I’m still open to it being weathering though the more I find the less likely it seems.  Location in the landscape and how  ‘my stuff’   is located on the specific rocks steers me away from weathering as an explanation.  The dimensional repeatability of these various features again points to not mere weathering, ie the gaps between the ribs, the thickness of the ribs themselves, roundedness of features, uniformity of depth and always on the uppermost point.  It seems just as with cup and ring to be confined specifically to the Fell Sandstone. A big arguament is how all the ‘biggies’ in Northumberland ie Lordenshaws main rock, Routin Linn and Old Bewick main rock all have ‘my stuff’ on the uppermost point with cup and ring seeming subsiduary, sliding away from it.  There is a remarkable similarity in this on the three big main rocks just mentioned. I’m at the stage now where my success rate at guessing which ones have my stuff from a distance is remarkably good when rambling about in a new location. There are several distinct types, heres some and in no particular order……

a) Some of the first I encountered were small set on end sculpted stones as on Weetwood/Whitsunbank with fbh and vdf, very smooth and rounded. As of 1st Dec 2009 I call these ‘worship stones’, subject to modification later as experience dictates. Perhaps  cremated remains were plastered in the grooves producing in time the unusually smoothed and rounded form. Each one also includes a sinuous slot as at Weetwood rocks 6,7,8 and 10. I now think (July 2011) that when field clearance was performed the operatives had an inkling these were something, hence their being left in place, notice theres nothing of this rounded and distinctive nature in the piles of field clearance.

b) Large / huge forward ‘guard stones’ and associated with crags with fbh and vdf in a very repeated ‘set’ layout also sometimes with deep cut gulleys as per Caller fwd guard stone (also as per Duddo stone circle).  Read on for terminology. Always with the fbh  and my features on the uppermost point, some locations have  the basins incredibly flat and horizontal as per Weetwood and some have rounded part hemispherical sunk depressions as per R Linn which we would more likely term cups or ‘wavy cups’. The stretch of Cuddys Cave, Cockenheugh and Colourheugh also all have the more unusual spine and rib on the fwd guard stones.

c) The relevance of standing stones such as Duddo stone circle, fwd guard stone Caller, Matfen, Titlington Mount  and others (Devils Arrows, Boroughbridge, Amerside Law north, etc etc ) as totally man made art, incorporating cups, fbh and vdf and importantly the (until now ignored) larger precisely parallel and deep vertical incisions / fluted grooves ie ‘deep cut gulleys’ …. a closely repeated feature on stones spread over many miles (see # below) . As of 1st Dec 2009 I call the Duddo type deep and very straight vertical incisions  ’deep cut gulleys’  to denote them as different from the more rounded section smaller and shorter vdf  that is often at top of crags and at a) above. I have to develop a language/ nomenclature  for these features otherwise we cannot talk about them.

d) Clusters of larger rounded cups (sometimes ‘wavy cups’ as per R Linn) always on the tops of important rocks such as  Roughtinlinn, Old Bewick main rock,  (Caller fwd guard stone?)  and Caller portable rock and other locations such as Cuddys Cave guard stones and along Cockenheugh. It must be realised that here at d) I am talking specifically of  wavy cups (joined in clusters) and that flat bottomed hollows as per Weetwood are at a) and  single or several cups are at g).

e) There are sinuous deep and round edged grooves as per Weetwood worship stones 6,7, 8, 10 and in other locations (Beanley Plantation hillfort has a ‘double’ of Weetwood7) that are not classifiable as vdf (vertical drainage fissures) as the latter are generally straight say six to twelve inches long and not classifiable as the much more profound deep cut gulleys.  So we call these  ’sinuous slots’.  Looks like Lordenshaws cairn has one, tho only seen a photo so far.

f) Spine and rib on upper surface as per Dancing Green Hill, Cuddys Cave, Colourheugh, Cockenheugh, Dod Law etc. Tends to be more localised.

g) Single or low number cups, some of these are generally recognised already, but may be new for two cups on a prominent rock at Routinlinn (I only realised was there recently)  some at crags near to Poind and his Man, Cuddys, rock shelter Cockenheugh, etc etc. Be careful not to confuse part hemispherical cups or flat bottomed hollows with wavy cups.

h)….. 26th June 2011 and I’m adding a new category … There is now I’m realising such a thing as a (I assume) placed block on an upper rock surface, most importantly prominent when viewed from below or interpreted as a commanding viewpoint which is what a level top surface of  a rock outcrop is already.  So far I have found this four times and each time it is baffling how such a rock got to be in that position in the first place if by natural means. All are within a mile and a half  ie Wolf Hole, Caller Crags (which is widely known alreadybut imperfectly realise as to how much it has ‘my stuff’) ) Coe Crag Woods and upper Millstone Burn. All have my stuff on them facing out to the lower wide open space.

For a general good convincing arguament that ‘my stuff’ could well be man made and of archaeological value look at my prev pics for rock 7,8 and 10 Weetwood.

Diversion …….. very occasionally some rocks I find are weathered ‘jagged’ and I discard these ie my early numbering of 1,2,3 and 11 at Weetwood is fluid and open to change, perhaps a softer stone weathers to this or perhaps a favourite bird perch with the ensuing corrosion; update …. at May 2011 I have found a new group of three at Weetwood (one is particularly very convincing)  yet all the rocks I feel that are ‘genuine to my type’ are so very rounded and distinctive as if worked smooth and to a very predictable form. Its this rounded smooth form that got me hooked in the first place, as did the repeatability of dimensions as and when these are encountered across the landscape. Perhaps these were worked with a stone hammer and/or ground and abraded. I did have a fancy the cup and rings are a smaller more convenient version for places that don’t have the crag or huge pyramidal forward guard stone or suitable field lying blocks to create the usual setup, its all belief system, yet presently feel there is a distinct difference in both meaning and use and possibly chronology.   

At Sept 2010 I now feel worship stones and ‘my stuff’ in general are visible graves ie plastered cremated remains and c&r are a fertility or good luck or ward off evil motif i suppose a hoping for the recurrence of good seasons of hunting perhaps tied in with the earliest raising of crops and keeping harmful pernicious influences at bay. The latter particularly with primitive seed strains would make fear of a poor harvest or fodder supply very real indeed. Possibly (or more likely) these are stones with a purpose, not just art, both my stuff and cup and ring and the purpose to them would include magic.  Yet to my eyes and interest in abstraction they ‘press all my buttons’ as gorgeous objects and if  ’my stuff’  is only weathering (which I greatly doubt) it can often be very beautiful. With cup and ring I had been thinking perhaps of a diagram of the Suns movement (half cover the c &r to see this) as an explanation of rings, yet this is looking increasingly simplistic and doesn’t feel a ‘right’ explanation; perhaps nothing will ever seem a ‘right’ explanation.    My imagination is the only tool I have got, yet we are certainly exercising all the intelectual rigour we can muster.  

Rocks to ancient man were the bones of the earth exposed at its surface and we can possibly suppose the quickest route in for offerings and sacrifice as well as the only durable material he had. At 6 or 8k years ago there was an incredibly developed craft knowledge of stone and its properties, witness the exact pursuit of Langdale material.  To my mind (as a highly developed craftsman) cup and rings are a much more refined and complicated carving than we at first realise and with great subtleties, variations or developments occuring which are hard to explain but also a rigidity of execution that they seemed to adhere to strongly.  The rings are kept short of connecting to the central stalk/groove which seems vital to the maker and all areas are incredibly well controlled in depth. Some have very accurate shallower areas at the stalk as per Weetwood main panel. On curved non flat rock the character changes,  as typified at Kettley Crags and the type is typical of all curved undulating rock c and r motifs, the remaining raised annular bands appear to be the objective and are as ‘full’ as could be achieved, as if representing curved sausages (or rope)! This curved sausage motif is not easy to produce, the minds eye as any woodcarver or stone mason knows must leave on the maximum material and carve around the shape in space to get the desired result. Note the possibly unique raised form at the south eastern side of the Weetwood group for this effect. Did one person produce the whole lot, were they from a small band of followers or shamen, how magic orientated are they? Was it a quick burst over a single lifetime or over many decades?  Did people come in from outside as newcomers or was it trusted men that learnt of it elsewhere?

