Simonburn

Date Added: 21st Jul 2014
Site Type: Stone Circle Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 20th Jul 2014. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 2

Log Text: We know this stone circle as either: Davy's Lee Stone Circle, King's Crag Stone Circle or Haughton Common Stone Circle, rather than Simonburn Stone Circle, although the Grid Reference is the same.
Having spotted a group of features that looked interesting: Davy's Lee Settlement, Davy's Lee Stone Circle and various tumuli, we decided to take advantage of the sunshine and walk to this area.
The previous weekend, we'd visited Standingstone Rigg, near Great Lonbrough Farm. If we had continued south along the footpath for a couple of kilometres from Standingstone Rigg, we would have reached Davy’s Lee from the north. Instead, we took the opposite approach, from the south, from the old military road (B6318).
My husband parked the car by the Old Repeater Station (parking on the Old Military Road being sparse and difficult, with soft verges, lay-by's virtually non-existent and fast-flying cars driving up and down) having dropped me off at the farmhouse 100 yards west from this road junction, on the opposite side of the road, by the footpath up to Sewingshields and Sewingshields Crags. We’ve done this walk before, to see the Roman fishing loughs, but with this walk, we needed to follow the path nortwards past the farmhouses, round the back of Sewingshields Crags to the bottom of the hill, then turn off a track to the left hand side (approx. Grid reference: NY 80653 70820). The track disappears for a while, so we headed left up a bank with what looked like quarried stone at the top, running in a double row running approximately east to west (approx. Grid ref: NY 80393 70793), plus what looked like a low lying stone circle with a blue ‘x’ in the middle of it. We wondered whether or not this was just the results of quarrying, but then spotted blue crosses sprayed onto the grass and a blue painted peg in the middle of what I thought might be the low lying stone circle.

Just after this, I got sight of a huge bull about 100 yards away; walking further along, we realised there was no fence between the marked field boundaries, and I suddenly got worried the bull was going to charge as we were walking between him and 'his ladies'. We were at the edge of a boggy area, and had just started picking a way through. At this point, the farmer appeared on his quad bike to look at his ‘beasts’, and he stopped to talk to us. I said we were heading up to the Stone Circle and asked if this was OK. He told me the bull was alright, and confirmed that the archaeologists had indeed just been up to do a survey of the rocks/stones we’d just seen. He asked us if we knew where the stone circle was, and pointed out the direction of the tree in the distance to head for; we’d then see the stones poking up out of the grass.

He then said he’d give us a lift part of the way, and we hopped on the side of the quad bike, and went about quarter of a mile. Neat! A very powerful machine – not sure I’d make a good motorcycle pillion rider, though. He dropped us off at the top of a ridge of rocks, and we made our way over, stumbling into what looked like an open cairn. I took some photographs, and we headed down the slope to another wide area of boggy ground with a small stream bubbling along the bottom. I wouldn’t have liked to have done this walk after a period of wet weather – wellies would have been required – me being me, I still managed to get wet feet!

We stumbled first upon the Davy’s Lee settlement – perched on the end of King’s Crags, which dropped steeply into the valley below. What a view. Wandering eastwards, we came upon two small standing stones (or one with a forked top, buried in the grass), then the stone circle poked it’s head up to the right hand side of the track, towards Folly Lake.

There were some clear cup marks on two of the stones within the circle. The grass and marsh grass was so tall, it hid most of the stones, and it was quite difficult to photograph, but the circle was clearly there – about 9 metres in diameter. I thought at one point that there might be an outer circle, but the grass was too overgrown to really tell (a winter visit will be needed!).

The main stone in the circle was a funny ‘chair’ shape with cups in the top. Someone had been there recently and left a tea-light in one of the cups.

The views south and east to Sewingshields Crags was magnificent; looking south-west towards Greenlee Lough, we could see a large erratic rock, Gwenhyfar's Chair, standing proud of Queen’s Crags. This stone is connected with Arthurian legends, although I’ve yet to explore this. We decided it was too far away to walk to this today, so headed back to the footpath. I could hear voices, and Andrew identified they were from climbers on the crags immediately opposite Gwenhyfar’s Chair.

Leaving the stone circle, we headed off eastwards, but lost the footpath. Some of the land here is not access land, although the boundary isn’t de-lineated. Heading down the slope, we came across a large, apparently shaped rock, just lying on the ground at grid reference: NY 80670 71319, so I've recorded my visit and submitted images to the separate page on the Portal (Davy's Lee Rock Art). I would put this rock on a par with the rocks in the fields at West Agra Farm.

