King's Norton

Trip No.78  Entry No.3  Date Added: 25th Jun 2018
Site Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring Country: England (Leicestershire and Rutland)
Visited: Yes on 24th Jun 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: Well, St John The Baptist, King's Norton: This is a very posh village, with very large houses. We parked by the tiny little village green just to the west of the church, almost next to the well, which is low down in the western churchyard wall.

Someone has been refurbishing the well, and recently, as there is a fresh footprint or two in the sand now forming the bottom of the well pool.

The church is relatively modern, a plaque next to the gate describing it as ‘Georgian Gothic’. The churchyard is relatively small, and not much to see in it, apart from a huge memorial right up against the exterior eastern wall. The church itself was locked, although a name/phone number was given to collect the keys from, but we weren’t interested enough to go inside.

Pastscape describes this well as a ‘horsetrough’. Whilst the well was very dry at the time of our visit, there is no sign within the churchyard (or the neighbouring house) as to where the source of the water comes from, although the top of the ground is at least 2m higher behind the well.

Milfield Reconstructed Henge at Maelmin Heritage Centre

Trip No.77  Entry No.1  Date Added: 1st Jun 2018
Site Type: Henge Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 31st May 2018. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Maelmin Recreated Henge, Milfield: We had a bit of a tortuous journey to get here, having been stuck in roadworks on the A1 northbound, so instead of the hour and a half it would have taken us, it was almost two and a half, so we were eager to get out of the car and walk.

Having found the ‘Archaeological Guide’ by Clive Waddington in a local charity shop about 10 days ago, I had read it from cover to cover and was really keen to see this site. I’d shown the booklet to our three year (going on 63) old grand-daughter and we’d talked through the photos on the journey here. As we walked into the centre of the henge from the car park, she turned to me and, pulling a face, said; “It’s just a ‘thing’ with a deep hole”.

Having spotted all the information boards round the site and running through the woods, she ran from one to the other. On getting to the Dark Age hut at the far side of the site, she was fascinated by this, and we had to go inside. Opening the door was amusing, at the wood had swollen in the rain and it took a while to get it to swing open gently without trapping fingers.

We walked back around to the henge following the circular path around the field, taking in the airfield. We found a sign saying ‘Mesolithic hut’ but there was only a hollow in the ground with a few poles laid inside.

No totem poles, or none that we could spot, anyway. It looks like these have now been replaced with two taller plain tree trunks.

After reading the story of the recreation of the henge, I did enjoy seeing it but had expected more from the heritage trail, which was essentially a ‘trail’ of information boards but without any real specific context or associated feature to look at. Would go again, without dearly loved child, to soak in the atmosphere. We went onto the Heatherslaw Light Railway - a great 15in gauge railway, ideal for small children and grandparents!

Netherwitton A

Trip No.76  Entry No.4  Date Added: 28th May 2018
Site Type: Round Cairn Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 26th May 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Netherwitton Round Cairn A: This cairn is clearly visible from both Five Ashes cairn and Netherwitton B. There were some magnificent sheep and lambs in this field, all seemingly oblivious to the ancient monument underneath their hooves. All of them scattered as we approached the cairn. My first impression was ‘how many tens of thousands of stones did they use to create this cairn?’; the second ‘the interior has certainly been hacked about by whoever excavated this’.

We walked all round the higher outer bank of the cairn – it’s big. A very pleasant walk, to see three Bronze Age cairns very close to each other. This must have been a thriving community back in the day, especially with the River Font to the east and the Ewesley Burn to the west. I would have expected a standing stone or two to be in this area – it’s very fertile farmland here.

Netherwitton Hall

Trip No.76  Entry No.5  Date Added: 28th May 2018
Site Type: Round Cairn Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 26th May 2018. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 2 Access 5

Log Text: Round Cairn near Netherwitton Hall: Pulling up by the side of the road, taking the spot of a car that had just driven off northwards, this field was chock full of sheep and lambs, with the gate tightly tied with string in a ‘gordian knot’. Usually, I’d spent time untying the string, but as the mound didn’t look very exciting, I photographed it through the gate. Whilst it’s recorded on the OS map as a cairn, both HE and Pastscape wonder if this is actually a cairn or not, even though it’s scheduled as a round barrow.

Netherwitton B

Trip No.76  Entry No.3  Date Added: 28th May 2018
Site Type: Round Cairn Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 26th May 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Netherwitton Round Cairn B: This cairn is located in a really lovely spot, on what was a small promontory, one side forming an old bank of the River Font, the river having changed course many years ago. We walked past this without realising this was the second cairn on the map, both saying: “That looks distinctly like a cairn”, then realising after I’d photographed it that it was the second Bronze Age cairn mentioned on Pastscape. Whilst small, it's a really nice example of a cairn, and the internal structure can be seen where a hawthorn tree grows out of its south west side, and animals have rubbed the earth away. This cairn has been apparently undisturbed by the antiquarians. I wonder why? Curious.

