services Office, at the museum, and received the following reply on 14th August 2018 (see private notes).

St John The Evangelist (Crosscanonby)

Trip No.91  Entry No.3  Date Added: 17th Aug 2018
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (Cumbria)
Visited: Yes on 14th Aug 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: St John The Evangelist, Crosscanonby: We had arranged to meet the Reverend Mary at the church at 2pm. Between Gilcrux and here we had an hour to spare, so went into Cockermouth for lunch and a quick walk round the town. Travelling through Dearham and across the A596 to Crosscanonby, as we dropped down a small hill after having crossed the A596, we realised how close this church is to the Solway Firth (according to UK Grid Finder measurements its 900m).

This little church is side on to the road, and is virtually invisible until you reach the gate into the churchyard, although the ‘this church is open’ board gave something away.

I’d not looked at the AS Corpus notes I’d brought, but straight away we spotted the hogback against the south eastern corner of the nave.

Walking inside was a real treat. This is clearly a very old building. Reverend Mary (just ‘Mary’ she said) told us this church used to be the mother church for Maryport and the farm house next door (to the west of the church) used to be part of the monastery; the monks used to process from the monastery to the church; rumour has it there is a tunnel from the farmhouse to the church, but it’s never been found.

The church is pretty special, although I focussed on photographing the stones in the porch whilst Andrew spoke to Mary about the structure of the building, as I was conscious of taking up Mary’s time and we needed her to come across to Dearham to open the vestry for us. I’d love to go back and spend more time here.

St Mungo's Dearham

Trip No.91  Entry No.4  Date Added: 16th Aug 2018
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (Cumbria)
Visited: Yes on 14th Aug 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: St Mungo's Church, Dearham: AS Corpus Dearham 03 and The Adam Stone: This was a return visit. pre-arranged with the lovely Reverend Mary, who drove from Crosscanonby to very kindly unlock the door of the vestry to show us AS Corpus Dearham 03, part of a cross-head.

We also saw the Adam Stone. Mary moved the knitted figures of Jesus and Peter and invited me to climb on the pew to get a better photograph. We felt so welcome, we didn’t really want to leave!

St Mungo's Dearham

Trip No.81  Entry No.5  Date Added: 16th Aug 2018
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (Cumbria)
Visited: Yes on 9th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: Ancient Crosses and a Norman font, St Mungo's Church, Dearham: After having been to two other churches which had been firmly locked, this church was, thankfully open and very welcoming.

The church was packed full of knitted scenes from the bible, jewellery and books. We missed the Adam Stone, but are going back on 14th August, and have asked for permission to get into the vestry to see AS Corpus Dearham 03, a fragment of a wheel headed cross built into the wall.

We had to move quite a few items from the west window to photograph AS Corpus Dearham 02, and it took us ages to get everything back!

The Norman font, apparently carved from the cushion capital of a column, was really interesting.

There was no church guide book, although there was a postcard (30p) and a display board, which I took a few photos of.

The first notes on the display board say: “There can be no doubt that Dearham had a church during the Dark Ages, following the withdrawal of Roman Forces from Britain. Many pre-Norman sculptured stones displayed in the present church provide evidence that Christianity was prevalent during Anglo Saxon and Viking times. The Reverend William Slater Calverley was vicar of Dearham from 1877 until 1885 and was responsible for uncovering and displaying many of these stones. He worked tirelessly on restoring the church to much of the originality as possible during his period of incumbency. In 1880 it was recorded that he did not know to whom the church was dedicated, the original dedication having been lost. It was rededicated in 1935, as a result of the inspiration of the Reverend Canon Malcolm D. Grieve, to St. Mungo, a Scottish saint whose real name was St. Kentigern. In 1937 Canon Grieve was also responsible for the addition inside the church building, of a side chapel dedicated to the Holy Name. It stands at the east end of the north aisle.”

There is a section on the display called: “A brief look at the history of St. Mungo’s. It is believed that the original stone church dating back to the early 1100s was about 48 feet long in the shape of a long, low tunnel. During the Norman period parts were added and extended later in the Early English period. The tower was added probably early 14th century. The porch was also an addition to the original building covering the Norman doorway. The north aisle was a completely new addition during the 1882 restoration when Mr. Calverley enlarged the church. The vestry, at the east end, is an extension to the north aisle, the date being cut into the pillar of an arch. Built in the north wall of the vestry is the head of the “Kenneth Cross”. It was found near the east end of the church and built into the vestry wall curing restoration. The stained glass window behind the altar was given by Mr. John Wilson of Dearham and built in at the time of the 1882 restoration. The bell, which weights almost half a ton, was given by Colonel Sewell, whose family were seated at Brandlingill end of Hayborough. The ancient windows, dating back probably to 1150 were removed during the 1815 restoration and sadly lost to this day! Had they been lying about in 1880 Rev. Calverley would have restorated them to their rightful place, when he in turn removed the sash windows and inserted new ones fashioned in the style of the originals.”

