Tag: prehistoric

  • Hill Hill and the Art of Furtling

    Hill Hill and the Art of Furtling

    It was one of those charming so-called “lazy winds”—the sort that cannot be bothered to go around you and instead cuts straight through, ensuring you feel every bit of its bitter, bone-chilling embrace. Hardly the sort of day for a leisurely stroll around Kildale Moor, but, there I have been, engaged in the enthralling task…

  • Dun Telve: An Ancient Scottish Broch

    Dun Telve: An Ancient Scottish Broch

    The Glenelg Brochs, so-called, are of course not actually in Glenelg at all. They are, if one insists on accuracy, in the smaller Gleann Beag, but such a trifling detail is likely of no interest to the modern tourist, who seeks spectacle over precision. Here, there are two of these ancient towers to be found,…

  • Castle Law: The Fort of the Maeatae Above the Plains

    Castle Law: The Fort of the Maeatae Above the Plains

    The Ochil Hills extend for 48 kilometres in a west-southwest direction, broadening into an 11-kilometre section without passes in the west. It is a range of hills which I do not know. Dumyat, a hill overlooking Stirling, rises to a modest 418 metres, with a steep southern descent to the Forth-Devon confluence, while its northern…

  • From Pyres to Stones: The Stone Circle of Tomnaverie

    From Pyres to Stones: The Stone Circle of Tomnaverie

    Tomnaverie is one of several stone circles in the north-east of Scotland distinguished by a recumbent, or flat-lying stone, flanked by two upright stones. It lies amidst grass and heather on a small hill’s crest. To the south-west, Lochnagar commands attention, suggesting it was a focal point for the circle. The arrangement may have been…

  • Tap o’Noth

    Tap o’Noth

    Yesterday we climbed to the highest hillfort in Scotland, Ben Griam Beg. Today we ascended to the second highest, Tap o’Noth, on the edge of the Grampians. Here the similarities end. Least of all the weather. Though the hillfort was first excavated in the 19th century, archaeologists from the University of Aberdeen have recently uncovered…

  • Ben Griam Beg

    Ben Griam Beg

    Ben Griam Beg and Ben Griam Mòr, though neither Munros nor Corbetts, are distinguished by their remoteness and prominence in the flat expanse of the “Flow Country.” This view is taken from Ben Griam Beg — “little dark hill” — looking towards its taller sibling, Ben Griam Mòr — “big dark hill” — which surpasses…

  • Baile Mhargait

    Baile Mhargait

    As I cycled the steep climb into Bettyhill, my mind drifted back to our recent walk from Torrisdale, skirting the coast of Druim Chuibhe to Baile Mhargait, or Margaret’s Town. This region, as the map reveals, is abundant in prehistoric features. I stopped to take this photo. On that walk, we found a large gravelly…

  • High Bride Stone Dyke, Bridestones

    High Bride Stone Dyke, Bridestones

    On a pleasant morning at Bridestone Moor, near Dalby Forest, soaking in the apricity, and enjoying the azure sky. Regrettably, clouds gathered post-lunch. However, an opportunity presented itself to inspect an ancient dyke delineating the boundary between National Trust property and the Forestry Commission. Over several winters, we endured all weathers on this moor, dedicating…

  • An Iron Age Boundary?

    An Iron Age Boundary?

    A view along an obvious alignment of stones, stretching from the boundary barrow at Hob on the Hill to the head of North Ings Slack. Associated with it is a pronounced dyke, termed a cross-ridge, although that appears a stretch of the definition. The date is believed to be the Iron Age, and the structure’s…

  • Cheese, Stones, and a Summer Solstice Alignment

    Cheese, Stones, and a Summer Solstice Alignment

    I’ve been diving back into that book, “Rock Art and Ritual,” the one I got off eBay a few weeks back. It’s been giving me the itch to go revisit some of the out of the way nooks and crannies on the North York Moors. So today, I took a little jaunt around Urra Moor,…