Old Bewick

Nearest town:
Alnwick (13km ESE)
OS reference:
NU078216
OS sheet:
75
Latitude:
55° 29' 16.8 N
Longitude:
1° 52' 35.58 W
Added to TMA by

Images

Image of Old Bewick (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by thesweetcheat

The boulder on the escarpment edge, near the hillfort. Possible cupmarks on the upper end of the stone. Looking SE towards Tick Law (left) and Harehope Hill, both of which have cairns.

Image credit: A. Brookes (20.10.2021)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Sep 25, 2022
Image of Old Bewick (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by thesweetcheat

Another of the Old Bewick 2 cup and rings.

Image credit: A. Brookes (20.10.2021)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Sep 25, 2022
Image of Old Bewick (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by thesweetcheat

Simple cup and ring on the edge of Old Bewick 2.

Image credit: A. Brookes (20.10.2021)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Sep 25, 2022
Image of Old Bewick (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by thesweetcheat

Multiple cup and rings on Old Bewick 2.

Image credit: A. Brookes (20.10.2021)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Sep 25, 2022
Image of Old Bewick (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by thesweetcheat

The fabulous 6 concentric rings motif on the main panel.

Image credit: A. Brookes (20.10.2021)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Sep 25, 2022
Image of Old Bewick (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by postman

Then I saw these and was more impressed, why did they do them in a straight line? Blawearie cairn just right of boulder.

Image credit: Chris Bickerton
postman
postman Jun 23, 2019
Image of Old Bewick (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by postman

Note the tiny cup marks at the bottom of the picture

Image credit: Chris Bickerton
postman
postman Jun 23, 2019
Image of Old Bewick (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by postman

Are these two cup and rings joined by a smile?

Image credit: Chris Bickerton
postman
postman Jun 23, 2019
Image of Old Bewick (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by postman

The two main big boulder panels.

Image credit: Chris Bickerton
postman
postman Jun 23, 2019
Image of Old Bewick (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by postman

Right on the edge, very close to the hill fort, there are three cup marks next to some natural weathering.

Image credit: Chris Bickerton
postman
postman Jun 23, 2019
Image of Old Bewick (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by postman

At least three cup marks amid natural weathering.

Image credit: Chris Bickerton
postman
postman Jun 23, 2019
Image of Old Bewick (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by thelonious

30/05/2016 – Is this my favourite cup and ring marked rock? I think it just might be. I love the way the markings seem to flow down the rock from the natural shapes and grooves on top.

thelonious
thelonious May 22, 2016
comment 3 comments
Image of Old Bewick (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by Hob

I’ve debated if it’s a good idea to put this photo here, but have decided it must be done. It’s under tma’s ‘artistic/interpretative’ section, as it is a photo of a modern carving in the CnR style.

In case anyone finds this new CnR motif carved on the outcrops at Blawearie, just across from Old Bewick, please don’t mistake it for the real deal. It’s a modern carving, created in 2012 to act as a memorial for the mighty Jan Brouwer (rockartuk), creator of the now sadly unavailable British Rock Art Collection online database.

Apologies to the rocks, the archaeological record and all, but Jan contributed a heck of a lot of time and effort to the study of these carvings, and it seems fitting he should be accorded this tribute.

Image credit: IH
Hob
Hob Sep 28, 2012
comment 8 comments
Image of Old Bewick (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by Hob

Cups on the east face

Image credit: IH
Hob
Hob Aug 28, 2008
Image of Old Bewick (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by Hob

Lithograph of Old Bewick 2, taken from The Proceedings of the Berwickshire Naturalists Club

Image credit: John Wykeham Archer
Hob
Hob Feb 8, 2007
Image of Old Bewick (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by Hob

From ‘On ancient sculpturings of cups and concentric rings‘
PSAN Vol VI 1864-5

Image credit: J.Y. Simpson
Hob
Hob Feb 1, 2007
Image of Old Bewick (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by Hob

Miniature rock art slate carving

Image credit: IH
Hob
Hob Aug 14, 2006
Image of Old Bewick (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by Hob

Old Bewick 1b, drawn in the late 19thC

Image credit: Mr Tate
Hob
Hob Mar 18, 2006
Image of Old Bewick (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by Hob

The cups on the side of 1a, as draw in the 19thC

Image credit: Mr Tate
Hob
Hob Mar 18, 2006
Image of Old Bewick (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by Hob

Old Bewick 1h detail

Image credit: IH
Hob
Hob Jul 12, 2005
Image of Old Bewick (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by Hob

The ‘hogback’, with a bunch of highly suspicious looking characters clustered around the main panel in the background.

May 24th 2005

Image credit: IH
Hob
Hob Jul 12, 2005
Image of Old Bewick (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by Hob

The Hogback Stone. Drawn in the late 19th century.

