Glendaruel Churchyard

Trip No.48  Entry No.2  Date Added: 4th Oct 2017
Site Type: Sculptured Stone Country: Scotland (Cowal)
Visited: Yes on 21st Sep 2017. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Kilmodan Stones, Glenaruel: Also known as Clacahn of Glendaruel and the Kilmodan Stones

Our second visit of the day, and another lovely spot by the River Ruel. We parked by the now deserted (almost derelict) hotel in Kilmodan village, and walked down towards the church, which is Georgian and very Church of Scotland inside.

The Lapidarium is situated to the south west of the churchyard, nearer to the river. The church guide leaflet says that the Lapidarium was formerly the mausoleum of the Campbells of Auchenbreck, roofed in as a Lapidarium. In 1970, the stones were moved from the graveyard into this building.

“The stones are 14th and 15th century and are of the Loch Awe school of carvers. The stone is schistose and the quality of the stone suggests if would have come from local quarries. In comparison to the other West Highland schools the workmanship is clumsy. In addition, the Loch Awe slabs were never inscribed. So we do not know the names of the patrons commemorated. There are 11 stones in the Lapidarium with number 6 being renowned as the finest example of the Loch Awe School. Stone 11 is the grave slab of Donald McCloy who was minister in Kilmodan from 1609 to 1636.

The bright light streaming into the Lapidarium made at this time of the afternoon made it difficult to photograph the stones properly, despite Andrew trying to block the light out, and me kneeling on the floor to avoid the direct sunlight.

There is a cup and ring marked rock mentioned on the map near to the hotel, although we were unable to find it.

Glencorse Cup and Ring Marked Stone

Trip No.85  Entry No.3  Date Added: 27th Jul 2018
Site Type: Rock Art Country: Scotland (Midlothian)
Visited: Yes on 15th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: Glencorse Cup and Ring Marked Stone: Just outside the tall, imposing (and locked) Parish Church, which had an amazing old tree in the field opposite, and a long layby; this village is obviously popular with walkers, as there were lots of cars parked around here, and footpaths leading through the woods, away from the church.

This poor cup and ring stone is contained behind railings, so it looked as if the stone had been caged. The lichen and moss growing on it made it a little difficult to pick out the cups (we certainly couldn’t count 22), and we saw a couple of cup and ring motifs. Even trying to view the stone from different angles, to try and highlight the cups, didn’t make it any easier. A brush and a bottle of water would have come in useful.

I was much amused by the ‘reserved’ signs next to the stone, as if the minister and church warden might have had cars with specially shaped bonnets to fit neatly around the ‘railing cage’.

We did try the church door, just in case, but like many of these churches, locked and bolted. This church had the most amazing number of floodlights around it, so it must have been well lit in the dark.

Glenamacrie Farm

Trip No.87  Entry No.10  Date Added: 30th Jul 2018
Site Type: Cairn Country: Scotland (Argyll)
Visited: Saw from a distance on 17th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Glenamacrie Farm Cairn: Having stopped to look at the standing stones, with waist height, new wire fence and barbed wire all around this field, the nearest gate appeared to be by the farmhouse. If we'd been bold enough to walk up the farm track to get a closer look, we'd have got much better photos, but something about these big farms always holds me back. I contented myself with photographing the stones by leaning over the top of the fence, trying not to get caught by the barbed wire. It wasn’t until I got back to the car that Andrew (who’d stayed in the car in case the roadworks crane needed to come by) had got a mobile signal and told me this was a cairn. I’ve only got it photographed over the top of the standing stones/stone row.

Glenamacrie Dun

Trip No.87  Entry No.8  Date Added: 30th Jul 2018
Site Type: Stone Fort or Dun Country: Scotland (Argyll)
Visited: Yes on 17th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: An Dun/Glenamachrie Dun: Not far to the east of the cairns and standing stone at Glenamachrie Farm. We bypassed those, and came here first to take photos then turn the car around to go back and photograph the standing stones and cairn. When husband came back, he said he’d had the most bizarre experience. As we stopped at the different sites along this road, we kept being passed by three men in a white truck; Andrew said they’d stopped him asking him if he’d seen a crane. I think on these narrow roads we’d most definitely have been run off the road and noticed. He said ‘no’. However, that alerted us to having to move on, just in case.

