Millstone Burn

Nearest town:
Alnwick (10km NNE)
OS reference:
NU118052
OS sheet:
81
Latitude:
55° 20' 25.95 N
Longitude:
1° 48' 50.17 W
Added to TMA by

Images

Image of Millstone Burn (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by rockartwolf

2-12-06 – panel 2h

such a perfect carving...


wolfy

Image credit: pebblewolf
rockartwolf
rockartwolf Dec 3, 2006
Image of Millstone Burn (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by rockandy

Millstone Burn 2h; I know there are already many photos of this rock, but today the light was good!

Image credit: Rockandy
R
rockandy Apr 18, 2006
Image of Millstone Burn (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by rockandy

Millstone Burn 2h (again), 2i close to the right.

Image credit: Rockandy
R
rockandy Apr 18, 2006
Image of Millstone Burn (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by Hob

From one of his old booklets.
Reproduced with kind permission.

Image credit: Stan Beckensall
Hob
Hob Feb 26, 2006
Image of Millstone Burn (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by Hob

2h, side flash, long exposure and big lamp.

Image credit: IH
Hob
Hob Feb 24, 2006
Image of Millstone Burn (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by Hob

The almost completely eroded motif of 6d.

Image credit: IH
Hob
Hob Feb 23, 2006
Image of Millstone Burn (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by Hob

Panel 5a. Long exposure and the dim red LED on Rockandy’s hat.

Image credit: IH
Hob
Hob Feb 23, 2006
Image of Millstone Burn (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by rockandy

5a; detail of complex motifs on SE side of panel (night flash).

Image credit: Rockandy
R
rockandy Feb 23, 2006
Image of Millstone Burn (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by rockandy

4a; view from panel to NW towards Cheviot. The other side of the boundary (heather moor) is the site of marked rocks in groups 5 and 6.

Image credit: Rockandy
R
rockandy Feb 23, 2006
Image of Millstone Burn (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by rockandy

4a; cup with large faint double ring and groove in SW part of panel.

Image credit: Rockandy
R
rockandy Feb 23, 2006
Image of Millstone Burn (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by rockandy

4a; view of panel from NE end. Square-cut basin is a latter addition to the panel and may have been for a cross-base.

Image credit: Rockandy
R
rockandy Feb 23, 2006
Image of Millstone Burn (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by rockandy

4a; detail of cup with faint ring from near centre part of panel.

Image credit: Rockandy
R
rockandy Feb 23, 2006
Image of Millstone Burn (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by Hob

Millstone Burn 6c (ii) at night.

Image credit: IH
Hob
Hob Feb 22, 2006
Image of Millstone Burn (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by rockandy

6c(ii). Surface above ‘the steps’ showing the basin on the outcrop edge to the left, and eroded cup and ring motifs. View to the N.

Image credit: Rockandy
R
rockandy Dec 5, 2005
Image of Millstone Burn (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by rockandy

“The Sacrificial Steps” of 6c(ii) leading to the ‘ritual basin’ and cup & ring motifs on the horizontal outcrop. View E towards Snook Bank.

Image credit: Rockandy
R
rockandy Dec 5, 2005
Image of Millstone Burn (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by Hob

Millstone Burn 6c (ii) detail

Image credit: IH
Hob
Hob Jul 4, 2005
Image of Millstone Burn (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by Hob

Natural ‘altar’ formation that appears to be a focal feature of the inscribed/scultptured/carved/marked/peacked/heavily eroded rocks of the Millstone Burn 6 group

Image credit: IH
Hob
Hob Jul 4, 2005
Image of Millstone Burn (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by Hob

Millstone Burn 6c (ii)

Image credit: IH
Hob
Hob Jul 4, 2005
Image of Millstone Burn (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by Hob

Millstone Burn 5a detail

Image credit: IH
Hob
Hob Jul 4, 2005
Image of Millstone Burn (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by Hob

Millstone Burn 5a

Image credit: IH
Hob
Hob Jul 4, 2005
Image of Millstone Burn (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by Hob

Millstone Burn 4a

Image credit: IH
Hob
Hob Jul 4, 2005
Image of Millstone Burn (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by Hob

Millstone Burn 3g

I did wonder if this could have once been upright, as the marks are on the edge, and the weathering does seem similar to what you’d see on a fallen standing stone. Odd placement of the cups and grooves, quite unlike the others in the area.

