Category: Northumbria

Highburn House, Wooler, Northumberland

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Cup-and-Ring Stone (lost):  OS Grid Reference – NT 98491 28424

Archaeology & History

Highburn House C&R, 2015

This carving was rediscovered by rock art explorer Jan Broewer in September, 2007, a few hundred yards out of Wooler on the way to Akeld and Kirknewton, in the field on the right-hand side of the road, on the embankment just a few inches above the waters of the High Burn.  On a recent visit here by Tom Cleland and I, despite us rummaging amidst the gorse and other herbage all along the edge of the waters, we were unable to locate the carving and presume that it has either been destroyed or re-housed in someone’s garden, living a more comfortable life.  We certainly hope it’s the latter!

Sketch of the design
Home of the lost carving

It’s design is nothing special: merely a singular, albeit scruffy cup-and-ring, with two other distinct pecked cup-marks and, possibly, a third shallow one just to the side of the cup-and-ring (but this is, in my opinion, highly suspect).  The stone was obviously not in its original position when Jan first found it, and would seem to have come originally from the slope above the stream where a number of earthfast stones can be found.  The numerous scratches across its surface shows that it’s been hit a few times by some (probably) metallic objects, or perhaps horses hooves, thus dislodging it from the slope above and rolling into the spot where Jan found it.  Anyhow, we presently don’t know where it is or what’s become of it.  Does anyone in Wooler know where it’s living?

Acknowledgements:  Huge thanks to Pete Chattaway for use of his photo; and to Tom Cleland for helping the search party!

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian 

Humbleton Hill, Wooler, Northumberland

megalithix

Hillfort:  OS Grid Reference – NT 96706 28252

Also Known as:

  1. Cup and Saucer Camp

Archaeology & History

Humbleton Hill

On our first visit to Wooler, in seeking out (and not finding!) a cup-and-ring stone alongside the old burn just on the northern side of town, we looked up at the ridged hillside of Humbleton Hill ahead of us and proclaimed, something along the lines of: “That look’s like something man-made up there!”  And so it turned out.  But the heat of the summer kept us from ascending the hill, so just an old account must be penned, from the quill of the great rock art pioneer George Tate (Home & Tate 1857) who, following a visit here in May 1852 with various members of the Berwickshire Natural History Society, penned the following:

“On the north side of Humbleton burn is a conical hill truncated at the top, and rising abruptly about 100 feet above the level of the burn; the slope, though considerable, is less steep on the other sides. This was one of the strongholds of the ancient Hritons. A rampier (now obliterated) ran around that part of the hill not protected by the ravine of the burn. The summit of the hill is 180 yards in circumference, having a hollow in the centre of the area; it is surrounded by a rampier of stone and earth, which is yet in some parts 3 feet high. This entrenchment is commonly called ‘The Cup and Saucer Camp’.”

The Hillfort itself is in very good condition overall, is very extensive and has a very clear series of walled ramparts all round the summit of the hill.  It has yet to be excavated.

Folklore

The local folk-name given to this old hillfort—the Cup and Saucer Camp—related to the shape and lay-out of the enclosure, and with it, the tradition that the chiefs of the tribe inhabited the topmost enclosed section of the hillfort: the so-called ‘Cup’; whilst the tribal familes inhabited the realms immmediately outside and below the chief’s domain: the so-called surrounding ‘Saucer’.  On the northern edges of the outer ‘saucer’ walls are several ‘hut circles’ (for want of a better term), that would house people, or their animals—or both.

References:

  1. Home, Robert & Tate, G., “Address to the Members at the Anniversary Meeting, held at Embleton, Sept 8, 1852,” in Proceedings of the Berwickshire Naturalists’ Club, volume 3, 1857.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian 

West Horton (1a), Chatton, Northumberland

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Cup-and-Ring Stone:  OS Grid Reference – NU 02328 31349

Getting Here

West Horton (1a) carving

We took the B6348 road up east, from Wooler, turning left 2 miles up and crossing the small river bridge, going past Weetwood Hall where the road bends to the right and goes uphill for about a mile where, just before West Horton farm, there’s a a dirt-track on your left.  200 hards up, walk past the farm up and along the dead straight track for another 400 yards until you hit the field.  Diagonally ahead of you (NW) less than 100 yards away, a small hillock rises in the field where a large metal animal feed-trough sits.  Once there, the slope to your right (east) is where the stone lives.  If you potter about you’ll find it.

