Hamish's slow mo burger munch yesterday 🍔😅
Ok, more of a recreational walk with Hamish today around the Greenock cut trail, returning to Overton over the hill. We got a look at loch Thom on the way back and the summer water levels on the loch are the highest they have been in quite a few years. Usually by this point stuff like the Killochend hut circle, Shaws farm etc would be showing up and you would be able to walk out to the island. This looks like the first summer in a while that they will be doing a no show. It is a similar story on the high Gryfe too. So it looks like the loch Thom tour and the Gryfe hut circle tour will be passing us by this year. We have other stuff we can do though instead. We stopped in at the Ardgowan fishery cafe for burgers. The place was going like a fair. Hamish got a burger as well and wolfed the thing. If you haven't done the cut walk before then it is well worth a go because it is on good solid trails with nice views and the path beside the cut itself is pancake flat. You can head out and back from the Waterman's cottage if you want a totally flat route, or if you do it as a loop and come back via the stony track by loch Thom and the spring dam, you have one steady climb and descent but nothing too strenuous. The whole loop is about seven and a half miles.
Ok, clip first with photos and map shots to follow. This actually came in a while back from another local explorer, Mark Touzeau and he had asked us if we had seen this thing and if not he wondered if we would maybe look into it for him? The thing being a rectilinear stucture which showed up as a lidar hit about two thirds of a mile NW of round hill. So we finally got out there for a look at it today. Now, we are always delighted when folk hail us to tell us about finds or to ask us about stuff and we will always be happy to help out and visit these things if we think they merit it.
Now Mark had kindly provided us with the lidar images and coodinate markers and it was only when we converted these back to OS NG format we realised how close to home the site was as it sits bang slap in the middle of patches we had been in around fairly recently. Usually our first port of call when folk send us stuff to investigate is canmore to see what has been recorded already around the site as well as the old NLS maps which include Roy's military maps and Timothy Pont's maps, which will get you back to1580 or so if you need to do that. So there are three canmore hits dotted around Mark's site between 500 to 1000 feet away. You can see where they sit in relation to Mark's structure on the annotated map screenshot in the other post. Furthest away 1000 feet WNW we have an oval enclosure which was exposed during heather burning in 1968, sureveyed by guess who? Yep, Frank Newall. Roughly 800 feet north we have a roofless building, period unassigned but annotated as a ruin by the time the first edition OS map goes to print in 1864. The last canmore entry found by ...guess who again in 1971?...has a 43×39 foot rectilinear turf enclosure recorded, which crucially, and this is the kicker here aside from the description "no structure such as that described could be found in the area indicated" in 1976. Now we have seen this before. Memories of the missing Cauldside hut circle come to mind
The Lonely Wall
One of the biggest mysteries the Time Teamers have come across is the "Lonely Wall". This is a wall, within Loch Thom that doesn't have a clear purpose. It starts and ends within approximately 7 meters. It looks very different to all dry stane dykes in the area because it appears to be made from one type of stone. An almost igneous/volcanic rock. Tell us your theories about the Lonely Wall...
As many of you will be aware, the hillside above Greenock was used during WWII. There was an Anti-Aircaft battery located just behind the current Whinhill Golf Course clubhouse. Further along the road, there was a decoy bunker. There was also an "experimental" radar station close to the Overton Cairn. If we continue further around, there was a searchlight located close to Shielhill Farm. With so much activity, all these locations would have needed a method of communication. When it comes to former military locations you almost always find a telegraph pole indicating a phone system. If you visit the Whitelees decoy bunker you will see a lot of cable leaving the bunker and heading underground. The following video was taken on the opposite bank of Loch Thom. Is this the communications cable that was laid from the decoy bunker to the searchlight position? They certainly look similar and are in the right location...
Managed to get some stunning footage of our osprey pal earlier on. For a while they were turning up so often on tours that there was maybe a feeling that there were maybe....how can I say it? Shenninigans...and Alistair was maybe flying a remote control osprey for us. Well as you can see there are no props to be seen in this footage 🙂👍
Here is the news and the travel update from Inverclyde Time Teamers 🐑🐑🐑
As we know, sometimes we go down the rabbit hole only to find out that what we thought might be something, turns out to be nothing. Well, spoiler alert... this is one such case.
A few weeks back Stephen and Allan were out and about in the Kilmacolm area and happened to pass an old structure on a hill. We were unsure of what it might be, but a quick look on Google Street View had me (Alistair) very interested. It looked a lot like a decoy bunker from WWII.
The interesting part here, there was no record of a decoy in that area. Scouring old maps and Lidar images didn't provide a lot of information. I was in the area last week so I decided to check it out for myself. It turned out to be a water storage tank. The site was directly below some high power lines and I would be lying if I didn't say the noise from the lines wasn't pretty terrifying. Video of the location...
Well we called it right by postponing the Haylie tour tonight. It has turned absolutely shocking right on cue literally at the point we would have been heading out on the moor 👀
It's been a while since we have had a slow motion clip of Hamish munching something....he loves a wee bit of beef 🙂👍
Ok , saving the best for last. No silly music or commentary. Just the osprey and the sounds of the wind and nature. Some of the news headlines about Inverclyde aren't the most flattering at points but we can assure you there is beauty to be found up our local hills if you take the time to look for it, and it is an absolute privilege to get to watch it from day to day 🦅
Clip 3 - Our pal the osprey 🙂👍
Clip 2 of our pal the osprey 🙂👍
Well we were absolutely treated to an aerobatics display - clip 1 of our big pal the osprey. Wherever we go , they seem to show up 🥰👍
I always watch where I put my size ten feet....just in case there is a wee sleepy bee catching a rest ❤️
For those coming on the next tour(s)...may God have mercy on all your souls 😅 👇
#Hamishthemadyin
**Breaking news!
Prehistoric hut circle find in Largs!
Ordnance survey ref: NS 22642 58562
Clip first with photos/map shots to follow. Allan and Stephen were on the moors East of the Haylie viewpoint in Largs today with Hamish 🐾, surveying a very promising looking lidar anomaly that had been identified very recently as part of a general scour of the lidar scans of the area by the time teamers. Our target today presented as a circular structure on the lidar scan, with a very well defined raised outline approx 10 metres across. Keeping an open mind about what it could be we thought it could have been a sheep ree, remnants of an iron age defensive dun or a prehistoric enclosure or hut circle. Having looked at the site today and comparing this with similar structures we have visited or discovered, we have a very high level of confidence announcing this as something that looks like a previously unrecorded prehistoric dwelling / hut circle find. The most similar example we can compare it to would be the Martin glen hut circle NW of the roman fortlet at Outerwards. This structure has placed stone footings around the circular outline with a break / possible entrance evident on the SE side. That along with the fact that much of the local archaeology hails from the iron age hints that this is probably more likely to be an iron age hut circle than something from the bronze age. There is evidence of internal brickwork that could be a possible hearth or kiln. The surrounding site and terrain have much to offer that would support the theory that this was once a dwelling. There are watercourses nearby and the site commands superb views from a natural vantage point whilst being well protected from the wind by the surrounding topography.
Our plan is to record and upload this like the others we have found to the Canmore archive which is managed by Historic Environment Scotland and we will be hailing our contact there with our findings and input. We have already discussed th
The red jaikets are not long off the moors south of Largs. You will want to tune in for the big news later tonight! Big enough that we might end up in the paper again 🛖
In the meantime here is a slow motion bacon sandwich munch clip from Hamish 🥓🥓
A clip on our visit to the moors south of Outerwards farm North Ayrshire to check out a possible hut circle.