Clavering's Cross

Trip No.76  Entry No.5  Date Added: 28th May 2018
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 26th May 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Clavering's Cross, Stanton: Disappointed by the third cairn, which we were really unsure of, I’d spotted this cross on the OS map, and as it wasn’t too far away, we thought we go on our way to Ewesley.

Parking on the verge just north of the farmhouse, there were roadworks being set up and a very large, yellow skip had been placed by the gate into the field. As there was a large ditch to its south, there was a very narrow piece of land to walk across, and with the side of the skip looming above my left hand side, I managed the two steps across, because I really wanted to see this cross.

We had to shoo the lovely, fat hens out of the way to open the gate, and spent a few minutes walking round and taking photographs. The steps were in a sorry state, which is unusual - Pastscape tells us the cross has (within living memory) been relocated back to the site where it originally stood, so perhaps the steps weren't built properly during the relocation.

Ewesley Enclosure

Trip No.76  Entry No.6  Date Added: 27th May 2018
Site Type: Misc. Earthwork Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 26th May 2018. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Ewesley Defended Settlement, Northumberland: This was our last stop of the day, and it was really warm. There is a permissive footpath which runs along the dismantled railway line, although we drove past and had to retrace our steps to find it. The footpath sign is on a gate at approx.. NZ 05932 92605, just south of the railway bridge, and a small bridge over a stream, on the B642, before the farm to the north of the bridge.

Be warned, as the ‘footpath’ is really non-existent, and if we’d have strayed off the higher ground, we’d have needed waders to cross certain parts. As it was, we found an old boundary bank running north-south across a fence line and followed that to the drier side on the other side of a burn/drainage ditch.

The southern part of the structure can be clearly seen from the road, and it’s clearly a settlement of some kind, although why it’s southern been built on a slope, I’m not sure. There is an outer bank and ditch, which we followed up to where the settlement is cut by the railway line, and we found the easiest way down and across, up to its northern side, where some of the inner banks remain.

This is certainly a settlement of some kind; we couldn’t reconcile ourselves to it being a henge. Certainly enigmatic..

Five Ashes Cairn (Netherwitton)

Trip No.76  Entry No.1  Date Added: 27th May 2018
Site Type: Round Cairn Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 26th May 2018. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Five Ashes Cairn, Netherwitton: From St. Giles’s Church, we drove back through Netherwitton, taking the right hand turn which runs northwards, to the west of the meandering River Font. Parking at NZ 09891 90457, next to the entrance to the field with the footpath running through, we set off across the mowed footpath. This section of shorter grass petered out after about 100metres. Five Ashes Cairn was visible to our west after about 300metres. There was a gate into the cairn field, technically trespassing, but the area with, and around, the cairn, had been left clear of crops, so we kept to the field edge and made our way the 50m or so across to the cairn.

At this time, a whole ribbon of small planes began to fly across, one at a time, about 30 seconds apart. I lost count after 20, then came the hang gliders and microlights, the some more small planes. They were all heading roughly from north east to south west, and we haven’t been able to find out where they came from, or where they were going to, although the Borders Gliding Club isn’t that far away from this location, near Milfield and Maelmin.

If we hadn’t have known this what we were looking at, and that it was marked on the OS map, anyone could have been forgiven for thinking this was just a farmer’s mound/junk heap with straw bales and other items left on its north eastern side.

This cairn looked quite large, with a steeper bank on its western side. It looks as if it has been crudely excavated, with various lumps and bumps under the long, tussocky grass (and lots of short, fierce nettles at ankle level!) over the mound.

St Maurice's Well (Ellingham)

Trip No.75  Entry No.5  Date Added: 22nd May 2018
Site Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 20th May 2018. My rating: Condition -1 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: St. Maurice's Well, Ellingham (destroyed): This church was in a glorious spot amongst old houses. The church looked relatively modern, and as it was still open, we popped our heads in. There was some really great stained glass windows. They also had a book sale, so we bought a couple of books on cathedral architecture for a £2 donation.

Inside, we spotted the head of an old font, dating (according to the church guide) to the Norman or Early English Church (but looked 16th/17th century in style to me). On either side of the path from the lych gate to the church were the old pinnacles from the previous church, dating to 1805.

Finding the right footpath from the church proved interesting, as it had a number of footpaths running from/around it, but we eventually orientated ourselves. Back to the Long Nanny stream.

From the description, we found the footbridge and the gorge/bank, but couldn’t really find any structures. I asked a lady (about 40ish) walking her dog if she knew where the well was. She replied “They used to come from the school to get the water. There used to be steps, but they’re gone, and no-one knows where the well was. It’s lost.”