Left alone in the middle of nowhere for a few minutes, my first reaction was: “If this is a fort, there weren’t really any outer banks and ditches – this just looked like a large outcrop with a small terrace around it.” These Scottish duns/fort are quite unlike the hillforts we have in England. But then I hadn’t seen Dun Add.

Glenamachrie Cairn

Trip No.87  Entry No.7  Date Added: 30th Jul 2018
Site Type: Cairn Country: Scotland (Argyll)
Visited: Yes on 17th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: Glenamachrie Cairn: This cairn was marked on the map on the way to An Dun fort and the standing stone to the east; I asked “if we spot this, can we stop”, and there it stood, almost on top of the road. As the road was quite busy with lots of cars and trucks going by, Andrew moved the car to the other side of the road and stayed in it, just in case he needed to move.

There were other small lumps and bumps in the fields either side of the river at this point, although indications on Canmore say these may be natural features, possibly glacial deposits - see Canmore 23191 and 23196.

Glebe Stone

Date Added: 29th Jun 2015
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: Scotland (Scottish Borders)
Visited: Yes on 27th Jun 2015. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: The Glebe Stone, Yarrow, Scottish Borders: parked at NT 35172 27575

Driving back westwards from Warrior’s Rest standing stone, we immediately spotted the Glebe Stone in a field to the north of the road – how had we missed it the first time? With granddaughter’s pushchair in tow, we didn’t dare walk down this narrow, busy, country road, so we parked in the gateway to a barn at grid reference NT 35172 27575. Just as husband got out of the car to see how to access the field, a girl and her dog drove past the car to the barn behind on a quad bike, so I hopped out to explain what we were doing. “No, you’re very welcome to look. There’s a gate a 100 yards or so down the field”, she told me.

This stone, the Canmore Site no. 53061 notes tell me, sits 530 yards ENE of the Yarrow Stone and sits 40 yards north of the main road. These notes say “the stone has been fenced in (although the fence is not now in place) and measures 4ft 6ins in height, from 2ft 7 ins to 3ft 10ins in width and 1ft 4ins in thickness. The broader sides face WNW and ESE. On the latter side, near the base, there are two doubtful cup marks, one measuring 3ins in diameter and ½ inch deep, another 4ins by 5ins and 2 and ½ ins deep. Around the stone there was formerly a large cairn covering a quantity of decomposed bones.”

It was an easy walk up a shallow grassy slope to the stone, and I went all around taking photographs. There is a pleasant view over to Yarrow Water (this stone sits closest of the three stones close together – this stone, the Yarrow Stone & Warrior’s Rest stones) just the other side of the road.

I definitely saw some cup marks on the eastern face of the stone – photographs here to see what others think.

From here, it was back into Selkirk and onto Melrose to see the Abbey before going onto the Kelpies at Falkirk. A great day out!

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.”

Glaisdale Rigg Tall Cairn

Trip No.32  Entry No.8  Date Added: 5th Jul 2017
Site Type: Cairn Country: England (Yorkshire (North))
Visited: Yes on 2nd Jul 2017. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Glaisdale Rigg Dry Stone Cairn, North Yorkshire: I spotted this whilst we were walking along the road to find Hart Leap. It looks relatively modern (there are lots of grouse shooting butts in the area) but by this late in the evening and after having walked seemingly miles across knee deep heather, my feet and ankles declined to go any further on this uneven ground, so I admired it from a distance.

When I got home, I found out it featured on the North Yorkshire Moors CAM web site from 2001, asking anyone who knew when and why this was built to contact them. I sent an email off to the author who replied virtually by return. He told me they never did find out any information, but he "did read that it was there in 1965."

