Re: Interesting site - anyone else been here? | Forum

White House Folly Hill 1

Image by mascot

Interesting site — anyone else been here?

more_vert

mascot Apr 20, 2009 10:39:07

Replying to Hob

Hi Hob,

Thanks for the comments.

re the ring features. The one to the SE of the TP is the most pristine (also the one showing the ring in my photos). The other two are nowhere near as clear on the ground and stand in much rougher pasture on more boggy ground. It's quite possible that they all date from dramatically different times. If I was to guess I'd plump for the ring NW of the TP being the oldest - plus it has the central feature not seen in the other two.

One thought that did occur this morning as the name of the site. There are two farms near the site, to the south White House farm and to the north White House Folly farm. I'm wondering if the "Folly" part of the name could be significant and one or more of the three rings might be a more modern "tribute" to other ring features in the area? I don't buy the "tree ring" explanation in Keys to the Past, apart from not knowing what one is that is :-) These are significant features and a lot of effort was put into their construction, whatever the date. Just putting a wall around what would be a small tree plantation doesn't wash with me. It also doesn't explain the features inside the rings.

In addition to the sites you mention there is also the ring enclosure at Honey Hill, about 15 mins walk away, plus other features in the valley to the South.

The hole feature is one of the most dramatic aspects of the site, as is the standing stone to the north. The resemblance to Beanley Plantation is remarkable, both holes taper inwards so could well be man-made - again I'm no expert but I'd love one to have a look and give their opinion!

BTW I got the measurements wrong in my comments on the photos, the notebook is A6 so around 15cm tall, and the large vertical sided "cup" was roughly 15cm across.

All of the rock marking were faint as the rock itself is sedimentary in nature and well weathered - again I'm no expert so the marks could all be natural but are worth checking by someone more experienced than myself. The whole hill is covered in rock outcrops to the south, SW and west, you could spend a whole day easily looking to cover all of these.

The day was very cloudy so I couldn't see Cheviots but I'm sure they are directly in view as I could see across to the Crag Hill site at Langley Moor, one I'd checked earlier in the week and that had clear views in that direction.

When I'm up I stay in Embleton so I've taken to checking sites near there not already on TMA, these are interesting in that by chance it's an area where the coastal plain first meets high ground and as far as I can see it's not an area that's been covered a lot before?

Hob Apr 20, 2009 20:24:30

Replying to mascot

mascot wrote:

as far as I can see it's not an area that's been covered a lot before?

There's not a lot of it represented on tma Mac, if that's what you mean. There are a goodly few sites out there, and a few of them, places like Whitehouse Hill don't seem to have been much scrutinised since the early 19thC. Bearing in mind that any site with cairns/cists etc that was surveyed before the mid-19thC will have had any rock art overlooked, as they didn't know to look for it back then, it makes for a list of places that could be worth checking over for the odd cup mark or two.

Also bear in mind that in relation to what you're saying about the area being the first ridge above the plain, back in the mesolithic, it's reckoned that what's now the coastline used to be the first ridge visible from the coast. Hence things like the mesolithic house at Howick. But, it also means there a quite a few BA burial sites dotted along the present coast. Cists occasionally pop out of the dunes after storms, like around Low Hauxley. Just to mention just a few off the top of my head, there's a cist at Beadnell, supposedly right on the edge of the dune line(it's on keys to the past), as are the now lost bits of rock art from Seahouses, North Sunderland and Bellshill quarry. The iffy cups of Alnmouth, the cup marks at Wandlylaw, the possible rems of a stone circle at Early Knowe.Then there's whatever may be hiding under the foliage of the Kyloe Hills. Could be allsorts of stuff kicking about. I think the main prob is that over the centuries, the coastal plain has been so heavily worked, that people thesedays assume that any prehistoric stuff will have long been used for building anti-reiver defences, or enclosure walls etc. Each time I go past Hulne Park, I wince to think how much rock art may have gone into the many miles of the Duke's backgarden wall.

It's good to see that someone's going out and looking :)