United Kingdom

United Kingdom - Stoneage Monuments and Medieval Castles

England	Scotland	Wales

by Günther Eichhorn

In August 2000 I spent 3 weeks in the United Kingdom for a conference. I took a few days off to drive through England, Wales, and Scotland. On two weekends I drove through Wales, the Lake District, and Yorkshire. During the last week I drove north into Scotland along the west coast, all the way to the north shore, then along the north shore east to the northern most point of the mainland. From there I drove back south along the east coast, with a visit to Loch Ness.

The most impressive sites for me personally were the stoneage monuments. They are all over the mainland. Stonehenge is the most famous and largest of these, but the others are also quite remarkable.

The other interesting kind of sites are the castles. They are abundant and worth visiting as well.

Here are some of the pictures that I took on my trip through England, Wales, and Scotland.

All pictures are © Günther Eichhorn

Today's UK

Heather on the North York Moors. (897k)
Morning fog near Kilmartin on the west coast of Central Scotland. (422k)
Pasture in the Lake District. (890k)
Many pastures are enclosed with stone walls. These stones are set in the walls so people can get across the walls without a ladder. (1173k)
Malham Cove, a limestone amphitheater in the Yorkshire Dales. (828k)

Limestone carst formation in the Yorkshire Dales on the plateau above the amphitheater. This makes for difficult walking on the plateau. (1094k)
A valley carved by glaciers with its characteristic U-shape somewhere on the west coast of Scotland. (665k)
The north shore of Scotland at Duncansby Head on the northeastern tip of the mainland. (596k)
A view of Loch Ness in central Scotland. (691k)
Loch Ness with the trail of Nessie clearly visible (656k)

A road in southern England. There were many small roads like this, covered with trees. It's like driving through a tunnel. (989k)
Many roads in Scotland are VERY narrow. They are not one-way roads. They have passing areas at more or less regular intervals. One such passing area is visible about 30m down the road from my car. (1145k)
A view of one of the narrow roads with regular passing bays. (1035k)
Roundabouts are the way to handle traffic in the UK. If there is no real roundabout, a painted white circle in the intersection will serve as one. (1017k)
The Welsh names are somewhat different from other parts of the UK. (816k)

Since I am an Astronomer, I had to visit the big radio telescope at Jodrell Bank. It is quite big! (731k)
Whitby, a picturesque coastal town in North Yorkshire, with a large cathedral ruin overlooking the town. (821k)
Conwy on the northern coast of Wales still has the medieval city wall all around the town center. (941k)
The estuary at Conwy in northern Wales. (766k)
A stone house in the Lake District. (1109k)

A village pub in southern England. (1056k)
Thatched-roof house in southern England. (1106k)
Village Church in near New Galloway in southern Scotland. (906k)
Not everything is as picturesque as the preceding pictures. These row houses near Manchester are much drearier. (876k)

Castles

Castles come in all sizes and conditions. This one is still lived in. It is Dunrobin Castle on the east coast of northern Scotland near Golspie.(k)
Many of the castles come with scenic gardens. These were at Dunrobin Castle. (840k)
Another view of the gardens at Dunrobin Castle. (839k)
Then there are the older castles. This is Eilean Donan Castle on Loch Duich, one of the most picturesque castles in Scotland. (1015k)
Then there are the castle ruins. This is Balvenie Castle, a castle ruin right next to the Glenfiddich distillery in Scotland. (752k)

And in some cases there is not much left. These are the remnants of a small castle on the west coast of northern Scotland. (524k)
And some of the Cathedrals didn't make it either. This is a Cathedral in Elgin in northern Scotland, east of Inverness. (k)

Stone Age Remains

Going back in time. This is the remnant of a Broch. These were circular towers, some 20m high. They had a very small entrance, typically only 1m high. They were used in Viking times as refuges. When the Vikings came, the villagers scattered their life stock and retreated into the Broch. With the small entrance and the high walls, there was no way to get in for the Vikings. The villagers didn't have a well in the Broch, but the Vikings didn't lay siege on these fortifications. When they couldn't get in, they left for their next victim. (761k)
Sign with the description of a Broch. (873k)
Further back in time are the Stone Age remnants of which Scotland is full. Most frequently you see standing stones and cairns, the Stone Age burial mounds. This is a cairn and a standing stone that I just happened to notice. It was not marked at all. There are too many of them to mark them all. This one was in northern Scotland on the west coast, coming out of Ullapool on the way to the north coast of Scotland. (1019k)
This is near Kilmartin in southeastern Scotland. There are several cairns, standing stones and rock carvings in this area. (973k)
There were two rows of standing stones in this pasture near Kilmartin. (1187k)

Closeup of the row with 4 stones. (985k)
This is a cairn with a stone circle around the center. It is in the same area as the standing stones. (1288k)
This is a cairn that was partly overgrown. It is in the same area near Kilmarin as the standing stones. You can see the burial chamber. (1015k)
A closeup of the burial chamber of a cairn in the same area. (812k)
Stone carvings in the same area. (1172k)

