Hob

In medieval times, the black magician the Evil Lord De Soulis was said to have drilled holes in the shoulder blades of local peasants to assist in the moving of the stones needed to build nearby Hermitage castle. He also kidnapped and imprisoned their children. Robert the Bruce supposedly captured De soulis and the Locals took him to the stone circle to be dispatched. In a vat of molten lead if the tale is true. His ghost, and that of the curiously named Robin Redcap may still occasionally be seen

People have said that there may have once been other monuments and/or settlements in the vicinity:

“On a careful examination of the ground we found that a great extent around the circle (Nine Stones on Nine-stone Rig 35 SW 2) appeared to have been occupied and to the south a number of the same kind of circles had existed but were now entirely destroyed. The hollow in the centre of each circle is still to be seen and the appearance of the herbage and the marks in the earth around clearly indicate the position of the upright stones”.
A Jeffrey 1855

On the top of Nine Stone Rig there is a whole street of circular pits running directly from the stone circle. They are planted at regular distances, and fairly close together, and they gauge from 8 to 10 feet deep, with rather more of diameter. They have in most instances a gently sloping side, in some more marked than others, and runs in a kind of curve towards the north. These, or some of them, may have been originally natural subsidences, although their number, regularity and uniformity of size are against that idea. All the suggestions are that these formed the shelters of the men who set up the Circle and heaped up the barrow... The ground is dry and lying as the pits do, just a little over the edge of the Rig, there would be no danger of flooding”.
J Snadden 1923

But then, more recent accounts dismiss this idea:

“No archaeological significance could be attributed to these ‘pits’ which lie a few metres NNE of the stone circle. They appear to be simply caused by natural subsidences in the mossy ground.”
Visited by OS (JLD) 28 September 1960

Pehaps even more dubious is the report of a possible long barrow (unusual in this area):
“On the western slope (of Ninestone Rig, NY 51 97) and towards the Roughley Burn, I found a long barrow, or earthen burial mound. It is oblong in shape, and the lines of the mound are composed of earth and small stones so firmly compacted together that they cannot be pierced by a spade. The earth has been dug and thrown up from the inside, which leaves the space between the lines hollow. There is a line of mound at each end which meets the main lines at right angles. The length over all is between 80 and 100 yards. The breadth of the base may be eight to nine feet. The barrow is intersected in the centre by a fifth line of mound, which meets the main lines at right angles. The most probable explanation of this is that the barrow was originally square, and was afterwards elongated. Lying on the inside slope of the mound is a stone about three feet in length, in which a deep hole has been cut six to nine inches square. In its place it looks as if it had served some sepulchral purpose”.
J Snadden 1923

Later visitors relate:

“This feature was not located during an extensive perambulation of the area around the stone circle. From the description it is doubtful if this is of any archaeological significance. ”
Visited by OS (JLD) 28 September 1960

Apparently this is a 1m tall wedge, 60cm at its back end, 10cm at the narrow end of the wedge. Aligned NW/SE, pointy end to the SE. Top surface with much weather induced pitting.

In the back end of the 19th century, there were still five stones. The fifth was taken away for gatepost duties. At about the same time, Mr David Dippie Dixon, a local antiquarian, made a sketch which has since been reproduced as a lithograph.

Six upright stones, allegedly part of a cairn, according to the ‘keys to the past’ website, which says this information is from unpublished references.

What the RSM describes as ‘Limited antiquarian investigation’ found a full circle of ten boulders. On the inner side of four of these was found a total of ten urns, many containing cremated bone. The centre of the stone cairn within the circle was found to show traces of a funeral pyre.

According to the RSM, the smaller southern stone was re-erected in 1977, when a small, plough damaged cairn was found immediately to the east of the stones. In the central area of the cairn there was found a large amount of burnt bone, interpreted as the remains of several humans.

“This is a very fine court cairn, not restored as Cloghanmore is, and therefore difficult to reconstruct its original shape. It had a central court now cut across by a track and a stone wall. The main galleries set to the east and west of the court are two-chambered. These were originally roofed and covered in a cairn of stones. Three subsidiary chambers set around the court can be clearly discerned; a fourth is indicated by some large stones set in the north-western corner of the court where the structure has been largely removed by the track and is tday covered by a stone wall. Two ancient stone walls running to a nearby rock outcrop can be distinguished on the north side.”