Sizergh Settlement

Date Added: 9th Jun 2015
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement Country: England (Cumbria)
Visited: Yes on 4th Jun 2015. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: Sizergh Settlement and Cairns, Levens, Cumbria: I’ve spent more time trying to find out more about this intriguing site than all the others we visited today (4th June) as there seems to be so little about it, apart from on the Portal. I’ve tried to visit durhamnature’s ‘archive.org’ to retrieve the “Transactions of the Cumberland Arch Soc” but it’s given me no results (will try again when I’ve got a little more time to spend on this).

Getting here was another challenge for my map-reading skills. It should have been simple enough to reverse directions from Archer’s Hill, returning to the A591 and cutting west towards Levens, but were halted by a ‘no access’ sign. There were plenty of cars coming in the other direction and the road was even two-way, so we took a chance. How wrong could we have been? Almost reaching the end it became apparent that it led onto the dual carriageway heading in the other direction, so a hasty three point turn was made and we ended up following the minor road back past Leven’s Park, through Hincaster and heading back to the A6 to travel north for a short distance before turning off for Levens and heading back east towards Heaves Farm, just north east of Levens.

There was room to park the car by the footpath sign leading up past the western side of Middle Plantation, and we headed up the pleasant grassy track up the hill. To the right hand side there were a couple of gates and footpath signs leading up to the cairns and the circular structure we’d seen on the map. The sign on the first gate told us that the lumps in the grass weren’t grass covering stones as we’d first thought, but ant-hills that were formed on pastures that weren’t mowed. Interesting – never seen these before.

As we walked further up hill, there was a very intriguing (favourite word of the day) circular mound covered in trees (the rest of the fields had no trees at all). As we passed this to our left hand side, the larger of the two cairns rose up at the top of the hillside. There were glorious views over the fells to the north. Heading off to the west, there was a small quarry face with lots of stone chippings. Having photographed this, together with the sheep curled up on the warm limestone, we headed off into the wooded mound. Largely covered in hawthorn trees, it was interesting to navigate the low branches. There was some bedrock peeking through the grass, but also circular structures and also two sides of what had been a rectangular stone building.

Having arranged to meet some friends in Penrith on the way back, we made our way back down the mound to see if we could spot the smaller of the two cairns. Yes, it was there, but rising only 10 to 15 cms above the ground. Our eyes could make out the circular structure but it was difficult to photograph, with no shadows to bring out the mound.

Certainly a lovely spot, and I’m keen to find out more. Getting home and hitting the internet, I ended up getting very confused between this site and a Romano-British Settlement excavated by Oxford Archaeology, but checking the grid references confirmed they were different sites in close proximity. In the end, husband Andrew managed to find the extract below from a free Google book and I found a reference on the British History Online records:Discovering Prehistoric England: A gazetter of prehistoric sites by James Dyer, A Shire Book
Take minor road NE from Levens. The sites are to the N of the road on Sizergh Fell. The site consists of an oval embankment enclosure covering 0.2 hectare, with secondary enclosures to the south. Interior hollows may indicate the sites of hut circles. On the hilltop there is a small round cairn, 7.5 metres across, which contained a collared urn. To the east a further cairn, 9 metres across and 0.9 metres high, covered 5 skeletons."

Skew Skell Well

Trip No.161  Entry No.5  Date Added: 8th Jun 2021
Site Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring Country: England (Yorkshire (North))
Visited: Yes on 31st May 2021. My rating: Condition 2 Access 4

Log Text: Skew Skell Well, Ilton: We parked at SE 18823 78010, and walked NW down the slope with GPS in hand to find this well. It is in a small, rectangular area (to our right hand side) defined by a the stone walls forming an enclosure open at its south-western side, presumably to accommodate, and allow access to the well and a spring.

The ground was very heavily covered with foliage and nettles. The sound of running water could be clearly heard. Skew Skell Well could be made out by standing in the NE of the enclosure (there was a deep dip, filled with water). The spring appeared to be on the NW edge of the enclosure, with water now appearing to rise just over the stone wall, in the adjacent field. This flow of water could be followed downhill by a line of reeds.

On the opposite side of the road, there was another large pool of water. Other springs rise in the area. Water from Skew Skell Well must be piped under the road and run down the drainage ditch at the other side of the lane.