The display says: “The magnificent wheel head cross (Viking cross) stands 5ft 4ins high and is carved with “Yggdrasil”, the Norse tree of the universe. It stood in the churchyard until 1900 and then brought into the church and placed in front of the organ.”

Another section reads: “The treasures of the Church include two stones found during 1882 restoration work. Standing 4ft high is the Adam stone, dating from AD 900, which depicts the Fall and Redemption of Man, with Adam and Eve hand in hand above a serpent. The Kenneth Cross shows the legend of the 6th century hermit, S. Kenneth, who was lame from birth and after his baptism cast away in a coracle. He was saved from the gales, and brought up by seabirds.”

The small door leading up into the tower was open, with a very narrow set of steps leading up. Not even Andrew fancied venturing up.

St Mary's Church (Gilcrux)

Trip No.91  Entry No.2  Date Added: 16th Aug 2018
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (Cumbria)
Visited: Yes on 14th Aug 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: St Mary's Church, Gilcrux: The little car park outside the church was full (3 cars and a Water Board van), so we had to park just west of the well and walk back to the church – only a little way. The church door was open for us this time.

This is a remarkable little church inside. At first site, the nave appears more like a Methodist chapel – at first glance. Then my gaze lit on the archway into the chancel, with a ‘squint’ over the right hand column and a chunk taken out of the eastern side of the left hand column. Walking into the chancel is very reminiscent of Escombe Saxon Church – this place is ancient and very peaceful.

The collection of stones was underneath a table against the south wall, near the porch, so we turned into furniture removers, carefully taking the notice board, vases and loose notices off the table, then moving the table to examine and photograph the pieces.

We managed to put together the pieces of the cross head and part of the shaft, and photographed two sides. One of the pieces left white, chalky marks on our hands, and is very white against the grey of the other two pieces. This is clearly the cast of the upper part of the cross head.

We closed the church door to indicate to the keyholder we’d been in and left again, and walked round to the north side of the church, where it is very obvious that the church has been built on a mound.

There was no church guide book, but there were some ‘notes for visitors’ which I photographed, and have typed into my walk journal.

The spring was in full flow, and it was lovely to hear it babbling away. Brilliant. Definitely worth a return visit.

St Mungo's Church (Bromfield)

Trip No.81  Entry No.1  Date Added: 15th Aug 2018
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (Cumbria)
Visited: Yes on 9th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Hogback and ancient crosses at St. Mungo's Church, Bromfield: Our first stop of the day. This is clearly an ancient village.

The church was locked, so the only stone we could see was in the porch – AS Corpus Bromfield 04. From the Corpus image, the top of the hogback looks clearer from the inside of the church, but of course we couldn’t get in.

After walking back from the well, I stopped to look at the hideous memorial in the southern part of the churchyard and noticed that it was built on what looked like the base of an old village/medieval cross. I haven’t been able to find anything out about this – it’s not mentioned in any literature I’ve currently come across – but suddenly it became more interesting!

We did try and find High Aketon Farm to see AS Corpus Bromfield 03, but couldn’t find it on the paper OS map and an internet search pulled up nothing. We decided to move on to the next location.

I’m going to try and contact the vicar to see if we can arrange entry into the church for sometime in mid-August.

St Mungo's Church (Bromfield)

Trip No.91  Entry No.1  Date Added: 15th Aug 2018
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (Cumbria)
Visited: Yes on 14th Aug 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: St Mungo's Church, Bromfield: We'd arranged with the church warden for the church to be left open for us for an hour or so this morning, so this was our first stop on a 'five church stop' tour. We were looking forward to finding cross head and cross shaft fragments, and to being able to see the reverse side of the hogback stone above the doorway.

Whilst it looks quite daunting from the outside, the inside of the church is lovely, with some unique features, such as unusual corbels and the chancel arch, which is 'transitional between Norman and Gothic styles'.

I found the cemented remains of the cross head cemeted to the west end of the north aisle, and had to remove umbrellas and a carpet sweeper to see it. It was very cobwebby, and looked sadly neglected.

AS Corpus Bromfield 02 was in two pieces. There was a collection of old stones in the north transept, and we needed to move a low bench and a collection of chairs to be able to see this.

The hogback from the other side (inside the church) was much more convincing, and there was also a consecration cross on the right hand door jamb of the south door. Well worth returning to see.

