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Sites wildtalents has logged. View this log as a table or view the most recent logs from everyone
Duddo Five Stones
Date Added: 22nd Mar 2025
Site Type: Stone Circle
Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 16th Mar 2025. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 5 Access 4
Abbotsbury Castle submitted by Bladup on 16th Apr 2024. Eastern side
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Log Text: Visited with Ian M. We took a circular walk approach, with a smattering of lost, which gave a great sense of getting to feel the site as it gradually came into view. Took the direct route back to the lay-by.
Lindisfarne Priory
Date Added: 27th Nov 2024
Site Type: Museum
Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 1st Oct 2024. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 5 Access 4
Lindisfarne Priory submitted by Thorgrim on 17th Nov 2004. Lindisfarne Priory has a fascinating museum of early carved stones and crosses. With a distant view of the Castle, Holy Island is a wonderful place to get in touch with the past.
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Log Text: The first time I’ve visited Holy Island, I didn’t make the trek over to the Castle, just the village, museum, and Priory.
Three Kings
Date Added: 31st May 2024
Site Type: Stone Circle
Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Would like to visit
Three Kings submitted by cosmic on 29th Aug 2004. Three Kings from East
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Arthur's Stone
Date Added: 20th May 2024
Site Type: Chambered Tomb
Country: England (Herefordshire)
Visited: Yes on 1st Jul 2001. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 5 Access 5
Arthur's Stone submitted by wildtalents on 17th May 2024. More than twenty years ago I uploaded an image to the site before becoming a member later on. This photo was from the same reel of film... yup, remember those? The little lad on the right is a dad himself these days. And that's me on the left.
We were renting a cottage somewhere near Leominster, together with sister and brother in law and their young son. Arthur's Stone was a nice day out for us.
A day or two later I picked up a good copy of The Old Straight Track in Hay. It was great...
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Log Text: After a bit of a struggle with map reading, we fluked finding the site, and could park just yards away on the layby. It's a marvellous place and the cracked capstone adds to the marvellousness, in an odd way. Fantastic views across the Golden Valley and definitely a site I'd like to return to.
There's a clearly defined passageway/crawl-space to one side leading to the dolmen.
Yellowmead
Date Added: 18th May 2024
Site Type: Stone Circle
Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 5th Jul 2023. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 5 Access 2
Yellowmead submitted by wildtalents on 15th May 2024. Part of the concentric circles of stone at Yellowmead.
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Log Text: I wandered fairly randomly towards the circle from a layby at the foot of Sheep Tor. Well, not so much a layby as the point where the road ceased.
The farmer was kind enough not to shoot me, and to direct me properly: "I see you've been using Google maps" he commented. He seemed to be settling in some guests at a holiday cottage.
On the way to the SC, about a ten minute walk from the farmer's gate, I encountered an eviscerated sheep. Or maybe sheep rot away apart from the wool and the horns? That's all that was left in any case. I saw something similar at Merrivale years ago (20+).
It's a little difficult to trace the outer circles at Yellowmead: there are clearly stones missing. That's probably true of the inner circle/s as well but the stones are much tighter together and it doesn't notice so much. I spent a happy half-hour in complete isolation until I saw the clouds crowding in and decided to trudge back before the rain started again.
Mayburgh
Date Added: 18th May 2024
Site Type: Henge
Country: England (Cumbria)
Visited: Yes on 22nd Apr 2023. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4
Mayburgh submitted by wildtalents on 15th May 2024. The henge banks at Mayburgh were built up mainly using cobbles like those surrounding the one remaining megalith at the site. It's a really large structure and may have been a meeting point for many hundreds of people at a time. These days mainly sheep throng the henge. Image from spring 2023.
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Log Text: Very popular with the local sheep!
This is an impressive henge monument, especially when you bear in mind the banks are a vast collection of cobbles, piled to a height of twenty feet or more. The one remaining menhir at the centre looks rather forlorn.
Kicking myself that I didn't follow the signs to King Arthur's Round Table, not far away.
Merrivale
Date Added: 18th May 2024
Site Type: Multiple Stone Rows / Avenue
Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 3rd Jul 2023. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 3
Merrivale submitted by wildtalents on 10th May 2024. View of Merrivale stone row from its terminal
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Log Text: I first visited Merrivale hut circles and stone rows (etc) in about 2000. Visiting again in 2023 it seemed radically different but of course nothing had changed!
I appreciated the rows much more this time and was looking for alignments with the horizon, especially by the terminal stones. I think I found quite a few.
Make sure you wear your boots it is proper boggy round here. The weather was okay so I spent a couple of hours traipsing about, looking at all the angles.
Soussons Common
Date Added: 18th May 2024
Site Type: Stone Circle
Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 5th Jul 2023. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 5 Access 5
Soussons Common submitted by wildtalents on 15th May 2024. I've visited this dainty little circle a couple of times, more than twenty years apart. This photo is from 2023 and I was on the way home. Those skinny little saplings were now impressive trees in the nearby Forestry Commission reserve.