Image credit: Hobson
Hob
Hob Jun 15, 2005
Image of Millstone Burn (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by Hob

Millstone Burn 3f

Image credit: Hobson
Hob
Hob Jun 15, 2005
Image of Millstone Burn (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by Hob

Millstone Burn 2h(i).
Otherwise know as ‘The little one just above the main one’.

Image credit: Hobson
Hob
Hob Jun 15, 2005
Image of Millstone Burn (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by Hob

Millstone Burn 2h

Image credit: Hobson
Hob
Hob Jun 13, 2005
Image of Millstone Burn (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by Hob

Millstone Burn 2c

Image credit: Hobson
Hob
Hob Jun 13, 2005
Image of Millstone Burn (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by Hob

Millstone Burn 1f. East side of the road, south of 1a.

Image credit: Hobson
Hob
Hob Jun 13, 2005
Image of Millstone Burn (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by Hob

Millstone Burn 1a, on the east side of the road, just by the mostly obscured footpath sign.

Image credit: Hobson
Hob
Hob Jun 13, 2005
Image of Millstone Burn (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by rockandy

View NE towards Alnwick from the Millstone Burn rock-art site.
Photo taken 05/03/2004

Image credit: Rockandy
R
rockandy Dec 20, 2004

Articles

Millstone Burn

Hob
Hob Jul 5, 2005

Millstone burn could be viewed as six separate sites, seven if you count Snook Bank over the other side of the burn, more if you take into account the disparate locations of some of the stones listed as part of the same group. Rock art nomenclature can be a funny business, as new panels are discovered. Hence some of these have ended up with unwieldy and not-exactly-inspiring names like ‘Millstone Burn 6c(ii)’.
The OS map marks two concentrations of them, but the Beckensall Archive lists a whopping 65 separate marked stones as part of the Millstone Burn groups, and that doesn’t include those at Snook Bank.

Groups one and two are the closest to the road, with some from either side on either side of the road, just to make it trickier to keep track. A few of those on the east side seem to have been relocated, as they seem to form part of a row of spaced stones next to an old trackway. Stan Beckensall has suggested that this track may be of prehistoric origin, leading from , Simonside, via the rock art at Lordenshaws, the down to the river Coquet, up again to the rock art, standing stones and cairnfield of Addyheugh and through Millstone Burn, across to the ridge of sandstone to the coast, via Corby’s Crags, Lemmington Wood and Lamp Hill, so maybe they have been relocated, maybe not.

Group three is mostly around the 220m contour, just by the trouser-snagging barbed wire double fence. After 3e(ii), things get a bit awkward. The other side of the fence is seriously deep heather, and panels 3e and 3g are flush to the ground, so without a gps, I’m pretty sure I’d not have found them in a month of Sundays.

Group four is back over the fence, onto more navigable terrain, some more complex motifs, but heavily eroded. Back over the fence again (the rock art hurdles or what?) and down amongst the heather for group five, which is really just the one stone, but a nice one worth visiting.

Group six is one of the most interesting of the lot, as it seems to be arranged around a natural feature that screams (to the overactive imagination) “I’m an Ur-temple*! You see if I’m not!” Just to top the sense of viewing-apace, the motifs are on the edges of some stepped outcrop. I still can’t decide if these steps are the result of quarrying or a natural thing. It’s on the heathery (north) side of the fence, but you still need a final hop to get back down to the road.

A word of warning to those in cars, approaching from the south, it’s a dodgy blind curve that ges on for yonks, so be wary when looking for the parking spot. Approach from the north may be easier for those in cars. Alternately, the bus to Longframlington drops you off well placed for a nice hike up past the cairns on mount pleasant.

