
Midtead 1; detail of cup and double ring joined by a curved groove to small cup and single ring.
Midtead 1; detail of cup and double ring joined by a curved groove to small cup and single ring.
Midstead 1.
Midstead 1; view to SW.
I just love that serpentine groove thang.
A nice serpentine groove.
Water applied to bring out the motifs.
View to the south.
Spider nest in cup and ring. Arachnoid des-res.
Location of rock basin W of ruin on Jenny’s Lantern.
Large, carved rock basin near the hill top (NU 11847 15321). I wouldn’t like to guess at the archaeology but it appears to be on the edge of a rock-built platform of some kind of structure.
View N from hilltop of Jenny’s Lantern towards the Hunterheugh area with its many panels of rock-art.
Midstead 2. Close-up of cup-marked panel. View SW.
Midstead 2. View SE from cup-marked panel towards Cloudy Crags above Alnwick.
Midstead 2. Many cups on the flat surface of an outcrop.
Midstead 5. Stan B. sees 9 cups, some pairs linked by grooves. I’m not sure I could interpret it in the same way but clearly something going on!
Midstead 1. View S from the carved panel across the River Aln. Lamp Hill and Corby’s Crags just visible on the far horizon to the right.
The clearest ring of the group
A small but nicely carved stone just 50 meters from the road.
A handily convenient little panel, close to the road, just a short hop up the slope. The motifs were not immediately apparent, as someone had placed small rocks ver them, presumably in an effort to protect them from the elements. This had the advantage of providing a good spot fo a spder to make a nest in one of the cups. It was probably a bit surprised when it the stone lifted up and a hippy started peering at it with a camera.
There are faint traces of an older. Much more heavily eroded CnR, perhaps implying that like the nearby Hunterheugh panels, this one was re-carved at some point. It’s difficult to say, though the peckmarks on the lower CnR are clearer, it could jut be because it’s been covered over, whilst the others have been exposed.
According to some folklorists, the name “Jenny-wi’t’-lantern” is a Northumbrian term for Will-o-the-wisps.
Earthlights? Faultlines? Rock art? Hmmm.
Midstead on BRAC Updated
ADS Record ID – NSMR03-4375
Photos by rockartuk.