The Balnuaran of Clava, near Culloden, east of Inverness. This is a group of 3 large cairns with open burial chambers. (1166k)
The Grey Cairns of Camster. There is one circular large cairn in the foreground, and the long cairn in the background. The cairn in the foreground is about 18m in diameter, 6m high. There are three burial chambers that you can enter, one in the round cairn, and two in the long cairn. The long cairn is about 70m long. They are 4000 - 5000 years old! (694k)
The inside of the burial chamber of the round cairn of the Camster cairns. You have to crawl through the tunnel to get inside. The tunnel is about 1m high. (710k)
The "Hill o' Many Stanes", on the east coast of northern Scotland, south of Wick. There are 22 parallel rows of stones, each about 20m long. The stones are about 40 - 60cm high. There are currently about 200 stones left, originally there were about 600. Nobody knows why they put these stones there. Maybe kids playing after school (978k)
The Castlerigg Stone Circle, a ring of standing stones near Keswick in the northern Lake District of England. It is about 30m in diameter and has a smaller rectangular enclosure inside, visible in the back on the left side. (660k)

And finally the Big Kahuna of the stone rings, Stonehenge itself. (861k)
A close-up view of parts of the Stonehenge circle. (1010k)
Detail view of some of the stones of Stonehenge. (816k)
The oldest part of Stonehenge is a ditch and earth wall around the central part with the standing stones. (401k)

Flora and Fauna

Heather on the Highlands of Scotland. (1225k)
Foxglove, the source of the medicine Digitalis. (822k)
A close-up of the foxglove flower. (831k)
A bumble bee visiting a flowering thistle. (793k)
An even higher resolution closeup of that picture. (624k)

Seabird colony in Scotland. (1103k)
Scottish highland cattle. (1158k)

Sheepdog Trials

On the trip through the Lake District we happened to see a sign to a sheep dog trial. I had just a few months before seen a TV report about these events, so I jumped to the opportunity to see this live. It was really interesting. The shepherd was standing at the bottom end of the course and directed the dog through whistles only (see diagram). The dog had to drive 4 sheep through three gates, around the post where the shepherd was standing, and then into a pen. The sheep were fairly wild, so the ran from the dog whenever the dog got close. If the dog got too close, they would scatter, so the dog had to be careful not to spook them too much. The last part, getting the sheep into the pen was the most difficult, the sheep just didn't want to get into such an enclosure. Only one dog got the sheep into the pen while I was watching.
Diagram of the trial course. (100k)

The dog starts stalking the sheep. They watch him closely. (1099k)
He has them on the run right through the gate. Here he can drive them fast since they can't scatter because of the fence. A couple of times though one of the sheep decided to go around the fence instead of through the gate. That is a deduction from the score for that run. Now he has to run around the gate and in front of the sheep to steer them to the next gate. (1056k)
He is working them around the pole where the shepherdess stands, slowly so they don't scatter. (996k)
That's it! Got them all penned up. (1023k)


Today's UK

Heather on the North York Moors. (897k)	Morning fog near Kilmartin on the west coast of Central Scotland. (422k)	Pasture in the Lake District. (890k)	Many pastures are enclosed with stone walls. These stones are set in the walls so people can get across the walls without a ladder. (1173k)	Malham Cove, a limestone amphitheater in the Yorkshire Dales. (828k)
Limestone carst formation in the Yorkshire Dales on the plateau above the amphitheater. This makes for difficult walking on the plateau. (1094k)	A valley carved by glaciers with its characteristic U-shape somewhere on the west coast of Scotland. (665k)	The north shore of Scotland at Duncansby Head on the northeastern tip of the mainland. (596k)	A view of Loch Ness in central Scotland. (691k)	Loch Ness with the trail of Nessie clearly visible (656k)
A road in southern England. There were many small roads like this, covered with trees. It's like driving through a tunnel. (989k)	Many roads in Scotland are VERY narrow. They are not one-way roads. They have passing areas at more or less regular intervals. One such passing area is visible about 30m down the road from my car. (1145k)	A view of one of the narrow roads with regular passing bays. (1035k)	Roundabouts are the way to handle traffic in the UK. If there is no real roundabout, a painted white circle in the intersection will serve as one. (1017k)	The Welsh names are somewhat different from other parts of the UK. (816k)
Since I am an Astronomer, I had to visit the big radio telescope at Jodrell Bank. It is quite big! (731k)	Whitby, a picturesque coastal town in North Yorkshire, with a large cathedral ruin overlooking the town. (821k)	Conwy on the northern coast of Wales still has the medieval city wall all around the town center. (941k)	The estuary at Conwy in northern Wales. (766k)	A stone house in the Lake District. (1109k)
A village pub in southern England. (1056k)	Thatched-roof house in southern England. (1106k)	Village Church in near New Galloway in southern Scotland. (906k)	Not everything is as picturesque as the preceding pictures. These row houses near Manchester are much drearier. (876k)