Glaisdale Rigg (Hill Top)

Trip No.32  Entry No.10  Date Added: 6th Jul 2017
Site Type: Marker Stone Country: England (Yorkshire (North))
Visited: Yes on 2nd Jul 2017. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: Glaisdale Rigg Standing Stone: From Hart Leap, we were making our way home. Spotting this, I got my husband to virtually do an emergency stop as I spotted this stone at the side of the road. There is nothing on Pastscape or Historic England about this stone, but it lies just under 700 metres north north east of Black Hill Cross/Standing Stone.

It stands proudly at the western side of Glaisdale Rigg, about a metre or so from the western side of the moorland road, virtually in line with Hill Top Farm in the valley below. It has great views over Great Fryup Dale, and looking south west to where Great and Little Fryup Dales meet.

It was a nice find to end the evening with.

Girth Cross (Canongate)

Trip No.153  Entry No.4  Date Added: 9th Oct 2019
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: Scotland (Midlothian)
Visited: Yes on 1st Oct 2019. My rating: Condition -1 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: Site of the Girth Cross, Canongate: Again, we picked this location up from the Treasure Trail, after Clue 15, there is a ‘Did you know?’ box which reads: “Where Canongate meets Abbeyhill look out for the circle of cobbles. This is the site of the ‘Old Girth Cross’ where proclamations and executions took place. In 1600 Lady Warriston was beheaded by guillotine for conspiring to murder her abusive husband”.

This site is at a very busy road junction, west of Holyrood Palace, and at the eastern end of Canongate, where Canongate meets Abbeyhill, Abbey Strand and Horse Wynd.

Not much to see really, apart from a circle of grey pavers

Girdle Stanes

Date Added: 11th Apr 2015
Site Type: Stone Circle Country: Scotland (Dumfries and Galloway)
Visited: Yes on 6th Apr 2015. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Girdle Stanes, Stone Circle near Eskdalemuir: Even though we lived only 10 ½ miles from Eskdalemuir for 4 years in the laste 1990's, we’d never explored this area, apart from taking our (then very young) kids to a local river to paddle and visit a few of the Roman forts nearby, which in hindsight was a shame, but we’re rectifying that now.

Driving along the B709, about 2 km before Eskdalemuir, we spotted the signpost to Girdle Stanes on the right hand side of the road and pulled into the field gateway, making sure we weren’t blocking access. There was a splendid view of the Girdle Stanes and the White Esk in the valley below. As the road is about 100 feet above the stones, it was easy to see how part of the circle had been eroded by the river.

It was a glorious, warm day with no breeze. The footpath was an easy downhill stroll. The stones felt welcoming and the sun glinted off the river. The stones appear to be built within a bank which is still visible. Someone had left a bunch of flowers underneath the stone which sat underneath the largest hawthorn tree, and we wondered if it had been the monks from Samye Ling (the Buddhist monks in this area of Northumberland also celebrate standing stones and stone circles here).

Looking across the valley to a where the map showed earthworks, we saw these clearly, but contained within these earthworks was a cemetery. We decided to explore this feature later in the day. I've just found (10th April) out that this site is a moated homestead, RCAHMS site ID 67233.

Just to the north of the stones, a footpath sign pointed us in the direction to the Loupin’ Stanes, following the fields along the edge of the river.

Gilsland Spa Well

Trip No.146  Entry No.1  Date Added: 28th Aug 2019
Site Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 27th Aug 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Gilsland Spa Well: From the hotel car park, we followed the signs for the Sulphur Spa, leading on a path with a steep drop to our right hand side down to the River Irthing below. The path winds round to the left, then splits just above the southern side of the footbridge across the river. Take the right hand fork, walk about 20m, then take the small flight of steps down to the well, which can be smelt well in advance of reaching it!