Skip Knowe

Trip No.124  Entry No.1  Date Added: 4th Apr 2019
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: Scotland (Dumfries and Galloway)
Visited: Yes on 4th Apr 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Skip Knowe Standing Stone: Our first stop of the day, which nearly wasn’t, as we got caught in a SSE convoy putting up new poles and wires. We stopped by what looked like a community hall and I asked permission to park there for 10 minutes whilst we walked back 100m to look at the standing stone. We were told that was OK, but we needed to move within half an hour otherwise they would be stringing a cable over our car. No sooner had we spoken to one helpful worker, than another appeared and we went through the same exercise!

We were quickly able to walk back to the stone, hop over the fence into the field, take a few photos and back to the car just as a new pole was being craned into position in front of the neighbouring house.

This is a huge standing stone, just opposite Skip Cottage, with the River Annan just to the west. There were no discernible features on the stone that we could see, and we had a good look around. There were a couple of large boulders in the bank just to the west of the stone, but these looked like just part of the bank, but the Canmore entry from 1906 mentions a possible second stone.

Skip Knowe

Trip No.164  Entry No.3  Date Added: 27th Jun 2021
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: Scotland (Dumfries and Galloway)
Visited: Yes on 25th Jun 2021. My rating: Condition 3 Access 4

Log Text: Skip Knowe Standing Stone, Gateside: Our fourth stop of the day, after having investigated Hodge Wells and Springs at NY 10960 95700 [not recorded here, as this is neither a holy well or sacred springs]. I've said this is Access: 4, when you can actually park on the grass verge right by the stone, but the grass verge is very uneven and difficult (for me) to navigate. Couldn't find part of the fence low enough to hop over this time (must have been repaired since April 2019), nor could we find a gate off the side of the field nearest the road.

Not much has changed about this stone. We managed to identify the second stone mentioned by Canmore, some 18ft from the main standing stone, but it did look more like 'just a boulder', which had other stones around it.

Very pleasant countryside, and no workmen erecting telegraph poles this time round!

Skirsgill Standing Stone

Trip No.9  Entry No.1  Date Added: 13th Feb 2017
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: England (Cumbria)
Visited: Yes on 12th Feb 2017. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: Skirsgill Standing Stone, Penrith: Situated in Skirsgill Business Park, just to the west of the southern part of Penrith, we’ve tried visiting this stone before, but never found it.


From Penrith, heading west across the M6 on the A66 towards Ullswater, take the very first turn into the Skirsgill Industrial Estate (easy to drive past, as it has a very short feeder lane into it). Follow the one way system into the industrial estate (note the intriguing thatched building to your left) and continue straight ahead between the two sets of industrial units. After several hundred metres, you will see a dead end with a gate leading into the field, an CrossFit Cumbria to your left. Parking can be difficult during the week, but plenty of spaces during the weekend. Walk along the dead end road towards the field, with the CrossFit building to your left. The standing stone can be found immediately at the end of this building. Was the building built to accommodate the stone, or has the stone been relocated to form part of its garden?


The face of the stone nearest to the building appears to have been quarried in more recent times, as the face is ‘squared off’. There is some modern grafitti on it.


Not the best of locations, but certainly intriguing! Could only find the Historic England listing – nothing in Pastscape.

Sleights Pasture Propped Stone

Trip No.144  Entry No.2  Date Added: 13th Aug 2019
Site Type: Rock Outcrop Country: England (Yorkshire (North))
Visited: Yes on 8th Aug 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Sleights Pasture Propped Stone: We parked at SD 75081 78117, just beyond the cattle grid on this single-tracked public road (there is room for a couple of cars between the road and the stone wall) then along the very busy, and fast, B6255 Low Sleights Road, walking NE towards the Ribblehead Viaduct, then crossing the road to the footpath leading to this limestone scar, then heading SE along another minor footpath, marked on the map, but barely visible on the ground.

As there were several possibilities of which this propped stone might be, I made doubly sure I had the correct GPS and we were within 1m of the reading. We also compared it with the photograph on the Portal and the diagram (figure 7, in David’s paper “Propped Stones: The Modification of Natural Features and the Construction of Place” (Time and Mind, November 2013)) - I'd taken a copy with me, just in case.

