Crailing Cross

Trip No.123  Entry No.2  Date Added: 2nd Apr 2019
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: Scotland (Scottish Borders)
Visited: Yes on 31st Mar 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Crailing Cross: We’d driven by this cross a couple of times before, but just thought it was a stone bearing the name of the village. This time, I got a closer look, then looked it up on Canmore after we drove past and confirmed it was a medieval ‘mercat’ cross. We stopped on our way back from Kelso to take a few photos. Nothing special, but another to tick off as a visited site.

I was aiming to take a photograph of the cross from the south side of the A698, but the traffic was so fast and frequent, I decided not to risk getting run over.

Craignish Sculptured Stones

Trip No.86  Entry No.2  Date Added: 27th Jul 2018
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: Scotland (Argyll)
Visited: Yes on 16th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Craignish Sculptured Stones, Kirkton: After having arrived at the cottage we were staying in for the next three nights, we decided to head off to find supper, but taking in a couple of sites on the way, one of which we learned about from Rachel Butter's Kilmartin book, the other marked on the OS map. Not the most auspicious of starts, as a lady on a bicycle rode (at speed) up from the lane leading to the castle and told us off for parking on the grass by the garage near the entrance to the castle. She told us the area opposite had been cleared for a car park. I apologised whilst Andrew moved the car and told her we thought the cleared area was just a large passing place, as the road just in front (heading south) split into two – one road to the castle, the other to Aird Farm. We got chatting and she eventually said ‘not to worry’ (a ‘park here’ notice might have helped). She pointed out the old Kirk and told us to ‘enjoy’, which we most certainly did!

Having moved the car to the layby, we walked up to the metal gates up a short, grassy lane by the side of the modern cemetery, which had a “Craignish Sculptured Stones’ sign hanging on it, and let ourselves into the churchyard. Going through the south door into the church nave, turning to our left (west) there was a collection of old grave markers; to the east are some old box tombs. Almost straight in front of us was a cross base, not recorded on Canmore, with a sundial (see the highlighted entry below).

There are a number of Canmore entries for this location. The ‘Kilmartin’ book by Rachel Butter (page 98) reads: Old Parish Church, Kilmarie, Craignish NM 778 014. This former parish church probably dates to the 13th century though much repair is more recent. It overlooks Loch Craignish and neighbours ruins of a former township, Kirkton. Its dedication was to St. Maelrubha of Applecross. The church contains a collection of medieval slabs which formerly were n the graveyard.
Most of the carved stones are products of the 14-15th century Loch Awe School. They depict crosses, swords, armoured figures in niches, and are mostly carved in local epidiorite or quartzite gneiss. Some are of Easdale slate. There are also some Early Christian slabs (pre 10th century) and some 16th century stone chests.
An epidiorite cross base is carved with a sundial; it has a central socket and 24 rays with cardinal points marked by crosses.
Access: Six miles north of Kilmartin on the A816 take a left turn along the B8002 to Ardfern. You will come to the village after 1 mile. The chapel is a further 3 miles on the left. Kilmarie Church is in private ownership.

Craigneich Farm

Trip No.53  Entry No.7  Date Added: 11th Oct 2017
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: Scotland (Perth and Kinross)
Visited: Yes on 11th Oct 2017. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: Craigneich Farm Standing Stone, south of Comrie: From the Lawers Standing Stone, we drove south back through Comrie on the B827, to the junction of a minor road at Coilcambus with a phone box on the corner. Turning right (travelling south), we followed the road along to where Machany Water ran close to the road, just before Craigneich Farm. There was a track leading up to the moors on the opposite side of the road, and on this single track road, we needed to pull the car into this entrance for a few minutes while we looked for the stone. We had to climb over wall into field, but the stone wall was low and the wiring broken, so it was easy to access the field.

A somewhat neglected stone, separated from those on the moorland to the south by the road and hedges, it was oddly shaped. By now it was dusk, and I had to use the flash on the camera to get a decent photograph. Worth stopping to have a look.

There were other standing stones which we could see up on the moor to the south, but it was too late in the day to walk up to these and back as it would have been dark by the time we reached the first one.

Craigmailing Boundary Marker (Torphichen)

Trip No.54  Entry No.5  Date Added: 12th Oct 2017
Site Type: Marker Stone Country: Scotland (West Lothian)
Visited: Yes on 30th Sep 2017. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: Craigmailing/Witchcraigs Boundary Stone: To find this stone, we parked near to the Little Criagmailling cross base found earlier this week and followed a little-used footpath through the woodland. This footpath joined another wider one, crossing a stile into a little tree-lined lane which followed a trickling stream to our left hand side.