Kilmartin Churchyard

Trip No.87  Entry No.18  Date Added: 7th Aug 2018
Site Type: Sculptured Stone Country: Scotland (Argyll)
Visited: Yes on 17th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Kilmartin Churchyard: Having booked ourselves in for an evening meal at the Kilmartin Arms opposite the church (warning: the portions were huge, but really good), we went across to the churchyard to find the cross slabs in the churchyard that Rachel Butter mentions in her "Kilmartin" book (page 99) and found so much more. This really finished the evening off nicely.

There is also a lapidarium and the Poltalloch Enclosure with some really nice carved grave slabs.

There is a small car park immediately outside the church, and there is disabled access into the church with its crosses inside. The churchyard itself was a little tricky to negotiate, as we had to step over old chest tombs to see some of the carved slabs. Nice views down to the glen below, and a peaceful place to spend time.

Nether Largie Stone Row

Trip No.87  Entry No.11  Date Added: 7th Aug 2018
Site Type: Stone Row / Alignment Country: Scotland (Argyll)
Visited: Yes on 17th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Nether Largie Stone Alignment: Ever since I read about this alignment in the early text for the Portal's book "The Old Stones" I've wanted to visit this location. It's in a lovely, lovely, setting, in the Kilmartin Glen. Having got used to Northumberland where you largely only see sheep or cattle around monuments, I was so disappointed by the number of people visiting here. We had two attempts, one being late in the evening, but there were still plenty of folks here. The photographers amongst us 'queued up' to take photographs along the alignment; when it was my turn, a family meandered over and spent half an hour wandering up and down the row, oblivious to me standing there with the camera. I did manage a couple of photographs along the alignment, but had to chose my moments when they were behind one of the stones! Congratulations to the Kilmartin Museum for having a great tourist trail, but I'd like to come back in late January/February, when hopefully there would be less visitors. After this visit, we stuck to sites largely off the main tourist trail.

Nether Largie standing stone

Trip No.87  Entry No.11  Date Added: 7th Aug 2018
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: Scotland (Argyll)
Visited: Yes on 17th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Nether Largie Standing Stone/Outlier to the stone alignment: The gate into the field with this standing stone was wired shut and the book we had with us asked us not to intrude into the field. There was also a group of largely, lively bullocks clustered around the gate, so we contented ourselves with looking from afar, from the Nether Largie Stone Alignment.

Glebe Cairn

Trip No.87  Entry No.17  Date Added: 6th Aug 2018
Site Type: Cairn Country: Scotland (Argyll)
Visited: Yes on 17th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: Glebe Cairn, Kilmartin: By the time I’d walked from Nether Largie Stone Alignment, across to Temple Wood and to Nether Largie, South, Mid, North and Glebe Cairn, I realised it was quite a long way (about 2km the sign post said), but I hadn’t really noticed the distance as the sites were so fascinating to see.

From the lane leading from Nether Largie North Cairn, you need to cross a footbridge over Kilmartin Burn at NR 83147 98870. At this time of evening, the dragon flies were flitting over the water and the sheep were starting to gathered in a line along the fence.

Following the grassy footpath towards this huge heap of stones, I walked all the way around this cairn, which seemed much larger than the others. There were no real distinguishing features, such as cists or cist covers, that were visible. The mound seemed disturbed in places, with stones pushed out in small ‘arms’ here and there along its edges.

Rachel Butter’s Kilmartin book (page 58) says: “The Glebe Cairn: Excavators found two small stone circles beneath the cairn with two finely made pots and a jet necklace placed in two cists. The cairn is smaller than it was a century ago – in 1864 it was at least 4 metres high and 33 metres across.”

Nether Largie North

Trip No.87  Entry No.16  Date Added: 6th Aug 2018
Site Type: Cairn Country: Scotland (Argyll)
Visited: Yes on 17th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Nether Largie North, Kilmartin: From afar (approaching it from Nether Largie Mid) this cairn had a white square in the middle of its top, which looked like Cairnpapple, which got me thinking you could enter the chamber. This was indeed the case, as the white square was a hatch which could be raised to descend into the chamber.. According to the information board, the capstone has 10 carved axes.

By this time, I think ‘monument overload’ had come over Andrew, who decided to go and get the car, saying he’d meet me at Kilmartin Church, giving me time to visit this cairn and Glebe Cairn before meeting him. I only had one walking pole, and overbalanced whilst trying to climb up the heap so stones so reluctantly gave up. I was disappointed not to be able to see this. We thought we might find time to go back and explore, but there really was so much else to see. One for the next visit.

Nether Largie Mid

Trip No.87  Entry No.15  Date Added: 6th Aug 2018
Site Type: Cairn Country: Scotland (Argyll)
Visited: Yes on 17th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Nether Largie Mid-Cairn: This cairn is not quite as impressive as Nether Largie South, but we found it fascinating to look at. Reading Webb's "In The Footsteps of Kings" she says the cairn was originally placed on a slightly raised terrace, but its position has been exaggerated because the ground beyond the fence has been ploughed, and reduced in height over time." The course of the Kilmartin Burn has also been straightened; it once would have meandered around all these cairns in this 'linear cemetery'. By the time we'd reached this cairn, the stream of visitors had slackened off, and we had time to sit and admire this glorious glen.

