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I wouldn’t plan a trip around a visit to Beanley plantation but it’s well worth seeing if you’re coming to see The Ringses or any of the other sites close by.

The site itself is unmistakable on Google Earth as a circular area in the planation has been left clear to preserve the site.

To access the site from Eglingham, take the road West towards Beanley, passing The Ringses site on the left as you climb the hill. Turn left at the first junction and you will quickly see a gate to a field with ample space for parking on the left hand side. Enter through the gate and follow the wide farm track up the slope to the South East. As you climb up the track there is a large ditch and very prominent rock outcrop on the right. OS maps show a footpath leaving this track on the right near this point, passing to the west of the site, but I couldn’t see any sign of this on the ground. Visited in late July, any area not covered with trees was thick with waist high ferns, so a path could be there, I just couldn’t see it. Instead, follow the farm track up the hill, turning right and coming to a junction on the left. The easiest way into the site is to head West-South-West from this junction for about 100m, through thick pine forrest with some undergrowth (fairly flat and dry but not the easiest going) till you see the clearing ahead.

Before leaving the plantation you will encounter the first ring ditch, very clear on the ground but hard to photograph under the canopy of trees. A few more steps and you come into the clearing. Different from all the iron age hill forts/defended settlements I’ve visited so far this site has no dramatic views over open country-side. The sense of enclosure however is dramatic on a still day and has a strong effect on the atmosphere of the site. Just standing and listening to the wind through the trees and distant bird-song has quite an effect. The clearing itself is about 55m across, but given the inner ditches the habitable area is probably less than this.

Unfortunately when I visited, the whole site was covered in waist to shoulder high ferns so any detailed survey of the inner ditches wasn’t possible. A quick trip into part of the centre showed there was at least one large ring ditch inside the outer, wooded ditch. It’s quite easy to follow the ditches round the whole site but be careful if following the outer ditch in the plantation as it’s very easy to lose your bearings (as I did). I’m planning to visit the site again in winter to get a better idea of any central structures.

The outer ditches feel defensive in nature and the site is on the highest ground around, sitting above The Ringses. The North and West of the site is very steeply sloped and would offer good defense but the East and South is quite flat, so the “fort” nature of the site would be hard to justify. That being said it’s obviously a much more defensive position than others close by.

Archaeologia Aeliana 1822 mentions the site and the impressive nature of the access road. With that in mind I retraced my steps looking for more features.

The rock outcrop passed on the way into the site is well worth a few minutes as you head back. The ditch between the track and the outcrop is very deep and errosion has exposed what look like hand laid stones, forming an impressive entrance of some kind? The ditch certainly looks far to big to be there just for drainage. I could see no evidence of rock art on the outcrop itself, but the sides facing West and North have very impressive holes on their sides. Quite possible these at naturally formed, I don’t know enough to say but they certainly catch the eye.

There is a Cist nearby in the plantation but I was unable to locate it on my first visit.

Other items of interest very close by are:

1) An large circular enclosure (45m across), 170m north of the access road and 130m east of the main road – not visited yet but clearly visible on google earth.

2) Cup and ring stones, all removed unfortunately (Alnwick Castle Museum), references N3151, N3163 & N4368 on Keys to the Past.

Keys to the past has more info on this site at:

keystothepast.info/durhamcc/K2P.nsf/K2PDetail?readform&PRN=N3391

Visited on a still, sunny day this site was a real pleasure. Being in a low land setting it lacks the scenic views of the grander sites in Northumberland but is still well worth a visit.

Access is relatively easy, park at the cross roads west of Doxford Hall and walk west to reach the public right of way going South from the lane. The official access point is through the garden of the cottage but the owner has put up signs warning of large dogs. I didn’t see any but decided that I’d re-route rather than take the chance. Walk about 50m up the lane and there is a break in the hedge with a low wire fence (no barbed wire on top) that provides easy access. Head roughly south across the first field to the fence ahead. Follow the boundary of the field ahead (stay on the right of the fence) passing the site on your left. At the end of the field there is a gate on the left providing easy access to the south end of the site. The site is used for grazing sheep so best avoided during lambing.

The site looks like a defended settlement rather than a “fort” of any kind. The defensive banks are strong on the stream sides but far weaker on the remaining sides. A naturally raised location close to running water and good farmland being the obvious features of the site.

The main raised area to the south and is a rough ellipse of 75m by 50m with a central raised area within (planted with trees and easy to see on Google Earth). The ground in the main raised area is flat but very uneven and there could be a number of features buried here.

To the north east and separated by a ditch is a smaller (and slightly lower) raised platform (again with trees at the highest point). This smaller platform is very interesting. It’s not obvious from the ground but looking at images from Google Earth, and in particular Microsoft VE this looks like part of a ramped entry from the north east, with a long sloping ramp leading to the smaller platform and then the ditch before accessing the main platform.

The whole site appears to have had some later ridge and furrow ploughing over the flatter areas but there are terraces on the east side that could be original.

The nearby lake is a Victorian garden landscape addition and doesn’t appear on maps earlier than 1900. Looking at earlier maps the construction of the lake could have removed some of the first parts of the ramp in the far north east.

The site could well be linked to others by the stream that passes to the south of the site. Dunstan Hill is the first obvious raised area before the stream joins Brunton Burn and meets the North Sea about 4 miles away. There is another settlement on raised ground 1.5m upstream near North Charlton and around 2.5 downstream there is crop mark evidence of ring ditches on Embleton Moor near Brunton.