This, very unexpectedly, opened up into an area of grass/heath with a viewpoint. As soon as you sight the viewpoint with its dry stone wall and information boards, the refuge stone is to your right hand side. This is a really rather special place. And being named Witch Crag made it much more atmospheric!

The refuge stone is no longer in the wall, but has been sited at 90 degrees to it.

Crag Well (Bellingham)

Trip No.171  Entry No.3  Date Added: 30th Aug 2021
Site Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 15th Aug 2021. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Crag Well, Bellingham: Not been able to find out anything much about this well, apart from reading a blog which since seems to have disappeared. Is there a tradition of church services being held next to this well, as the blog said? Will keep researching, but a very pretty spot, well worth visiting.

Crag House Cross Base

Trip No.147  Entry No.1  Date Added: 4th Sep 2019
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 3rd Sep 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: Crag House Cross Base, north of Acomb: There have been many times I’ve done a search for sites to visit in this area, but found nothing. Now, having recently done a search for holy wells near Hexham, this cross base appeared on the list. Not only was it on Pastscape, but it was also scheduled on HE.

As I was photographing the small stone by the gatepost, a four-by-four pulled up and wound the window down. “Are you looking at the monument?” the lady in the car asked us. “We’ve come to photograph the cross base”, I replied. “Yes, that’s what we call The Monument. We’ve never seen anyone visit it before”.

It turned out they live in Crag House, and are turning the adjacent land into a nature reserve to be handed over to a Wildlife Conservation Trust. The gentleman said he’d never been able to find out what the small stone was for, but we all thought it was some sort of boundary marker.

The lady said she keeps a blog of the work they are doing to their nature reserve, so she was going to say she’d met us photographing the monument.

In Acomb, the name of the cross is heavily reflected in road names leading up to the cross: Cross Bank, etc. The cross base sits at the top of the hill, not far south of the Military Road (B6318), with St. Oswald’s Church at Heavenfield just across the road (within 500m of the cross base). It has amazing views over Hexham.

Cowclose House (Barningham Moor)

Trip No.117  Entry No.7  Date Added: 12th Feb 2019
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement Country: England (Yorkshire (North))
Visited: Yes on 6th Feb 2019. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: Cowclose House Unenclosed Settlement, Barningham Moor: In some ways, this settlement was much easier to identify on the ground than Grey Stones, just to the south east, as there was a ditch running east-west alongside the southern side of the metalled track, and a clear circular enclosure, which stood out as being bright green, shorter grass on the north side of the road.

Would love to go back with the notes and the plan and look round again.

Cow and Calf Rocks

Date Added: 16th Jul 2017
Site Type: Rock Outcrop Country: England (Yorkshire (West))
Visited: Yes on 30th Jun 2014. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Cow & Calf Rocks, Ilkley: We visited here on a very blustery day after having seen Maiden Castle hill fort. By now rain was threatening and the moorland bleak. Parking at the café down below, we walked up the footpath. The view from the Cow and Calf over to Ilkley was great, although there were lots of people around. Walking into the horseshoe shaped quarry next to these crags there were groups of climbers roped up to the rock face.

Coventina's Well

Date Added: 16th Sep 2014
Site Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 14th Sep 2014. My rating: Condition 1 Ambience 2 Access 4

Log Text: Coventina's Well, near Carrawbrough Roman Fort, Northumberland: Having visited Robin Hood’s Holy Well in Colwell a short time ago, I was interesting in seeing Coventina’s Well and the adjacent Brocolitia, aTemple of Mithras. Having tried to visit 10 days ago, intending to park in the car park for Carrawbrough Roman Fort for half an hour, I was surprised (and disappointed) to find I had to pay £4 for all day parking – I couldn’t just pay for an hour (I understand from one of the other visitors I was talking to that the ticket is valid for all four of the National Trust car parks along the wall for the day, but this didn’t help me). However, my husband is better at finding parking spots than me, and on the way to Ridley Common Stone Circle, spotted a possible parking spot next to the Hadrian’s Wall footpath where we could leave the car for a very short time, so we stopped on the way back.

I’m glad I checked the images and grid reference of Coventina’s Well before we left home, so I knew exactly where to go.