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Log Text: My second visit to this absolutely perfect little circle, the first was about twenty years ago.
Undoubtedly the most accessible SC on Dartmoor if you exclude Merrivale. You can pull in and park no more than 50 yards away. Gorgeous.
Scorhill
Date Added: 17th May 2024
Site Type: Stone Circle
Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 3rd Jul 2023. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 5 Access 2
Scorhill submitted by wildtalents on 15th May 2024. The weather must have changed three times or more in the thirty minutes or so I spent at Scorhill S.C. on Dartmoor, summer 2023. Pelting it down with rain to start with so I walked right past... but honestly you can't really miss it!
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Log Text: Vicious wind and rain did their best to deter me from the circle. Finally encountering some other humans, a couple of female hikers, I asked "Is there a stone circle round here somewhere..?"
They pointed... I was about a hundred yards past it. It is so obvious I can't believe, even now, I had strolled right past.
There are some impressive stones in quite a close little huddle, at all sorts of jaggedy angles. Several have fallen, and the ground inside the circle is all bumps and hollows and ditches. Whether this is the result of excavation I don't know. Some of it was rabbits I expect. Watch your footing anyway.
Maiden Castle (Dorset)
Date Added: 17th May 2024
Site Type: Hillfort
Country: England (Dorset)
Visited: Yes on 27th Jun 2023. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 5 Access 3
Maiden Castle (Dorset) submitted by wildtalents on 15th May 2024. Looking down on some of the defensive banks and ditches that surround Maiden Castle. You run out of puff using the actual path so this way up would have been a real labour - assuming you made it to the top.
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Log Text: Had the site pretty much to myself. It was a fine day but windy. When you're at the top of the site it is difficult to gauge the scale of the ramparts and other defences, but it is immense. A whole village could easily have existed up there.
Chysauster
Date Added: 17th May 2024
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement
Country: England (Cornwall)
Visited: Yes on 4th Jul 2023. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 3
Chysauster submitted by wildtalents on 15th May 2024. Partial view of the ancient settlement at Chysauster on a very wet spring morning, 2023.
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Log Text: I only had a day to explore Cornwall last 'summer' and the day I chose rained. constantly. all. day.
Chysauster is a fascinating site though, and easily found. It's quite a steep path from the car park but it's well maintained and fairly level.
Such a shame you can't at least have a peer inside the fogou but it has been vandalised far too much to risk further damage. The structures that survive are a little reminiscent of Skara Brae in some aspects but nowhere near as well-preserved. I would have appreciated seeing Carn Euny too but seem to recall it was not open that day.
The Hurlers
Date Added: 17th May 2024
Site Type: Stone Circle
Country: England (Cornwall)
Visited: Yes on 4th Jul 2023. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 5 Access 4
The Hurlers submitted by wildtalents on 15th May 2024. One of the more complete sections of a Hurlers stone circle, visited some years ago and then again in 2023.
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Log Text: Had previously visited The Hurlers probably 18-20 years before, and was grateful that the day-long rain finally died down to a mere drizzle by the time I made it to the site. A lot of stones have disappeared but the two main rings are reasonably intact and the Pipers likewise. The enormous radio mast not far away spoils the site but it is what it is.
Isbister: Bronze Age House
Date Added: 17th May 2024
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement
Country: Scotland (Orkney)
Visited: Yes on 14th Jul 2015. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 4 Access 2
Isbister: Bronze Age House submitted by wildtalents on 14th May 2024. If memory serves the mound behind the 'house' is a midden made up of stones burnt there. A hearth-like structure (not shown) could be filled with water and then heated by dropping in red hot stones, later discarded a few yards away. I recall some speculation that maybe it was a tannery and was a little removed from other residences because, well, if you've ever lived near a tannery you'll click to why straight away.
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Log Text: Not far from the Tomb Of The Eagles, this was probably an industrial building of a sort, maybe a tannery? Whatever it was, there was much use made of a pool for heating water using red-hot stones. Some of the discarded stones are strewn nearby but most form a midden to one side, now mostly overgrown.
Isbister: Tomb Of The Eagles
Date Added: 17th May 2024
Site Type: Chambered Cairn
Country: Scotland (Orkney)
Visited: Yes on 14th Jul 2015. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 5 Access 2
Isbister: Tomb Of The Eagles submitted by wildtalents on 10th May 2024. There's a protective concrete cap over the chambers of the Tomb Of The Eagles. It doesn't detract from this very worthwhile site... and what a spectacular walk to get there!
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Log Text: A bit of a trek from the visitor centre/museum... but a spectacular one, looking out over impressive cliffs with open sea as far as the eye can see. Guillemots and every other bird with a squawk to offer contribute to the soundtrack. There's a monument to the archaeologist who curated this site a few metres from the tomb.
