More Erratics and a Hidden Building

In the last post I mention a cup like mark on the upper surface of the stone in Loveston farmyard. I know little about what to look for in "Cup and Ring" markings, but I have ordered a book today to try and learn more:

British Prehistoric Rock Art - ISBN: 9780752425146,  Beckensall, Stan

I suspect the mark I have seen is nothing but an "accidental chip off the old block", but it is an excuse to look into the topic in more depth!

Having spent a good 45 minutes examining the Loveston stone, I then had a look at some old ruins that the farmer, Mr Morris, had pointed out to me, incorporated into a cow shed on the western edge of the farmyard. There were two bullocks in the shed, so I could not get inside, but from the outside a huge arched fireplace was visible in the north end of the shed, deep in the shadows.

Walking around the outside of the building, it was clear that the stonework of the wall was good quality, late medieval(?) masonry. The quoins were large, squared-off, limestone blocks, and the building had little foundation - sitting on an outcrop of same carboniferous limestone. The chimney stack attached to the north gable of the fragmentary remains was of classic massive South Pembrokeshire proportions. The gable was cloaked in thick ivy, so much of the detail was difficult to see. First thoughts were that it might be the remains of a small tower house, like that at Carswell near Tenby. (See http://www.pemcoastphotos.com/_photo_7481978.html for other fantastic photographs like this.)

Carswell, Nr Tenby. The ivy clad building fragment bears a strong resemblance to the gable and stack of this medievel building.

Looking at old maps of Loveston, the size of the old building is visible in the c1866 Ordnance Survey map of the area (marked A).

By 1908 this same building had been extended.

The large chimney on the north gable of the structure can be clearly seen in both maps, as it can in the 1971 map below.

In the 1971 map, the large shed just east of the ruin can be seen. (The Loveston erratic lies just to the south of this).

The earliest map above shows the possible original size of this building, sited on the side of what was originally the lane from St Twynnells Church to the coast. At the time the now ruined building would have been built, the new east-west road running just north of the farm did not exist. This road was built c.1820 to link Stackpole Court with Brownslade.

The picture below shows the remains (exciting - isn't it!!!!!) viewed from the west in January 2013. Apologies for the vivid green grass and the sarcasm.

The length of wall visible shows no very obvious breaks in build, but the cattle troughs obscure some detail. The northern end of the wall seems to have more "batter". The picture below shows the quoin on the NW corner of the building. In front of the wall is another possible erratic boulder, seemingly placed here quite recently.

I had better post this now, from a snowy and cold Suffolk winter wonderland.

I'll come back and look at this building soon and explain how it might help work out the history of the Loveston Erratic and how it came to be in the yard. Something has just occurred to me..........