Journey Prehistoric England August 2022
London (Boadicea grave)
This was a long anticipated journey, retirement had approached and we had time for some stone circle hunting.
First off to London, looking after my grandchildren. I was looking forward to a visit of Hamstead heath with my granddaughter, a large unspoilt area in London where you have beautiful views across London. Parliament Hill Fields lies on the south and east of the heath .Parliament Hill itself is considered by some to be the focal point of the heath, with the highest part of it known to some as “Kite Hill” due to its popularity with kite flyers. The hill is 98.1 metres (322 ft) high and is notable for its excellent views of the London skyline.
Visiting Margret and Ferry they showed me the map of England. I was excited to see that there was one prehistoric area to be found in London, and this on Hampstead heath!!! So one sunny day I set of with my granddaughter by metro and over ground and we walked up Parliament Hill. There was a sheltered and shaded area of trees to walk through , a natural cathedral, and after a little climb, there it was the highest point. The five year old had readily walked along . A small mount, surrounded by a round gate and benches along. The whole area was soothing, radiating wellbeing and peace. There were some young people on one of the benches, in lively conversation. I did not dare to climb the fence, not a good example for my granddaughter so I asked her to throw a little stone across. It went high in the air but landed the wrong side. To be sure I send a second one and we collected a stone . (we always leave a little stone and take one to create a Netwerk between all the sites and Odilia, who is is guiding Angel of the prehistoric mystery places)). Afterwards we had a small picnic on one of the benches. Then it was off to the paddling pool.
This place is mentioned as one the possible grave sites for Boudicca, ancient British queen who in 60 CE led a revolt against Roman rule.She was a trained warrior, with long red hair, a harsh voice and penetrating eyes. Boudicca’s husband, Prasutagus, was king of the Iceni (in what is now Norfolk) as a client under Roman suzerainty. When Prasutagus died in 60 with no male heir, he left his private wealth to his two daughters and to the emperor Nero, trusting thereby to win imperial protection for his family. Instead, the Romans annexed his kingdom, humiliated his family, flogged Boudicca and raped the daughters , and plundered the chief tribesmen. While the provincial governor Suetonius Paulinus was absent in 60 or 61, 
Boudicca raised a rebellion throughout East Anglia. The insurgents burned Camulodunum (Colchester), Verulamium (St. Albans), the mart of Londinium (London), and several military posts. According to the Roman historian Tacitus, Boudicca’s rebels massacred 70,000 Romans and pro-Roman Britons and cut to pieces the Roman 9th Legion. Paulinus met the Britons at a point thought to be near present-day Fenny Stratford on Watling Street and regained the province in a desperate battle. Upon her loss, Boudicca either tok poison or died of shock or illness.(Catawiki)
I am left the impression that this is a place with radiating strong female quality which is important for London.
Mighty and Great.
649a.Great Cursus, Stonehenge, The
Stonehenge Cursus,
649b. Great Cursus
Barrows, Stonehenge,Greater Cursus Barrows
With my partner we started of the next search. This was easy, StoneHenge.
A megalithic monument from the Stone Age, probably from 2300 for Christ. It is well known. One wonders how they managed to transport the stones.
I have visited here over 25 years ago, it was possible to walk between the stones, touch them and there were few visitors. I could experience the greatness then.
Now it was a circus and visitors trap. A large carpark, visitor centre , bus to the stones and a lot of money. So we wanted it to do our own way and started to walk on the tarmac towards the Stones, a half hour walk. The road looked like a busy shopping street .Luckily we saw a grass path beside bending towards the woods and took the road less travelled. This was a surprise, as we then realised that the whole area was full of megalithic places. There were burial mounds and a large cursus. This picture showed how the cursus looked like. . We walked across an ancient path that was used for the people when they approached to Stones.
Stonehenge Cursus is large neolith cursus monument 3 kilometre long an 100 metres wide, this dates from 3600 before Christ. There are mounds and there is also a Lesser Cursus .A Cursus is a neolith monument which looks like a meadow with trenches. You could still see the trenches.
This felt special, we were alone there. Arriving at the Stones there were crowds of people and without paying you had to stay far away.
Even with payment you could not come too near. What to do with my little stone . I paid in the end to come near . I was looking where to throw a stone, as there where supervisors everywhere. I had a small one and saw a large outlier stone. I threw the small stone underhand and it headed for the Stone, but bounced of the stone and landed in the grass. Hopefully with the grass mowing it will stay.
It was difficult to experience anything with all those people round Stonehenge, so it was good to have walked the ceremonial path and have some experience of the area. We even picnicked around the ceremonial path and felt well there.