Image credit: Mr George Tate
Hob
Hob Nov 17, 2004
Image of Old Bewick (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by awrc

Looking down on the largest carved rock at Old Bewick

Image credit: awrc 2002ce
A
awrc May 25, 2004
Image of Old Bewick (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by awrc

Looking south across the largest stone with marks. The stone is very much eroded by rainwater, but cups are still visible.

Image credit: awrc 2002ce
A
awrc May 25, 2004
Image of Old Bewick (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by pebblesfromheaven

24-5-03. View to the south-east, over the hogback in the foreground (to be found along a ridge, possibly an outer part of the fort). The line of the fence in the background points to the two major rock art boulders.
.o0O0o.

Image credit: Pebblethief
pebblesfromheaven
pebblesfromheaven Oct 5, 2003
Image of Old Bewick (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by pebblesfromheaven

24-5-03. One of the main boulders, looking roughgly north-west towards the other large stone. The green oasis of Blaerwearie farmhouse can be seen on the hillside opposite.
.o0O0o.

Image credit: Pebblethief
pebblesfromheaven
pebblesfromheaven Oct 5, 2003
Image of Old Bewick (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by pebblesfromheaven

The hogback, which now lies in quite a deep hollow. 24-5-03.
.o0O0o.

Image credit: Pebblethief
pebblesfromheaven
pebblesfromheaven May 27, 2003
Image of Old Bewick (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by pebblesfromheaven

Taken 5-4-03. The wet is water. The surface slopes downwards from the top of the picture.

.o0O0o.

Image credit: Pebblethief
pebblesfromheaven
pebblesfromheaven Apr 6, 2003
Image of Old Bewick (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by pebblesfromheaven

Taken 8-2-2003. Most eastern stone, boulder 1, which has “dotted” marks on the south side.
.o0O0o.

Image credit: Pebblethief
pebblesfromheaven
pebblesfromheaven Feb 8, 2003
Image of Old Bewick (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by pebblesfromheaven

Taken 8-2-2003. Southern face of large boulder with rock art on top.
.o0O0o.

Image credit: Pebblethief
pebblesfromheaven
pebblesfromheaven Feb 8, 2003
Image of Old Bewick (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by rockartuk

Old Bewick; stone 3 with unusual flower decorations like a sleeping monster in the late afternoon sunlight. Prehistory alive!

rockartuk
rockartuk Dec 29, 2002
Image of Old Bewick (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by rockartuk

Old Bewick; detail of combined cup-and-ring motifs on the main boulder. This is one of my most favourite designs. It looks like the right one bears the left which seems to protect the right cup-and-ring motif. Is this a symbol of love? A comfort for the soul?

rockartuk
rockartuk Dec 29, 2002

Articles

Old Bewick

Hob
Hob Aug 25, 2008

Observations after a long overdue revisit in August 2008:-

After recently managing to see a sunset and a sunrise here, I found enough time to linger for long enough for some good pondering about this lovely lump of prehistoric stuff. It struck me that whilst the main panel has no views of the Cheviots (which it would have if the carvings had been on the outcrop on top of the hill), it’s actually one of the subset of Northumbrian prehistoric sites that may have been placed with some reference to the hill of Simonside. You can’t see Simonside when you’re standing at ground level, but if you step up to the natural shelf on the south east side (which you can do without compromising the carvings, as the shelf has turf), you can see the distinctive profile of Simonside quite clearly.

Now this could be overactive associative neuronal stuff in my head, but even if that is the case, I’ll claim that if you visit here, you can picture this stone as a nice spot for a bit of ‘ritual activity’ by some prehistoric spirit botherer, using the water from the natural basin for libatory purposes over the ancestral carvings, making invocations to some sky thingy or other as it descended to the sacred hill on the horizon. All the while casting a good dramatic silhouette to the audience on the pallisade of the strange double hillfort a few yards away.

Despite some effort, I can’t manage to suss out any connection with the mysterious Cateran Hole on nearby Cateran Hill. Not even a very tenuous one. Obviously some more exploration of the bleaker bits of Bewick Moor are called for in order to evoke some imagination stimluation.

Old Bewick

Hob
Hob Jul 15, 2005

This big old carved slab of a stone has a special place in the annals of rock art as it was one of the first (if not the first) to be recognised a prehistoric relic, back at the start of the 19thC.

There are a good few bits of lesser RA dotted about in the field with the main slab and it’s smaller sibling, many of which quite clearly show the signs of quarrying. The quarry marks on the big slab indicate that it may have had a narrow escape. Perhaps it was recognised as something worth keeping just in time.

I’d advise taking the route up behind the trees, rather than straight up the quickest route, save that for the way back down. The former is a much gentler slope, and as the ground is a bit on the sludgey side when wet, it’s probably easier and safer to go the slightly longer route.

I wish I’d known this when I once lugged a bloody great old style video camera up there. Nearly as much as I wish the tape hadn’t been recorded over. So it goes.

