Andy Burnham's Blog, page 226

Gors Fawr Stone Circle

This year's Summer Solstice sunrise at Gors Fawr. With thanks to Horatio for the photo. The only real stone circle left in the region, Gors Fawr stands on a moor close to the village of Mynachlog-ddu in the shadow of the Preseli Mountains. The circle of 16 blue stones form an egg-shaped ring and antiquarian reports indicate that there was once an avenue leading to the two outliers, which are found to the north-north-east.

North Herts Museum

Friday June 21st - Lunchtime talk with curator and archaeologist Keith Fitzpatrick-Matthews - Fairgrounds for the dead: the prehistory of the Ashwell area. Also, North Herts museum finally opens fully on the 6th July. Details of both in the comments on our page. The ground floor of the new museum is now partly open, accessed via Hitchin Town Hall main entrance, Tuesday to Saturday 10.30am to 4.30pm. Visitors can currently see the Discovering North Herts. gallery, and the temporary exhibition gallery.

Torup Dysse

The Impressive remains of a hexagonal dolmen near Knebel in Djursland, Denmark. Its covering barrow (probably it was a round barrow) is almost completely removed and the chamber fully exposed.
A part (approx one third) of the capstone has been lost due to blasting attempts, but the larger remaining part still rests on 4 orthostats.

Bryn Celli Ddu

Bryn Celli Ddu Open Day Sat 22nd June - come and say hello as the Megalithic Portal will be there too - see comments for details. Also Andy's Old Stones talk comes to Llangollen Museum on the evening of Sunday 23rd June . Passage Grave in Anglesey. The island's most famous passage tomb, which was built on top of a circle-henge. Its name means 'the mound in the dark grove'. It was plundered in 1699 and archaeologically excavated between 1928 and 1929. There is an ongoing archaeology project each summer investigating the surrounding landscape.

Callanish 15

Hatsuki from Japan is the first to send us photos of Callanish 15 and 13 (see further down). On a slope behind a farm gate, above an upwards path beyond the gate there are several stones rolling. Most of them are boulders, one of them is an outcrop and one laying flat lane might have had stood there. This is scheduled as a fallen standing stone.

Ballots Brunnen

A spring in the city forest of Iserlohn (North-Rhine-Westphalia, Germany). The water is supposed to be of good quality and famous for its putative healing power in the past. The spring itself is sealed by an iron plate, but is opened once a year on Pentecost. Hundreds of citizens come up here to celebrate and drink from the well for this occasion.
Local tradition has it that one lives one year more with each cup you drink from the well.

Callanish 13

Reported by Ponting, Ponting and Curtis and listed as a stone setting, a small upheaval on the western bank of the bay of Tab Na Foadhail. The the site is covered with a lot of seaweed so come prepared with boots and knowledge of the tide!

Sprove Jættestue

Jættestue (Passage Grave) in Præstø. Although it can get a bit overgrown and ploughing has left it rather on a pedestal, it is well worth a visit to see the long access passage.

Burrough-on-the-hill

A guided walk of Burrough Hill, Leicestershire’s finest hill fort, Monday 22nd July. Also in the evening in Market Harborough, a talk on the Hallaton Shrine, one of the most important Iron Age hoard sites in Britain. Details in the comments on our page. Part of the Festival of British Archaeology. A 12 acre Iron Age hillfort in Leicestershire with rampart and ditch. A well-defined and prominent entrance breaks the rampart and when excavated traces of a cobbled roadway and a guard house with strong masonry walls were revealed.

Sharpenhoe Clappers

Beacons of the Past presents Pop-up Prehistory at Sharpenhoe Clappers, Saturday 20th July 2019, more details below on our page. A promontory fort in Bedfordshire, located at the edge of where the ice sheet formed during the last ice age. The Hillfort is within trees, but very clear from Harlington