Andy Burnham's Blog, page 171

Whiteley Crag RB4 and Cairn Cemetery

Barrow Cemetery in North Yorkshire. Referring to the sketch map of the cairn cemetery, information for the layout was obtained from both historical OS maps and the North Yorkshire Moors National Park HER map. Grid references for those cairns which are no longer extant were worked out from these maps, otherwise they are from my GPS.

Castle Hill (West Yorkshire)

New petition to protest about rebuilding the old pub on Castle Hill in a way that seems inappropriate for the location, see the comments on our page. This hill became a stronghold of the Iron Age Brigantine tribe but was suddenly abandoned after a fire circa 400BC. Excavation uncovered vitrification in a section of walling and found that the fire originated inside the wall. This disproves the theory that the hill was stormed by the Romans as it was abandoned long before their arrival and is thought to be the possible origin of many local folktales of the hill being a worm's lair. Evidence has also been found for occupation stretching back to the Neolithic and Bronze Age periods.

Goldherring 1

Were you at the Goldherring vilage dig with PAS Poole in 1959? See the comments on our page for a recollection from someone who was.. A defended settlement dating from the 1st century BC to the 6th century AD consisting of an enclosed settlement with hut circles and a field system.

Grasmere - Far Easedale

UKVegan writes: I can find no records whatsoever of this site/feature. It is at the head of Far Easedale, near Grasmere in the Lake District and many rocks are scattered around the area. However, this is clearly (to my mind) far from a random feature, and appears amongst similar, although not quite as obvious features. What do you think?

Gæsterehøje

Nine very well preserved burial mounds in the Borgnakke forest, Sjælland, Denmark. None of the mounds have been examined by archaeologists, but the beautifully domed mounds are probably from the Bronze Age (1.700 - 1.100 BC), where thousands of burial mounds were erected throughout the country.

Tregeseal Barrow

Tregeseal Barrow is a Scillonian Chamber Tomb, which can be found on the hillside to the northeast of Tregeseal Village, near to Hailglower Farm, not far from St Just at the westernmost extremity of Penwith. Recent photos from Bladup show it has been recently cleared of vegetation and looking wonderful.

Weston Woods Cromlech

Tuesday 18th May Andy Burnham the Editor of the Megalithic Portal will be speaking live from the picturesque village of Albury in Surrey. We will be beaming the talk up via Zoom so you are very welcome to join us. Click on the poster above for more details. The village of Albury was reported by antiquarians to have been the location of a cromlech, and was certainly home to other prehistoric finds including barrows and a Mesolithic or possibly Neolithic house, now destroyed in the nearby quarry. See the nearby sites list from this page for more potential sites. The location of this site is unknown, indeed it is not confirmed that it ever existed. Trevor Brook from Albury History Society has found slides of several stones in their archive which we have added to this page. Whether any of these stones are still in the landscape is still under investigation.

Kirkerup Langdysse

Langdysse (Long Barrow) in København. The mound is 15 x 10 m with chamber of 4 stones and a capstone. According to Fortisminder, archaeology student Christian Koch spotted at least 9 cup marks on the capstone while photographing its surface in 2020.

McManus Galleries

Now re-open - the McManus, Dundee's Art Gallery and Museum - a Gothic Revival-style building with a collection of fine and decorative art as well as a natural history collection. It also contains collections of Neolithic, Bronze Age and Pictish items. We have a taster of what you can expect to see.

Clonleigh Boulder Burial

Boulder-burials are classified as a large boulder or capstone of megalithic proportions, resting on a number of supporting stones, usually three or four in number, which, in most cases, do not form a recognisable chamber structure. Excavations suggest a Bronze Age date for this burial monument (c. 2400-500 BC). Here a quartz boulder 2.64m x 1.68m and 1.45m tall rests on a support stone to the west and on a bed of smaller stones, a quartz stone lies under the eastern side.