The tomb is wonderful, even with the crude concrete cap etc, and the craftmanship with which the stones were interlocked is fabulous.
Cuween Hill
Date Added: 17th May 2024
Site Type: Chambered Cairn
Country: Scotland (Orkney)
Visited: Yes on 16th Jul 2015. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 5 Access 2
Cuween Hill submitted by wildtalents on 10th May 2024. Inside, looking down the entrance way of Cuween Hill chambered cairn
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Log Text: A gem of a site, this is like a miniature Maes Howe. Not much room inside and very dark. There's a torch you can borrow but no guarantee the batteries will be any good so you might want to take your own. There are lots of details you will miss in the dark.
Barnhouse Settlement
Date Added: 17th May 2024
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement
Country: Scotland (Orkney)
Visited: Yes on 14th Jul 2015. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4
Barnhouse Settlement submitted by wildtalents on 10th May 2024. One of the Barnhouse houses. The settlement is a stone's throw from the Stones of the Stenness and has a direct view of Maes Howe
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Log Text: A short ramble from the Stones of Stenness, there are several recognisable structures at ground level, with hearths and other characteristic features. Can't hold a candle to Skara Brae, but then what sites can?
The Long Stone (Minions)
Date Added: 17th May 2024
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir)
Country: England (Cornwall)
Visited: Yes on 4th Jul 2023. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 4
The Long Stone (Minions) submitted by wildtalents on 15th May 2024. On a day in Cornwall when it really didn't stop raining until about 6 p.m. I was chuffed to see this Christianised menhir just up the road from The Hurlers. I hadn't heard about it before and it was a kind of compensation for the sites I'd had to forego (Boscawen-Un for example). The carving is quite a lot more distinct than my 'phone photo shows.
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Log Text: I hadn't heard of this menhir before so it was a wonderful surprise to see the stone standing near the edge of the road just before reaching the Hurlers.
It's a colossal stone that has been Christianised and I vaguely recall it marks a pilgrim's way. From where to where else I don't remember... if I didn't imagine it!
The Hurlers landscape is really quite complex but this must surely be considered as a piece with the Pipers and the three SCs and the rest - not forgetting the Cheesewring I guess.
Duloe
Date Added: 17th May 2024
Site Type: Stone Circle
Country: England (Cornwall)
Visited: Yes on 4th Jul 2023. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 5 Access 4
Duloe submitted by wildtalents on 15th May 2024. Several of the impressive white quartz menhirs at Duloe, Cornwall, summer 2023
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Log Text: Although it's a tight little circle the stones are of an impressive height and seem to have been well-respected. One is a broken-off stump but it doesn't spoil the SC. The stones look like quartz, white but weathered. I really liked this circle.
Lanyon Quoit
Date Added: 17th May 2024
Site Type: Portal Tomb
Country: England (Cornwall)
Visited: Yes on 4th Jul 2023. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 5 Access 4
Lanyon Quoit submitted by wildtalents on 15th May 2024. The quite marvellous Lanyon Quoit, photographed summer 2023.
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Log Text: Mirroring exactly the horizon behind it, this is a beautiful dolmen. The capstone seems delicately poised on three chunky uprights. There's a smaller stone nearby that might have propped up a back-wall, and a flat stone underneath the dolmen.
I'm embarrassed to admit it but I took several minutes finding my way back to the country lane where I'd parked. The only solution was too head back to the quoit and then it was suddenly easy. Some kind of weird space-shifting thing?
West Kennet Avenue
Date Added: 17th May 2024
Site Type: Multiple Stone Rows / Avenue
Country: England (Wiltshire)
Visited: Yes on 3rd Jun 2014. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 5 Access 3
West Kennet Avenue submitted by wildtalents on 14th May 2024. A goodnight hug for a West Kennet Avenue stone in August 2002. I think a car headlight must have hit the menhir at an opportune moment which suggests it's one of the first ones after you cross the road. Most of the others are not at the right angle for this.
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Log Text: I don't remember when I first visited the Avenue but it wasn't on the first time I went to Avebury, which was pretty stupid. I think we were in a hurry to quaff a beer at the Red Lion and to be swarmed by the local wasps. And then to get the buses home, which was a way convoluted trip from Warminster.
The next time, equipped with a driving license, we took a proper walk up and down the Avenue and it was really supernatural. None of the photos came out. Which may have been spooky but more likely simple incompetence. We saw many figures and faces in the stones, this was before Terence Meaden's book came out btw.
In 2014 we rented School Cottage for a week (this is opposite the church's tithe gate). We had the opportunity to explore all of the site many times, at different times of day. I forget which day of the week, but think it was Wednesday, a long procession of bikers streamed into the Red Lion car park as we walked the Avenue in the twilight. That was pretty cool.