Castles

Castles come in all sizes and conditions. This one is still lived in. It is Dunrobin Castle on the east coast of northern Scotland near Golspie.(k)	Many of the castles come with scenic gardens. These were at Dunrobin Castle. (840k)	Another view of the gardens at Dunrobin Castle. (839k)	Then there are the older castles. This is Eilean Donan Castle on Loch Duich, one of the most picturesque castles in Scotland. (1015k)	Then there are the castle ruins. This is Balvenie Castle, a castle ruin right next to the Glenfiddich distillery in Scotland. (752k)
And in some cases there is not much left. These are the remnants of a small castle on the west coast of northern Scotland. (524k)	And some of the Cathedrals didn't make it either. This is a Cathedral in Elgin in northern Scotland, east of Inverness. (k)

Stone Age Remains

Going back in time. This is the remnant of a Broch. These were circular towers, some 20m high. They had a very small entrance, typically only 1m high. They were used in Viking times as refuges. When the Vikings came, the villagers scattered their life stock and retreated into the Broch. With the small entrance and the high walls, there was no way to get in for the Vikings. The villagers didn't have a well in the Broch, but the Vikings didn't lay siege on these fortifications. When they couldn't get in, they left for their next victim. (761k)	Sign with the description of a Broch. (873k)	Further back in time are the Stone Age remnants of which Scotland is full. Most frequently you see standing stones and cairns, the Stone Age burial mounds. This is a cairn and a standing stone that I just happened to notice. It was not marked at all. There are too many of them to mark them all. This one was in northern Scotland on the west coast, coming out of Ullapool on the way to the north coast of Scotland. (1019k)	This is near Kilmartin in southeastern Scotland. There are several cairns, standing stones and rock carvings in this area. (973k)	There were two rows of standing stones in this pasture near Kilmartin. (1187k)
Closeup of the row with 4 stones. (985k)	This is a cairn with a stone circle around the center. It is in the same area as the standing stones. (1288k)	This is a cairn that was partly overgrown. It is in the same area near Kilmarin as the standing stones. You can see the burial chamber. (1015k)	A closeup of the burial chamber of a cairn in the same area. (812k)	Stone carvings in the same area. (1172k)
The Balnuaran of Clava, near Culloden, east of Inverness. This is a group of 3 large cairns with open burial chambers. (1166k)	The Grey Cairns of Camster. There is one circular large cairn in the foreground, and the long cairn in the background. The cairn in the foreground is about 18m in diameter, 6m high. There are three burial chambers that you can enter, one in the round cairn, and two in the long cairn. The long cairn is about 70m long. They are 4000 - 5000 years old! (694k)	The inside of the burial chamber of the round cairn of the Camster cairns. You have to crawl through the tunnel to get inside. The tunnel is about 1m high. (710k)	The "Hill o' Many Stanes", on the east coast of northern Scotland, south of Wick. There are 22 parallel rows of stones, each about 20m long. The stones are about 40 - 60cm high. There are currently about 200 stones left, originally there were about 600. Nobody knows why they put these stones there. Maybe kids playing after school (978k)	The Castlerigg Stone Circle, a ring of standing stones near Keswick in the northern Lake District of England. It is about 30m in diameter and has a smaller rectangular enclosure inside, visible in the back on the left side. (660k)
And finally the Big Kahuna of the stone rings, Stonehenge itself. (861k)	A close-up view of parts of the Stonehenge circle. (1010k)	Detail view of some of the stones of Stonehenge. (816k)	The oldest part of Stonehenge is a ditch and earth wall around the central part with the standing stones. (401k)

Flora and Fauna

Heather on the Highlands of Scotland. (1225k)	Foxglove, the source of the medicine Digitalis. (822k)	A close-up of the foxglove flower. (831k)	A bumble bee visiting a flowering thistle. (793k)	An even higher resolution closeup of that picture. (624k)
Seabird colony in Scotland. (1103k)	Scottish highland cattle. (1158k)


Sheepdog Trials

On the trip through the Lake District we happened to see a sign to a sheep dog trial. I had just a few months before seen a TV report about these events, so I jumped to the opportunity to see this live. It was really interesting. The shepherd was standing at the bottom end of the course and directed the dog through whistles only (see diagram). The dog had to drive 4 sheep through three gates, around the post where the shepherd was standing, and then into a pen. The sheep were fairly wild, so the ran from the dog whenever the dog got close. If the dog got too close, they would scatter, so the dog had to be careful not to spook them too much. The last part, getting the sheep into the pen was the most difficult, the sheep just didn't want to get into such an enclosure. Only one dog got the sheep into the pen while I was watching.	Diagram of the trial course. (100k)
The dog starts stalking the sheep. They watch him closely. (1099k)	He has them on the run right through the gate. Here he can drive them fast since they can't scatter because of the fence. A couple of times though one of the sheep decided to go around the fence instead of through the gate. That is a deduction from the score for that run. Now he has to run around the gate and in front of the sheep to steer them to the next gate. (1056k)	He is working them around the pole where the shepherdess stands, slowly so they don't scatter. (996k)	That's it! Got them all penned up. (1023k)

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Email Guenther Eichhorn

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