Not so many stones really...

On Saturday, we decided to drive up to Suffolk, to revisit the bookshop in Clare, that has a good range of old topology and archaeology books at excellent prices. The only site we bothered with en-route was the Sturmer Barrow. I did have details of some other possibles on the way, including a cursus at Harlow, but the time didn't feel right for investigating further.

Taken from the EH Scheduled Monument record:

A bowl barrow situated on a west facing slope overlooking the River Stour. The barrow is visible as an earthen mound which measures 48m in diameter and 2.5m high. Although no longer visible at ground level, a ditch, from which material was excavated during its construction, surrounds the mound. The ditch has become infilled but survives as a buried feature 2m wide.This bowl barrow 500m north-west of Sturmer Hall is well preserved.

On Sunday, we fancied a stroll down to the New Forest, and rather than hunt down more barrows, I set myself the task of trying to find the South Baddesley Stone. I failed.

South Baddesley is a small place: a church, a school and a few cottages. We parked in the church car park, a couple of hundred yards North off the Lymington-East End road. I walked back down the lane to the junction, but could see no sign of a sarsen, even though the GPS said I was on the spot. There's a small triangle of grass at a junction with a side lane, that would have been an ideal spot if the stone had been moved, but it was bare.

Sadly it looks as if this is no more (or is now recumbent in a ditch, covered by undergrowth).

We stopped off on the way home at Figsbury Ring - a weird place with a most amazing collection of butterflies.

I only spotted this on the way home as I took a wrong turning. Parking in a layby I looked across and thought "hello, what's that?". Checking the map, the opportunity was too good to miss, and we carefully made our way up the deeply rutted track to the even more deeply rutted car park.

As others have said before me, the 'fort' is impressive. I was totally unprepared for the inner ditch, and knew right away that this was special in some way. It's a bit too 'jagged' for a proper henge ditch, to my mind, and looks a bit rough and ready.

Great views though, and a large and varied butterfly population.

The only Stones connection for the weekend was the traffic for the concert at Twickenham on the way home... but I don't suppose that counts?

A Hertfordshire Henge?

Today's task, on the face of it, was impossible. Find a henge monument in Hertfordshire!We started the day with a warm-up at Stevenage Six Hills, a series of Iron Age barrows.

I was quite surprised when I found out where these were. A few years ago, before my antiquarian interests came to the fore, I'd attended a job interview in the modern office block that overlooks the mounds. I remember assuming at the time that they were just a modern landscaping feature…

Antiquarian descriptions state that the mounds were once all surrounded by ditches and outer banks, but these are no longer visible. What are visible today are the inevitable cycle tracks across the tops of the mounds, which are situated a short walk from the shopping centre. The mounds are fairly evenly spaced, on a N-S line. Only one is undisturbed, three having large depressions indicating where shafts have been sunk, and the two most southerly have been tunnelled from the sides. All in all, a bit of an anachronism in the modern(!) town, but I'm glad they've managed to survive.

After a quick (2 hour!) visit to a craft fair for Mikki, we headed north toward Baldock, and Weston Hill Henge, which was easier to find than I'd expected although I needed the GPS to confirm the location, as there's not much to see at ground level.

This is definitely one for the completists. The henge does not appear on the OS map, but is mentioned on the MAGIC web site as a scheduled monument. The henge is about 1m in height, and around 65m in diameter. There are apparently two opposing entrances, identified from crop marks, in the East and West. The Icknield Way passes by and is visible to the NE.

I approached on the path from the NW. The henge site can be seen across a field surrounded by barbed wire, showing signs warning of Rat Poison and other evils during my visit. Staying on the path (marked on the OS Map), and skirting around this field leads to the field with the henge in it. Luckily, the crop had recently been harvested and I crossed to the henge site itself, which was heavily overgrown with weeds. Sadly, there's really not much to see here, unless you enjoy staring at an uncultivated patch of land surrounded by farmland.

Folklore:
The site is associated with a local legendary giant called Jack O' Legs who was supposed to have lived in a cave nearby. Various versions of the story exist. See Mysterious Britain or here for more information.

On the way home, I decided to push my luck and seek out some barrows in Graffridge Wood, near Knebworth. The wood is wonderful, and teeming with life – game fowl abound, and the insect life is diverse and colourful. I managed to find the Roman barrow (TL 217209), but failed on the Bronze Age bowl and bell barrows (TL214208), mainly because the fern and bramble undergrowth was so dense. I had a nice walk in the woods though, which made up for the disappointment.

Essex Fringes

No real plan today, other than to head toward Southend and turn North up toward Suffolk and maybe take a look at Alphamstone before heading for home. We got as far as Raleigh (and the inevitable retail experience) before the traffic got 'difficult' on yet another 'hottest day of the year so far'.

