A large cup-and-ring marked boulder was found in 2014 during building operations at Birney Hill just south of Darras Hall, an area of proposed housing development surrounding Birney Hall. It was acquired by the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne in early 2015. The building company whose workers uncovered the stone, Wardell Armstrong, transported it to a site near the south door of the Great North Museum (Hancock) in Newcastle upon Tyne.
The sandstone rock, weighing nearly 3 tonnes, is decorated with distinctive cup and ring symbols. Archaeologists thought that it was unlikely that the rock was originally from that location as it is clearly a part of a much larger rock that had been recut. It is possible that it was brought to Birney Hill from another location as quarried building stone.
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