Sorry, but I’m really sceptical about this being a propped stone. I would have been convinced if the propping stones were of a different material to the top stone. It looked like a ‘happy accident’ of glacial deposits and erosion. Another large boulder to its west was placed almost symmetrically on top of a ‘base pad’ of bed rock, and we spotted another couple of stones that also might have been taken as being propped. It reminded me very much of the ‘Guide Stones to the Great Langdale Axe Factory’, where it was difficult to pick one guide stone out of so many on the ground.

I also wasn’t convinced about the double propping, unless I have misinterpreted what David means about this. The boulder at the western end of the stone appeared to be cracked through, viewed from the north, rather than being two separate boulders on top of each other. Both propping stones were placed/located onto top of a bed of limestone.

There was also a very mysterious wall at SD 75748 78030, which Andrew pointed out, partly built with limestone pavement blocks for its ends. Looked like a sheep shelter to me.

Slidey Stane (Holyrood Park)

Trip No.106  Entry No.4  Date Added: 5th Nov 2018
Site Type: Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature Country: Scotland (Midlothian)
Visited: Yes on 28th Oct 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: The Slidey Stane, Holyrood Park: As we were in Edinburgh City Centre, we thought we'd try and find this large erratic stone which is featured on The Ancient Stones website, but my goodness - what a search we had!

We followed the directions given on The Ancient Stones, and even armed with the GPS we walked up and down and down and up and round and round. Eventually, I took my phone out and managed to find a forum post on the Modern Antiquarian which gave a link to a search by the park rangers. This, thankfully, included photographs of the route to find the stone. It is in fact at the location given by the Ancient Stones, but is so hidden in a dip on the hillside, that we were unable to see it, either from below or above. We finally saw it from a couple of metres away, but what a disappointment!

The stone is small, although the top is shiny as if it has been polished over the years. There are larger stones on the footpath running above the Slidey Stone.

Well, at least we found it, photographed it and have now posted the results here. We too a more accurate grid reference of NT 26766 72765.

Smith's Shield Milestone

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

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

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

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

Snuff Mill (Stainton)

Trip No.60  Entry No.1  Date Added: 24th Nov 2017
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: England (Cumbria)
Visited: Yes on 20th Nov 2017. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: Snuff Mill Standing (?) Stone: On the way back from Pooley Bridge to Stainton and Newbeggin, I saw a standing stone by the side of the road (A592) so Andrew turned around and we parked in the driveway of Snuff Mill Water Treatment Centre. The stone was just passed a corner of this busy little road, and it felt quite dangerous as none of the cars moved very far out of the way for us walkers.

The dry stone wall had been ‘kinked’ to go around the stone. It was heavily covered in moss.

I can’t find anything about it on Pastscape or Historic England, so will email Mark Brennand at Cumbria County Council.

Sourhope Hillfort

Trip No.55  Entry No.1  Date Added: 12th Oct 2017
Site Type: Hillfort Country: Scotland (Scottish Borders)
Visited: Yes on 8th Oct 2017. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: Sourhope Hillfort, Scottish Borders: Well, this morning was a surprise, as rain had been forecast, but we woke up to a blue and cloudy sky, with little wind, so we decided to make the most of the nice weather before the clocks go back at the end of the month.

We used an ‘unusual’ (twisty/windy) route to reach this site. We drove up using the A68 past Carter’s Bar, then taking the first turning right and following the minor roads up through Hownam towards Yetholm, turning right and heading back down south at Primsidemill.

We followed the Bowmont Water Valley along to where the Sourhope Burn joins it, then headed north east up the dead end road to Sourhope Farm. Just past the cattle grid by the barns to the south west end of SouthopeFarm, there is room to park the car on the verge. We then headed up past the farm, turning right and going through two gates by a barn at NT 84596 20177, then following the path uphill towards Park Law Fort, then turning south west at NT 85047 19886 and following a quad bike up a relatively steep part of the hill, to approach the fort from its eastern side, entering at NT 84858 19793 on the south eastern side.

The outlines of the fort can be clearly seen on UK Grid Reference Finder. From below, we could see what looked like telegraph poles on top of the fort; getting closer, there are two television aerials on the western side of the fortifications!

There were great view from the top of this hillfort. We’d printed off the Canmore plan and description before we went, but even so, it was difficult to tie the words up with what we were trying to make out on the ground. The structures and hut circles on the eastern side of the fort were the easiest to interpret.

It was a nice walk, and exploring the hillfort was really thought-provoking, thinking what it would have been like for the occupants of this fort.