Archaeology & History

On a visit to the impressive West Horton carvings on one of the searing hot days recently, Tom Cleland and I thought to check on an otherwise unimpressive petroglyph on a rocky rise of land before heading to the beauties 250 yards northwest of here.  The covering  soil around a scatter of earthfast rocks on this rise in the land had been eroded by cattle and on one of them we noted what seemed to be a distinct cup-marking.  And, as happens when you look closer, a more expansive design came into being.

Main design from above
Faint ring round the cup

On the east-sloping-face of this rock are between six and seven cup-marks, most of them quite distinct.  The topmost of the cups has a faint incomplete ring round it which you can just make out in a couple of the photos.  It seemed that there was another even fainter ring around one of the other cups, but on the day we visited this the heat was taking its toll of me and I could only stand a short time before we had to move, so we left without getting any good images of the other ring.

More recent cup-marks

It’s more then likely that other unrecorded carvings are hiding beneath the soil which, no doubt, the cattle will slowly help uncover as the years go by. 🙂  A little further up the slope from here, approaching the West Horton (1b) carving, a small oval-shaped rock has what looks like a single cup-mark on it and another, more recent marking at its side.  This impression is likely due to an incision made by the metal legs of one of the animal feeders and is unlikely to be prehistoric.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian 

Nunwick Park, Simonburn, Northumberland

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Stone Circle (destroyed):  OS Grid Reference – NY 88542 74175

Archaeology & History

Site location on 1866 map

Highlighted, albeit in the past tense, as a “Druidical Temple” on the first Ordnance Survey map of the area in 1866, these megalithic remains were seen by earlier antiquarians, but seemingly met their demise sometime in the early 19th century.  Some halfwit land-owners no doubt wanted their little garden extended to where local folk would have traditionally met at certain times each year—so in getting rid of the stones, it would help to keep the riff-raff away. (many of these elitists still think this way)  It had certainly gone when the Northumbrian historian John Bates (1895) wrote about it, where he told simply:

“The fine circle at Nunwick, on North Tyne, described by Bishop Gibson, has long since disappeared.”

It was still standing in the 17th century, three or four thousand years after our ancestors put it there.  We know this because the remains of the stone circle were told about in Gibson’s (1695) edition of Camden’s Britannia, where mention is made of “large stones erected at several places” in Northumberland, including this place where,

“near Ninwick in the Parish of Simondburn, four such stand still erected, and a fifth lies fall’n to the ground.”

The situation hadn’t changed when John Wallis (1769) visited Nunwick.  On his trip to these megaliths he told that,

“In an adjoining field, called, Nunwick-east-field, were five upright stone-pillars, in a circular order; four of them perfect and entire in 1714, the other broken; the perfect ones eight feet high, and nine feet and an half over; the circumference of the area in which they stood, ninety feet.”

It was obvisouly a decent-sized circle!  The great megalithic archaeologists Barnatt (1989) and Burl (2000) included the site in their respective catalogues, but could add no further details apart from saying there was a drawing made of the stones sometime around 1715 which, apparently, is in volume 15 of the History of Northumberland.  Has anyone got a copy…? 🙂

References:

  1. Barnatt, John, Stone Circles of Britain – volume 2, BAR: Oxford 1989.
  2. Bates, John C., The History of Northumberland, Elliot Stock: London 1895.
  3. Burl, Aubrey, The Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany, Yale University Press 2000.
  4. Dodds, M.H. (ed.), A History of Northumberland – volume 15: Simonburn, Rothbury, Alwinton, etc, Andrew Reid: Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 1935.
  5. Gibson, Edmund (ed.), Camden’s Britannia, F. Collins: London 1695.
  6. Wallis, John, The Natural History and Antiquities of Northumberland – volume 2, W. & W. Strahan: London 1769.