Heading North we avoided the A12, which was also busy, and soon found ourselves at Halstead, northwards on the A131. A right turn signposted Pebmarsh put us on the road toward Alphamstone, and a friendly local pointed out that the church was around the next bend just as we thought we must have missed it.

This is weird. A church, with a whole bunch of sarsens around it. The two stones in front of the church are not in their original positions, according to a helpful local lady, who also pointed out the sarsen poking inside the SW wall of the church, under the rear pew. Reports of the number of stones varies. I thought I counted as many as 13 stones or remnants, but figures of 9,10 or 11 are more usually reported.

Was this originally a circle? It's difficult to determine that from what I saw. Most of the stones are on the Southern edges of the churchyard rather than spread around. R*man fragments of a hypocaust were found in an adjoining field, and a kiln site lies nearby, so the area has been in use since the Iron Age, if not earlier.

I'm no expert on cup marks, but several of the stones had round indentations in them. Could this be weathering? Another had a triangular 'groove' cut into it, which intrigued me.

We then headed across country through the Hedinghams, where we got lost and skirted through Sudbury. At Cavendish we stopped at the Sue Ryder Museum for a bite to eat in the cafeteria, which was nice. In the next village along, Clare, we spotted a bookshop and screeched to a halt. Good call, it was a goldmine and I picked up several archaeological themed books at knockdown prices (9 books for a tenner is a bargain in anyone's books). It proves it's always worth looking…

Slightly further along, we passed the site of a set of ring ditches at Chapel Farm (TL732434). I couldn't see any obvious evidence from the road, despite the crop having been harvested and the field recently ploughed, so we continued on.

At Saffron Walden, we passed close by the Maze, and were going to check out the hillfort at Ring Hill but decided against stopping as time was getting on. The final stop of the day was reserved for Newport, just south of Saffron Walden.

Just at the northern limit of the town, on the B1383, is the entrance to Shortgrove House. We parked here, and walked the 100 or so yards further south along the road to where the Leper Stone stands at the side of the road. This is a large stone, reportedly the largest in Essex.

Slightly further south in the town, in Station Road lies a recumbent block of puddingstone outside the village hall.

Historic Kent

Took another run down to Kent and environs yesterday. This trip was a bit of an experiment, as I forsook my beloved maps, and trusted to printed route directions from Autoroute. Never again! The circular route included several sites, as well as some shops that Mikki wanted to visit. From home, we planned to head through the Blackwall Tunnel to Bromley, across to Oldbury, up to Chatham, then Gravesend, Swanscombe and back through Plumstead to check out the barrows in that area. Even before we'd hit Bromley we'd taken the wrong turn, following the instructions. Moral? Don't trust software to plan routes for trips!

Chislehurst Caves were inviting, as we were in the area, but we had other fish to fry today.I spent some time walking around Oldbury Hillfort before trying to find the Rock Shelter. This proved almost impossible to photograph due to the lack of light (I'm off to Jessops to invest in a monopod today!). Despite trying to follow the site plan, I got slightly lost returning across the fort to the car park, and had to double back on myself a couple of times. I have to say the western aspect of the fort (from the car park) is pretty steep, and you'd feel fairly safe living up here.

Eventually moving up toward Chatham, I somehow managed to pass through Trottiscliffe (see Coldrum) and Addington (damn those route instructions!), but we eventually did manage to arrive at Swanscombe to see the concrete block memorial at this historic site.

Am I an enthusiast? From the fact I'm here, I guess I must be. I had problems finding this, despite directions taken from TMA. I had a couple of false starts, stopping when I saw Footpath signs in Milton Road. The trick is to keep going, over the speed bumps which do nothing to deter the local boy-racers, past a Cost Cutters supermarket, across a couple of mini roundabouts. Milton Road eventually comes to a T junction (mini roundabout, so you can swing back round easily), the required footpath is on the right, as Juamei says, as you approach this final junction. The entrance to the site is some 30yds along the footpath, on the right.

The site itself could be wonderful. Dragonflies and butterflies buzzed and fluttered during my visit, but sadly, despite being designated a Nature Reserve, it is quite dilapidated. Rubbish is strewn around, I heard a gang of kids making a 'camp' of an old fridge and car bonnet off in the bushes somewhere. Firepits are strewn around the area, and the memorial block is now only a tribute to the freedom of expression and artistic talents (or lack thereof) of the local youth population.

A historic site, deserving of more attention.

Winn's Common Mound was next. A lump among football pitches, I'm amazed it's survived! The views from here must have been spectacular before the houses were built around the common.

Finally, it was a visit to the Shrewsbury Tumulus. A magical place, despite the mundane urban surroundings. If only the others around here had survived too...

We finished the day with a nice 'All you can eat' Thai in Welling before heading for home. Autoroute suggested 4 hrs for the route. We were out for over 12 hours, accounting for approximately 5 hours of stops for various reasons. Where did the other three hours go??