The ground was very wet, with a steady flow of water coming out of the well spout. The eastern side of the well basin was covered with a white sulphurous stain, which carried on with the flow of water overflowing from the basin down to the river. I did dip my finger into the running water and had a quick taste. Very sulphurous, but not really unpleasant

As we approached the well, another couple were making a beeline from the well, coming from a path to the east. We fell into conversation, and it turned out they were from Doncaster (which is where I lived my early life), and lived near the race course. They were staying at the hotel for a week, returning home on Friday.

The path leading west from the well and the footbridge had been eroded away by the river. We got to within 120m of the sulphur spring, but not even Andrew wanted to walk this section of path; he said it would have been easier to walk along the river bed. We did try and see it from the other side of the river, but it was too heavily wooded to see anything.

This well is mentioned only briefly in the Springs of Living Water book by Fr John Muster, page 80, under the small section headed ‘Spa Wells’: “Though called holy wells, none are ever found identified with a saint. A good example is the one at Gilsland”. They have a photo on page 86.

No entries on Pastscape or HE, although if you type in the grid reference to the HE map search, it shows a circle where this well is located, and calls the general area to the west of the well a ‘Sulphur Spring’.

Gilsland Spa Sulphur Spring

Trip No.146  Entry No.2  Date Added: 28th Aug 2019
Site Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring Country: England (Cumbria)
Visited: Couldn't find on 27th Aug 2019

Log Text: Gilsland Spa Sulphur Spring: We tried to find this well from both sides of the river. Continuing west along the river walk for about 20m, we found the path had been washed away, and not even husband-cum-mountain-goat Andrew felt comfortable walking this section of the river (he said it would have been easier to walk in the river).

We did cross the footbridge and made our way along the side of the river to within what should have been 'sighting distance' of the well, but the banks were too heavily wooded to see. Shame, as I really wanted to find this well-in-a-grotto. May return and have a second look from the Irthing Gorge walk path.

Gibbie's Knowe (Kielder)

Trip No.31  Entry No.3  Date Added: 19th Jun 2017
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 17th Jun 2017. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 5 Access 3

Log Text: Gibbie's Knowe, Kielder Forest: After our long trek up to Dour Hill Chambered Cairn, the heat was definitely getting to both of us. Andrew decided to drive the 12 miles down the Forest Drive toll road from Cottonshopeburnhaugh to Kielder. Goodness, this road is remote, but lovely.

We stopped off to see Gibbie’s Knowe, an Iron Age defended settlement, parking off Forest Drive just west of East Kielder Farm (there is a small layby at NY 65257 95857) and following the track south-south-west up the slope towards Kielder Village. We were unable to get down to the mound, but retraced our steps and drove further west along Forest Drive to park in the layby and walk down the overgrown track to the site of an old observation hide (no longer there) at NY 64791 95234. A lovely spot, with the sun glinting off this deep loop of Kielder Burn.

Unfortunately, it was almost 6pm by this time, and we were flagging with the heat, so we abandoned our next walk to Devil’s Lapful long cairn.

Giants Grave, Penrith

Date Added: 22nd Oct 2015
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (Cumbria)
Visited: Yes on 10th Oct 2015. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: Norse Crosses and hogback tombstones (Giant's Grave), St Andrew's Church, Penrith: On our way to Kirkoswald, we stopped off in Penrith for a coffee and a cake. I remembered from some dim and distant memory that there were some Viking Hogbacks and Anglo Saxon crosses in Penrith but couldn’t remember which church they were in, and there was no mobile signal, so as we were opposite the church we walked into the churchyard anyway. And there was the small collection of 2 Norse crosses and 4 Viking hogback tombstones – very worn.

Inside the northern door of the church, to the right of the western-most ‘Giant’s Thumb’ cross there are some line drawings of the patterns on the crosses and the hogbacks. There is also a church guide, the back page of which has a short description of the Giant’s Grave.

Towards the north western end of the churchyard another cross stands on its own. Closer inspection highlights the inscription at its base, showing this is a reconstruction.

Looking at the Anglo Saxon Corpus just now (22nd October) we missed a couple of other stones – 1 built 4 metres up into the north wall of the tower (very worn) and another upside down near the south west corner of the church. As Penrith is a place we pass reasonably frequently, a repeat visit will definitely be in order!