Acknowledgements:  Huge thanks for use of the Ordnance Survey map in this site profile, reproduced with the kind permission of the National Library of Scotland.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian 

Beadnell Caravan Park, Beadnell, Northumberland

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Cup-Marked Stone (lost):  OS Grid Reference – NU 2299 2989

Archaeology & History

Tait’s 1971 sketch of the carving

When the Beadnell Caravan Park was being constructed in 1970, in cutting into the Earth the workmen destroyed a couple of prehistoric tombs—but not before one of them (the northernmost one of the two) was thankfully excavated.  It was looked at by John Tait (1971), who described the covering cairn as measuring “nineteen feet in diameter and four feet high”.  Beneath it, within a cist that had been modified at two very different periods in time, were a large number of human remains that had been deposited over equally extended periods, suggesting it was a place of considerable importance to either one family lineage or the tribal lineage (unless it was just a dumping spot for any old Tom, Dick and Harry!).  Outside of the cist itself, but within the rocky mass of the cairn, this cup-marked stone was found (illustrated).  It had already been moved by the workmen before Tait came to excavate it, so he was unable to ascertain its precise position in the tomb.  Carved into a piece of sandstone were a number of odd-sized cup-marks, smaller than usual.  Tait wrote:

“It measures 38cm by 36cm and bears 29 small cup-marks and one slightly sinuous duct leading into what may be part of an earlier and larger cup. It also seems probable that additional cups  were added in antiquity, since some are distinctly more shallow than others and, in one instance, two cups impinge upon one another. The stone had been broken in antiquity and may have come from a larger inscribed slab, as is perhaps the case with some other “portable” stones of burials or cairns and other monuments of the second this nature.”

It is thought that the carving was laid back in the ground whence it was found.

References:

  1. Beckensall, Stan, Prehistoric Rock Motifs of Northumberland – volume 1, Abbey Press: Hexham 1991.
  2. Beckensall, Stan, Prehistoric Rock Art in Northumberland, Tempus: Stroud 2001.
  3. Tait, J. & Jobey,G., “Romano-British burials at Beadnell, Northumberland,” in Archaeologia Aeliana (4th series), volume 49, 1971.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian

Cairnfauld Field, Lilburn, Wooler, Northumberland

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Cup-and-Ring Stone (lost):  OS Grid Reference – NU 013 264

Also Known as:

  1. Cairnfold Field

Archaeology & History

In James Hardy’s (1889) essay describing new archaeological finds from the Lilburn area, he told of seeing a triple-ringed petroglyph that seems to have been cast up from one of the cairns in the adjacent field.  I can find no other reference to this.  He wrote:

“On a wall top, near a gate not far from the Cairn-fauld’s field, lies a detached stone, supposed to have come from a cairn, with three circles and a hollow central cup incised on it, which no one  seems to care for.”

Does anyone know what has become of it?  Mr Hardy also described a series of other carvings a few fields away to the east, some with quite ornate cup-and-ring designs.  These have never subsequently been seen and remain hidden.

References:

  1. Hardy, James, “Further Discoveries of Pre-Historic Graves, Urns and other Antiquities, on Lilburn Hill Farm,” in Archaeoogia Aeliana, volume 13, 1889.

Acknowledgements:  Huge thanks for use of the Ordnance Survey map in this site profile, reproduced with the kind permission of the National Library of Scotland. 

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian

Villa Real, Jesmond, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Northumberland

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Cist (destroyed):  OS Grid Reference – NZ 260 656

Archaeology & History

Urn of Villa Real

All remains of this prehistoric burial site have obviously long since fallen into only the vaguest of memory, but its incidence deserves reviving for those who may live nearby and seek for a place where our truly ancient ancestors once faired.  Here, beneath the modern buildings of homo-profanus, less than a mile north-east of Newcastle city centre, a small prehistoric burial chamber, or cist, was uncovered quite accidentally by a Mr Russell Blackbird (1832) in the first-half of the 19th century.  In a letter to the newly-formed (as it was back then) Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle in April of that year he told,

“In trenching some ground for planting, this morning, we discovered a stone vault, 4 feet long by 2 feet wide, and 20 inches deep, deposited in a dry hard marl below the soil, which we were  taking out for making the walks in the garden. It contained the bones of a man, the head, in particular, quite perfect, with all the teeth in it.  Also a small urn (was found)… There was some red-coloured earth in the urn which the labourers threw out.”

