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Sites Anne T has logged on trip number: 61 (View all trips)
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Bolam Round Cairn (Northumberland)
Trip No.61 Entry No.1 Date Added: 27th Nov 2017
Site Type: Round Cairn
Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 26th Nov 2017. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 4 Access 4
Bolam Round Cairn (Northumberland) submitted by Anne T on 26th Nov 2017. Approaching the cairn from the east-south-east. The old excavations have really removed the centre of the cairn. Was the stone part of the cairn, a gate post (as HE and Pastscape say) or a rubbing stone?
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Log Text: Bolam Bronze Age Round Cairn, near Belsay, Northumberland: Although the sun was shining and the photos largely make this site look like we’ve seen it on a summer’s day, the temperature was 2 degrees C and removing my glove for a few minutes to take photographs made my normally very warm hands icy cold.
Walking along the footpath (which a notice at the field gate said was blocked at Foulmartlaw), the first thing we noticed was the very prominent ridge and furrow ploughing, which seemed to be the same in all the other fields around the estate.
Approaching the cairn from its eastern side, it seemed like a large bite had been taken out of the middle. A stone was standing in the middle of the ‘bite’. Pastscape and Historic England say this is a gatepost. BUT - if this was a gatepost, there was no evidence of a field system or boundary matching this. And where was it’s matching stone?
There was a second stone at NZ 09356 82201, some 50 metres away, which was lying with its base in a hollow with some packing stones, which indicated it had stood upright at some point. It is not mentioned on either Pastscape or Historic England entries.
A third, smaller boulder, poked its way out of the ground half way between the cairn and this stone. I photographed it just in case it was associated with the cairn.