Having parked in the small spot available where the Hadrian’s Wall Footpath meets the footpath to Slaterfield Farm to the north and the footpath to the Mithraeum to the south, we took our life in our hands and crossed the busy, extremely fast, B6318 (known locally as the Military Road). There is a stile across the dry stone wall into the field with Coventina’s Well, with the footpath continuing in a south easterly arc across the field towards the Temple of Mithras and Carrawbrough Roman Fort (an easier way is probably to park in the proper car park and walk across the Fort towards the Temple, despite the parking fee).

The ground in the field was very boggy, even after a prolonged period of dry weather, but thankfully someone had laid a path of stone slabs leading across the field. Looking for the Well, the ground on both sides of the path was high in weeds and marsh grass so it was difficult to make it out. Having crossed a small trickling stream almost at a second stile to cross over to Brocolitia, the Temple of Mithras, we were then able to trace the source of the water back to a heavily weeded, fenced off area. A patch of bright green water weed stood out amongst the grass about 20 yards in front of us, and we took this to be the well, not being able to get closer because of the boggy ground. Checking the grid reference confirmed this was indeed the site of Coventina’s Well. In other images I saw last night, there is also a standing stone which marks the site of the well, but this was well hidden in the foliage.

It was a shame this site had been neglected, as it appears to have a fascinating history. The Pastscape Record for this well records a spring contained in a rectangular basin, found in an 1876 excavation. The contents of the well apparently included at least 13, 487 coins and I'd like to find out where these are located.

I'm wondering whether a visit in winter with either wellies or waders would let me see more of the well. There wasn't even a visitor's board with any details about the well that I could find.

Court Cave

Date Added: 12th Nov 2018
Site Type: Cave or Rock Shelter Country: Scotland (Fife)
Visited: Yes on 1st Nov 2018. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Court Cave, East Wemyss: This cave is signposted as 'Dangerous' and 'Keep Out' due to falling rocks from the roof, so despite reading about the symbols on Canmore, we didn't venture in.

Corby's Bridge

Trip No.115  Entry No.2  Date Added: 24th Jan 2019
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 20th Jan 2019. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Corby's Bridge Settlement: This site was quite difficult to make out, as there were stones and banks everywhere, with trees and shrubs growing between them.

On the way down the slope from the rock shelter, we thought we saw the foundations of two old buildings (the stones were aligned in a shape), but were too moss covered to really distinguish. Walking further down the slope, as it becomes gentler, there are obvious traces of low, circular banks with stones in them. From this point there are several lines of stones running north east to south west down the slope. The best evidence of structures is at the south/south eastern end of the settlement, were there are stony walls, with aligned stones up to about 1.5m in height. There was a fence in between us and the southern part of the settlement, with no gate through, so we contented ourselves with leaning over the fence and getting photos.

Corby Crags Rock Shelter

Trip No.115  Entry No.1  Date Added: 24th Jan 2019
Site Type: Cave or Rock Shelter Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 20th Jan 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Corby Crags Rock Shelter: Parked at NU 12646 09945 and walked up to the gate at NU 12763 10096 (avoiding the fast moving cars), and followed the track up to almost the top of the hill, then turned south west, following little tracks through the bracken. On our way up the hill, we spotted a mound of stones surrounded by a circular bank (visible on aerial photographs) at NU 12845 09824. Likely to be mining debris, but it did look suspiciously like a cairn, but fits the description below.

We missed the rock art here, as Andrew confused the name with Corby’s Crags just north of here (but the HE map labels the area around the rock shelter as Corby’s Crags), and he didn’t check the ‘nearby sites’ list on the Portal. Grrr.

Corbridge Rock Art Panel

Date Added: 24th Jul 2015
Site Type: Rock Art Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 12th Jul 2015. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: Corbridge Rock Art Panel at Corbridge Roman Fort, Northumberland: OK, we've lived in this area for 13 years now, and the nearest we've been to this site is to take my daughter for driving lessons as it was good to practice reversing around corners in the quiet cul-de-sacs around here. Having said that, the Romans generally leave me 'cold' as they as so organised, everything is on a huge, grand scale, and having seen one or two forts, you can generally predict the layout of another. Sceptical? Probably.
However, the purpose of today's visit was to try to find the rock art panel which appears to just have been 'dumped' within the site; no-one seems sure where it comes from, apart from nearby somewhere.
The fort sits on level ground on top of a slope on the north side of the River Tyne, and as there is an old Roman bridge down by the river, this must have been a good place to cross in times gone by.
The staff at the kiosk knew nothing about the stone, until I called up an entry on the Modern Antiquarian (sorry, Portal) to show them, then the lady told me it was mentioned in the guided walks, and told me it was on the north side of the roman road (Stanegate) running through the site. After this, it was easy to find, almost at the far side of the site.
In the distance, across the fields, the church of St. Andrew's in Corbridge, with its anglo-saxon fragments, can be clearly seen.
I did find the strong room, with its set of narrow steps leading down into it, quite fascinating.

