Northumberland forum 23 room
Image by tiompan
Northumberland

Any recommendations in Northumberland?

close
more_vert
TomBo T
TomBo Jul 23, 2003 09:32:26
Replying to BlueGloves

Hello BlueGloves you enigmatic thing!

I really don't want to get involved with such a public criticism of your cherished theories, but you will insist on continually bringing my name into it and I think its more important that people aren't mislead. My first question is this: is there a single shred of evidence suggesting that your "mortuary enclosure" ever was a house of the dead? I think not, I'm afraid. There's been no archaeology at all conducted here, not even a tiny fragment of a finger-bone found. The site is in the SMR, you say - I wonder if it was you that informed them of it and whether they've not been out to check it on the ground for themselves. What exactly is it that makes you think that these marks in the earth are anything but the side of an old track? They even lead directly to the gate of that field. And as for the Gamelands type stone circle - I have visited this site twice now and have spent many hours there and I have to say that I can honestly see no sign at all that these stones were ever anything but a pile of stones from a field clearance, let alone a stone circle. The only reason that I ever thought they were was that I have deep trust in the reliability of this website (something you seem keen on undermining). The fact that that "site" was posted here was enough to convince me that it must be a site, despite the lack of evidence on the ground. The Kirkhaugh area is not without ancient monuments - since our last conversation on this forum I have posted the barrow where the famous "ear ornament" (I swear its a dreadlock ring) was found. The only other possible ancient monuments are the curricks. And speaking of curricks, its misleading to suggest that these six curricks somehow "belong" to this "site" - they are visible over a far wider area than that. And just as an interesting aside: when you come across a pile of stones that is marked on the map as a currick can you really be sure that it has ever been anything but a cairn? This would surely be something that those anxious to "restore" such sites should bear in mind - restoration could equal destruction. There are "curricks" in my local area that I believe to have always been cairns and that I hope no-one will ever try to "restore".

I should point out here that I'm not trying to cast any aspersions on your good character, BlueGloves, or to damage your admirable reputation. Its just that I wasted a lot of my precious time on this wild goose chase and am anxious to save others the trouble. If the day should ever come when archaeologists prove that you were right all along I shall happily eat my words - you know how badly I wish this was a site. And by the way, the title of this message is referring to myself, not to you - its how a good friend of mine used to describe the letters I would send him.

All the beast, BlueGloves! I hope you are doing okay at that height and that the Gamekeepers are leaving you in peace! Long may you continue to mystify us with your magic.

Tom

B BlueGloves
BlueGloves Jul 23, 2003 16:12:32
Replying to TomBo

There's an outlier to Kirkhaugh - at Alston. Search under 'Whitehouse'. It's by the roadside. I'm going to try and get to those three curricks next, and then down to the churchyard, across the river.

I'm camped at about 630 m. Also please take a look at the stone rows at 'Thornhope'. The southern one is certainly original, the northern one is less certain. Also the hill at Eals.

Most of the larger stones at Kirkhaugh have been 'dressed' smooth. Some still have copper/bronze chisel marks. There seems to have been a curved bolster chisel used on some stones. Nobody clears boulders to the middle of the field. A short section - 15 m. - of the old Alston road is lined by megalithic boulders. That only leaves about four and a half thousand large rocks. Look for the wicket - the ceremonial entranceway - on the northwestern corner of Smallhenge. The door stones and the corners should be significantly aligned. There'll have been another 'wicket' to the small henge - probably at the southeastern corner - which is now lost. There's no suggestion of burials in these LMR's - the ditches are usually inside the bank - at Kirkhaugh the ditch is outside the bank. Most are known as cropmarks and are associated with the Neolithic era - 500, or whatever, years before this one. It's not even been tape measured yet. May have significant Megalithic Yards.

Alfred Watkins proscribed ley lines as that was the dominant paradigm then. On the ground, and the curricks show it, the connections were much more three-dimensional. As a web. There are three curricks that I've quickly restored, among the Three Pikes. There's a new road up from behind Hanging Shaw (it's signposted on the main road, at the WI hut, in Knarsdale).

I'm surveying the butterflies in the heather - they are very short sighted ... Fast though.

Lovely wall ...