South Harton Cross

Trip No.130  Entry No.10  Date Added: 1st Jun 2019
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 11th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: South Harton Wayside Cross: As we drove along the minor roads from the Bishop’s Stone towards South Harton Farm, the sun went in and a haze started to drift across the fields and it started to become very chilly.

This cross simply leans against the dry stone wall, just to the west of the gated driveway leading to South Harton Farm. It has very obviously been cemented together, but is none-the-less spectacular, and I’m glad we braved the narrow lane to find this cross.

Out of curiosity, I walked to the gate and looked to see if the cross was visible from the other side of the wall, but it is hidden by the drystone wall and the hedge.

South Zeal Cross

Trip No.132  Entry No.7  Date Added: 7th 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: South Zeal Cross: Driving the short distance from Moon’s Cross into South Zeal, this is a busy little working village, not just a place for tourists to travel to Oh the cars that were parked up and down the street, but we managed to find a space just south of the village cross.

This is a tall, imposing monument, standing just north east of the small, but quaint St Mary’s Chapel and a small, beautifully kept communal garden. As we drove south east down the main road through the village (towards the Oxenham Arms) the cross dominated the village; standing further south east, as the village is on a hill, the cross towered above us.

Whilst visiting the cross, it's worth popping into the tiny, but welcoming St Mary's Chapel next door. Now turned into a place of rest and contemplation for modern day pilgrims.

Southernknowe (College Valley)

Trip No.45  Entry No.2  Date Added: 14th Sep 2017
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 12th Sep 2017. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: Southernknowe RB Settlement, College Valley: Never having been down so far south in College Valley before, I was fascinated by how beautiful the scenery was, and how many people live here. We saw the sign posts for ‘Wedding This Way’ from Hethpool onwards, and came to the tiny, very white Cuddystone Hall, tucked just behind a small wooded area. Parking on the grassy area with a couple of other cars just north of the hall, we took up the invitation on the College Valley History web page to explore the earthwork remains of the settlement ‘dating from the Roman Iron Age times.’

Just before the road junction and the Airmen’s Memorial (Cheviot Memorial) there is a gate into the field. Letting ourselves in, we wandered round and through this scooped settlement nestled on the west bank of the College Burn, with its scooped hut circles and courtyards. The hut circles were more obvious in the northern (smaller) courtyard. The bank to the south eastern side was steep, dropping down to College Burn. Just past a large boulder on the south eastern bank, erosion left boulder clay clearly visible.

On the hillside to the south west there is another enclosure marked on the OS map, higher up the slopes of Blackhaggs Rigg. We planned to call back here later in the day.

Southernknowe Farmstead (College Valley)

Trip No.45  Entry No.5  Date Added: 15th Sep 2017
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 12th Sep 2017. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Southernknowe Enclosed Farmstead, College Valley: This settlement sits high up the eastern slopes of Blackhaggs Riggs, almost opposite where Lambden Burn meets College Burn. Whilst we could see the stone walls/banks of this settlement from below, it was quite a hike up the steep slopes of the hill. Long and narrow, the inhabitants would have had a great view of any other people coming for miles. It is also very scenic, overlooking the meeting of Lambden Burn and College Burn. The river terraces in the valley below can be seen and it’s intriguing how the rivers have moved over the years.

Southwell Minster

Date Added: 29th Oct 2015
Site Type: Early Christian Sculptured Stone Country: England (Nottinghamshire)
Visited: Yes on 20th Sep 2015. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: 10th/11th century tympanum, Southwell Minster, Nottinghamshire: On our way back from Grantham we took a short detour to Southwell. What a stunning little town, with a huge Minster. At the time of our visit there were two services running almost back to back, so we didn't get to see some of the early carved capitals. The tympanum on the western wall of the north transept more than made up for it, with its 11th century carving of St. Michael and the dragon facing us, then underneath (on the narrower face) was the remains of a 10th century Saxon grave cover. The light streamed through the window above, making it difficult to photograph well. I was astonished to find a photograph licence was £5! However, the greeter said as the verger was in the service, unless I was very obvious with my camera, we wouldn't be charged unless the verger spotted us! It was very late on Sunday afternoon at the time of our visit so the museum/café area wasn't open. It would be nice to go back at a time when services aren't on so we could see the quire, chancel and sanctuary and have a wander round at our leisure, but it's unlikely that we'll get back to Nottinghamshire any time soon.