From ‘Glencolumbkille, A guide to 5000 years of history in stone’, by Michael Herity.

Coflein (thanks Kammer for bringing Coflein’s existance to my attention) says:

Small hillfort on rounded hillock, two lines of defence circle the hillock, the outer consists of an earthen bank and an external ditch. The inner defence is a heavily robbed stone wall, between 4 and 5 metres wide. The entrance ramp cuts both defences on the SE.

No mention of the strange, big, white and distinctly out-of-place stone. Nor of the chevaux-de-frise (sp?) on the NE entrance.

Triangular Long Cairn.

Unusual for the North Cheviots.
Aligned NNW by SSE. 24m long, 14m wide, 1.5m high.

From the EH register, courtesy of MAgiC:

‘The circle consistes of six boulders in an arc which, with two other boulders further west, forms an oval 10.5m by 7m. About 9m to the northeast, is the outlying stone which appears to be associated with the oval, and is considered to be part of the stone circle. The stones forming the oval range in size from 0.5m by 0.3m by 0.3m to 1.5m by 1m by 0.5m and 1.2m by 0.5m by0.8m. The outlying stone measures 1.5m by 0.6m by 0.6m‘

It’s also only metres away from the B6276.

‘Five free standing stone slabs, marking 2 thirds of the circumference of an elipse. The stones are between 0.55m and 0.4m high. Partially obscured by heather, it has a diameter of 16.5m‘

Info courtesy of MAgiCmap and English Heritage.

Cup and groove marked stone, currently re-incarnated as a gatepost.
This may have been quarried from a ridge to the north. 17definite cups, 3 possible. ” cups are joined by a short groove. This part of Northumberland is replete with gateposts that suggest re-use of megalithic remains, and Hexhamshire is lacking any other confirmed reports of rock art*. This one managed to get reported in ‘Archaeology in Northumberland, 1992-3‘

*Hexhamshire is starting to grudgingly reveal the occasional cup mark here and there, mostly in the area to the west of High Shaws, south of the Stublick faultline

I’m not posting this as fieldnotes as I didn’t actually get to the top. However, the Hownam Law merits a mention, not as much because of the IA fort, as because of the striking nature of the hill upon which the fort sits.
When approached from the north, it looks quite unremarkable, yet when approached from the south, it looks totally forbidding and conspicuous. The aspect it presents from The Shearers stone row suggests it may have been significant in the decision to place The Shearers where they are.
From a distance, no earthworks can be seen, but a stone wall is clearly visible, running the entir breadth of the southern side. If there are earthworks surrounding the plateau on the summit, they must be some of the most extensive in the borders. But it would make a darn good fort, even without earthworks, the scarps around the summit would have made it an easily defensible place.
The Kale valley has some very clear cultivation terraces, and those at the foot of Hownam Law are the clearest, and most extensive. Some of which look like they are starting to erode.

The EH RSM report states that the stones are still in their original positions, based on the presence of the packing stones at their bases. The damage to the circle took place in the medieval period when the field was farmed. Presumably this didn’t last long, as the start of the border reiver period would have made this prime raiding territory, and arable farming would not have been easy when your neighbours keep stealing all your crops.

The EH report also says that the south circle has a diameter of 61m by 42.7 m, with an average interval of 16-20m between the stones, if those detected by sub-surface probes are included, though it doesn’t actually say how many are underground in the south circle. It goes on to say that the north circle is 60m by 45m, and 6 buried stones have been detected.

28 stones, in an east-west alignment.
Known locally as the eleven shearers, possibly because not all of the stones are high enough to be visible.
RACHMS alleges it may be simply the remains of a field boundary.

Lyne Farm to the south of the hill is in the middle of a medium sized roman camp, and in a burn nearby Iron Age burials of an early christian nature were found. It’s also a decent place to stay self-catering if you want to spend a few days exploring the the upper end of the Tweed.

Just to the west, down the hill from the three brothers and the fort, are the caves known as the dog holes. I couldn’t find these, but subsequently found that evidence of burial, possibly
romano-british was excavated here.

MAGIC reckons it’s early medieval.
magic.gov.uk/rsm/29302.pdf

Go late in the afternoon and see if the black and white sheep dog greets you and gives you the guided tour. It was very obliging when I was there with the family and went out of it’s way to point out the fogou, before retiring to a discreet distance, all the while keeping an eye out to make sure we didn’t cause trouble, then escorted us back to the car park.