Giants Cave Holy Well (Edenhall)

Trip No.188  Entry No.3  Date Added: 15th Sep 2022
Site Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring Country: England (Cumbria)
Visited: Saw from a distance on 13th Sep 2022. My rating: Condition 1 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: Giant's Cave Holy Well: Having walked to St. Ninian's Church, Ninekirks, and wandered around the site of St Ninian's preconquest monastery, it was only a short walk northwards across the field towards the location of the Giant's Cave and the River Eamont.

There was no sign of the well on the south side of the river, and the river was too big, wide and fast flowing to cross to get to the Giant's Cave, so we tried to spot it from afar.

This section of the river is dominated by red sandstone cliffs, with heavy tree cover, so it wasn't really possible to spot either the cave or the well.

The photographs show approximate locations for the well, given the 'vague' grid reference. Goodness knows how those Victorian revellers got to the cave, but there are beaches along the river, and a beautiful meadow on the south of the river for celebrations at the well to have taken place at.

Garn Turne

Date Added: 28th Aug 2014
Site Type: Chambered Tomb Country: Wales (Pembrokeshire)
Visited: Saw from a distance on 23rd Aug 2014. My rating: Access 1

Log Text: Burial chamber at Garn Turne Rocks, Pembrokeshire: (couldn't find anywhere to access this site): The final sites we wanted to see before hitting the motorway home to Northumberland were the burial chambers at Garn Turne. Having successfully located the field and the footpath nearest to the largest burial chamber, we parked in an extended passing place near the footpath. We met a couple of local ladies with their families picking blackberries in the hedgerows and chatted briefly, telling them where we were going; they didn’t seem to think there would be a problem with access.

Walking to 50 metres or so up the footpath to a gate in the field, we could see no access into the Garn Turne Enclosure. My husband hopped across the gate whilst I took photographs of the very curious cows in the adjacent field who’d come to see what we were up to!

From this footpath, the chamber appeared to be inaccessible – there seemed to be no gates whatsoever. When we looked at the Portal later in the day, there were lots of other photographs of this site, and we are left wondering how they accessed it. Other web sites mention squeezing through hedges, and I don’t like to do this without permission from the farmer. I had to be content with a photograph from a distance.

By way of compensation, we went to see Ogham and Latin inscribed stone at St. Dogwell’s Church (just marked as ‘Stone’ on the map, next to Sealyham Bridge).

However, there was a second chamber on the map, at approximate grid reference SM 98269 26566 (the UK Grid Finder’s images are shrouded in cloud, so can’t get a precise fix). We found the very overgrown footpath that took us closest to the chamber, only to be met by a very aggressive combine harvester driver, who forced us to reverse at least a quarter of a mile, pull over for him, then block our way. At this point we gave up and decided to head for home, only to catch up with said combine harvester and had to follow him at about 15 miles an hour for the next four or five miles (he refused to let us by at any available passing place).

Gamelands

Date Added: 8th Sep 2014
Site Type: Stone Circle Country: England (Cumbria)
Visited: Yes on 7th Sep 2014. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Gamelands Stone Circle, near Orton, Cumbria: By now, it was late afternoon, with the evening rapidly approaching, and almost time to head off home. From the Oddendale Cairns and Stone Circle we headed off in search of something to eat and drink before finding Gamelands. In Orton, we found the Chocolate Factory still open and busy, so stopped off for very welcome refreshments.

I found navigating to this stone circle tricky, as it’s on the edge of two map sheets, so we took the wrong road out of Orton before identifying the right minor road, signposted to Raisbeck. Following the B6261 past a minor crossroads just out of Orton village (the left hand side being Street Lane), the B road shortly afterwards turns to the right; the minor road needed to get to Gamelands Stone Circle carrying straight on to Knott Lane, signposted as ‘Public Byway leading over Knott Green to Public Bridleway’. Knott Lane is about 1 mile east of Orton. When we visited, there was a large pile of stones, being used to repair the bridleway blocking part of the entrance, but the minor road was wide enough (just) to bump up onto the grass verge and leave the car to walk up Knott Lane.