Again, there is a great deal of hand control needed to keep producing these motifs across the landscape.  Modern man would find that variation creeps in if he were to carve / hammer the same motifs, yet these people seemed to have strong reasons to adhere to a certain depth,  cross sectional size of profile and overall plan. We can see the chipping or abrading still 4k years later. I know of a rock sheleter where this is particularly evident among a so very worn smooth shelter floor. Did they roam across the landcape finding likely sites with special properties or connected to human activity and set up these ‘charged’ places. I wonder for how many years and generations these carvings were being produced and likewise continued to be of relevance,  I also wonder what scientific analysis would produce at the base of the worship rocks I am discovering  if cremated remains had been dribbling down.  

I fight shy of using only the term art, perhaps that is more apt for cup and ring but for ‘my stuff’ these perhaps are rocks with a purpose. I don’t think barren Cheviot has any relevance, its possibly the Sun (or magic or warding off evil) for cup and ring and at 2011 I have yet to get on top of Simonside. My stuff often roughly faces sunset, though the Fell Sandstone location and its position could lead to this arrangement anyway. Perhaps exploiting the Fell Sandstone as the band of upland commanding prospect was an ideal way to cast magic over the lower hunting grounds as per cup and ring or perhaps the home of the dominant bloodline. And the higher fell ground would perhaps fit in as a good place to call home, away from flooded bog. Yet my stuff is always on the highest point of a block ie Redheugh Crag (Edlingham) and the three ‘biggies’ and everything over Quarryhouse and Bewick moor. Also, ‘my stuff’ tends to be blocks that can be seen from around about, wheras c &r is more a flat or horizontal thing; perhaps the cremated remains formed an effigy, a reminder of the deceased, a monolithic monument to the deceased ie gravestone!  Its this highest point thing that so many times makes me think that it is hard to discount this as only weathering.  at a broader view the exposed Fell Sandstone is generally on the skyline as viewed from around about, which in itself is strategically higher ground from your enemies and a good observation point onto the hunting grounds or more waterlogged land. Thank goodness for the remote upland connection, it has saved them……. end of diversion.

Part  of the point of this blog is to increase the perceived value of this valuable Northumbrian landscape and minimise potential disturbance and ‘improvements’ by farmers, ie stone clearance, forestry or with wind farms, to try and leave undisturbed the remaining tiny parcels of land such as Weetwood and Dod Law in an otherwise very altered landscape. [And at Sept 2010 dreaded wind turbines on Weetwood/ Whitsunbank].  I suggest looking at Weetwood and Dod Law from Bowden Doors and seeing how precious they are, little islands among a sea of intensive agriculture.

….. 10th Dec 2009 … theres more thick and fast to follow ….. Old Bewick main rock has my stuff at the uppermost point as per Routinlinn and Lordenshaws main rocks.  Blawearie and area is plastered with ‘em, vdf,  fbh, dcg, some spectacular ones. All following a pattern and I can often guess which ones are worthwhile before even getting to them.  This is all yet to be written up as at this point I decided to keep it all under wraps, now its third week Sept 2010 and seeing the data collecting mast for windspeed / flow on Whitsunbank has pushed me to put this on public again.

Of ‘my stuff’ there is never an incomplete one, all that I find are fully formed, theres nothing intermediate or ‘beginning’.

Another category of my nomenclature should be for horizontal or near to ‘maze channels’ as per south Quarryhouse Moor / Blawearie.

I need also to think more (ie Nov 2011) on cup and ring and to simplify matters by thinking about the horizontal ones first. No-one yet seems to have settled on rain water, or perhaps other liquids as part of the set-up.  After all it has a central cup and there are channels encompassing, enveloping or near surrounding the cup. Yet if it was just a simple case of channels to hold a liquid then why are they carved the profile that they are ie the ‘sausage profile’ ? Also what does the very shallow flat area serving as a stalk at the right of Weetwood main panel tell us (facing south).

Erosion worries me, witnessing people paddling about and poking at cup and ring with their quite needless walking sticks really does irritate and sadden. It doesn’t take long for stone to wear away, witness old stone steps in castles, churches and farm buildings. There needs to be wording or signs to this effect at Weetwood. It baffles me that areas like the Lake District with already serious erosion problems now has the added problem of continuous strings of walkers poking away with their silly sticks, which can only multiply the long term effect.

With all that I am finding there is no halfway stage, its always full-on fully formed (quite remarkable in its repeatability of scale and dimensions) or nothing at all, a complete blank. It never occurs at anything other than the set fixed position on the rock (witness the three ‘biggies’ in Northumberland) and never other than in a characteristic position or pose.

 ….. 6th Oct 2010 … I now add The Poind and His Man near Belsay, Three Kings Keilder, Amerside Law North, Warrior Stone Prudhoe. Matfen Stone and Duddo Stone Circle all have ‘my stuff’, its a long list. These all have the deep cut gulleys of c) above. Crags both sides of The Poind and his Man have cups, the higher crag having equally spaced cups along with a basin and channel; I now need to see the stone that was transported to Wallington centuries back that was there originally… could be.  As at my visit 11th Oct 2010 Lordenshaws has the small worship stones a’plenty along with an incredible and long drainage channel running from very shallow cups also two examples of the rarer spine and ribs and the main rock has fbh same as per old Bewick main rock and the cc of Roughtinlinn – its a repeated format.  

20th July 2011, it has hit me like a blinding flash the relevance of the ‘placed rock on a ledge’ concept.

Here are some initial basic schematics that simplify the above terminology……

I exercise copyright on all my material in this blog, please ask etc.

…… the page penned first has become unweildy at 5k words, hence this short intro as page two…..  (Oct 2010, the previous first post is now looking and reading ‘very dated’ so I incorporate my revised ideas onto this page, leaving the former mainly ’as is’).

As at Oct 2010 I have deleted lots of silly dated text on this particular post and added more pics at the bottom (and will continue as more sites are visited) and I now have started posting slide shows and will link to them as a better more handleable blog. Each visit yields a hundred items on the camera, so there is far more than I paste here, I have tried to paste up a minimum of one pic per location though obviously a place like Weetwood needs all the numbered stones illustrated so as to form a coherent arguament. You must also realise that I am covering a lot of different ‘motifs’ some which may be the result of weathering more than others, like all early science at first its information gathering.

This blog describes my first finding flat bottomed hollows (fbh) and associated vertical drainage fissures (vdf) on rocks often linked with sites of prehistoric importance, I guess mesolithic to bronze age.  In addition there are cups/hollows often found in clusters and always at the topmost part of the rock, ie Roughtinlinn main rock,  Caller, Old Bewick main rock/s, Lordenshaws main rock and other features as detailed on the newest post above.  ‘My stuff’ is only sometimes associated with cup and ring marks – at least from the evidence viewed, tho all are on the Fell Sandstone, a handy material for these magic marks and ritual.

At these sites for fbh and vdf on crags  there can often be a sort of standardised or typical layout what I term a ‘ forward guard stone’  -  a recent first visit to Bowden Doors (near Belford, Northumberland) as usual had this layout confirmed, easily guessed at even from a distance.

Duddo Stone Circle I feel is one of the finest examples of man made art I have ever seen, with deep cut gulleys (so very evenly spaced and parallel as per Caller fwd guard stone, Devils Arrows etc etc).  Matfen stone and Warrior Stone Prudhoe look the same (tho never as yet visited)  and many more around the landscape.  I have bought a digital camera recently from ebay so a little vid would explain more for some sites. I hope word gets out and this new layer of worked rock adds weight to the importance of these sites so that the threat of nearby windfarms can be countered as per Barmoor and also tempering the zeal for excessive modernising of the land with needless stone clearance and disturbing an ancient and important and rare landscape. 

There needs to be a sign at Roughtinlinn asking people not to walk on the rock.

It had been eighteen years since I was at Routinlinn and now I always walk up the road north to Barmoor, the peace and tranquility I enjoy there is very valuable to me. Wind turbines would destroy that.  Saw a Merlin – my first ever – at Barmoor mid June.  Turbines would surely reduce the bird population. I am very much on the fence re the merits, audited actual benefit that these things provide as a serious contribution to living on this planet. I plumb with James Lovelock on the the way forward. So, I suppose if you must have big ones them put them offshore. I also wonder about the engineering obselesence, repairs, spare parts …. for a century. It seems they have a working life of only a quarter century and have lots of non-recyclable materials. I also wonder what the transmission losses are at such low ‘electrical pressure’ and personally think they have it all wrong re wind catchment/ propellor design. I am all in favour of small turbines on farms and suitable dwellings tho its a very biased push that is being made for their installation on locations that should not be blighted by them. Again, put them offshore.

Routinlinn big rock has my larger cups on the topmost forward area along with drainage channels, forward to me being the direction of the sunset. Where they are located in Stans book has been left blank, yet these are the equal of cup and rings in my opinion and hardly if at all explored in the Northumbrian landscape. its often as to how and where they are located which makes me feel they are more than mere weathering.

Got up to Goatscrag Hill (2009) - a very important feature I think in the ancient landscape -  rain dampened any adder threat so off I went with my dog  and indeed possible vdf and fbh a plenty, tho the rock itself seems a softer more friable material, 3k years is a sure test of durability. When the bracken is down I’ll look at the fwd guard stone. These fwd guard stones are often pyramidal and big, say six to twelve feet tall at a rough guess.  Along from Goatscrag Hill is Rabbit Braes (same as the small cave Gled Law) which after my first Weetwood musings confirmed to me I was on to something, again plenty of vdf  and  fbh tho I cannot get onto the upper rock surface of Rabbit Braes .. I cannot cope with heights.

If  ’my stuff’  were placed around the landscape in a random higgledy piggledy fashion, some on edge and out of level or all skewed and perhaps sometimes covered by other rocks then I would have to be considered quite rightly a ‘nut’, yet however once you get a feel for these things its incredible how a location will conform to a set pattern and the rocks themselves so accurately in place. If its weathering how come it ain’t all over the place at odd angles and on odd bits of stone. It never is. Important looking and imposing stones reveal themselves to be just that, with ‘my stuff’ to match.

If my stuff is valid it would be a good idea to involve the Forestry Commission and climbers to  report new finds/ areas. I would dearly like to find if this spreads beyond the Fell Sandstone and cup and ring areas.

Later in the year (’09) when the fields are stubble I need to get at the crags at the entrance to Duddo village, they too will probably have vdf and fbh (yup got there tho stone soft and v weathered). Using my imagination perhaps these features were used to hold an offering of blood or to drain a body before cremation – as it leaves the body it would spectacularly drain down the rock through the vdf to return to the earth …  makes sense to me ……  makes more sense than the crappy service at the crem!  Later in 2010 I plumb on these features as holding cremated remains particularly the smaller ‘worship stones’ as per Weetwood hence their unique rounded/ worn forms. Another crazy possible idea might be that cup and ring on flat panels could be to ward off scavenging beasts such as wolf when killed game/ meat was being dressed or prepared. Or perhaps to ward off misfortune in general.  I need to work up a seperate pop up discussion page for these possibilities.

The view from Bowden Doors is itself fantastic, the complete tract of cup and ring land is visible, Lordenshaws, (maybe Old Bewick peeping through) Ross Castle, Kettley is the next door hill, over to a distant though visible Goatscrag Hill with Weetwood and Dod Law and Horton just opposite. A valuable  ancient landscape can be seen jutting out from a very manipulated sea of agricultural production. Thats why its vital to save these little islands of unimproved land among so much agricultural improvement.   

I often feel that no-one has really considered cup and ring and their repeatability of execution from a craftsmans point of view, their very controlled depth and particular profile as in section, the carved and smoothed circling channels and sometimes with full and rounded tops like a sine wave profile,  this is tool control and repeatability of a high order; yet they would already be good craftsmen for weapons, skins, tools. A little noticed feature such as a very controlled shallow sunk flat surface running from the centre as at Weetwood main panel is impressive and baffling. As is the change of style from a shallow ‘channel dominated’ manner on a flat surface as per Weetwood main panel to a deliberate raised form/ ring separated by grooves as per Kettley Crags.   This changeover requires a whole new perception of what carving is by the maker.  It is a move from graving, to material removal revealing an intended solid form. There are also instances of the rock (a carver calls the ‘ground’) that sometimes can be seen to have been cleared away, the rare raised ring motif south east of Weetwood main panel has this, like a mini Kettley Stone.

Update October 2009.   Summer has gone so can get back into rough ground with the beagle.  Been to Kyloe Hills, rock type is right and hey presto found fbh and vdf in typical forward leading edge, though I have doubts here. Exactly as per Rabbit Braes, Goatscrag, Caller, Bowden Doors, Duddo stones etc. There is reasoning going on behind these features. I think manmade and for a purpose. If this was weathering it would be more random and certainly not so uniform in appearance and location per site.

Kyloe Crags

Part of the group at Kyloe.

I think the connection with the Fell Sandstones is important and the location of this would be very significant to them. It roughly follows the coast so provides the best of both worlds for food, in three strands plus other bits ie Weetwood, Dod Law, Routinlin, then its Lordensaws to Caller Crags and Alnwick Moor then Old Bewick, Kyloe. Height is vital to be above your enemies or threats and if humans stuck to these areas at night or for dwelling help would be nearer than random scattering. Handy if you got lost perhaps, also below the Fell Sandstone it would be much wetter and boggier than it is now, so i suppose its natural you stay out the crap. The fell sandstone also provides a very handy source for big open flat panels of rock that is easily carved yet durable for your magic marks and ritual. Perhaps the position of a dominant tribe. And if theres no trees you can all see each other and have a better view of sunrise and sunset. This line of sight to other locations must have been important. ‘My stuff’ can often seem as if its deliberately placed to be seen, as on the top of a crag, a large standing stone type thing on a fellside or among a group of rocks as ‘the one’.

My latest theory occurred to me today after Kyloe yesterday (2009) as to what cup and ring might be for…. its life the universe and everything!!  I think they are an illustration and explanation of the varying yet repeated seasons, depicting short days in relation to longer days, the motions of the Sun throughout the year ie the rings are the suns travel in winter and summer.   Also the aspect of day and night is illustrated and how it always will return one to the other. To see this, half cover the diagram and hey presto there it is revealed. What you have covered up is night (you’ve actually made it dark) and what is visible are short days (ie small arcs) and long days ie summer. The channels might be a remnant of lets guess …. the vdf which perhaps were earlier or a channel is a more suitable thing for a low flat panel.  I guess a means of returning something to mother earth.   So why are there varying numbers of ring marks and not a  set number? …. well  perhaps they had no strict need to have an exact number. These people would be heavily into nature and possibly we assume the spirit world so symbolism surely must have been important to them. Adding some words here Nov 2010 I currently feel cup and ring is fertility and forward thinking (perhaps the earliest raising of crops) and ‘my stuff’ perhaps is for the dead, returning them to the earth after cremation.

6th November 2009  takes me to Cuddys Cave…. first peep of rock …. its got ‘em. A very typical layout of some vdf  on main crag edge so very similar to so many sites viewed before and this time two forward guard stones. Cups very similar to so many other sites, particularly Roughtinlinn. Vdf very impressive as per Duddo and Matfen and others, which I now call deep cut gulleys. So very parallel and uniform, its very hard to consider this as ‘just’ weathering.

vdf @ cuddys cave

split stone @ cuddys cave top surface southern fwd guard stone cuddys cave

complete view southern fwd guard stone cuddys cave

detail of southern fwd guard stone @ cuddys cave

November 12th 2009 …. Doddington Moor stone circle was incredible, the one standing having fbh and vdf as per Duddo, one of the fallen stones yielded very impressive enclosed central cup with radiating vdf and a Duddo style waisting. Started from the northern end of the moor, ended up at Gled Law and a crag and fwd guard stone arrgt. Couldn’t get over with beagle to Horton and Buttony cup and ring due to livestock in fields, another time perhaps, tho c&r are not my primary objective. 

Doddington Moor seems so vulnerable, already a bizarre golf course despoils one side of it and looking from Bowden Doors Doddington Moor rises like a tiny island in a vast sea of intense agricultural improvement.  I wonder what formal protection the land has?

Standing stone part of circle at Doddington Moor.

one of doddington moor stone circle .. note cup and radiating vdf .. these are not weathering .. actual man made for a purpose .. and not 'art'.

The above is a stunner. Please never replace upright .. that would be phoney  (a Salinger word)  keep it as it is, that way is more honest and truthful. Its ‘waisted’ as per Duddo and is an object of great beauty. Perhaps this is why c&r have the central cup (a crossover perhaps)  its part of the working stone, not art.  

doddington moor stone circle, cups and vdf .... all man made.

Crag and fwd guard stone .... a typical layout .... Gled Law ie south of Doddington Moor.

Fwd guard stone Gled Law. vdf fbh/cups ... not weathering.

The above fwd guard stone is so similar to ditto at Cuddys Cave, Colourheugh and elsewhere. I’ve just been looking at Duddo stone circle, other peoples pics, and am bugged by the reference to Cheviot, I think Duddos importance is at the termination of the Fell Sandstone. Strange no-one can see its all man made, not only art but stones with a function ie fbh and vdf (my terminology) and deep cut gulleys. I also similarly think the Simonside connection is vastly overated, its more to do with the interconnectedness of the sites themselves.

30th Nov 2009; Cockenheugh (Colourheugh too) provided more of the now to be expected vdf and more myriads of cups than fbh. The whole escarpement of Fell Sandstone has good examples, one fbh and vdf unusually at the mouth of the biggest cave, excellnt fwd guard stones. Yet agn the siting of these in my opinion most likely man made features is what convinces me.  It was raining, digital camera not focusing to well, heres the first batch of pics….

cockenheugh

cockenheugh

cockenheugh

a bad pic, will have to do for now .. fwd guard stone cockenheugh

The latter pic, bad as it is, records the very evenly spaced vdf on this fwd guard stone, from a mass of cups on the top surface, so very like southern guard stone C Cave and elsewhere. As expected all vdf to rear of this stone face outwards, becoming a very predictable layout and becoming more convincing that all this cannot be explained away as weathering. If it was weathering I would not be seeing repeated layouts and repeated styles.

Postscript 25th Oct 2010: I’ll post a few more pics as tasters as they occur, tho have unfortunately a few months ago wiped 6k items off the machine due to virus, a lot of them never posted onto here, so I’ll probably now add to the bottom of this page with links to slideshows and vids on my preferred youku (Chinese) hosting site.

cuddys cave

cockenheugh

caller split

caller

caller crags

nanny feltons cairn / bigges' pillar

Wide Hope, Edlingham.

titlington mount monolith/ standing stone

titlington mount/ beanley moor 'worship stone'

lordenshaws worship stone

lordenshaws huge long channel with cups at top

the poind and his man.... the man

cups? ...upper crag from poind and his man

dancing green hill

cockenheugh

blawearie

blawearie

blawearie

blawearie

blawearie

Cartington Hill

Soulby

Mount Pleasant

Wellhope / Shirlaw

Shirlaw / Debdon Whitefield

Placed rock (smaller) Wolf Hole, has 'my stuff'.

Placed rock (larger) Wolf Hole, has 'my stuff'.

Chattonpark Hill buried under field clearance.

my stuff?? .....vdf on the kettley stone.

Kettley Crags.

Best example so far, 'my stuff' with cup and ring .... Kettley Crags.

Kettley Crags.

Here below are rocks 6, 7, 8 and 10 Weetwood, which I term ‘worship stones’ .. very rounded and smoothed as if worked so. Firstly rock 4 which along with rock 6 a decade or so ago got me thinking ……

Weetwood rock 4

rock 6 Weetwood .... termed 'worship stone'

rock 7 Weetwood .... termed 'worship stone'

rock 8 Weetwood .... termed 'worship stone'

one of the group of three ...rock 9 Weetwood .... termed 'worship stone'

rock 10 Weetwood .... termed 'worship stone'

Nov 2010 ….. There are so many angles on what these can be and and so many questions, both cup and ring and ‘my stuff’ and most likely always will be.  They are certainly the product of a skilled hand, cup and ring looking to be the work of a specialist rather than anyone in the neighbourhood that fancied a go.  Its the distinction in style between those on a flat surface and those on a curved surface that fascinates me. Were c and r employed more in good or ‘even’ times or did they gain max use when things were on the downturn? I wish I knew how tied in they were with magic, hunting, good fortune, special powers. …..perhaps that is all there is to it, a rattlebag of those things. The motif itself must have been very powerful to them. I read recently in Paul Frodshams book that hallucinogenics can produce concentric rings and herringbone patterns (ie my spine and rib). However the point of digging was raised and I am afraid I am very much a ‘no dig’ man, after an excavation the site to my mind seems so much worse for it. I much prefer and enjoy seeing them as only three or four thousand years can make them look. There is also the point that in a hundred years time dear knows what scientific advances will have been made to add to the interpretation.  

I am only an ordinary self taught man having near zero knowledge on prehistory yet I realise it is vital to get the chronology right of an area, possibly 4k years could separate visible remains on a location. For instance  a hillfort ie defensive earthwork within a hundred yards of a rock with cup and ring, it could be the c and r are 4k BC and the hill fort 400AD.  The makers of one might never have known what the other was for. 

How long did it take to build up each c and r assemblage, weeks, years, centuries?  The work of anyone or the work of special men (I go for the latter)?

‘My stuff’ ie fbh and vdf and other features have been collected as a mixture of anything I can find, now at Feb 2011 I am realising some may not neccassarilly be connected with the others.  This is where the clever stuff comes in, to break down the fancied relevance and connections between one and the other into nearer the facts.  For instance fwd guard stones at Bowden Doors and Caller are very powerful arguaments, its not just the object it is its siting that adds weight to this idea.

Are cup and ring resorted to as a celebration of good fortune or produced in fear of worsening circumstances?  I wonder what the tie-in is with hunting grounds?

‘My stuff’ seldom if ever occurs other than full on and visible, the only intermediates (or doubtful ones) are on rock that itself seems more liable to erosion, a slightly softer material.

‘My stuff’ is always at the topmost or forward part of the rock. This is a very strong indicator to me that it cannot just be weathering.

‘My stuff’ can often follow a set layout, ie fwd guard stone when associated with crags, smaller worship stones dotted around as at Weetwood and Lordenshaws, edge of crag as at Cuddys Cave, Rabbit Braes.

The skill in execution is greater than most people realise both my stuff and cup and ring. I would guess more the work of specialists, perhaps creating their ‘magic places’. Cup and ring is subject to variations that seldom seem explored.

As there are no breakages seen in my stuff (ie operator error) I guess it was an abrasion process more than a chipping process.

Do cup and ring depict or display something felt, perceived in the minds eye or held to exist as a force or being? 

The big word is magic. At Jan 2011 I have discarded cup and ring as motion of the Sun and am now wondering if its possibly some magic for invisibility in hunting, certainly makes sense when one leads a totally outdoors life.

I feel when these were produced people were looking inward rather than to the distant hills, such as barren Cheviot or Simonside. Rather, the sun and seasons were more important.

Is ‘my stuff’ concurrent, before or after cup and ring? The three big rock/s at Roughtin Linn, Lordenshaws, Blawearie all have at their uppermost points no cup and ring …. just ‘my stuff’. This is another convincincing point to ‘my stuff’ not just being weathering.

I wonder what part does the sun and the moon  played in the makers psyche. How closely their movement and appearance was noted.

I think its safe to say they are all upland, all on the Fell Sandstone both c and r and my stuff. A very workable and yet durable material.  Always on the skyline.

Weetwood main panel is so flat a surface, did this matter to them, perhaps not, yet there seems a desire to have a big surface for them ie as at Chatton Park Hill.

Cup and ring can be associated with death and burial and with cists reading from Stans books. As yet not sure where my stuff fits in to this. Cists are maybe for the important people as perhaps were beaker burials, so if my worship stone theory holds water perhaps ordinary folk were dealt with differently. Again, getting the chronology correct is vital, 4k years can separate ‘ancient remains’ at the one site.  

Generally held to be associated with fertility, cup and ring to my mind presently display the idea idea for the motion on the sun, winter through summer (cover half and see the suns altering arcs and how it dips out of sight for night) thereby explaining the seasons.  Perhaps when early crops were raised for grain (brewing?) the fear was always there of a poor harvest, a bad year. So perhaps cup and ring remind and explain the celestial mechanism of its seasonal rythmn. Perhaps the rings protected the central cup, the person. So perhaps we have symbols/ magic marks ie cup and ring and ‘my stuff’ for offerings or returning the dead.

The above pictures are just a tiny portion of what there is, what follows is a link to slideshows from each trip out to a specific location. Interestingly I grew up on the coast and weekend nights my Dad would take us to various coastline destinations, so I grew uplooking at coastal weathered rocks. I think that helps me realise these are perhaps something else.

Heres a link to The Devils Arrows at Boroughbridge, got ‘my stuff’ (deep cut gulleys) as per Duddo, Caller fwd guard stone, Poind and his Man, Matfen, Amerside north, etc. http://www.stone-circles.org.uk/stone/devilsarrows.htm

Heres a link to the Matfen Stone… http://www.stockphotopro.com/photo_of/the/B7FE7F/Standing_stone_just_outside

Update June 2011, I am continuing to find ‘my stuff ‘ in the landscape and in some cases its a foregone conclusion what I will find and where. A typical case was this weeks jaunt to Coe Crags Wood which needed to be recce’d….. a single block perched as per Wolfhole a mile away had ‘my stuff’, another prominent rock nearby also had it, both having my stuff at the point I would expect it, a combination of facing south and/or over wide open landscape. So we conjecture, these are to be seen.  I’ve also just googled Fryup Dale (near where I was born) and found the stone at Danby Rigg on the North Yorkshire Moors, from what the photograph shows me it has ‘my stuff’ too, it could well be that the notch drains from a flat bottomed hollow, tho this is not absolutely essential. Having wandered among barrows and cairns I am becoming increasingly ‘no dig’ in that I much prefer them to be left alone, I cannot see the point of accumulating another jet bead and crumbled pot to the collection.

Wade Stone, Kettleness …  http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/89310

The Margery Bradley Stone cld well be…

Oh my goodness, an hour googling gives this …  http://www.ancient-wisdom.co.uk/francestuzec.htm and they are sufficiently open minded to mention the parallel lines being similar to the Devils Arrows Boroughbridge and the unlikeliness of it being weathering.  

I still need to see pictures or video of the tops of the lintels at Stonehenge, again, looks like my stuff.

Machrie Moor, Arran … www.megalithic.org.uk/a558/a312/gallery/scotl..

July 20th 2011… I cannot help but include the pic below taken a few months ago on an 8th Feb jaunt.  I have many pictures (hundreds if not thousands) I have  not bothered to upload, this morning found this again and it illustrates perfectly how one of mine is so easily recognisable, centre uppermost. There is no other stone in this shot that has ‘my stuff’ except this prominent one, no other bits of any weathering whatsover other than this screamingly obvious example of ‘my stuff’. At this narrow defile it also has the customary perched rock/s nearby and also my stuff above the gorge at the entrance as you walk upstream. This again is repeated a third of a mile upstream at Dove Crags. Its as if it is all to a set layout. This pic just south of Blawearie hillfort. There is a high concentration of my stuff in this area with superb examples.

The one with 'my stuff' is so obvious once you have spotted it.

 

While I’m still in that days results here below is a very obvious from a great distance around rock that seemed certain was one of mine before i was close enough to confirm. Hey presto guessed right again. Name escapes me (Harelaw? or Hare something) a mile south just above the road, on the hill east of the track and behind the kennels.  

 

 

 

 

Then below we have a top view.  

 

 

Nov 2011 …. I’ve deliberately postponed one of the most obvious places to look till the end ie Corbys Crags. Seems to have a ‘placed stone’  on mid level but not quite the vdf I had hoped for to be definitely ‘one of mine’.  C&r in Lemmington Wood didn’t seem right and i wonder till how recently country folk used the old runic style numerals; yan tan tethera etc is still in folk memory at least in Cumbria so what are the marks to go with them? 

Ed Moor

Corbys Crags ... 'my stuff'.

Corbys Crags ... my stuff.

 

 

Corbys Crags ... my stuff.

 

As has been proven many times on field trips ‘my stuff’ is always in a certain position, always complete, never vague or illdefined, conforms to set patterns and if we think this is weathering then you must think the fairies make the flowers open. 

 

I’m also adding this one as a group I’ve rently found during 2011 that are in the vague area rocks 1-3 weetwood ie …

 

part of the rocks 1-3 ie new group found Weetwood 2011

 

 

 

 

 

 

Heading west - above is rock6 near the modern cairn.

Above is rock7 the waymarker (?) by the track near Coldmartin panel (ie east of) –  a much underestimated panel. The rounded form fascinates me. Placed and sunk edge on, screams to me ‘a placed stone’. 

My numbering rock4 Weetwood, the one that started it all for me ten years ago.

Rock 4.

         My discoveries in the prehistoric landscape.

Worked rocks as I discover them, an ongoing unfolding diary, sometimes set to privat and sometimes (as of Sept 2010) public again. My views will probably change as I post pages, obviously the newest post will have my current thinking. The text on this earliest post will date quickly as experience develops.

I prefer the places unvisited, yet the more weight we can add for these sites to be treat carefully, ie the threat of field clearance, forestry and the dreaded wind turbine (which is better offshore).

The above four images are all taken in Jan 2009 at Weetwood when for some time maybe ten years no4 rock (topmost) and no6 at the cairn had been bugging me as to their importance. A couple of years ago rock 7 next to the path returning from the radio panel seemed of the group. The above are my initial finds, using my Feb 2009 numbering which I will continue with. These are very important, pre or post dating the cup and ring marks?? Luckily and quite by chance these have escaped the interference by the farmers field clearance. How many more must have existed? Maybe not as many as we would like to surmise, these here form a ‘community’ in themselves. The fact that they are situated in high remote ground is their saving.  

These finds of flat bottomed hollows and vertical drainage fissures on Weetwood also occur at Rabbit Braes (seen first hand) ie the big eastern block and the rocks at Duddo and the big rock at the Gled Law cave. All are on the ‘forward leading edge’ of big rocks and on the uppermost surface of ‘edge on’ smaller planted rocks as at here on Weetwood; at Edlingham Crags and Caller Crags and nearby Redheugh Crags at the top point of huge pyramidal seperate rocks. I’m finding lots, a later jaunt east of Caller Crags halfway towards Stans excavated Mesolithic rock shelter of the early ’70′s reveals stunning finds, especially at the edge north east of an upper rock escarpement. Further down the page I visit Routing Linn for the first time in twenty years and there is a mass of these hollows (more asccurately a myriad of large radius cups)  in what is a blank white area of Stans drawing of the rock.

There is surely significance in these hollows (worked?) and the little gulleys that run from them. I wonder what they put in them . Not all are very accurate flat-bottomed hollows, there is a distinct grouping of either fbh as first encountered or rounded large radius  as at Routing Linn.  Wind driven swirling ice or grains of rock would be hard pressed to produce such an accurate flat bottomed effect, its this accurate flat and horizontal aspect that started me thinking that surely this is more than weathering. I think these rocks highlighted here are certainly the equal of cup and ring.

Some of the smaller rocks ie Weetwood 5,6,7,8 etc no matter their orientation (generally edge on, particularly the thinner slabs – so obviously man placed) all have hollows with horizontal floors, ‘spot-on’ horizontal. An engineer in a machine shop would be hard pressed to produce flatter.  

I have a hunch we are looking at an area from Millstone Burn to Rabbit Braes that was traversed and hunted by a single community or clan. Maybe starting at Lordenshaws, turning left at Millstone Burn and up to the termination at Duddo. I need to get up onto Lordenshaws. Somehow they wouldn’t touch the Cheviots themselves.  Perhaps the marshy area at Weetwood was a natural pond / lake – now silted up. Was Milfield water filled ie a lake?  was Weetwood a camp and or ceremonial place, a place to meet and ‘see’ things? These rings could be the rings or ripples on water. Many years ago I thought they were moulds to shape leather shields for fighting.  Yet examine how the encompassing circles stop short of the often central motif, cup or stalk. The very carefully controlled exact depth of working. Controlled width of channels. As at Weetwood a shallow basin extending to the edge of the motif. Why? This is work of a high order and repeated so exactly across the landscape. There is certainly more than meets the eye in producing work of this order.  The rings were worked to a sine wave profile, it is not just erosion that results in this form, it is intentional. Overall the work of one man in one lifetime? or his followers? Perhaps it must have been part of a belief system, promoting good hunting or harmony via the spirits. Tattooing the visible bones of the landscape. A craft skill of a high order. Sites can be seen as in an arc about the Cheviot though I don’t think Cheviot is relevant. It seems to be the workability of the Fell Sandstone and advantageous position on the higher ground that draws these ancient workers. Perhaps this is tied in with the first efforts at growing fodder to enable animals to be overwintered and that they knew full well a bad season was the last thing they needed.  Was something ground or left to dry in these worked crevices an hollows?

Someone / blog I viewed a few minutes ago had such a gullet running from the top of a (standing?) stone as seen here in my vertical drainage fissures (vdf) –  a prominent ra blog yet the silly bugger has a stupid arrow pointing to something quite insignificant.  Open your eyes see the continual repetition of these cups and gulleys running down stones set in the landscape borh big standing type stones and these smaller set on edge ones. Surely this is as important as any existing rock art?  

The vibe I get at Dod Law and the abysmal golf course is strong and bad. Yet here at Weetwood it is always a pleasant feeling regardless of how bad the weather or the previous days events or activities.  Perhaps ancient man is tattooing or decorating the bare bones of the earth, the rocks as they appear at the surface. Yet generally on horizontal surfaces ie the main W’wood panel surface seems peculierly worked flat. For dressing skins? As symbols of luck and fortune in hunting?

Are these waymarkers or for sacrifice to spirits or for grinding or preparing, or shamanistic activities or witchcraft? Most are orientated the same way ie thin slabs edge on. A portable rock ie no5 in the plantation Weetwood was found soon after as was an impressive (subjective term) group of three in the heather to the south and preceding it rock 8 met coming back from rock 7 next to the path. There is an outlier near the road before the Fowberry gate (on top of the large rocks) heading west which I will call rock 10 (photographed March 2009) and another behind the main art panels to the east. My numbering starts with three possible (now thought not) correct interpretations found in Feb 2009.  I’ve stuck to it as it allows me to identify the shots from unmarked slides and has stuck in my mind as such.

Here are the Feb 2009 slides.  Oh yes, the March 2009 will include a rock I found with small pockets worked (cups) on the flat surface near the destroyed cist at Weetwood. 

Portable stone in the plantation north of main panel. Better 'in the flesh' tricky to capture on film.

I found the above ‘blind’. Having walked the oval layout anti-clockwise after the group of three and rock 9 I felt it inevitable the next one or last one had to be there … pointing toward the plantation. Strangely there it was. My dog is my witness. Below is rock 6 at the modern cairn, not easy to photograph.

panel near radio mast feb 09

Lower pic above is what I call the radio panel, Stan B calls p.126 / 127 Pendulum 1983 ie Coldmartin. Look at those drainage channels.  The two upper images are stone6 next to modern cairn ie west of plantation north of main panel. In all my text and photos I am trying to be objective and not include sujective terms such as ‘impressive’ ‘beautiful’ etc.  This stage of my findings is at the same level as botany and natural historywas a hundred years ago, the gathering, reporting and description of finds.

Above is rock 7 by the track coming back from the radio panel ie heading east. So few people notice its beauty. So much like rock 8, which follows on heading anti-clockwise ie eastward. Its this similarity that prompted me to wonder.

Today – 1st March 2009 - I have been up to look for rock 8. Cannot find it, found the more elaborate group of three and of course rock 7 is un-missable but no rock 8. Its in heather before the group of three walking from rock 7 ie away from the radio panel.

The above two pics of rock 8 bowl me over……….a highly desirable piece of sculpture. The only stone I’ve ever thought of as ‘sexy’…uh!

Though some of these pics are 180 degree rotations of the same rock tho on different days rotating them in ones minds eye allows a better understanding of them. Typically rock 6 and rock 10 are a good exercise at this. Sketching and perhaps if I had the technology a short vid would further enhance the impression/ sculptural value of these rocks. 

Group of three to follow, in heather north of L-shaped plantation on W’wood.  Heres the first, these are important.

Thats all that came from the Feb 2009 slide film. there are more recent images added to help the storyline. And we had better have some cup and rings ….

Middle pic above is new to me, say eighteen inches across and bottom pic is c&r under gorse bush north east of main panel. The upper pic is the famous main panel, I am intrigued how flat the whole panel is and the surface striations. The motifs and craftsmanship at Weetwood main panel give me the impression they were depicting something that was solid and real to them, rather than something ‘seen’ or imagined or fancied.

Next to rock 4.

In the plantation next to rock4.

Postscript 7th March 2009. This afternoon been up to Edlingham Crags ie close by north east of Caller Crags. Found four separate sites of these flat bottomed hollows, one on an obvious ‘most significant’ rock, another on a smaller (eight foot moved/fallen rock nearby) and a damaged rock at the eastern extremity just inside the fence before the western quarry. Three hundred yards west are some small crags. When up close among them this time I said to myself – “bet that one is” – hey presto it had, say three flat bottomed hollows on a possible twenty plus likely places.

nb These hollows are ALWAYS on the tip of the rock, thin walled to the edge, flat bottomed, always a regular predictable depth, very horizontal level inner/bottom surface regardless of rock orientation, with a necking or ability for drainage what I term vertical drainage fissure. Same at Rabbit Braes, Gled Law, Weetwood and here at Edlingham Crags. Small rocks are always edge on to signal their presence. Duddo looks likewise tho I have yet to visit.

Two astounding and excellent rock shelters were found at Edlingham Crags lower level, oozes Mesolithic and a cave  twelve feet up a smooth rock face (quarried) which looks like a waterworn channel entrance say 3ft dia and quite deep. …how deep? The floor of both Mesolithic shelters particularly the most impressive one seems so very worn/worked smooth. I could well visualise a young woman giving birth there and raising her young. Considering the possible extent of Mesolithic lifestyle, am I looking at 5 or10,000 years of habitation.? At the impressive shelter there were three or four hollows that reveal pick marks where not smoothed out, pockets for a tallow candle or ?? That felled forest doesn’t help in traversing the landscape. Bloody awful. Those rocks and crags would be better left unencumbered with forestry.  

Last night the idea of water worn channels often coincides with the rock type that c&r marks are made. Rabbit Braes has incredible water worn channels right through ten feet plus of solid rock and mases of impressive vertical drainage fissures. Weetwood possibly once had a small lake/ tarn with a still extant stream run-off. This stream flows towards the outlying cup and ring marks toward the re-vamped Fowberry ?Mains. Certain types of places had a vibe for these ancient people. Perhaps they just liked to be in a pleasant place, somewhere to park their car and eat their sandwiches.

Postscript 15th March- Yesterday up at the higher level Edlingham Crags and then onto Caller Crags. Yes, all feelings are confirmed. This afternoon out yielded many more flat bottomed hollows and some vertical fissures. The upper ie second level of Edlingham Crags yielded no rock shelters, rock not disposed to doing so, yet right away walking from the west to east flat bottomed hollows were evident, as usual at edge tip of rock and at find three or so a fine example as per my numbering rock 4 at Weetwood. I have been thinking for a month now – a Shamanistic landscape? 

Escaping from the fenced felled wood at the dog leg there are impressive fbh (flat bottomed hollows) at the uppermost stone, a trace on the huge boulder through the nick, then back again to Caller Crags where the fun begins with the most distant huge stones toward the west, ie thirty feet tall plus seemingly yield nothing – lets fantasise and say they are way too powerful for our ancient ancestors to ‘engrave’ yet leading there ie east to west there is ….a) a big stone with fbh …b) a most screamingly “put there” small diaginal tilted stone with usual top surface fbh and unusually dimples on the vertical sides then c) a placed slab unfortunately split horizontal with deeper and  bigger hollows. This tilted and placed slab are the only loose things for many yards around – screamingly  placed objects.

This whole afternoon developed with me saying to myself “I bet that is one” …..and hey presto it has some fbh. Interestingly found a group of four of these fbh cups and coming down from Caller Crags the first BIG isolated stone yielded the same and Duddo / Rabbit Braes type vertical drainage fissures which we’ll call vdf from now on.

Shamanism is forward in my mind and these fbh are likely to pre-date cup and ring marks (guessing here of course).  Stone would be the only permanent substance, this might be a thousand or ten thousand year fetish. I am inclined to think that cand r marks are shamanistic prompts…… or a belief system, spirits, good hunting …….who knows?Postscript 20th March 2009: Yesterday finally got up to Duddo, driving past the crags at the entrance into the village was an exciting shock, these most distinctive rocks must be tied in with the prehistoric wonderment and veneration of rocks in the landscape, ie Rabbit Braes, Edlingham Crags and Gled Law cave.  In autumn when its stubble I will go and look for the typical flat bottomed hollows (fbh) and vertical fissures (vdf)  I am interested in over on these crags and which so far no-one seems to have drawn into the prehistoric equation – hence the purpose of this blog.

Please no-one walk on a farmers crops and also keep clear of pregnant sheep and young lambs, leave livestock well alone.

The new owners of the farm in which the stiones are set are to be congratulated for allowing visitors on the land. By coincidence lady of the house came over with a friend, placing a sign at the hedge for marker pen visitor data. I luckily had thirty minutes there to my self with the dog beforehand, he was manic – new land to sniff and later i think that perhaps there is mink to excite him. Its interesting to walk in a circle ten yards from the stones and find the best view for photography.  Looking towards the Cheviot gives a good display of form and contoured carving, in my opinion the vertical fissures are the fissures I find at other sites though only a few flat bottomed hollows here, ie Tweed side stone, yet flat and definite, with vdf as usual. These are manmade fissures, spaced regular. Made to denote either ’these are important rocks’ or to show the hand of man has altered these rocks, or perhaps just the idea of ‘art’. The rock itself is softer than usual and weathers more fantastically, reminiscent of coastal rockscape erosion. Yet all the same, its the parallel nature of the gulleys that intrigues me.

Its as if the vertical fissures at Duddo are the ‘grand statement’, copied in lesser form elsewhere (yet forward stone ie northwards to Caller Crags is so similar) leading up to what I believe is this terminating site. The coincidence of Weetwood rock4 (my numbering – see above) and a similar rock at lower level (middle) Edlingham is too similar to be dismissed. Were the vdf just mentioned copies much later of what was seen at Duddo, even without seeing Duddo first hand its always been obvious to me this must be the case. After traversing so many crags and upland places this terminating circle is in the open. I am very hesitant as to the visual importance of Cheviot in all this, perhaps more important in the geology that resulted from it. These rocks at Duddo are the only rocks I’ve ever seen that ‘look’ as if made from fibreglass – and light as a feather!  Personally I think them the most beautiful art I have ever seen, form, outline, fissures, surface detail, gravity of statement and presence.  The setting is so very devoid of trees, I hope the new owners can plant field margin parkland oaks and small spinneys, walking in at the only small trees planted on the route was a yellowhammer, not much otherwise apart from a few skylarks. Wildlife corridors are needed, tho I can appreciate the previous owners desire to minimise rabbit grazing in his pursuit for profit and minimise needless hedge cutting. 

With cup and rings I am torn between viewing them as shamanistic prompts and just pure joy in decorating the visible bones of the landscape. How did they communicate with the spirit world, invoke luck or communicate with ancestors. Cup and ring marks display a far greater stone cutting ability than most people realise, to regulate depth, terminate circles short of the central cup drainage stalk   and creating a so very regular rounded central cup. Also, the rounding and blending of grooves into contours is very cleverly done and as with all aspects in a very controlled and prescribed manner. I found a new cupped stone at Weetwood south of the main panel, near ancient dyke.

Has anyone dowsed for earth energy with these rocks? I am totally on the fence re dowsing until I can find time to develop an ability. Until I’ve felt it I’ll not know it.

