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The Modern Antiquarian Forum » Cumbria » Is it possible to contract a geophysics survey? |
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StoneGloves 1149 posts |
Oct 05, 2010, 16:57
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I've posted a couple of photographs and an altered aerial image on the Whitehouse page here. The map reference given there is close enough to locate the stones. As well as the four upright stones in the circle there are two pairs of small outliers each a distance away from the four stones on an axis roughly parallel to the road. These other stones are almost lost in the turf and the easiest pair are not far from the wall that borders Whitehouse. None of the features that I've listed on 'Alston Moor' have been photographed by anyone other than myself. Some are very remote - but also very large. The long barrow at Colouring Crags (^) is the most difficult, perhaps, with Holy Mire stone circle as one of the easiest. The Bold Venture copper mine is somewhere in about the middle and the Tynehead mine utterly unknown and never visited. Where is it (eg) ?
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Megalithics 199 posts |
Oct 05, 2010, 22:03
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StoneGloves wrote: I've posted a couple of photographs and an altered aerial image on the Whitehouse page here. The map reference given there is close enough to locate the stones.......The long barrow at Colouring Crags (^) is the most difficult, perhaps, with Holy Mire stone circle as one of the easiest. Thanks for the Whitehouse info, we should find that no problem. Holy Mire is new to us also and if it's in the area...... any descriptions, smr entries or location details on line anywhere? Maggie & Keith
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StoneGloves 1149 posts |
Oct 06, 2010, 07:28
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Yes, there is plenty of material on Holy Mire, which is the name I've given to the large stone circle and is taken from an old farmhouse nearby. There is more than just a circle, however, and it's mainly listed as 'Kirkhaugh Complex' here. Various stuff on the SMR. It's just into Northumberland and the fifth image, on the site page here, has the instructions for identifying the circle. If you are able to find and identify it you will be the fifth and sixth people, only, to recognise it (in the modern era). There was a small party from here that tried to find it, but were unsuccessful. There are three barrows on the hillside, across the river, two of which were excavated in 1935, that are listed here as 'Kirkhaugh Barrows' (I think), and they are entirely unphotographed. They're clearly marked on the OS and one was the source of the Kirkhaugh Gold earring/ornament/whatever. To find the circle one must get onto the railway embankment. This is shown in the aerial image on the Kirkhaugh Complex page. The easiest way to get onto it is to park at the roadbridge, over the burn, walk up the road to the farm road, and walk down it to the railway bridge. Then get onto the railway that way. There is a footpath beside the railway - the South Tyne Trail - but the Holy Mire circle can just be seen from the railway line itself. Print a copy of that fifth image, in black and white, and use that to find the same spot on the railway line. Then you should be able to make out the stones, which are flat and mostly covered by turf. That field is a riot of destroyed stone monuments, with some still identifiable. There is stuff in the field beside the river too, and on the hillsides, and further down the valley, as far as Haltwhistle! The Whitehouse four-poster is an outlier to this site and is indicated by stones on the corner and the gateway to an object that would have been in the middle of the circle, which I've named Smallhenge. I think that's how it's listed on the SMR!
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Megalithics 199 posts |
Oct 06, 2010, 20:23
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Hmm, after looking at the numbers of stones visible in the Kirkhaugh aerial shot we think we'll give that one a miss. We've been to quite a few sites in confusing stone jumbles, or with most stones buried, and we don't do that anymore. Definitely putting the four poster on the list though, we'll do our full work-up on it. We were wondering if it was on private land though, do you have to ask for access permission anywhere? Maggie & Keith
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StoneGloves 1149 posts |
Oct 06, 2010, 20:32
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No, it's not a confusing jumble, from the railway line. Both sites are on private land, without any right of access. I always used to get through that as most people knew me, with living there, but it would be correct to ask for permission to visit. I know who owns Holy Mire but not who owns Whitehouse. It's on the roadside and can be seen from the gateway. There are houses nearby to ask at. Please post results somewhere here perhaps ...
