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Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art
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Saved from the quarrymans wedges?
Apparently the carvings at Morwick were once threatened by a quarry, the remains of which are now to be found about 100m to the east of Jack Rock. Such was the claim a letter in the Newcastle Journal of Feb 18th, 1886 (a copy exists in a binding of the many volumed 'Denham Tracts').
However, an investigation and field visit by Mr G.H. Thompson on behalf of the Society of Antiquities of Newcastle upon Tyne reported that the proposed quarry was not a threat to the carvings, and that given the keen antiquarian tendencies of the landowner, Algernon, Duke of Northumberland, no threat was ever intended. However, he also notes that some of the rock on he flat above the carvings had been stripped to examine the strata. This fact, in conjunction with the fact that The Duke Algernon in question was not the same Duke Algernon who was renowned for his antiquarian proclivities, but rather his succsessor, leads me to wonder if the account is a bit of Victorian spin to cover over a narrowly avoided embarrassing incident. Maybe I'm just being overly suspicious, but it seems that the quarry was possibly nearly placed on the wrong outcrop and that the letter in the Newcastle Journal pointed this out.
(Details can be found in the Proceedings of the Society Volume II, 1886, Number 22)
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Posted by Hob
21st February 2006ce
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