We tried to find the location, which needed to be in a slight ravine (hence the reference to steps), and any old stonework. We thought we might have spotted something. But, then again, perhaps not! It was worth it to see the wonderful stone-flagged footbridge.

St Ebba's Chapel

Trip No.75  Entry No.4  Date Added: 22nd May 2018
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 20th May 2018. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: St Ebba's Chapel/Early Christian Monastery site: I have long wanted to come to this spot, ever since seeing the Time Team Excavation of this in July 2013. Whilst the rest of Northumberland had a hot day with blue, cloudless skies, this part of the coast was murky. Still, this was a very enigmatic place.

We’d stopped off at a café/restaurant in Beadnell village for refreshments before arriving here, and I’d looked at their guide book “Limekilns and Lobsterpots” before arriving, which intrigued me further.

A lonely spot, largely surrounded by sea on a narrow promontory. I wish I’d been able to see the excavations, but found the Wessex Archaeology report.

Tughall Chapel

Trip No.75  Entry No.3  Date Added: 22nd May 2018
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 20th May 2018. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Socket stone and cross shaft fragment, Tughall: Continuing along the busy B1340 from the Long Nanny standing stone, we turned right off the road towards Tughall Farm. There, the remains of the chapel stood above the road. We parked at a small layby just off the main road at NU 21427 26478, where there was a small gate into the field. This had been wired shut, so we walked round to the main gate at NU 21224 26486. There was absolutely no-one around to ask, and as the cattle were at the far end of the field, we let ourselves in.

The chapel is raised above the surrounding land. Only the tiniest bit of masonry remains (part of the apse, according to HE). The cross base is to the south of the chapel, almost next to what we initially thought might have been a hogback, but is only an old grave stone. I couldn’t see any writing on it.

The portion of cross shaft fragment remaining in the socket stone is very small and thin. I wonder what happened to the rest of it? [Note, this is on private land, but we didn't find anyone around in all the buildings on the farm to ask if we could take a look.]

Next stop, but not recorded on the Portal, was the lime kilns and harbour at Beadnell (too recent in time!)

Long Nanny

Trip No.75  Entry No.2  Date Added: 21st May 2018
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Saw from a distance on 20th May 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Long Nanny Standing Stone, Tughall: On our way into Beadnell, on the B1340, husband Andrew screeched the car to a halt on the busy road, telling me there was a standing stone in the field that only had a couple of photographs on the Portal. We could only see this from a distance, as there were large cattle and a BIG bull in the field. I took a couple of photographs from the side of the road, although the stone was so far away, even resting the camera on the fence and the window ledge of the car, the shot was hazy.

Like wayland, I can’t find anything on Pastscape or Historic England. Intriguing. Need to go back and have a look when the bull and his ladies have been moved out of the field.

St Hilda's Church (Lucker)

Trip No.75  Entry No.1  Date Added: 21st May 2018
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 20th May 2018. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Cross base, St. Hilda's Church, Lucker: We had a walk around the churchyard, but were unable to find a cross base amongst the gravestones. We wandered down as far as the river, Waren Burn, which flowed to the east of the church. Not finding anything, we wandered into the church. There was no guide book, but there were laminated sheets detailing the history of the church and St. Hilda, which I photographed.

Having found the cross base on Pastscape, with the grid reference, I was very reluctant to give up the search. It did indeed take some finding, as it was completely buried under ivy in a very overgrown section of the churchyard. Typically, not having the gps with us when we needed it, common sense said that the cross base should ideally be at the eastern end of the church at the highest point of land before it started to drop down to the river below. I had to clamber over brambles and force my way through trees to get to this part of the churchyard. The cross base was next to the grave of a lady called ‘Janet’.

National Museum of Scotland (Pictish Stones)

Trip No.74  Entry No.2  Date Added: 20th May 2018
Site Type: Museum Country: Scotland (Midlothian)
Visited: Yes on 17th May 2018. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: Pictish Stones at the National Museum of Scotland: See visit report for the National Museum of Scotland (Early Christian stones). Also went to the Research Library and came away with some great information on all the Pictish Symbol Stones held by the museum, and the names/details of various reference books.

National Museum of Scotland (Early Christian Stones)

Trip No.74  Entry No.1  Date Added: 20th May 2018
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: Scotland (Midlothian)
Visited: Yes on 17th May 2018. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: Early Christian Stones at the National Museum of Scotland: We returned to go to the Research Library to find out more about the Pictish Stones, and to photograph some more exhibits, only to find Tim Peake's Spacecraft had arrived that morning, with a PR exercise in full swing and the gallery we needed to get to had been closed off until 2pm (didn't say anything about this on the web site, until we dug deeper into the events schedule). Fortunately, by the time we'd been and looked at some casts of grave slabs in part of the Kingdom of the Scots exhibit, the gallery we wanted to go to was temporarily re-opened and we managed to get in and out in between the various waves of visitors and school children. The space craft was minute, and like a cross between something out of Dr. Who and The Clangers. Apparently, Tim Peake had attended earlier that morning, but we'd missed him.

