William Weaver Tomlinson, the first edition of whose Guide to Northumberland was published in 1888, says that the name Hurl Stone is probably a corruption of ‘Earl’s Stone’. He goes on to say...
“According to a local tradition, some persons once exploring the subterranean passage which is said to extend from the Caterane’s Cave on Bewick Moor to the Henhole on Cheviot, had got as far as the Hurle Stone when their lights went out, and they heard above them strange voices repeating, amid the trampling of horses’ feet, the elfin rhyme –
‘Hup, hup, and gee again!
Round and round the Hurle Stone.‘
Terror-stricken, they retraced their footsteps through the darkness to the mouth of the cave as fast as possible.”