Anno 2025 nieuwe ontdekkingen rondom Stonehenge
Confusion and Buriels
The next step was Salisbury. A beautiful town with a cathedral going back to 1220. We camped on a field nearby . I had the view of a telephone mast and of the spire of Salisbury cathedral. People have always strived to create networks, connections, in the old with Stones circles and other megalithic monuments, later churches and now the internet. The future will be that we are connecting through our hearts and minds, directly.
Salisbury Cathedral was magnificent . We attended a morning prayer in a small chapel and I was deeply touched by the glass stained window. It was a dark blue window, with small patches of red and yellow. With the rising light the yellow was more visible, but it stayed a modern dark coloured window. It was dedicated to all prisoners of conscience.
The cathedral was a lively place , with modern tapestry exhibited which gave the feeling this place standing in the present.
I noted the green man outside the building and the little monster coming out of the chalice of a Saint. We all have to deal with our little demons .
After a hearty English breakfast off to a burial mound .
Sherrington Long Barrow,Long barrow 300m north-east of Albany Place(Wiltshire)
is set on the River Wylye floodplain, and orientated on the same alignment as the river.
The barrow mound is reportedly 30m long, 15m wide and stands to a height of approx. 4m but is
very overgrown, and so difficult to make out the contours.(not found by us)
The road was beautiful, passing old steam vehicles who were traveling a to a fair, then in a Glenn and a half hour walk. But, frustration, despite asking advise, seeing a map I choose the wrong path and frustrated we returned. I left a stone a hopefully the Sherrington long Barrow is found by Odilia. . We had no energy left to walk the other path and were none too happy. Quarrel and tension…
Wyke Down barrows(Dorset)Town:Blandford Forum Village: Sixpenny Handley(SU009152)
most in arable fields and as such any traces of ditches have been ploughed out the central stretch of the neolithic Dorset Cursus passes across Wyke Down many of the barrows are close to, or within, longer visible cursus bank
Bottlebush Down barrows-barrow cemetery(Dorset)Village:Sixpenny Handley(SU0138-1625) Lat:50.945686N Long:1.981729W Cond:3 Amb:3 Acc:4 Accur:4
Oakley Down Barrows(Dorset)Town:Blandford Forum Village: Sixpenny
barrows visible as you drive by on the A354 road between the B3081 roundabout and the section that follows the
Roman Road (south of Woodyates). Not a linear barrow cemetery, several different types of round 57 barrow are present. Op 579m W 268° 666a.Wor Barrow-long barrow Country: England County:
Then off to Dartmoor and on our way we looked for another burial mound at Wyke Down. We found it without problems and it felt right to be there. Dick noticed a henge, and there nearby is another mound with henge. It was difficult to see, since the area was overgrown. I was delighted with this find and as I had been reading about it this morning, without knowing it applied here.
Along the A354 was large area where we saw 9 mounds of different seize(there should be thirty), Oakley Down Barrows. We could not cross the hedge and a stone went in the air. So now we were quite fulfilled and travelled on to Dartmoor.
Dartmoor
And then we entered a different world. Dartmoor National Park. Wild, open moorlands and deep river valleys, with a rich history and rare wildlife, Dartmoor is a unique place with its hectares .
We left the A 30 after Exeter and had to drive to narrow roads, flanked by hedges, going up and down . And this with a left handed steering wheel was a challenge. It was an old country , bendy roads with century old inn’s in the small villages, open moor with heather and bogs( more later….). Round the moors the cattle roams free. Large Lakenfelders (beautiful cows with a stipe of white in the centre ) walk on the road and move slowly , free running ponies across the moors(I realise I have seen many horses, in paddocks, stables and competitions but nothing to compare to the sudden dynamism and joy of a herd of horse galloping down the moor)
And last but not least the sheep rambling on the roads and sitting on the warm tarmac.
- Mardon Down S,Mardon Down Stone Circle
- Mardon Down Cairn 1,Grinsell Moretonhampstead 5;Turner E9-cairn(SX76768716) Down Ring Cairn,
- Mardon Down Ring Cairn Giant’s Grave Mardon Down,Marden Down
- Giant’s Grave 4; Mardon Down cairn 4; Grinsell Moretonhampstead
- MardenDown East,Mardon Down E-ring cairn(SX76908760) Moretonhampstead 1.
- Mardon Down Pillared Circle 5-stone circle Down S,Mardon Down Stone Circle
First we went to Mardon stone circle. It was wet and I could not see it well, but on the hills there were many circles and megalithic place. There was so much to be seen There was the largest stone circle of whole of Dartmoor, 38 metres wide with a small circle in front.
I was I bit confused where we were(lack of phone connection…). Luckily my saving angel was a man in pink shirt with an umbrella walking across the moors. Together we looked at the map and then it was clear. There were smaller circles , loose stones.
The next day we travelled to Dartmoor porper and to the top and scrambled up the Tor. The a walk along the heather and there was a beautiful row of stones.