As we walked up the bridleway, we didn’t see the stone circle until we were almost upon it. The farmer has put in what looks like a relatively new wooden kissing gate to let people access the field, which was refreshingly nice. Thank you, Mr. Farmer! This is one of the largest stone circles we’ve seen in this area; the Visit Cumbria website tells me that this circle is some 100 yards in circumference.

All the stones have fallen, and it must have been impressive when they stood upright. This stone circle (oval) is certainly in a lovely location and very tranquil. It is situated on a plateau immediately below the impressive Knott Scar which rises up to the North, with spectacular views over the Eden Valley and the North Pennines.

I got to see at close hand how the Shap Red Granite is made up – with large ‘tabular’ feldspar crystals glinting out from the whole. My husband has seen this type of granite polished and used in construction projects/buildings, and if our ancestors did polish these stones, then this circle must have been fantastic when it was created.

After spending some time here, just soaking in the atmosphere, we left to go home, with one final stop, at Raise Howe Tumulus, which was on our way home. A glorious afternoon, very well spent.

Galilee Well

Trip No.20  Entry No.1  Date Added: 1st May 2017
Site Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring Country: England (County Durham)
Visited: Yes on 30th Apr 2017. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Galilee Well, Durham Cathedral: We arrived at the Cathedral only to find large marquees on the lawn outside, lots and lots of heavy duty cable laid neatly across the lawn. The west walls had been cordoned off with iron railing with filming equipment piled behind.

We decided to go to the café for tea and a sandwich then asked the guides at the desk where the well was and if we could access it. The lady who replied told us “there’s a really big event on at the cathedral; it’s only just been put on the web site. Even we aren’t allowed to go down there.” Helpful.

I remembered years ago walking up to the cathedral from the bridge on Silver Street, an old entrance tucked between two buildings, labelled the old Pilgrims Way up to the cathedral. We walked down into the town, found the entrance and followed the steps up the hill only to find out the path has been blocked off part way through. Retracing our steps, we found the riverside footpath which runs between Café Rouge and Geek Squad/9 altars café on the southern side of the river, at NZ 27282 42419. This path, high above the river, leads directly to the bottom of the west walls and the Galilee Well.

There is no information on this well on Pastscape, or in the cathedral notes for the Gaililee Chapel which must be immediately the other side of these enormous walls.
As the footpath is relatively narrow and has a steep drop down to the river Wear below, it was interesting to get a full face on photograph. The drop from the well into the water below is at least a couple of metres. There was no water flow at the time of our visit. Whilst standing on the path, I noticed a shelf of flat stones poking out of the bank very slightly. Whilst looking back up at the well from St. Cuthbert’s Well below, I noticed what looked like a cast iron bowl poking out of the sheer cliff. Is this associated with the Galilee Well? A pretty inaccessible place!

There is some information on the wells in Durham on the 'Ancient, Healing and Holy Wells of County Durham' by Laurence Hunt which we found useful in giving directions and information.

Galabraes

Trip No.49  Entry No.1  Date Added: 5th Oct 2017
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: Scotland (West Lothian)
Visited: Yes on 22nd Sep 2017. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Gala Braes Standing Stones, Bathgate: We drove up and down the road, but couldn’t see a gate into the field along either from the ‘main’ road (Drumcross Road) or the side road running north-south up to Cairnpapple Hill, so we ended up clambering over an almost demolished stone wall and squeezing through the wire fencing. There was a big (very unfriendly looking) bull in the field just below the western end of the ridge, who stood his ground and kept looking at us, so we didn’t dare approach the other small knoll where the other stone (B) should have been located.

As we were leaving, I spotted some old boundary features to the south of the standing stone so was photographing these, when I heard some cawing behind me. Looking up, a large crow was sitting on the standing stone, bobbing up and down. Eerie!