Images

Image of Ringses Camp, Beanley Moor (Hillfort) by Hob

Vector illustration, 2015, after Beckensall 2004.

Image credit: IH
Image of Ringses Camp, Beanley Moor (Hillfort) by rockartwolf

16-11-2008

Beanley Moor Panel 1

www.briankerrphotography.co.uk

Image credit: Brian Kerr 2008
Image of Ringses Camp, Beanley Moor (Hillfort) by mascot

Outer ditch on West side, taken from west entrance facing South.

Image credit: Mascot
Image of Ringses Camp, Beanley Moor (Hillfort) by Hob

Beanley Portable a.

Currently in the Postern Tower museum, Alnwick castle.

Image credit: IH
Image of Ringses Camp, Beanley Moor (Hillfort) by Hob

Beanley portable b. Now in the postern tower museum, Alnwick castle.

Image credit: IH
Image of Ringses Camp, Beanley Moor (Hillfort) by rockandy

Beanley Moor 7. Strikingly carved stone about 100 x 50cm, almost hidden in vegetation.

Image credit: Rockandy
Image of Ringses Camp, Beanley Moor (Hillfort) by rockandy

Beanley Moor 4. View SE from cup-marked boulder which lies in a small valley close to a prominent tree.

Image credit: Rockandy
Image of Ringses Camp, Beanley Moor (Hillfort) by rockandy

Beanley Moor 3. Cup marked outcrop near to the top of a knoll, E of The Ringses.

Image credit: Rockandy
Image of Ringses Camp, Beanley Moor (Hillfort) by rockandy

Beanley Moor 2. Cup marked boulder built into a boundary wall just W of Ringses Camp, visible beyond.

Image credit: Rockandy
Image of Ringses Camp, Beanley Moor (Hillfort) by rockandy

The Ringses Camp, Beanley Moor. View NW up the valley of the River Till with the escarpment of Bewick and Harehope rising up on the right hand side.

Image credit: Rockandy
Image of Ringses Camp, Beanley Moor (Hillfort) by rockandy

The Ringses Camp, Beanley Moor. View NE towards Eglingham, the ramparts of the Camp in the foreground to the right.

Image credit: Rockandy

Articles

Ringses Camp, Beanley Moor

What a weird site.

I first saw this set of earthworks (I’m not happy calling it a ‘fort’, ‘camp’ is also a bit iffy tbh...) almost 30 years ago, but then just in the distance as I was wandering about exploring the area around a small festival at one of the farms at the edge of the moor.

Since then I’ve looked at it in the distance a few times, and on aerial shots, it’s quite easily visible, and merits some seriously confident dashes on the OS map, so I knew the ramparts were fairly high.

But actually having a walk about in there for the first time, I was surprised by how small it is in footprint. There’s barely enough room for a house, though apparently there was one during a Romano-British re-occupation period of use. I couldn’t quite shake the feeling that it might have also been re-used more recently, mebbe during the border reiver years.

So the overall effect is quite impressive. Because the ramparts are 4m high in places, so it’s got an almost claustrophobic feel to it.

Oddly small ‘fort’. Lotsa Bronze age stuff nearby. Access isn’t too tricky if you go when the bracken is low. Bloody annoying round this neck of the woods if it’s high. Go have a look if you’re in the area.

Ringses Camp, Beanley Moor

I’m sure Iron Age hillforts have their interest and like many in Northumberland the location is often stunning, as it was here. The many-walled fort was probably built more for show than for defense and may have been visible from some distance.

Similar to the Doddington Ringses, there is also traces here of man’s earlier use of the landscape by the finding of rock-art.

Two panels were found in the region of the fort in the 1860s and moved to Alnwick Castle Museum. They are illustrated by Stan Beckensall (2001 p166) who also shows the earlier drawings of Collingwood Bruce.

Apart from a rock slab given in the Beckensall archive as Beanley Moor 1, most of the carved rock now present in the landscape appear to be of the unimpressive cup-marked variety. They are certainly quite challenging to find, and even harder to interpret!
I’m certain there are more out there but there are alot of rocks to examine and in this game the light is not always perfect.

Link

Ringses Camp, Beanley Moor
Hillfort
Internet Archive

Notes Archaeological, Geological, etc. on Beanley Moor and the vicinity of Kemmer Lough. From the MSS of George Tate. In the History of the Berwickshire Naturalists Club, volume 23, 1890.

He mentions the carved stones, and also the ‘detached blocks of stones which are usually covered over with lichens, and hoary with age, are here called “Grey Mares”.‘

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