The Modern Antiquarian

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It joins and unparallelled collection of Bronze Age treasures at the Museum dating to the time of Stonehenge and worn by people who worshiped inside the stone circle. Chief among them are the famous golden Bush Barrow treasures found in the Normanton Down Barrows less than a mile from Stonehenge. The following letter from a person who signs himself 'DRUID' appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine 1844: Druidical Temple near Shap The sun-disc, one of only six such finds, was discovered in a burial mound at Monkton Farleigh, just 20 miles from Stonehenge.

Julian Cope is one of Britain’s best known and most-celebrated post-punk visionaries. In this historical masterpiece, he takes us on an unforgettable journey across the British Isles, uncovering the first temples ever built and their myriad descendants, the relics of which can still be seen today.

This embraced the central part, made up of slightly larger stones pressed firmly into the soil beneath. Richard said: “The Calderstones are of national importance and this dig is an exciting opportunity for people in the local area to get involved in a community dig and support The Reader’s plans for the future.”

It has been a place of pilgrimage for many centuries and a tourist attraction probably since Roman times. The Welsh circle, believed to be the third biggest in Britain, has a diameter of 360ft (110m), the same as the ditch that encloses Stonehenge, and both are aligned on the midsummer solstice sunrise. Through both targeted research by professional archaeologists and the work of dedicated amateurs like George Currie we now know that Ben Lawers forms one of the major concentrations of cup and ring marks in the Highlands, which suggests it was a very significant landscape in prehistory."Potter, p45.I'll take the Druidical festival with a pinch of salt, but the Beacon must have seen its fair share of revels. I totally understand the farmer not being able to look round for "inequalities of the surface" (i.e. trying not to fall over) - that often affects me. And I like his italicisation of charmed... it hints at a fairyish spot. When the three granite uprights and the massive capstone collapsed in the 1960s earth tremor, they created a heap of stones which protected the ground beneath. Interesting in itself but not part of this blog. Now whether this earlier monument had anything to do with the settlement at Springfield Lyons is a matter of conjecture. There are various country traditions which account for the existence of these stones. Some say that they were maidens who were transformed into stones for dancing on the Lord's Day. Others assert that a man is buried under each stone. All, however, agree that the stones are placed there by supernatural agency, and that it is impossible to remove them.

Much of this cairn, which is now about 11m in diameter, still survives but in recent years it has suffered a lot of disturbance due to people using stones from it to make modern cairns and wind breaks. Another smaller historic cairn lies further along the ridge at Old Pike and that has also lost some of its stones.” The illustrations are found on the Stone Age “Cairn L,” on Carbane West, at Loughcrew, outside Kells, in County Meath. The landscape of rolling hills is littered with Neolithic monuments. Some say that originally there were at least 40 to 50 monuments, but others say the figure was more like 100. The Minotaur stalked them within the giant maze; the process endured for three years until Aegeus' other human son, Theseus, penetrated the labyrinth and slayed the Minotaur; Theseus Minos' daughter, Ariadne, gave Theseus a spool of thread, which he unwound as he explored the labyrinth, allowing him to retrace his steps and escape the enormous maze. The above story is further memorialized by the historian Plutarch, who further muddles fact with fiction and adds a moralistic ending. The south Liverpool park is playing host to a series of heritage activities until May 8 as part of the Connect Calderstones project by The Reader Organisation. SU 04506659 - a bowl barrow 30 x 3 ft. The central member of a so called triple barrow but more probably a bowl-barrow inserted between two bells. Excavated by W. Cunnington who found a primary (?) cremation with ornament of jet or shale, and a bone pin. Possibly excavated by R.C.Hoare who found secondary cremation to N. Finds now lost.Towards the south end of the village of Shap, near the turnpike road, on the east side thereof, there is a remarkable monument of antiquity, which is an area upwards of half a mile in length, and between 20 and 30 yards broad, encompassed with large stones (which that country abounds) many of them three or four yards in diameter, at 8, 10 or 12 yards distance, which of such immense weight that no carriage now in use could support them. Undoubtedly this hath been a place of druid worship, which they always performed in the open air, within this kind of enclosure, shaded with wood, as this place of old time appears to have been, although now there is scarce a tree to be seen (Shap Thorn only excepted, planted on top of the hill for the direction of travellers). At the high end of this place of worship, there is a circle of the like stones about 80 feet in diameter, which was the sanctum sanctorum (as it were) and place of sacrifice". During the Bronze Age, some 4,500 years ago, a large stone mound was built there, probably to mark the burial place of a local chieftain and to act as a territorial boundary marker,” explained Robert.