Once you get to the area marked on the map, you can’t miss the slab, stands out like a sore thumb with the smashig expanse of the moor stretching out behind it. The temptation to go yomping off over the moor is almost irresistable. There are cairns, cists, a hillfort, a ruined farmhouse, waterfalls, crags and allsorts of moor-type stuff.

Old Bewick

A
awrc May 25, 2004

I have to agree with others about the astonishing atmosphere here – it is probably the most breathtaking site of its kind I have ever visited (in 2002, in my case), too.

Some practical notes: the main marks are to be found on the north side of the top of the hill: there’s a gate which a farmer has sagely put into the fence that divides his land from the actual Old Bewick Hillfort. The OS Explorer map is a bit misleading with its ‘Cup & ring’ label.

Old Bewick

pebblesfromheaven
pebblesfromheaven May 27, 2003

Went back to Old Bewick to find the hogback... Luckily Jan&Gus had come all the way from Holland to show me the way:-)
It it hard to find as it is sunk below the normal ground level.
.o0O0o.

Old Bewick

pebblesfromheaven
pebblesfromheaven Feb 8, 2003

Visited on my way back from Blawearie, which is the burial ring cairn mentioned by some previous posters.

Tried but failed to find the piggy-looking stone, was getting dark! Very good reason to back again, like I need one :-)

.o0O0o.

Old Bewick

I
iaing Nov 8, 2001

My great Aunt and Uncle used to live at Old Bewick, so I used to walk the hill and moor endlessly as a kid, when the ring cairn was just a bunch of cists in the heather – a stone age cemetry, my Dad used to say. Scared the shit out of me! Bla Wearie is the proper name for this place, the area by the old shepherds house and crag. It is probably the most evocative place I’ve been to, and now with the reinstated presence of the ring cairn! My Dad carved his name in the rock when he was a kid, but I’ve never found it.
To be honest, no matter how hard I looked when I was a kid, I could never find the rock carvings on Bewick Hill. From the other posts they sound amazing, maybe it’s about time for a return visit!

Old Bewick

S
sowels Jun 14, 2001

this is my most favorite place in britain, fantastic veiws and awe inspiring.I stumbled across this site asetaining who owns old bewick. me and my girlfreind visited roughting linn which was wierd a big ole rock in the undergrowth with loads of carvings ace! mother earths got a good prescence.

Old Bewick

C
C33 Jan 13, 2001

Incredibly bleak (and wet!) when I visited last month. You can’t miss the big old mother hill looming above you though, it draws you in like a magnet. A pair of wellies is essential at this time of year as we waded through muddy farmtracks knee-deep in cow-cacca and barely avoided falling into a few bog holes.
An eerie place once you get up to the top plateau, massive iron age ramparts and rather bizarely, two WW11 style pill boxes (were the Nazis planning to invade Northumberland?). We got a good view of the (slightly worn) carvings lit up by mellow winter sunset over the Cheviots.

Old Bewick

fitzcoraldo
fitzcoraldo Jun 23, 2000

Got to be one of the most evocative and beautiful areas of the world.
travel south down the devils causeway passing many sites within a small area and arrive at old bewick. Bewick means bee farm
and last time I was there i saw a wild bees nest just sitting on a tree,
touching the past or what ?
Climb the hill and step into prehistory.
The landscape is rich in the prehistoric landmarks, but Old Bewick is more than that, you can see the hands of the ancients in the living rocks.
Whats there ? A reinstated Bronze age burial, a ritual complex / hillfort
The mindblower though is the most beautiful set of carvings you could ever want to see, concentric circles cups, channels, the full bifta.
All set in the mostest abience, you’ll not want to leave.
Old Bewick, it’s a gasser.

Miscellaneous

Old Bewick
Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art
Rhiannon
Rhiannon Feb 17, 2007

Quite in the early part of the present century, a Mr. J. C. Langlands noticed some curious figures, very much worn and defaced, upon a sandstone block near the great camp on Old Bewick Hill, in the county of Northumberland. Mr. Tate, Secretary of the Anthropological Society, etc., who has rendered excellent service in describing the sculptured rocks of the north of England, says that though strange and old world looking, these figures then presented an isolated fact, and he (Mr. Langlands) hesitated to connect them with by-past ages; for they might have been the work of an ingenious shepherd, while resting on the hill; but on finding some years afterwards, another incised stone of a similar character, on the same hill, he then formed the opinion that these sculptures were very ancient, and probably the work of the same people who erected the strong and complicated fort cresting the hill. To him belongs the honour of the first discovery of these archaic sculptures.

from the (rather unusual) Reverend Hargrave Jennings’s ‘Archaic Rock Inscriptions’ of 1890. So, Old Bewick – spiritual home of the rock art spotter?

Topics

Old Bewick - calling iaing 4
pebblesfromheaven
pebblesfromheaven
Jan 2003

Sites within 20km of Old Bewick

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