Yes, the video clip is fairly convincing.
My only, very lame, contribution is that I once found an eviscerated sheep very near the Merrivale stone rows (Dartmoor). With a real stretch of the imagination it might have been an ABC’s leftovers, but I’m stretching lol.
ABC: Alien Big Cat, the official Fortean term don’t you know 
G, you’re in for a real treat if/when you do strike-out to see the Cornish sites - there’s some absolute belters there…
I once found one of those in a bell pit on Ilkley Moor - I very nearly stepped into the mangled thing and promptly threw-up at the stench…but, Iz, a doctor’s daughter with an iron-stomached-curiosity, just crouched right down near the thing and had a good old inspection and concluded that it had been savaged!
Merrivale is an ace site.
Ha! We should start our own mini-sacred-site-survey thread…
Have only seen the Hurlers (which is a cracking triple circle). Very keen to see more, and to explore Cumbrian and Aberdeenshire circles more thoroughly. And then there’s Callanish, but quite a trek. Maybe next year.
Yes, it’s the easiest Dartmoor site too. Tends to be a bit soggy but loads to see. Just up the road there’s a lovely little circle just off the Forestry Commission site at Soussons Common. As a terrible map reader there’s plenty I’ve probably got close to but didn’t quite find.
Now they are really quite something - the recumbants - there’s over 100 in the Grampians - only a handful are scheduled by Historic Scotland and thus have signposts etc - for the remainder you need a decent map, and lots of time. We saw about 50 of them in the late 90s/early 00s - - we were in competition with Julian Cope and his mate Flinton Chalk for the title of ‘Champion of the Grampians’ : ) We often bumped into Julian at sites - he included a photo of me and Iz in his Modern Antiquarian book - it was taken at the much denuded recumbant, East Aquhorthies - - also, at the time he was compiling the MA Julian mentioned that he’d been unable to get a decent photo of the 12 Apostles on Ilkley Moor, so we sent him some decent shots of the site in full sun - they too appeared in the MA : ) We were well chuffed about that.
I love the Hurlers.
Every time I’ve been to Merrivale the site has been shrouded in mist - which really adds to the mystique of the place.
Your mind may melt when you experience Callanish. Some stones, such as those at Rollright, have an amazing energy and character - near sentient - - those at Callanish, so beautifully striated, give off an enormous energy. A vert special place indeed.
Let’s do it : )
My signed copy of Modern Antiquarian is a treasured possession, duff directions and mad photoshoppery notwithstanding. Hand on heart I’d say I prefer Aubrey Burl’s books though. And some of Francis Pryor’s stuff.
There’s quite a good recent MA knock-off called The Old Stones, has a combination of site reports and more scholarly/esoteric themed articles.
I can’t argue with that, K - Burl is the business in my books. His output is essential. I was particularly taken with his little gazetteer - it was one of 3 vital glovebox books that accompanied us on all our jaunts - the pages of those books have hundreds of tipped-in flowers that we picked from within the sites we visited.
Francis Pryor is a great character - the quiddity of affability : )
Here’s a selection of great Burl books, the 3 gloveboxers, and the Dames books which I find absolutely fascinating:
Some of Michael Dames is a bit fanciful. I got my copy of the Silbury book second hand off Pompey John Westwood. (The bloke with the tattoos and annoying drums, who is also an antiquarian book seller).
The paperback gazetteer of Burl’s definitely always comes on travels, yes. I don’t have from Carnac to Callanish and sense that a rash visit to Abebooks might be in my future
A small batch of recommendations (shocking photo I’m afraid) though I don’t think the one on Tomb Of The Eagles is widely available (got it in their gift shop, on the way out, naturally). Spectacular views.
The Miles Russel book is unusual as he interprets sites from an architectural perspective. Josh Pollard’s book traces the Avebury area through time, prior to the henge etc, and through to the present day. He’s written a more general book on Avebury, in a similar vein to Burl’s. The fourth book is specifically about Orcadian monuments.