Mr Blackbird sent the antiquarian society a sketch of the urn that he and his colleagues discovered, reproduced here.

References:

  1. Blackbird, Russell, “Account of the Discovery of a Stone Vault and Urn, at Villa Real, Jesmond,” in Archaeologia Aeliana, volume 2, 1832.

Acknowledgements:  Huge thanks for use of the Ordnance Survey map in this site profile, reproduced with the kind permission of the National Library of Scotland. 

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian

Amble Links, Amble, Northumberland

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Tumuli (destroyed):  OS Grid Reference – NU 273 046

Archaeology & History

In a lengthy letter describing the cist burial at Cliff House, its author, Mr W. Dunn (1857) told that there were additional prehistoric remains nearby, that had only recently been destroyed.  He told:

“It appears that, a few years ago, in the immediate proximity of the present discovery (at Cliff House, Ed.) two or more tumuli were found which contained urns and bones; and flint arrow heads of elaborate finish have been occasionally met with.”

I can find no additional information about these sites.

In the same article, a Mr Kell told that during the construction of the Amble piers a half-mile to the west, “some years ago, he was sojourning in the neighbourhood, and …human remains were found on the removal of sand by the waves in a violent gale from the East.”  What else is known of this place?

References:

  1. Dunn, W., “Ancient Sepulchral Remains,” in Proceedings Society of Antiquaries Newcastle-upon-Tyne, volume 1, no.34, 1857.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian

Cliff House, Amble, Northumberland

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Cist (destroyed):  OS Grid Reference – NU 2730 0486

Archaeology & History

Site location on 1926 map

In November 1857, Collingwood Bruce read out a paper that had been sent to him by the Rector of Warkworth village (Rev. W. Dunn), describing “ancient sepulchral remains” that had been found near the cliff-edge above Pan Rocks near Amble’s lighthouse.  It was a lengthy account which, in passing, also mentioned several other prehistoric sites close by that have long since been destroyed and which we have very little information about.  Mr Dunn’s (1857) letter told:

“In the middle of April last, about 50 yards NE of the Cliff House, Amble, and about 20 yards from the end of what is called Warkworth South Pier, the pilots came upon a long upright stone, standing out of the shale to the height of twelve or fourteen inches,which had been laid bare by the recent heavy gales, but which, from its rude appearance, did not afford the idea of anything beyond a mere accidental tilting.  Alongside this upright stone was a large unwrought slab, which, on being raised, was found to be the covering of a cist or sepulchral chamber containing a perfect skeleton. The figure was lying on its left side, with the head to the south-west, having the knees much doubled and with the right arm thrown back.  By its side stood an urn of unbaked clay.  This urn, now in the Museum of the Duke of Northumber­land, resembles in size and shape that which was found a few years since at Hawkhill, and which is preserved in the Museum of the Antiquarian Society of Newcastle.  It contained a small quantity of dark earth.

“Having given this general outline of the discovery, I shall proceed to offer such observations as I have been able to make,and have considered worth recording. I grieve to say that before the period of my visit the spoiler had been busy with these venerable remains. The skull had been broken up, the jaws smashed, every tooth appropriated, and the bones indiscriminately mingled, after many a century of undisturbed repose.

“The cist or chamber containing the remains was composed of four slabs inserted edge-wise in a cavity which appeared to have been dug out of the friable shale which lies upon the harder rock in this locality. It ranged south-east and north-west, and measured as follows: depth, 18½ inches; width, 26 inches; length at bottom, 4 feet; at top, 3 ft 4 in.; the difference between top and bottom measurements being accounted for by the shrinking of the ends.  The cavity in the shale was much larger than the cist, and the space between the slabs and the shale was closely filled-in with stones, roughly broken, commingled with earth and larger stones.  The side slabs projected somewhat beyond the ends.  The bottom of the cist was covered to the depth of about half an inch, with dark, unctuous mould.  Amongst the rubbish comprising the filling-up of the space above-mentioned, was found an angular piece of silex, probably an unfinished arrow­head; and in the south-west corner of the cist lay a large, smooth cobble stone, which, when considered in conjunction with the flint flake, the imagination may easily construe into the club of this ancient denizen of our shores.  The slab which constituted the cover of the cist was of great size and extended in every direc­tion considerably beyond it; and the upright stone was set up, not at one of the ends, but along its length.  It is remarkable that a close inspection of these stones gave no trace of chisel-marks in any part.  In order that the cover might lie level, pieces of shale, flags, etc., were laid on the uprights which formed the cist, wherever an irregularity presented itself.