From the top we could see a few hut circles, which are everywhere to be found. This are the boundaries of former prehistoric settlements. Going down back to the car we saw the history of tin mining, large gullies in landscape and an abandoned settlement.
Now we were visiting in warm weather, but there is another uncanny side of Dartmoor.
Local Folklore tells of pixies in the moors. They can be helpful with the farm work or they can let you dance till you fall down exhausted. On the local carnival in Moreton Hamstead they perform once a years the pixie dance and crown a fairy queen. We were lucky to see the fairies dance through the streets.
And their queen was present as well.
After dark other beings can be lurking around. Stories abound about Satan who tries to seduce people to sell their souls for earthly pleasure(would our Iphones be miniature Satans, given us endless pleasure hits while waylaying us from our reel lives and taking our souls?)
The good thing there was no phone reception on the moors and camping site….
The bad side to that is we took again the wrong path. We had to go to Laughter Tor but never came there. Never arrived there.. Who was laughing at us??
Laughter Tor row 1,Laugher Tor 1;Laughter Tor E;Laughter -multiple stonerows (Devon)Town:Princetown Village Two Bridges(SX65377532)Lat:50.562081N
Long:3.902171WCond:3 Amb:4 Acc:3 Accur:5 starts near the Longstone which row is 164m long
Longstone,Laughter Man-menhir(SX65227538)Lat:50.562585N Long:3.904309W Cond:4 Laughter Tor row 2,Laughter Tor
So I never properly reached laughter Tor of found the stones circles. But we came close by the next day and left some stones then.
Bellever Tor 9,Dunnabridge Common Cairn; Smith Hill Farm Cairn; Grinsell Lydfore766. Bellever Tor 9,Dunnabridge Common Cairn;Smith Hill Farm Cairn; Grinsell Lydford, Bridges(SX63917606) Lat:50.568393N Long:3.923043W Cond:2 Amb:3 Acc:3 Accur:5 op 311m NE 46° Bellever Tor 2* Cairn
A row of stones had as answer to my story that Christ is now not any more in the Sun but united with the Earth: This is Holy,, was the inward heard answer.
Locals are very open to chat, especially if you tell we are searching prehistoric sites. One lady we had a chat with told us of a special sight last week. She was walking along with her dog and saw a black area. Thinking it was a stone she walked up to it To her amazement it got up , walked away . She noted the muscular back area and it was 50 cm high. She was too surprized to be scared and in hindsight wondered if it was a panther. She went to a local house and knocked on the door to check if they had a sighting, but nobody was there. I shared this later at the visitor information centre and they had a hearty laugh, thinking it was a good tale indeed. If there was a big cat on the loose you would expect finds of attacked animals.
So Dartmoor is not just a friendly place…..
And then the bogs, many a traveller has been stuck in the bogs and could not move forward. I myself ended in a small area of bogs, falling over, getting sucked in with shoes and this was in the dry warm season. I shudder to think what would happen can real soggy ground, with mist and cold that this would be dangerous.
This a picture a burial stone, in the woods at Bellever.
Spinsters- Rock Spinster’s Rock, Grinsell List A Drewsteignton 1-dolmen(Devon)
One morning I travelled alone to the three spinsters, a buriel chamber. It was said that the main stone was fallen down and three spinsters resurrected it before breakfast in20 th century. The response to my visit here was a deep sigh : “At Last”
A second place was near Bellstone on the heather, the 9 Maiden Stones or 17 brothers.
The legend relates to the origin story of the stone circle, as well as its name. Accoding to local folklore, the stones were once a group of 17 brothers who danced on the Sabbath. As punishment for this, they were turned to stone.
One version of the story states that the brothers are forced to dance at noon each day till the end of time. Another asserts that the stones would come to live and dance every Hunter’s Moon, i.e. the full moon in October. Yet another claims that the stones would come to life when the bells of Belstone church are rung.
Like many a circle they have commanding views wide across the landscape. It just lifts your energy and mood to be there .
Nine Stones (Belstone) Seventeen Brothers;Grinsell Belstone1,Turner Stone Circle G
Other places will have to wait, as it turned out quite stressful at times to do this together. So we spent some time in Moreton Hamstead, and enjoyed this local village live. We camped at a farmers site near a brook, this was exactly in the centre of Dartmoor. The funny thing there we are searching everywhere for stone circle but unbeknown to us we were almost sleeping next to one.
This was in right in the centre of Dartmoore.
Soussons Common,Butler Soussons Plantation (V2 24.2.6);Grinsell Manaton 9;
So it was a good place to stay. Keep in mind when you see the photos that centuries and centuries of peat are around the stones and thye are hardly visible anymore, or often fallen.
We could have stayed there. People were open, friendly and had all the time.
It is with longing in my heart that I write our adventures down.