One of the things that nags at my mind is the sink-hole like hollows that occur near some of the marked rocks. They could be bell pits, I’m not sure. It does seem a bit more than coincidence that they are mostly near the rock art, though I didn’t wander too far away from the RA, so I couldn’t say if these pits are evenly distributed away from the RA. I do know that some of them have tadpoles, and that if you get too close to the edge, you find yourself in deep mucky sludge that hints it goes down a fair way. More background detail that adds to the texture of the place’s histry is the fact that the old roman road runs right next to the area with the carved rocks, and that there was once an old coaching inn hereabouts, of which all trace is now lost.

All told, there’s a lot to be found here, but it’s awkward in places and often difficult to see. Winter visits are probably a good idea. The groups near the A697 are easy enough to find using just the OS map, but if you’re after seeing any of the others, don’t be fooled as I was a few years back into thinking that the western group on the map are on the obvious outcrop. They’re not, and whilst it’s a nice view, I don’t recall finding any carvings. In retrospect, there may have been, but at the time I was expecting soething as snazzy as Old Bewick, so I would have probably missed it if it was there. It’s probably quite easy to miss some even with a gps if the light isn’t right, they can be quite faint.

I’ve a strong suspicion that the reason the motifs around here (including those at Snook) are so faint has something to do with the now extinct power station at Blyth. If this place was chosen partly as a result of it’s excellent views over Northumberland’s coastal plain, it’s position as the first set of propr hills between the sea and the Ceviots has probably also mant it’s got more than it’s fair share of acid rain. Often, there’s a weird microclimate going on here as the air rises and moisture either dumps down here whilst it’s dry a few miles away, or else it stays up in the clouds whilst in Rothbury it’s chucking it down.

One last thing of note about Millstone burn. It’s where Prof Richard Bradley and his chums from Reading Uni did their valiant attempt to apply statistics to the study of rock art. Apparently they found that the more complex motifs are situated where there is a wider view. Whilst some would say this is a bit of a no-brainer, they did try, and so now we know there’s only a small likelihood that the marked rocks were chosen as a result of random chance. But the view isn’t the be-all and end-all of the decision to mark some rocks and not others, else the bigger outcrop to the west would be dripping with CnRs.

These fieldnotes may have been brought to you with the daft assistance of the Millstoneburn mono-tourist board. Come to Millstone, gateway to the Cheviots, and bring a gps device in case you find any new panels!

* You know, those things Cope goes on about in the papery tma. A bit out of fashion these days, but they’re still there out in the landscape, whether they’re a la mode or not.

Millstone Burn

rockartuk
rockartuk Jun 17, 2005

With the nice additions to this site by Greywether, Fitzcoraldo and Hob (!), it seems that no panel will escape the sharp eye! As a modest step to completeness, I added two pics taken in 2002, of panel 5a. Who’s going for number 6?

Millstone Burn

fitzcoraldo
fitzcoraldo May 23, 2005

The Graeme C and I stopped off here on our way back from the RAM05 meeting. Our heads were full of beautiful rock art but the sun was still up and we had time to squeeze one more site in on our journey south. The Millstone Burn was ideal as it lay beside the A697 and was therefore on our way home.
We parked up beside the field gate and walked up the bank. Unfortunately I had left my ‘Beckensall Bible’ at home and only had a printed map from MAGIC to guide us.
Within a few minutes we had found a number of cup marked rocks and discovered the boulder that Stan describes as “the most complex and pleasing design of this entire group”. Stan is spot-on with his description, we found it very pleasing.
We searched the outcrops further uphill doing a bit of peel-reveal-replace here and there and discovered a number of rocks with cups and weathered-out motifs.
We then moved over onto the moor to the north of the field. Graeme vaulted the barbed wire fence with one fluid cat-like movement. Not wanting to look like a girl I followed suit only to end up entangled in the fence with a great rip in my duds and a slightly bruised ego. Could have been worse I suppose.
We only found one cup marked boulder on the moor but to be honest with you we weren’t looking too hard in the knee-high heather, I guess we’d seen enough for one day. It’s always good to leave something to come back for, I guess we’ll be coming back to Northumbria for a long time yet.

Topics

Millstone 7
Rockrich
Rockrich
May 2005

Sites within 20km of Millstone Burn

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