Millstone Burn 2c

Trip No.67  Entry No.1  Date Added: 23rd Feb 2018
Site Type: Rock Art Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 21st Feb 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Millstone Burn 2a, Longframlington: Making the most of a bright, sunny day, before the 'Polar Vortex' was supposed to hit the UK, we decided to go looking for the standing stone and the main rock here, before heading off to find Castle Hill Hillfort at nearby Callaly.

Parking alongside the very fast A697 was fun, but there was a small tarmacked area next to a gate and track at NU 11858 05078. As the gate hadn't been used in a long time, judging by the gorse growing around it, we decided to risk it and if the farmer needed access, we could run back to the car to move it.

Heading up the track, we passed a large square boulder standing on smaller stones, that looked like it had been quarried. 36 paces further west, right next to the track was a cup marked stone. I took the grid reference off the GPS and later identified it as Millstone Burn 2c from ERA.

The boulder was heavily covered in moss, but we could make out more cups running along the ridge, and some down its side. Not wanting to cause any damage or erosion, we left the moss, and headed up the slope to the main rock.

I'd spotted ranging poles in the field further to the south west, and a few cars parked nearby, but didn't spot anyone. What a place for rock art. A real treat, and for me really accessible. I could have spent several days here, and ear-marked it to come back to at a later date.

Millstone Burn 4a

Trip No.67  Entry No.2  Date Added: 24th Feb 2018
Site Type: Rock Art Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 21st Feb 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 5 Access 4

Log Text: Millstone Burn 4a, Longframlington: Following the hollow way up the hill (wellies or good walking boots were needed, as the ground was very boggy in parts), as we approached the fence at the top of the hill, this moss and grass covered outcrop looked like a large cairn at first sight. Following the fence line north for about 100 metres to the gate giving access into this field and stepping up onto the slope, the motifs immediately came into view.

Initially only having come here to see the cross base carved into the rock (not having done any research into this before I came) I was taken aback by the sheer number of the cups and cups and rings here.

With great views across the moors, I was reluctant to leave. Must come back here with ERA's sketch of the rock to appreciate it more fully. And see the rest of the rock art around here. Brilliant.

Millstone Burn 2h

Trip No.67  Entry No.3  Date Added: 24th Feb 2018
Site Type: Rock Art Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 21st Feb 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Millstone Burn 2h, Longframlington: Walking down from the main outcrop, Millstone Burn 4a, back to the car, we had the grid reference for this stone, so decided to detour and find it. From the hollow way near the gate into the field by the A697, a small trackway heads north towards this grid reference. Following this for 150 metres, and having passed some larger, very smooth outcrops, we came upon this apparently unprepossessing stone. "Is that it?" I asked my husband, who, as usual, was a hundred metres of so ahead of me as he's a faster walker. "Yes, come closer and you'll see" was his reply.

As I came up to the stone, these remarkable motifs came into view. "Wow!" was my instinctive reaction.

Fortunately, we had strong sunlight which brought the motifs out beautifully, and I took around 50 or so photographs. Needing to move onto our next stop, we retraced our path to the car, but I wondered what made the carvers of this rock choose this small rock - it there more under the turf? There were much larger, more prominent outcrops around. Curious, but I expect I'll never know.

Knowing there is so much rock art up here, I'll need to study ERA and make another (at least day-long) trip. Brilliant!

Millstone Burn Standing Stone

Trip No.67  Entry No.4  Date Added: 20th Mar 2018
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 21st Feb 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Millstone Burn Standing Stone, Longframlington: After having seen the cross base and some of the rock art on the western side of the road, we crossed the A697 and let ourselves into the field on the eastern side of the road, which is also Open Access land. It was a good job we had a GPS, as there were plenty of other upright and earthfast boulders in this field.

My attention was first caught by what looked like an old hollow way, travelling eastwards across the field, ending in a gorse-covered hollow with a large grey stone within. Judging by the mound of rubbish around here, it looks like a local picnic spot, which was a shame. After having photographed this large, grey stone, I made my way to where my husband was standing by the standing stone, where the ground starts to slope down towards the burn. "Is that really a standing stone?" was my first question, as there were so many other boulders in the field. "Come and look", he replied.

This is a really odd shaped stone, strangely reminiscent of the larger stone at Simonburn/Davy's Lee stone circle, with a 'seat' in its edge. The eastern face of this rock is champfered towards its base, the sloping rock disappearing into the turf.

The 'cup' and 'grooves' at first sight looked like very deep cups and weathered grooves. I remember two different archaeologists at our Davy's Lee and Edges Green surveys telling me similar features were more likely to be solution holes (the rock being dissolved slowly over the years as acidic water accumulates in natural depressions); similarly water channels are formed and widen through natural water action. I would like to think these might have started off as cups and grooves - more romantic, somehow. Pastscape does describe this as "not a typical standing stone" and it is recorded as ERA-558. The ERA record also notes that the path I followed down to the erratic and field boundary "is the line of an old track way, marked by hollow-ways, heading from Millstone Burn onto Longframlington Moor."

Callaly Castle Hillfort

Trip No.67  Entry No.5  Date Added: 20th Mar 2018
Site Type: Hillfort Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 21st Feb 2018. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 3

Log Text: Castle Hill Hillfort, Callaly: After Millstone Burn Standing stone, there was time for one more visit before dusk. Andrew had marked this site on the map, so we drove round to the permissive footpath which led up through the deciduous wood to the top of the hill.

It was a very good job that we’d worn wellies, as the path was ankle deep in mud in parts. The site was so overgrown that we barely recognised the outer defences as we approached from the north west,

The interior of the hillfort was very rocky. Whilst the plan of the hillfort looks fascinating, much of it is hidden by the tall bracken and trees growing within and without. Some great fungi and a lovely walk, though.