Mysterious Britain & Ireland

Category: Ancient Sites

Ancient Sites

Segsbury Camp (aka Segsbury Castle and Letcombe Castle)

Segsbury Camp is a huge Iron Age hill fort, covering twenty seven acres, with a single perimeter bank and ditch. Dr Phené discovered a cist burial in the southern rampart during an excavation in 1871. Other finds include Roman coins, Iron Age pottery, a shield boss, human bones and flint scrapers.

Ancient Sites / Burial Mounds

Seven Barrows, Lambourn

Seven Barrows, is a Bronze Age cemetery. There are about 38 barrows (some sources say 32) in the area of at least four different styles, but it is seven barrows found clustered together from which the name originates. It is thought that the long barrow nearby dates from 400BC and is the oldest in the United Kingdom.

Ancient Sites / Legends / Standing Stones

Hangman’s Stone, Upper Lambourn

There is a legend associated with the Hangman’s Stone found at a junction of tracks 1.5Km north of Upper Lambourn. Possibly a boundary stone or perhaps marking a site of an old gibbet, the story relates to a sheep stealer. One day a man with a stolen sheep over his shoulder rested at the stone and fell asleep. The sheep which had is legs tied began to struggle.

Ancient Sites / Folklore / Folktales / Scottish Folktales / Wells

Tobar Vacher. (Tobar Mhachar)

The following description is taken from Folklore [A Quarterly Review of Myth, Tradition, Institution & Custom] Vol III (1892). ‘This is a fine well, dedicated to St. Machar, near the present farm of Corriehoul, Corgarff, Strathdon. A Roman Catholic chapel was at one time near it, and the present graveyard occupies the site of the chapel.

Ancient Sites / Fairies / Folklore / Scottish Fairies / Wells

Tobar-Fuar-Mòr (The Big Cold Well)

The following description of The Big Cold Well is taken from Folklore [A Quarterly Review of Myth, Tradition, Institution & Custom] Vol III (1892). ‘This well is situated at the bottom of a steep hill in a fork between two small streams on the estate of Allargue, Corgarff. There are three springs that supply the water, distant from each other about a yard.

Ancient Sites / Wells

Ben Newe Well

According to an article by W Gregor in Folklore [A Quarterly Review Of Myth, Tradition, Institution & Custom] Vol III (1892) ‘There is a big rugged rock on the top of Ben Newe in Strathdon, Aberdeenshire, On the north side of this rock, under a projection, there is a small circular-shaped hollow which always contains water.

Ancient Sites / Fairies / Folklore / Folktales / Scottish Fairies / Scottish Folktales / Wells

Tobar-na-glas a Coille (The Well in the Grey Wood)

‘This well lies near the old military road, near the top of the hill that divides the glen of Corgarff from Glengairn. In a small knoll near it lived a spiteful Spirit that went by the name of Duine-glase-beg, i.e., the Little Grey Man. He was guardian of the well and watched over its water with great care.

Ancient Sites / Burial Mounds / Hauntings

Dinton Castle

In 2012 the folly known as Dinton Castle was sold at auction and some newspapers (including the Daily Mail and

Ancient Sites

Aiggin Stone (Aigin Stone), Blackstone Edge

Roughly 600 years old, the Aiggin Stone is thought to be a medieval marker on the boundary between Yorkshire and Lancashire on what may have been a Roman road. Now standing about 4 foot in height, it was said to have originally measured 7 foot. There a few carvings in the stone, a cross and the letters I and T.