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StoneGloves 1149 posts |
Oct 10, 2010, 20:32
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Don't worry about it. I take it you didn't look at the two pairs of almost buried stones I described? The quarries you describe are actually shallow coal adits and resulting spoil heaps. I'm glad you didn't visit any of the other stuff in the vicinity.
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Megalithics 199 posts |
Oct 10, 2010, 20:44
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StoneGloves wrote: I know who owns Holy Mire but not who owns Whitehouse. It's on the roadside and can be seen from the gateway. There are houses nearby to ask at. Please post results somewhere here perhaps ... We visited the Whitehouse four poster site today and we are afraid we were not convinced that these are the remains of a four poster circle. The stones lie on a very steep slope, a situation we have never seen for a 4P. In additon, only 1 metre downslope from the stones there is a wide level platform that would easily have accommodated them. This is the first time measuring stone heights where we have had to choose between the usual vertical measurement, or one perpendicular to the ground surface, it was that steep. The stones themselves had some very sharp edges and surface features, the kind you generally don't see after 4000 years+ of weathering and livestock massaging. We've photographed around 25 4Ps including variants like Shethin, monsters like Four Stones and weird ones like Glassel, but this site just didn't look or feel right. The whole area has been the site of intensive stone quarrying and we noticed two filled-in quarries only 50m upslope from the stones, we suspect that the Whitehouse stones may have had a more recent origin there. We also talked to the landowner and he had no idea that a stone circle had been reported to the HER on his land, he was absolutely baffled when we showed him the site. Sorry to be so negative, we are no experts and may be totally wrong about this, but we both felt strongly that this was a wrong un'. We did do our standard full work-up on the site and even checked for rock art, it will appear online eventually. Maggie & Keith
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Megalithics 199 posts |
Oct 10, 2010, 21:52
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StoneGloves wrote: Don't worry about it. I take it you didn't look at the two pairs of almost buried stones I described? The quarries you describe are actually shallow coal adits and resulting spoil heaps. I'm glad you didn't visit any of the other stuff in the vicinity. We did spot two erect stones near the boundary wall, these were quite close together and were also perfectly aligned on third stone about 30m up the bank. All of these stones were well weathered and looked "convincing", indeed, a second pair in the correct position would have made a very plausible 4P. The landowner told us that the pits were old stone quarries, hence our origin theory, but as they are in fact coal adits, it rules that one out. As we said, we're no experts and could easily be wrong. Maggie & Keith
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StoneGloves 1149 posts |
Oct 11, 2010, 07:20
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I've only seen this site off the bus, going past. Except for five minutes in a rush with a camera I was uncertain of, with a jittery friend who wanted to get to Alston quickly. It's easy to reach with a car - that is its virtue. There are also the Alston Earthworks - not found by me! And the stone circle + at Kirkhaugh. I've stood on the railway embankment at Kirkhaugh, pointed out the outline of the stone circle to the two Northumbrian archaeologists of the time, and they've said 'stone circle'. And they were the most entrenched persons you could meet. Over on the fells, to the NW, there are large stone cairns. Colouring Crags and Broad Mea are the remote and spectacular ones. These are all with Right To Roam access. Not far away is an old copper mine - that's worth a look, and the farmer doesn't mind visitors. Then there's the stone rows of Slaggyford. One is very easy to find, two others less so. And there's the Maiden Way standing stone - another one by the roadside.
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StoneGloves 1149 posts |
Oct 11, 2010, 10:36
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The arrangement with the farmer and landowner for the field that contains most of the stone circle at Kirkhaugh, and for the carved stones of Slaggyford, is to leave fifty pence per person per visit, on or beside the gatepost. Those Slaggyford stones are not far from the road, but take some finding. The first one is easy - the farmer knows it, but the others are less easy. There's an alignment that is the secret and walking back along it is how they're found. There's another, but putative, long barrow on the roadside at Coanwood. It's on the roadside. Not listed yet. A stone circle was nearby - in living memory and on the Victorian 6" maps - but that has been pulled out, leaving the stones in a pile. There's a three-sided four poster also listed, better provenanced than Whitehouse, but a long walk - gravel track - from the road end. I could post an aerial image of that one, somewhere, possibly.
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