Corbridge Crosses

Trip No.149  Entry No.2  Date Added: 12th Sep 2019
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 8th Sep 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: Corbridge Market Crosses: This is our local village, with some excellent shops, but apart from the church, I've never actually stopped to photograph any of the crosses or the Vicar's Pele. We decided to remedy that today, although with it being a Sunday, I tried to get a photograph of the new market cross without visitors sitting around it, eating lunch. Still, it's lovely to know it's still part of this very active community.

The old cross is very sadly tucked 2m away from the door into the Vicar's Pele - now a micro-pub, with dog's water bowls, tables and chairs and a planter immediately adjacent.

On my wish list is gathering the courage to go into the very small Vicar's Pele and photograph the medieval grave slabs built into its structure, without managing to annoy anyone drinking in there - it is a popular place!

Copt Howe

Date Added: 25th Aug 2015
Site Type: Rock Art Country: England (Cumbria)
Visited: Yes on 11th Aug 2015. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 5 Access 4

Log Text: Copt Howe (The Langdale Boulders): When we drove past here on the way to Mickleden further down the Great Langdale valley, we spotted the signpost to Copt Howe but the road was so narrow and busy there was no room to stop. On the way back it was now after 6pm and the roads were quiet apart from one or two cars and cyclists. We parked behind another car in what seemed to be a narrow lay-by almost opposite the gate into the field containing these boulders.


If I thought the Mickleden walk scenery was beautiful (if stark with its tall peaks scree slopes) then this view down the Great Langdale valley was spectacular – green, lush and with rolling hills in the distance. What a location.

The rock art was on the largest boulder which was lowest in the field, sitting below the outcrop in which a tree now grows in the middle of. A very rickety stile climbed the stone wall to the other side, although when I touched this it came away from the wall, so I opted to walk down to the gate lower down in the field.


The early evening light was conducive in helping the motifs spring out of the rock. A few of the ‘cups’ were similar to the double cups on the Twelve Apostles in Dumfries, these being formed through natural erosion rather than pecking. I compared the designs I could see to the interpretation board but couldn’t quite reconcile the two.


In walking back up to the car I went round the left hand side of the tree (facing the road) and spotted a large single cup mark in the centre of the face.

Cop Stone

Date Added: 1st Jul 2014
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: England (Cumbria)
Visited: Yes on 28th Jun 2014. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: For a long time we've wanted to walk along High Street, the Roman Road, but the scramble up from Ullswater side was too difficult for me. My husband managed to identify another route, via the B road through Askham and Helton, then following the track past Outgang Farm and Heltonhead. There were other cars parked on the grass at the side of the road, so we joined them, and walked the 100 yards up to Cop Stone.
This was just the start of our journey through this fascinating landscape; whilst there are obvious quarried area and shake holes, there are a wide variety of cairns and tumuli, with the footpath leading up past The Cockpit Stone Circle and High Street.
The more we looked, the more there was to see. Well worth a visit, and easy walking.

Cop Stone

Trip No.173  Entry No.3  Date Added: 17th May 2022
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: England (Cumbria)
Visited: Yes on 14th May 2022. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: The Cop Stone, Askham Fell: Our second visit to this area, which has a wealth of archaeological sites, and reminds me very much of Dartmoor (in places). The weather was gloriously hot, and with many other walkers on the moor, we joined the row of cars parked by the side of the road at around NY 49586 21586.

Nothing much has changed about the Cop Stone since our last visit in 2014, although I was amazed at the number of people who just walked straight on by, without stopping. I had forgotten that the Cop Stone lies on the South Eastern border of a ring cairn, which has been described and illustrated by W. Waistell Taylor in his 1885 Antiquarian paper "Prehistoric Remains on Moordivock". Most of the stones in the ring are largely hidden, or just peeping above, the turf.