The landscape at Duddo is so manipulated into modern arable just like around the Hortons, I wish to heck in centuries gone by farmers were not so hell bent on field clearance then perhaps i might find more of ‘my stuff’ yet perhaps not to strive to ‘improve’ would have seemed ignorant and backward.  Quite by chance I met the new lady owner at Duddo and she strikes me as a very sympathetic and intelligent woman. 

Postscript 6th April 2009: Up at Duddo Stones again for the second time now, I hadn’t realised how much hedge planting had been going on, well done Mr Farmer. Access good and well signposted. In my opinion one of the greatest examples of man made art I have ever seen, ranking equal to any artist any period. What alarms me is that the rock itself is so very friable. Each hand placed upon it erodes some tiny grains. Very soft very fragile. I feel very strongly about the fragile nature of these stones. The crags driving north into the village will connect in the prehistoric mind with these stones and I would be interested to see inside the nearby wood to the east, a very high chance of some rock escarpement in there. Perhaps these are features the prehistoric mind connects. Aptly named the stone age.

Next visit on the drive back was Roughting Linn, hadn’t been for twenty years. At one of the most important and well known prehistoric sites and hey presto there is my theory again confirmed, literally rock solid. A good two square yards of not quite ‘flat bottomed hollows’  (more a myriad of joining cups) and drainage fissures. As usual with my discovery these features are on what i refer to as the leading forward edge or uppermost point. The nearby land to the east seems ripe for finding fissured waymarkers as per Weetwood. When back at home referred to the standard guide and guru on all this and ….hey presto again, the areas that concern me were left blank, ie just white paper as per the Gobi Desert a century ago – unexplored land!! … dodgy analogy maybe.   My flat bottomed hollows (myriad of cups say at Routinlinn) and drainage fissures certainly seem to be something worth considering as manmade.

The features I recognise on Roughting Linn are the same as today I will photograph at Caller Crags, above Edlingham Crags. ie two placed stones on the top level and a front guard stone two hundred yards in front, a typical layout. Also eastern guard stone with impressive fbh and fissures. Fbh and fissures also at forward edge (as is universally typical) of rock on which very obviously ‘placed stone’ at Caller Crags.  Interestingly at Roughting Linn west of the track to Goats Crag there is an interesting small gorge taking the tiny burn toward the Cheviots. In all this cup and ring mark stuff I think too much importance is laid in the presence of Cheviot, also the term ‘processional way’ bugs me. Without even looking there is a good chance Goats Crag has my flat bottomed hollows and vertical drainage fissures a’la cave rock at Gled Law.

Postscript 20 April 2009…. Seeing the white area on Stans drawings turn into a myriad of very impressive fbh was a great thrill at Roughting Linn and confirmation of my findings being relevant. So reminiscent of the two central placed stones at Caller Crags. And the forward guard stone ditto so reminiscent and as important as Duddo. I’d bet Hard Heugh, Long Crag and Coe Crags are worth examining.

Duddo worries me, the rock is so very friable and particles are shed every time someone places a hand there. If this unwitting revelation by cached google does nothing else it would satisfy me for ‘hands off’.

So …..  my thoughts today on this topic, I use shamanistic far less, at present these are signals for ‘occupied territory’ and a joy in tattoing the landscape, decoration and the earliest art, something recognisable as by the hand of man. Are c&r illustrating the motions of sun, moon, life itself, the glare of the sun, dazzled sun worship? Good luck charms for the spirits, witchcraft, dear knows. Each day I have a different slant and keep my mind open.

The above two pics of my numbering stone ten Weetwood are a great find, thirty yards northish of the Fowberry Farm driveway entrance.  Used a different processing lab and I feel have not captured the three dimensionality that I capture of the previous rock 8 pics. Perhaps I need to go digital. Also obscure is the ‘fort’ behind the wall from the road before the gate itself. Quite impressive ramparts what are visible among the trees. Why the heck must they plant trees among such obvious archaeology. The camera particularly on the side view (looking north) gives an untrue image, the rock is much taller than it looks, say twenty inches (from memory). Weetwood edge on stones as pictured here are so very rounded and to a practisced eye, whether Mesolithic or Modern shout as  ‘placed and worked’ stones’ deliberately set into the ground. Caller Crags separate ocks are often huge pyramidal objects (luckily nature provided)  often I guess several tons in weight, Weetwood has a certain uniformity of style as shown here ie small and rounded form.

Above two pics are one rock from the group of three in the heather north of the L-shaped plantation which itself maybe has something of interest at its southern extremity, settlement / fort?

I’m short of time, quickly on to a stunner, forward outer ‘guard stone’ (my own whimsical nomenclature) Caller Crags. ie north of Crags. At the edge of the horizontal plain before dropping to the Corn Road. Notice the similarity with Duddo, the equal at the very least.

Caller Crags forward / northerly guard stone, the equal of Duddo.

Western face Caller forward / northerly guard stone.

Top of forward guard stone Caller Crags. Do NOT climb as fragile thin sections.

The lower shot is up on the top surface of the rock – PLEASE DO NOT CLIMB. Fragile and capable of I would think being damaged. Top right hand corner corresponds with the groove to the right on the middle shot. Width of shot say thirty inches at a guess. I wd prefer these pics to enlarge by dragging the cursor yet here they unfortunately do not. The main rocks to the west are extraordinary in their rounded appearance and surface ‘crazing’. The two portable rocks on Caller Crags now to follow:-

Seemingly obviously placed portable rock Caller Crags. Highly worked top surface and vertical fissures.

The eastern placed stone Caller Crags. Cups possibly on side and my vdf and fbh on top. How has this not been documented before - as with all the rocks and features in this blog?

From memory, i think, the forward leading edge (as is typical) of the previous placed rock location.

Westerly placed stone Caller Crags. Deep impressive hollows and fissures. Split horizontally. Fragile.

Looking south through the big Caller Crag blocks. Notice surface crazing and rounded features.

Looking north thro these unique rocks.

My young assistant.

Looking north east from the huge exposed slab, the thrill of finding another exactly where it should be.

North east of big table slab.

Another shot of rock north east of big table slab.

Near to the above is a rock also has a hole through it.

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]]> http://prehistoricrockcarvingsinnorthumberland.wordpress.com/2009/04/07/new-discoveries-of-ancient-carved-stones-in-northumberland-a-work-in-progress/feed/ 2 prehistoricrockcarvingsinnorthumberland rock-4-the-biggie rock 6 Weetwood at the new cairn. back-from-radio-panel-rock-7-next-to-path-feb-09 rock 4 pic taken Feb 09 rock 4 - the big one in the plantation. Feb 09 rock-5-movable-in-plantation-feb-09 the portable stone in the plantation north of main panel April 2009 rock 6 at the new cairn west of plantation rock-6-near-cairn-feb-09 panel near radio mast feb 09 back-from-radio-panel-rock-7-next-to-path-feb-091 q-is-this-rock-8-newly-found-in-heather-towards-circle-of-three-feb-09 rock-8-feb-2009 located in heather before group of three. This looks like the first of the group of three arriving from the west ie from radio panel. Main panel Weetwood Feb 2009 new to me south west of Weetwood main panel march 2009 - a poor quality pic in the plantation at rock 4 Weetwood April 2009 Out with the lad.....2008/9. stone ten weetwood stone ten weetwood near fobberry drive turn in this looks like the first of the group of three at Weetwood. westerly group of three weetwood 004 005 006 Seemingly obviously placed portable rock Caller Crags. Highly worked top surface and vertical fissures. 002 corrected image 003 014 aotocorrect 009 auto correct 007 011 029 027 028 023