Despite searching for some time, we didn't find the axehead carving or the cup mark in the southern cist, nor could we seen the cup marked rock 10m to the north west. I did take a number of photos inside the cist, including the inside of the capstone, as sometimes faint carvings show up better on the photos, but nothing was visible. We tried!

The notice boards on site read: “Nether Large Mid lies at the midpoint of Kilmartin Glen’s line of cairns. Its edge is marked by kerbstones. Two important people were buried here 4,000 years ago. In 1929, archaeologist James Hewat Craw found two empty stone graves or ‘cists’ underneath this Bronze Age cairn. The bodies they once contained had dissolved away in the acid soil. An axehead is faintly carved inside the southern grave. Concrete posts show the position of the northern one.”

“The line of cairns stretches for more than 2.5 miles (4km). Look up the glen to Nether Large North and Glebe. Look down to Nether Large South and Ri Cruin, surrounded by trees. A sixth cairn between here and Nether Largie South was destroyed in the 1880s. This was the burial place of the elite. Their power had probably been based on controlling the flow of metal from Ireland up the Great Glen to bronze-working centres in north-east Scotland.”

Nether Largie South

Trip No.87  Entry No.14  Date Added: 6th Aug 2018
Site Type: Chambered Cairn Country: Scotland (Argyll)
Visited: Yes on 17th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Nether Largie South: Impressively large, with a chamber you can get into. Have seen other chambered cairns in Northumberland, but all in pretty ruinous condition, nothing like this. Our second stop after the stone alignment. Beautiful location; a lot of other visitors at this time of year.

Temple Wood N

Trip No.87  Entry No.13  Date Added: 4th Aug 2018
Site Type: Stone Circle Country: Scotland (Argyll)
Visited: Yes on 17th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Temple Wood North East circle: Within sight of the Temple Wood South West circle (I got my bearings all confused here!). This cairn has obviously been recreated, with concrete posts and blocks representing post holes and kerb stones. Nicely done.

Temple Wood S

Trip No.87  Entry No.12  Date Added: 4th Aug 2018
Site Type: Stone Circle Country: Scotland (Argyll)
Visited: Yes on 17th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Temple Wood South West Circle: We had this site all to ourselves for all of five minutes before other parties followed us in. We did look for the rock art quite carefully, but were unable to find it.

Cairnbaan 2

Trip No.89  Entry No.4  Date Added: 4th Aug 2018
Site Type: Rock Art Country: Scotland (Argyll)
Visited: Yes on 19th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 5 Access 3

Log Text: Cairnbaan 2 Rock Art Panel: Leaving Cairnbaan 1 by its western corner, there’s a notice saying ‘further panels’. This was a little further than we thought, but very much worth the additional walk.

This second panel was truly magnificent, with its interlinked carvings. As the nice young couple from Huddersfield said: “A lovely one to finish on.”

We waited for the sun to come out to get the best contrast on the motifs. I really, really enjoyed seeing this panel.

As it was very hot, we decided to wander back through the forest slowly and make our way to Lochgilphead for refreshments. With only two more standing stones on the list to see, this almost concluded our Scottish visit.

Cairnbaan 1

Trip No.89  Entry No.3  Date Added: 4th Aug 2018
Site Type: Rock Art Country: Scotland (Argyll)
Visited: Yes on 19th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 5 Access 4

Log Text: Cairnbaan 1 Rock Art: This site is marked on the OS map, and we also got details from “In The Footsteps of Kings” page 149. Following the directions in the book (between the hotel and the neighbouring houses is a sign saying “Cup Marked Rocks”. After a flat start to the path, it then climbs relatively steeply for around 100 metres, then is a pleasant walk through woods, following the metal arrow signs.

We came across the main outcrop, protected by a metal railing, but with two sets of steps to allow you to get in and out of the compound. Someone had recently deturfed the main rock, although the rest were heavily turf covered and apart from a few cups, couldn’t make out much.

Just as we arrived at the site, we came across the same young couple who had been at Kilmichael Glassary yesterday and Dunadd this morning. They were travelling back to Huddersfield today and said the next panel was “a nice one to end on”.

To our surprise, there was a sign saying ‘further panels’, pointing further north, so we followed the track through the grass into another fenced off area, with the most remarkable carving (next entry).

Since getting back home, I’ve managed to get hold of a second hand copy of Stan’s book “The Prehistoric Rock Art of Kilmartin” and will be comparing my photos with his writings as soon as we get a dull, rainy day (or two or three). So much to learn!