Have you read “Pi in the Sky” by Michael Poynder (RIP), or “The Thirteenth Sign” by James Vogh (highly recommended)? Will start thread…Sacred Sites of the Britons (incl. those on Continental Europe)
Agreed, K, Dames is quite fanciful - though I quite like that - particularly that notion of Silbury being a basket containing all the flora from the locale - - I was particularly smitten with his idea that the hill was built atop a star-shaped configuration of grass…something we could never know ; )
SNAP on the Tomb of the Eagles (bought in Kirkwall) - a great book - good old Ron Simison refusing to be held back and resolving to roll-up his sleeves and get stuck-in - - we had the pleasure of meeting Ron when we visited the site, it was a real treat to be shown the site and be given the low-down by that fellow.
Cheers for the recommends - the Miles Russel in particular sounds intriguing - I think I may be joining you in an Abehunt : )
Just bunging on a couple of photos of 2 signed books that sit well together. The Mark Radcliffe book is a delight - he did a reading at Bradford Waterstones - when I stepped up to have the book signed I mentioned to Mark that I’d last seen him at the first night of Julian Cope’s residency at the Lemon Tree in Aberdeen - and reminded him about how the gig was disrupted by a girl hurling abuse at Julian - she was telling the fellow that his new LP (Autogeddon) was crap - Julian laughed it off at first, but when she persisted, he took a tenner (the ticket price) from a member of his crew, marched over to where the girl was sitting with her chap, put the money in her hand and then frog-marched her out of the door! It was excruciating to witness. Anyroad, when Mark handed the book to me I saw he’d written ‘fellow Cope-ite’ - I thought that was a lovely thing to write. Cut to a few months later - Julian was doing a reading in the same branch of Waterstones upon pub’ of MA - I was quite friendly with Julian at that point so we hung out for a while after the reading - I had with me a copy of MA Julian had sent to us (we received 2 copies as a thank you for the 12 Apostles photo) - naturally I had it signed - I’d mentioned my encounter with Mark, so again I was delighted to see that Julian had signed it to a ‘fellow Radcliffian’ : )
Nb. Pls. post to the new thread too (above), …
Sorry, G…will do.
And thanks for those recommends - I’ll be sure to have a look : )
I didn’t like Pi in the Sky I’m afraid. A section that jumped the shark was where Poynder makes the claim that dolmens resemble the letter pi deliberately to alert us to how mathematically sophisticated the builders were. The conclusion is not necessarily incorrect, I don’t really know, but (1) the dolmen structure was the inner chamber shrouded by earth, pebbles, etc and thus not capable of signalling anything let alone (2) a Greek letter that was only formalised many centuries after dolmens were built.
I like the sound of the James Vogh book which is mentioned in the Arafel posts on lunar planting.
I didn’t realise Mark Radcliffe was a megalithomaniac. Mark E Smith had some less flattering epithets if I recall correctly.
Stewart Lee, the not especially funny comedian and Covidian extraordinaire, is another one. He’s had a couple of articles published in Weird Walk, on monuments in Wales and Herefordshire.
As for Autogeddon: how dare she. Great album.
Yeah, nevertheless, suggestive serendipity I would say…there’s a good argument in Vogh’s book about how the Pythagaorean brotherhood learned their geo = Earth - metrey = measurement from both the Egyptians and the Brythonic “Hyperboreans” or “British”…so I forgive Michael his (probable), hyperbole as I follow his parabola (as it were), …
Updates: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8828549/Britains-big-cat-tracker-claims-UK-healthy-populations-leopards-pumas.html, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panthera_pardus_spelaea & see blog for information on tracking, casting and the history of the European Leopard https://www.arafel.co.uk/2022/11/whos-she-cats-mother-britains-big-cat.html
the film looks like it might be worth looking out for, thanks for the update