“Within the memory of man, the rock ran out from this point for some yards into the sea at a considerable elevation; but the construction of a pier in the immediate neighbourhood has caused the removal of much of the stone, and the spray of our wild sea waves now dashes over the spot which for countless generations may have been peacefully tenanted by these nameless bones.  At the same time, it does not appear probable that at any period there has been at this particular point a very deep covering of the sand and bent-grass which are found thick and rank upon the adjacent links.

“The skull must have been very characteristic, having attracted general observation from the extraordinary lowness of the frontal region, the great development of the occipital portion of the head, and the width and length of the lower jaw from its anterior junction to the articulation of the temporal bone.  One person observed that during life the man “must have measured as much to the top of his eyebrows as to the top of his head.”  The teeth are said to have been very beautiful and regular, and quite sound.  With the exception of a front tooth, which was missing in the lower jaw, they were perfect.  The thigh-bone measured 19½ inches, indicating a man of large size; whilst the porous internal organization of the bones gave probable evidence of comparative youth.

“The urn is unbaked, of a light clay colour, and measures in height 8 inches, in depth 7¼ inches, and in diameter 5½ inches.  It is ornamented with zigzag scoring, alternating with dotted lines,and upright (and sometimes slanting) scorings, which appear to have been made with some rude instrument whilst the clay was moist.  The scorings are continued over the edge of the rim.  On being rather roughly seized by one of the men, it being expected that it contained treasure, a piece was broken off; but no material injury has been occasioned.  The stone found in the cist does not resemble any that one may pick up on the neighbouring shore, and attracted attention from its bearing no assignable relation to what I may call the masonry of the tomb.  I have since learnt that stones are not infrequently found in Teutonic graves on the Continent, and that recently a singular oval stone was found in a tumulus on Petersfield Heath.”

All trace of this site has disappeared.  Mr Bruce posited the idea that the round stone in the cist may have been the one that ended the life of the buried man!  An intriguing thought.  And that the urn “no doubt, contained some portion of the feast prepared on the occasion of his funeral.”

References:

  1. Dunn, W., “Ancient Sepulchral Remains,” in Proceedings Society of Antiquaries Newcastle-upon-Tyne, volume 1, no.34, 1857.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian

Chesters House, Humshaugh, Northumberland

megalithix

Cup-and-Ring Stone (lost):  OS Grid Reference – NY 909 702

Archaeology & History

Chesters carving, 1887

The whereabouts of this carving is somewhat of a mystery.  Originally found three or four hundred yards away to the northeast of Chesters mansion, it was moved from there into the porch entranceway of the place—and here it lived for, hmmmm….well, we’re not quite sure how long it was here.  The only description of the carving seems to have been made by the Rev. G.R. Hall in 1887, and between then and sometime in the 20th century, it’s disappeared to god-knows-where.  The only known photo of the carving (right) suggests that the original design was somewhat bigger as the stone looks to have been broken off from a larger piece.  Mr Hall told us:

“this stone is 3 feet in length by 2 feet 6 inches in breadth, of irregular form.  It has five incised cups on each side of a wide, slightly curved channel, which crosses the stone at nearly its widest part.  Two other grooves intersect this longest channel, one forming a segment of a circle.  At the opposite end of the slab are two nearly parallel grooves passing towards the largest hollow. The ten cups vary from 1½ inches to 3 inches in diameter, and are from half an inch to an inch in depth.”

All being well, the carving is hiding in a wall somewhere, or maybe beneath His Lordship’s bed.  Hopefully it’ll re-appear sometime soon…

References:

  1. Beckensall, Stan, Northumberland’s Prehistoric Rock Carvings – A Mystery Explained, Pendulum: Rothbury 1983.
  2. Hall, G.R., “On Some Cup-incised Stones, found in an Ancient British Burial-mound at Pitlands Hills, near Birtley, North Tynedale,” in Archaeologia Aeliana (2nd Series) volume 12, 1887.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian