Hob

The prehistoric rock carvings at Crap Carschenna, situated high above the unpronounceable village of Sils im Domleschg, were first discovered in 1965 during tree clearing prior to the construction of electricity pylons. For those able to read German, the definitive paper is that by Urs Schwegler: Felszeichnungen in Graubuenden; Helvetia Archaeologica, 1997, 111/112 pp 76-147.

I’m wondering if this account is speaking of the destruction of the same monument:

At Mayborough they dug up a brass celt. On the other side of the Eimot, upon a high ground overlooking all, is a very fine round tumulus, of a large size, and set about with a circle of stones: this in all probability was the funeral monument of the king that founded the temple and circus. Someone has lately been digging away part of the barrow, and carried off some of the stones, and demolished others.

Later in the same text, Stukeley adds:

The great barrow accompanied with stones, by the Eimot side, is called Haransley hill.

Stukeley, Iter Boreal, 1725

In addition to the quote given by A.L. Lewis in Rhiannon’s post below, the missing part of Stukeley’s description can be found in his Iter. Boreal of 1725:-

On the south side of the town of Shap, six miles south of Penrith, we saw the beginning of a great Celtic Avenue, on a green common. This is just beyond the horrid and rocky fells, where a good country begins. This avenue is seventy foot broad, composed of very large stones, set at equal intervals: it seems to be closed at this end, which is on an eminence, and near a long flattish barrow, with stone works upon it: hence it proceeds northward to the town, which intercepts the continuation of it, and was the occasion of it’s ruin; for many of the stones are put under the foundations of houses and walls, being pushed by machines they call a betty, or blown up with gunpowder. Though it’s ourney be northward, yet it makes a very large curve, or an arc of a circle, as those at Abury, and passes over a brook too. A spring likewise arises in it, near the Greyhound inn. By the brook is a little round sacellum, composed of twelve stones, but lesser ones, set by one great stone belonging to the side of the avenue: the interval of the stones is thrity-five foot, half the breadth of the avenue: the stones, no doubt, did all stand upright, because three or four still do; but they were not much higher then, than now as fallen, because of their figure, which is thick and short: they are very large, and prodigiously hard, being nothing else but a congeries of crystals of very large sizes, of a flakey nature. Houses and fields lie across the track of this avenue, and some of the houses lie in the inclosure: it ascends the hill, crosses the common road to Penrith, and so goes into the corn-fields on the other side of the way westward, where some stones are left standing; one particularly remarkable, called Guggleby stone. The people say these were set up by enchantment: and the better sort of folks, as absurdly affirm, they are made by art. I doubt not but they are gathered somewhere off the surface, among the fells, and that there was a great temple of the old Britons, such as that at Abury, which it resembles very much, as far as I can judge at present; for the rainy weather, which in this country is almost perpetual, hindered me from making at this time a thorough disquisition into it.

There’s a grainy, two tone image in a local guide to Columbkille that shows what really looks like a cup with a single ring and duct. The text implies it’s a cross, but it really doesn’t look like one. The slab is part of the roof of the souterrain which runs below the churchyard.

I can’t help but wonder if the following description of a stone by John Hodgson might be somehow connected with Fitz’s cup marked stone:

In passing over Moor-Duvvoch in 1800 I had observed a stone which I then supposed had some characters upon it with which I was unacquainted. In walking from Askham to Pooleybridge on 3 May, 1811, in company with the Rev. John Collinson, rector of Gateshead, and the late Mr. Matthew Atkinson, I was anxious to have a second sight of it, but sought it in vain...

...I did not, in this search, forget to look for the stone that attracted my attention in 1800, and reached it soon, when I found it to be a large detached mass of grauwacke, shewing its conglomerate origin in several rings and segments of circles eaten by the weather into its surface as sharply as if they had. been cut with a sculptor’s chisel; and thus the long-encouraged vision of a Saxon or Latin inscription in Runic, or some other antique characters, vanished in a moment. This stone is upon the side of an old road or cast a little south of the south end of Lord Lonsdale’s fir plantations on Moor-Duvvoch.

The Rev H seems to be describing inscribed circles. Bear in mind he was writing a decade before the first recognition of Cup and ring marks as ancient artifacts.

Maybe there is hidden Rock Art out there on Moor Divock.

As far as I can work out, the lost carvings of Amerside Law have not been seen in over 25 years. the grid ref given here is only accurate to 100m, and is not likely to be of a lot of use to those of us used to entering co-ords into a gps and walking straight up to a panel of rock art. Note that the plantation is private, so any attempts must be with landowner permission.

They were first shown to Stan Beckensall by a local shepherd who tended his flock on horseback (what an excellent way to find rock art, up high, wandering over bleak moorland in the low sun of winter...). Since then, the area has been very heavily planted with conifers and subsequent attempts to locate the carvings have been unsuccessful. Stan does point out that at least one of the forestry workers recognised the value of preserving the carvings, and that trees were not planted right up to the marked outcrop. the problem is, the rest of the trees are so closely spaced, that it’s nigh on impossible to wander about looking.

However there are plans afoot to utilise new fangled technologies not previously available, to see if the dense shield of trees can be persuaded to relinquish the panel. We can but hope they are found before the trees are felled, as this might potentially damage the carvings (as no-one will know exactly where they are to avoid them)

From Camden’s Brittannia, 2nd Ed.

“W. Matfen is the seat of sir William Blacket, bart. and in an adjoining field is a circular mount with a cavity at top, and by it a stone nine feet high, three feet by one and a half thick, called the Stob stone.
In opening of other tumuli of stones have been found two kistvaens, or coffins of four stones set on edge with a bottom and cover, containing the ashes of the dead appearing in a white dust. It has since all been removed”

There’s certainly no large mound next to the Matfen stone nowadays.

The grid ref given here is that matching the spot where in 1913, an oak coffin was discovered during ploughing. It’s 1.67m in length and contained a few teeth, remains of stitched calf skin, a drinking cup and flint scraper. Radiocarbon dates of 2400-2200BC were determined, suggesting an early BA date for the burial.

the C&R stone does not seem to have been part of this burial, but it’s exact findspot is unclear.

This collection of circles is now destroyed, the correct grid ref would have been SW36753306, but I’ve tweaked it slightly so that the pin appears in the right place on the inline map.

This mound features in Camden’s Brittania as ‘Dewley Lowe’, where it is mentioned in association with the nearby Heddon Law burial mound:

There is yet remaining one very great heap of stones, besides other tumuli, and a remarkable one farther to the east called Dewley Lowe, with a smaller one near it.

The reference to another mound is particularly interesting.

The county SMR describes this as:
“A tree-covered round barrow of earth and stones, 22.45 m in diam, 2.21 m high with what appears to be a surrounding ditch 0.20 m deep and bank, 1.10 m max. width and 0.20 m high”
A quick look at some satellite images shows that it’s not tree covered, and that the bank and ditch are just visible.

According to Colin Richardson, this cup marked stone is thought to have once been upright, and accumulated cairn material about it’s base afterwards. Presumably this material was removed during the excavation. Dating was inconclusive, though the usual late Neolithic/early bronze age period was assumed.

Excavations on a cup-&-ring marked boulder on Tortie Hill.
(Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian & Archaeological Society, 92, 1992, 7–11, ISSN 0309-7986):

Sat 2 – Sun 3 December 2006
Sat 9 – Sun 10 December 2006

As part of The North East Winter festival, artist Philip Supple has been commissioned to create an effects lighting installation piece focusing on the cup and ring marks at Lordenshaw. It has been described as ‘Subtle, yet mind-blowing‘.

The installation is to be an important feature of a series of guided walks from the nearby village of Rothbury, to the ‘sacred hill’ of Simonside, the walks highlight the archaeology of the area, and also include an emphasis on the folklore of the Duergar.

Contact Rothbury National Park Centre (Tel: 01669 620887)
or visit: the NE winter festival website .

From ‘Notes On The Standing Stones of Kintyre‘, by Duncan Colville, 1929.

“North-east of Achadh-a’-Charra, at an equal distance from the Chapel, is Cnoc-a’-Charra, or ‘the hill of the pillar.’ On the top of this hill there is another stone 9 feet long, and 3 feet 10 inches in circumference; of the 9 feet, 2 feet are in the ground. Still farther to the north-east, on a higher hill, there was a cross which fell some years since, and was broken; the three stones were in a straight line.”

This pillar on Cnoc-a’-Charra is now well known on account of the Ogam inscription incised upon it, and a most interesting description of it4 will be found in the first number of Scottish Gaelic Studies, published 1926. There we are told that in the course of last century it twice fell down, and on one of these occasions a length of about 2 feet broke off athe top, and is now lost. Consequently it now stands about 5 feet 9 inches above ground. Detailed particulars of these accidents will be found in Rhys’s account of the stone in vol. xxxi. of the Journal of the
Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, from information supplied by the parish minister, the Rev. John Francis Mackenzie. The damage was said to have been caused by some quarrying operations in the hillock, and that it suffered further rough treatment may be gathered from the remarks of another writer, who records that several times the pillar was pushed over by the lads of the neighbourhood, and subsequently replaced by the orders of the proprietor.

It may be of further interest to note that on 27th June 1899 this stone was inspected by a large party of members of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, and of the Cambrian Archaeological Association, who visited the island in the course of a specially organised archaeological trip to the west of Scotland in a steamer chartered for the purpose. A description of this visit, illustrated by a photograph of the stone, was published in the Journal of the first-named Society

The western outcrop of Lyham Moor forms part of the eastern edge of the Till valley, being the stretch that connects Ketley Crag and The Bowden Doors. As such it has some rather good views of the Cheviot massif, as is in keeping with the placing of most rock art in the valley.

It has so far yielded 4 bits of rock art, the most complex of which (Lyham Moor 1) has been likened to the keyhole motifs on Stronarch Wood.

It’s also worth noting that the well/spring near the carvings may have had significance in prehistory, as a bronze age sword was found there, with the assumption being that it was a votive offering.

All four panels are represented on the Beckensall Archive, the other three, rather prosaically named, are: Lyham Moor 2, Lyham Moor 3 and Lyham Moor 4

Courtesy of the nice people at RCAHMS:

Occupying the summit of Tom a’ Chaisteil, a rocky spur, is a fort, sub-circular on plan, measuring c. 33.0m NNE-SSW by c. 31.0m, within a tumbled wall, most of which in the E has fallen over the cliffs of the spur. Occasional outer facing stones can be seen but no inner face, so that the thickness of the wall cannot be determined, although the width of tumble suggests that it may have been about 3.0m. The entrance was probably in the W where a gap has been blocked by a later wall, but no details survive. The interior is featureless. Some eight to ten metres to the N of the fort is a trench c. 2.0m wide and c. 0.6m deep, extending 35.0m W from the cliff. It is presumably associated with the fort, the most likely explanation being that it is part of an unfinished outer defence. On the W side, below the wall, is a recent shelter

I’d take issue with the comment about ‘featureless’ interior. I’m sure there were bits that looked like hut circles.

George Tate wrote in the late 19thC:

The other two camps are on the Horton grounds. Near to one of them are the remains of a stone circle, which during the last century would have been called a Druid’s temple. Five stones are remaining, two only standing in their original position; when complete the circle had been about 100 feet in circumference; and it probably marks the burying place of some chieftain. At no great distance form it, are several barrows which also appear to have been places of sepulture. Mr Greenwell dug into some of them, but nothing was discovered save traces of burning.

Which makes me wonder where the fifth stone went, and when was the third (temporarily) re-erected? Are the two standing today the same two Tate observed? What about the cairns and can they still be found amongst the heather?

According to Timothy Darvill & Blaze O’Connor, an early 20thC excavation showed up zoomorphic carvings on one of the stones from the mound.

The relevant abstract from the proceeedings of the prehistoric society can be found on University College London’s website.

One of the many barrows at Came Wood yielded a rare (for the South of England) example of prehistoric rock art in the form of a cist cover with three concentric circles. It gets a mention in Tate’s ‘Sculptured rocks’ book, a more detailed description being given by the excavator. (Warne, C. 1866. The Celtic Tumuli of Dorset. London: John Russell Smith.)

An image of the concentric circles can be found on the University College London web site.

Alas, this particular marked stone is currently on the missing list.

The remains of 2 Bronze Age cairns, the most northerly of which, when excavatated in 1885 by GR Hall, yielded several cists and 17 examples of portable rock art, including one example of the rare ‘microcups’.

English Heritage’s online record of scheduled monuments claims that these portables have since been lost. In fact, they are safe and warm in the stone room of the Newcastle University Museum of Antiquities. The confusion may have arisen as EH spell Pitland with two ‘t’s, whereas everyone else seems to spell it with only one. But it’s the same site.

These portables may also have been the subjects of the first ever photograph of prehistoric rock art. Possibly.

Saved from the quarrymans wedges?

Apparently the carvings at Morwick were once threatened by a quarry, the remains of which are now to be found about 100m to the east of Jack Rock. Such was the claim a letter in the Newcastle Journal of Feb 18th, 1886 (a copy exists in a binding of the many volumed ‘Denham Tracts’).

However, an investigation and field visit by Mr G.H. Thompson on behalf of the Society of Antiquities of Newcastle upon Tyne reported that the proposed quarry was not a threat to the carvings, and that given the keen antiquarian tendencies of the landowner, Algernon, Duke of Northumberland, no threat was ever intended. However, he also notes that some of the rock on he flat above the carvings had been stripped to examine the strata. This fact, in conjunction with the fact that The Duke Algernon in question was not the same Duke Algernon who was renowned for his antiquarian proclivities, but rather his succsessor, leads me to wonder if the account is a bit of Victorian spin to cover over a narrowly avoided embarrassing incident. Maybe I’m just being overly suspicious, but it seems that the quarry was possibly nearly placed on the wrong outcrop and that the letter in the Newcastle Journal pointed this out.

(Details can be found in the Proceedings of the Society Volume II, 1886, Number 22)

It’s interesting that Green Castle is also known locally as ‘Cup and Saucer Camp’ When considering that ‘Cups and Saucers’ is a colloquial term used in 19thC Northumberland for cup and ring marks, and that a marked stone was found in the ramparts of this site, it’s possible that the local name refers not to the shape of the earthworks, but to rock art.

According to info from RCAHMS:

“In 1861, near it were several smaller stones, apparently fragments of larger ones, indicating the former existence of a stone circle. As he was unable to determine the centre of the circle, Bryce dug a trench at the W base of the stone, but no remains or signs of previous disturbance were seen.”

However, later visits failed to find any of these smaller stones.

RCAHMS say:

“Alcaig Manse (A S Henshall 1963). This cairn, of uncertain type, is overgrown and considerably robbed. It is about 55 ft. diam. with a now rather intermittent peristalith of heavy boulders of which one on the SE segment has about 15 cups, one of these being 7 ins across and 2 ins deep.
A massive stone, 8 ft. within the W. edge of the cairn, is 2 ft. above the cairn material and, in an excavated hollow some 8 ft to the south east of it, another stone is exposed to a depth of 2 feet. Towards the E side of the cairn, is a large, displaced slab. The presence of these stones suggests the existence of a chamber.
Forty feet outside the peristalith may be a comparatively modern bank.
V G Childe 1944; A A Woodham 1956 ”

The excavation mentioned above “did not reveal skeletal remains, but artifacts included sherds of Neolithic pottery and undecorated Beaker, lignite beads, a stone spindle whorl and flint artifacts including a leaf-shaped arrowhead”

From the RCAHMS web stuff.

Another cup-marked stone close to the road that I should have seen, but had to forgo. Like the other known as Balvraid, I don’t think this one is marked on Landranger maps.

I find it nice to hear that the discoverer, back in 1882, who found it in a pile of clearance stones, valued it to such an extent that they refused permission for it to be carted off to a museum.

It is described as “A flat stone slab 3’9” x 2’9” bearing 30 distinct cup-marks ”

Marked on Explorer maps, but not on Landranger maps, RCAHMS says that this is “A prostrate stone, over 6’ long” and that it is “covered with cup-markings”. It was in mint condition in 1882, but was more recently said to bear only faint cups. No indication of how many.

Unfortunately, This lad didn’t get to check it out. I’d like to visit again, but it’s unlikely, as this place really is the back of beyond. That’s a big part of why it’s such a nice spot I guess.

According to RCAHMS, this diminutive stone is in an old churchyard. I didn’t notice any sign of a church, possibly the traces are buried in the undergrowth, but it’s interesting to see a church with a standing stone and a cairn. Nice inference of continuity.

There seem to be at least 5 sites according to RCAHMS. Maarten van Hoek reported that the one shown in the Beckensall drawing (Bal craig 1?) is now completely covered over, he says the same of another panel which I think is Balcraig 2.

But RCAHMS lists Balcraig 3 at NX 3759 4429 and Balcraig 4 at NX 3754 4440 as still being uncovered. Another unnumbered is listed as simply Balcraig, at NX 3774 4440.

8 figure grid ref: NX 5285 5738

RCAHMS says:

“This cup and-ring marked rock is situated on a gentle slope on the SE flank of Cambret Moor to the W of a field-system (NX55NW 26). The smooth, slightly sloping, upper face of the rock bears a faint cup-and-ring, around which there is a spiral which completes six circuits of the cup and-ring, measuring 650mm across. A channel runs out from the cup through the ring and spiral. Also on the rock, there is a cup and three rings, measuring 250mm across, and what may be two large pock-marks near the edge of the slab.”

RCAHMS say:

“A stone circle of 9 almost evenly spaced monoliths (maximum height 1.2m) with an overall diameter of 7.8m. A quantity of small stones lies upon the site, but these appear to be the result of field clearance. The site lies within a cultivated field. There are no traces of an outer circle.”

According to RCAHMS:

“Clachmhor is a large triangular erratic block, situated in a pasture field to the NE of Culnakirk farmsteading. Its upper surface bears at least ninety weathered plain cupmarks, some conjoined in pairs, and measuring up to 90mm by 30mm. A ring of upcast material around the stone probably indicates a relatively recent attempt to move it.”

The following from Canmore:

“Guisachan, standing stone. In the parkland some 75m SW [NW] of the ruins of Guisachan House (NH22NE 7.00) is what appears to be a standing stone. The boulder is 1.7m wide at the base, 0.8m thick and 1.3m high, with a rounded ‘pointed’ top. There are 4 cup marks towards the base of the stone, in the centre of its NE face.”

Duncan and Harden, J and G (1987 a)
‘Guisachan, (Kiltarlity and Convinth parish) standing stone’,
Discovery Excav Scot, 1987, 25

One source says: “This elongated, pear-shaped mound of stones is the best preserved cairn in Southern Scotland, due probably to its remote location. It lies in the Newcastleton Forest in a clearing next to a forestry track, some distance from any public road.

The cairn measures about 52m in length and at its widest part is 13.5m across. Stone slab chests which served as tombs are buried at various points within it, their locations indicated by upright slabs protruding from the mound.

The site was investigated in the C19th, but there is no published evidence of any result of the enquiry”

But according to RCAHMS,:
“An account of an investigation in 1870, after there had been a considerable disturbance of the cairn, mentions “several stone coffins of various sizes standing exposed”. When these were examined nothing was found except a little charcoal in one of them (J Brydon 1872). ”

NMRS Number: NY58NW 6

“The cairn is aligned WNW-ESE and includes a partly scrub covered mound of stones up to 2m high and measuring 45m along its long axis by a maximum of 22.5m wide. It is wedge shaped in plan with the wider end to the east, where there is a hollow thought to be the site of a collapsed megalithic chamber. Two indentations about halfway along the cairn’s long sides are thought to represent the position of two further megalithic chambers.”

From’t RSM

Directly rieved from the RSM:

“The monument, which falls into six separate areas of protection, includes the earthworks and buried remains of Mickleden Beck prehistoric cairnfield, an associated field system, a funerary cairn and a medieval dispersed settlement. It is located on unenclosed land along the valley
floor either side of Mickleden Beck and is centred 840m south west of Pike of Stickle. The monument represents evidence for the prehistoric and medieval exploitation of this landscape.

The prehistoric cairnfield consists of four groups of round and oval-shaped clearance cairns, two on the north bank of Mickleden Beck, two on the south bank. The group centred at NY27180645 consists of over 30 cairns up to 0.7m high; the round cairns measure between 1.9m to 5.4m in diameter while the oval-shaped cairns measure between 1.8m to 19m long by 1.8m to 6.9m wide. Within this group of cairns there is part of an associated field system comprising discontinuous and generally irregular stone banks and elongated cairns following the alignment of the valley. A cross-valley stone bank has a greater width and stone volume than the valley-aligned bank. The cairn group centred at NY27060624 consists of over 20 cairns up to 0.6m high; the round cairns measure between 3m to 5.4m in diameter while the oval-shaped cairns measure between 2.3m to 11m long by 1.8m to 6.6m wide. There are two alignments of elongated cairns suggesting that these may have been constructed along the lines of former boundaries. At the eastern end of this group of cairns there is a short length of stone bank. The cairn group centred at NY26800676 consists of over 30 cairns up to 0.6m high; the round cairns measure between 2m to 8m in diameter while the oval-shaped cairns measure between 1.9m to 14m long by 1.8m to 6m wide. Within this group of cairns there are further traces of the associated field system, the most significant element being a cross-valley wall and a series of stone banks meandering along the valley.

As with the previously described cross-valley wall this one is also much more substantially built than the valley-aligned banks. Pollen samples taken from beneath both of the cross-valley walls suggest a pre-medieval date. The stone banks include cairns within their overall alignments and their form is more consistent with stone clearance which may have been deposited against former boundary markers. They appear to define two irregular and discontinuous lines along the valley.

The cairn group centred at NY26320689 consists of seven cairns up to 0.7m high; the round cairns measure between 2.7m to 3.5m in diamater while the oval-shaped cairns measure between 3.3m to 5m long by 2.5m to 4m wide. There is a small semi-circular stone bank just to the north of the cairns. To the south east of this cairn group there is a field consisting of a gently-sloping area of cleared pasture bounded by streams on three sides and a continuous decayed stone wall on the remaining side. This wall effectively acts as the fourth side of an enclosing quadrilateral as it links two parallel streams. There are two entrances through the wall, one at the north end the other near the centre. This enclosed land is largely clear of surface stone, is well-drained, and is relatively good quality pasture land.

Within the field there is a single oval-shaped cairn which is interpreted as a funerary cairn. It consists of a small circle of approximately 20 stones which define an external kerb surrounding a slightly raised scatter of smaller stones. It measures 4m by 3m and is 0.25m high with a slight surface depression possibly indicative of disturbance. The form of this cairn corresponds with the Kerb Cairn monument type, and excavated Scottish examples are typically dated to the later Bronze Age. At NY26200733 there are the remains of a rectangular stock enclosure bounded by a series of stone banks and cairns. There is a small circular stone-free shelter built into the enclosure’s south west wall.”

A bit of an iffy one this, as the jury is still out regarding the existance of any chambered cairns in the Cheviots, but a double row of parallel upright stones described in Northumberland County History (Vol. XV, p.38) and located at NT76410347, currently in plantation, has been interpeted as the remains of a chambered long cairn.

An obscure reference to an outer circle at Duddo. It isn’t clear if the author is talking about an outer circle of stones, or a bank. Given the profusion of henges in the area, probably the latter. The barrow to the north is a new one to me too.

Canon Raine in his massive volume 1852 on North Durham (very north indeed!) writes:

On an eminence in the middle of a field a mile north west of Duddo stands a time and weather worn memorial of the Druidical period. The temple or whatever it may have been, has been of the usual circular shape, surrounding at intervals a plot of 36 feet in diameter. Four stones alone are standing, the tallest of which measures 6 feet9 inches in height, by 13 feet in girth: a fifth is extended upon the ground, In a broken state, the rest have been removed. The remains of an outer circle were a while ago discovered at the usual distance*. The situation of this hillock is of a peculiar nature; it rises as it were, in the middle of a large natural basin two miles in diameter and might have been seen at one and the same time by thousands upon thousands of assembled devotees. A small barrow at the foot of the hill on the north side, much levelled by the plough, has I believe never been opened.

*My emphasis

The tumulus next to the path by the terraces was excavated in 1925 when charcoal and wood was found. Supposedly the stones on top were once the kerb, and traces of the ditch are still evident. It was decided the barrow was of Bronze age date. It used to be known locally as ‘The Kings Seat’.

Info courtesy of English Heritage, via magicmap:

“The remains of a long cairn of Neolithic date situated on the south west slope of Castle Hill commanding extensive views southwards.
The long cairn, orientated NNE to SSW, measures a maximum of 60m long and 14m wide and stands to a maximum height of 2m. It has been constructed of rounded boulders and some stone slabs with smaller stones around the edge.”

8digit grid ref: NT 4701 0624
Info courtesy of RCAHMS
“This stone circle is situated on a natural shelf at a height of 950 ft, near the summit of Burgh Hill. Sub-oval on plan, it measures 54 ft from NE to SW by 44 ft transversely and comprises twenty-five stones, thirteen of which are erect while the remainder are recumbent. They are all comparatively small slabs (ranging in height from a few inches to 2 ft 8 ins) and most of them have a broad face aligned on the perimeter of the setting.”

“Only one of the recumbent stones, on the SW side, is appreciably larger in size, measuring 5 ft in length by 2 ft 3 ins in width. It is recorded that the circle “has been well explored, but yielded nothing of a sepulchral nature.”

“An egg-shaped ring of many stones. It has been ruined but alone among its little stones a 1.5m pillar remains, fallen, at the SW (238) opposite a 1.1m long, low, thin slab in appearance like a Cork recumbent stone. This ‘recumbent’ and the prostrate pillar are on the main axis of the site.”

Canmore says:

“Measures 20.1 by 18.9m Seven of a probable 12 original stones set in a circle 60 ft. in diameter remain. Four are still (1963) in situ, none protruding more than 2 ft above ground”

It’s still marked on the map, so presumably it’s still there.

At NU04700418 is Cartington (b), a slab which according to Beckensall’s description, has many cups and rings, but very faint. Including some possible picks marks waiting to be joined into a groove.

Examination of the records shows some confusion regarding the Poind. Some seem to refer to it as the mound, others seem to use the term in ref to the surviving stone.

It’s reasonably clear that at some point there were at least two stones here, one of which appears to have been taken to the grounds of nearby Wallington Hall. Speculators have even suggested that there was once a circle at Shaftoe crags, and that the Stone here, the one at Wallington, the Middleton stone and another as yet re-discovered stone near Salter’s nick, may have all been taken from this postulated circle.

The cup-marked outcrop is marked as ‘Hunter’s stone’ on the 1866 map.

The following cribbed from English Heritage via Magic Map:

“Bowl barrow situated 350m NE of Dewley Farm near Throckley.
On a small rise above Dewley Burn, Circular in plan, dome shaped in section. 6m high, 40m diameter with associated cropmarks. Neolithic stone axe found at the site.”

This is backed up by local affirmation that ‘it’s always been a burial mound’, and farmers having found flint artefacts in the vicinity.
Despite this apparent provenance, there are some academic references which seem to imply doubt, arguing that this is a natural feature of the landscape. It seems a bit unlikely to my uneducated eye, as there are no other hillocks like this. None so round, nor any with the neolithic artefacts placed so that aximum visibility is from a nearby spring. It’s a burial mound. Surely.

A neolithic long cairn has recently been identified a few hundred metres to the south of the hillfort. This cairn may have played a role in the decision to place the stones of the nearby Five Kings alignment in their position overlooking Hareheugh hill.

A mesolithic rock shelter has been found in one of the overhangs on Shaftore Crags, to the NW of the IA/BA settlement.

This fits a vague pattern for this area, usually there is associated rock art, which in this case there is, at Hallion’s rock. I’ve a gut feeling that there would have been a lot more rock art on the crags before they were quarried in the late 18th century. There are a few recorded ‘portables’ in nearby farms, though perhaps these were once part of the crags. The stone quarried from the crags was used to build almost all of the farms and walls on the Shaftoe estate.

8Digit ref: NT 5576 5231
Info from RCAHMS:

“The setting of these stones is an example of Thom’s Type II egg-shape, though the ten surviving upright stones are inconspicious, some barely showing above the heather. Many more fallen ones are visible and some buried examples were located by probing. Most of the stones lie on a true circle 41.5m in diameter. The west segment is formed of an arc of a circle 25.6m in the diameter, the circumference of which passes through the centre of the main circle. The perimeter is completed by straight lines which join the arcs of the two circles.”

“A plain circle 41.5 by 36.6m on WNW-ESE axis. Of its low stones, none more than 0.6m high, one lies exactly at the N, 3.1m inside the circumference, like an inlier at Cairnpapple. Thirty-seven metres NW, two stones may mark an alignment on Capella.”

“Situated on level, though boggy ground in an otherwise undulating area, this egg-shaped circle is generally described except that its overall stone-centre dimensions are 48.0m WNW-ESE by 41.0m transversely. Of thirty stones found, five by probing, fourteen appear in-situ uprights up to 0.5m high, and the remainder are recumbent. The SE arc crosses an overgrown and boggy area where further stones are probably buried. The alleged inlier on the N side is an inconspicuous flat stone, and no significant stones were noted to the NW of the circle.”

According to RCAHMS:

“This peat-covered stone circle is situated in the saddle between Cambret Hill and Cairnharrow, and it lies immediately to the SSE of a large round cairn (NX55NW 22). Nine stones survive on the N and W arcs of the circle but only two others are visible on the remainder of the circumference; together, they define a circle about 25m in diameter. The largest surviving stone, which lies on the WSW, stands to a height of 1.2m and measures 0.8m by 0.2m at the base. The stones are all thin slabs, with their broad faces aligned on the circumference of the circle.
What may be an outlier to the circle lies some 100m to the NNE (NX 5298 5723); it comprises a flat slab protruding from the peat with its long axis orientated towards the centre of the circle”

The following dredged out of RCAHMS:

“This stone circle consists of four large conglomerate boulders, varying from 2’-4’ in height, and a fifth broken off at ground level, arranged on the circumference of a circle 10’ in internal diameter. A sixth stone, 5’ E of the truncated one, has probably been broken off the latter and moved to its present position in recent times. A thin sandstone slab protruding through the turf outside the NE arc of the circle is not earthfast, and is unlikely to have formed part of the monument. No comparable monument exists in Peeblesshire, but one near Penmaenmawr, Caernarvonshire, dateable to the Middle Bronze Age, is strikingly similar.”
(Information from R W Feachem notebook 1955-7, i, 68)