I spent an hour in the research library, coming away with some photocopies and the names/details of a number of reference books.

We also managed to go into the 'Early People's Exhibit' which had been closed during our last visit - more Pictish Symbol stones and Early Christian stones, which more than made up for the disappointment of having arrived at 10.30am and being told we'd have to wait until 2pm to get in because of Tim Peake!

Carby Hill

Trip No.73  Entry No.1  Date Added: 14th May 2018
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement Country: Scotland (Scottish Borders)
Visited: Yes on 13th May 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 5 Access 4

Log Text: Carby Hill Hillfort/Settlement, Scottish Borders: Literally just across the border from England, we parked by the cattle grid at NY 48834 83744, opposite the bungalow/farm. Just to our south east, there was (unusually for Scotland) a footpath sign which led up to the hillfort, so we decided to follow it. A mistake. The gate into the field of sheep was wired shut, so we had to duck under the electric fence. Following the slope uphill, we had to tackle three or four deep field drains, full of running water.

It wasn’t until we got towards the top of the slope that the walls of the settlement came into view. And what walls.

This is a really brilliant site. The last time we tried to get up here, there was an absolutely monumentally huge bull and cattle on top of the hill. This time, there were only sheep and their lambs. With 360 degree views, it was superb.

The interior of the hillfort is not large, but we made out four, if not five, hut circles, still with their banks intact, plus a watchtower in the north eastern corner.

Not much of the walls remains on the north/north eastern side, but there are lower banks of stones. We walked round the outer edge of the wall, to where stones have been piled up to form a modern cairn, overlooking the Liddel Water valley below. We descended the hill from the western side of the hillfort, which avoided the field drains, and a much easier walk.

Will O'Greena's Stane

Trip No.73  Entry No.2  Date Added: 14th May 2018
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: Scotland (Scottish Borders)
Visited: Saw from a distance on 13th May 2018. My rating: Condition -1 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Will O'Greena's Stone, Kersehopefoot: What a beautiful spot, where Kersehope Burn meets Liddel Water. Certainly very historic, if you can reconcile Canmore's version with the interpretation board on site. On the Reiver's Trail, its an easy (if wet, due to heavy rain) walk along the old railway embankment, although to descend into the field between the embankment and the river to find the stone, it's a six foot or so slither down the embankment. We walked up and down, down and up, trying to find any sandstone boulder/stone which matched the description on Canmore (thank goodness for a mobile signal to call up the record 'in the field').

I eventually spotted this stone next to a gate/fence backing onto private property. The strong fence with two lines of barbed wire made me think twice about hopping across the fence, and we could see no obvious other route into the field to check. A beautiful spot but so disappointing that, having mentioned this famous stone, they hadn't made sure it (what remained of it) could be seen.

Great North Museum (Rock Art)

Trip No.72  Entry No.3  Date Added: 13th May 2018
Site Type: Museum Country: England (Tyne and Wear)
Visited: Yes on 4th May 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: Great North Museum (Rock Art): in the 'Prehistoric' Exhibition on the ground floor (see the general Great North Museum page for full visit report). A real shame that most of the exhibits were behind glass, and very close together, which made them difficult to photograph. It was nice to see some of the Beckensall RA stones which had been donated to the museum - but I wonder where the rest are, and there are quite a few. These seemed relatively poor examples given the photos I've seen on the ERA website. Much enjoyed seeing these.

Great North Museum (Anglo Saxon Stones)

Trip No.72  Entry No.2  Date Added: 13th May 2018
Site Type: Museum Country: England (Tyne and Wear)
Visited: Yes on 4th May 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: Great North Museum, Anglo Saxon Exhibit: A small but nicely presented collection of Anglo Saxon cross fragments and grave goods. Ground floor. See general SID page for Great North Museum for main visit report.

Great North Museum

Trip No.72  Entry No.1  Date Added: 10th May 2018
Site Type: Museum Country: England (Tyne and Wear)
Visited: Yes on 4th May 2018. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: Great North Museum, Newcastle: The last time I visited here was some 8 or 9 years ago, with some police officers from York. We spent most of our time at the Hadrian's Wall exhibit, with them comparing Roman soldier's battle kit to their modern day riot gear. I found the layout of the galleries confusing, and the signs not terribly clear, but we spent a good couple of hours looking at Anglo Saxon artefacts and rock art. I also enjoyed the Ancient Egyptian gallery, and found the Mouse House for under 5's - definitely a place to return to with my grand-daughter.

I'd love to come back to their library sometime, which is open to all. The coffee shop on the first floor was also good.