Spittal Croft cairn

Trip No.136  Entry No.13  Date Added: 26th Jun 2019
Site Type: Cairn Country: Scotland (Dumfries and Galloway)
Visited: Yes on 17th Jun 2019. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Boreland Cairn: By this time of the afternoon (early evening) I was getting more than a little ‘cairned-out’ having seen, and still trying to make sense of, all those cairns at Torhousekie. But this was a lovely little cairn, complete with sheep warming themselves by the small piles of stones on top of the cairn.

With rain threatening and the dark clouds feeling as if they were virtually overhead, we walked some way up and down both sides of the road, both the B733 and the minor road running between the B733 and the B7052, but could find no gate into the field, so photographed the cairn as best I could from the dry stone wall.

We did go further up the road to find the standing stones and cairn at NX 3522 5808 and NX 3528 5819 (Canmore 62860 and 62849 respectively), but the field was jam-packed full of cattle.

St Aidan's Church (Bamburgh)

Trip No.102  Entry No.2  Date Added: 12th Oct 2018
Site Type: Early Christian Sculptured Stone Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 9th Oct 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: St Aidan's Church, Bamburgh: We hadn’t intended to visit this church, but having seen two wells located in the property immediately to its east, we decided to take a look before heading off to the castle. The church is open during daylight hours, and is very welcoming, with lights in the nave, chancel and sanctuary, and a great display of literature and guide books.

With this church being so old (there was a cell of St Aidan and a monastery on the site), I was surprised there was no remnant of a preaching cross or cross base. To ensure I didn’t miss anything, I picked up the laminated church guide and ran through the features. It mentioned a timber from the original church, placed in the ceiling above the font. The church was so dark at this point (right at the west end of the church) that I sought lights to illuminate the spot, and looking up, indeed there was a very large (cruck) timber.

The guide also mentioned two old tombstones in the churchyard which are said to be older than the present church. I found one, but not the other.

Grace Darling also has a memorial in the churchyard.

Walking down the eastern wall of the churchyard and looking over to the farm buildings beyond, we identified the sites of two wells marked on the 1860 OS map.

St Aidan's Well (Bamburgh)

Trip No.102  Entry No.3  Date Added: 12th Oct 2018
Site Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 9th Oct 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: St Aidan's Well, Bamburgh: This well seemed to form a ‘hub’ for visitors, with a school party and tourists sitting on the benches and grass around this structure, so we needed to make two trips to this well. By 5.30pm there was no one around (apart from the blue wheelie bins lined up along the street!). Obviously a modern structure, but this appears to be the original holy well associated with the church.

The well is now dry, which is a shame, as I'd have loved to see the water gushing into the basin. It might be a modern well housing, but this may well be an ancient site.

In 1947, when Revd Binnall and Miss Dodds produced their list and descriptions of Holy Wells in Northumberland and Durham, the village green was a small plantation of trees. Pastscape notes the name 'St Aidan's Well' is not known locally, but I don't know what it is called. The antiquarian notes mention it was mentioned as 'Edvn. Well' although I'm not sure was Edvn means.

St Alkelda's Holy Well

Trip No.19  Entry No.6  Date Added: 29th Apr 2017
Site Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring Country: England (Yorkshire (North))
Visited: Yes on 27th Apr 2017. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 1 Access 4

Log Text: St. Alkelda's Well, Middleham: How tragic – a now dried up well, completely uncared for.

From St. Mary’s and St. Alkeld’s church, I was determined to find St. Alkeld’s Well. Armed only with the mobile phone, OS maps and the grid reference from Pastscape, we set off westwards across the fields, through the gate in the churchyard across a grassy field with a play area at the far end, through a gate leading into where St. Alkeld’s Road and The Springs meet, then through a stile into a grassy field. Measuring the distance between the church porch and the well, the distance is just under 250 metres.

We walked past the well without realising it, thinking it was only a pile of stones and rubble that someone had tossed over their garden wall. On checking the grid reference, we walked back to it.

Having seen the image of the trough by the roadside on both the Portal and Yorkshire Holy Wells, we searched in vain, eventually walking back to The Springs and looking down the driveways. The well is sited at the bottom of the gardens of the two small houses, one called ‘Well Cottage’. Having taken some photographs, we followed the footpaths back into the town centre, ending up at a medieval cross at SE 12607 87679 (see on a previous visit).