Conyer's Chapel Crosses

Date Added: 22nd Oct 2014
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (County Durham)
Visited: Yes on 17th Oct 2014. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 5 Access 5

Log Text: Conyer's Chapel, near Darlington: Hogbacks and Anglo Saxon Crosses: In reading about the Corpus of Anglo Saxon Stone Sculptures material for Northumberland, I’ve become more and more excited about trying to visit Sockburn Hall. In order to find out who to contact, I went through English Heritage, who have a web page about Sockburn, who put me in touch with both the Sockburn Hall Project and the owner of Sockburn Hall. He also told me that the neighbours at Sockburn Farm taking their privacy very seriously and there are signs to deter visitors, although there are rights of access to Sockburn Hall and the Chapel. I have to say I was made to feel exceptionally welcome once I'd arrived at the Hall.

Conyer’s Chapel is a small, private museum containing the remains of 13 Anglo-Saxon crosses and 9 hogback tombstones plus a small, but impressive (and nationally signficant) stone with runes which was found in the last year.

The chapel is the roofed section, and apart from the arches, the only remaining part of the now ruined church of All Saints. It sits less than 100 yards from the more recent (19th century) property of Sockburn Hall. Built into a loop of the River Tees, Sockburn sits on almost an island, making it an enigmatic and ancient place, suspended between County Durham and North Yorkshire.

The English Heritage records tell us the history of the area begins in AD780 to 796 when a church at Soccabyrig or Sochasburg) hosted the consecration of a bishop of Lindisfarne and the ordination of an Archbishop of York, meaning it would have been a monastic community. Sockburn then disappeared from the written record following Viking raids in the 9th and 10th centuries, and this history explains the fusion of pagan and Christian imagery on the surviving artefacts.

Most impressive was the hogback stone with the two riders carved on it, the rune stone and the large hogback with the ridge missing. I was shocked by the damp and slime within the chapel – in moving the fragments an inch or two to photograph them, I was covered in green slime, cobwebs and insects and this site must surely be at risk.

Sockburn Hall sits on the site of the Conyer’s family former mansion (whose distance ancestor was supposed to have fought the famous ‘worm, dragon or fiery flying serpent’) and is privately owned (see ‘The Grey Stone’ entry on the Portal). It is not open to the public, but the Chapel is owned by the Diocese of Durham and the resident of Sockburn Hall is a keyholder for the chapel. Because the chapel contains so many important artefacts, and the Hall and its surrounding lands have so much history, English Heritage have worked with the Diocese of Durham to survey the earthworks and look at the wider archaeological setting.

The Hall is about to be sold privately as it needs a lot of money to repair and conserve it.

Coneypark Nursery (Cambusbarron)

Trip No.108  Entry No.6  Date Added: 10th Nov 2018
Site Type: Cairn Country: Scotland (Stirling)
Visited: Yes on 31st Oct 2018. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: Coneypark Nursery Cairn: This cairn is right in the middle of a modern housing estate, where it has been left as a corner ‘open space’. The sides of the cairn have been marginally cut away to create the road and the gardens for the houses, but it is possible to walk over the cairn. A few of the residents were arriving home and in their driveways; none of them took (much) notice of me taking photographs and having a walk all around the cairn.

There is nothing much to see here, but it was ‘one to tick off our list’.

Coney Hill (Comrie)

Trip No.53  Entry No.1  Date Added: 10th Oct 2017
Site Type: Misc. Earthwork Country: Scotland (Perth and Kinross)
Visited: Yes on 28th Sep 2017. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 2 Access 4

Log Text: Coney Hill, Comrie: Again, to escape the dreary weather in Armadale, we found ourselves heading a fair way north today, up to Comrie, where there promised to be quite a few sites – standing stones and stone circles in a relatively small area.

Comrie is a really lovely little village, and we stopped for tea and a sandwich at one of the café’s. The menu didn’t appeal to me, so I got a hot Scotch Pie from the next door bakers – one of the best I’d ever tasted.

We didn’t plan on going to this motte, but having walked up the high street and over the bridges, carried on onto the walks which were signposted. There was a large car park next to the golf course.. It had rained here heavily and the paths up to the motte were muddy and slipperty, with a steep drop down to the River Lednock below. The motte was so heavily surrounded by trees that it was difficult to make out by eye, and even more difficult to photograph.