BeakerUK
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Edited Jul 04, 2006, 21:07
Northumberland
Jul 04, 2006, 18:07
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Everyone has been so helpful here when I have asked for suggestions about visiting Cumbria and Cornwall, I wanted to seek your wise advice for an upcoming trip to Northumberland.
This time I will be dragging my long suffering mother around with me and my list of places to see currently looks like this:
Blawearie Cairn, Duddo five stones, Hethpool stone circle, Howick ancient village and reconstructed roundhouse, Lordenshaw rock art, Lune Head stone circle, Roughting Linn rock art, the Goatstones, the Matfen Stone and the Three kings four poster stone circle.
On initial hunting around here, they seem to be interesting-looking sites which are not too difficult to get to (though I haven't had the maps out to check this yet). I am not a huge fan of rock art (I am sorry!) hence only two rock art sites being there.
Am I missing anything utterly fantastic? Have I made any huge blunders with my choices? I would, as ever, be humbly grateful for any suggestions you have to offer!
With many thanks as always,
BeakerUK
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rocknicker
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nothing to add (yet) but I just wanted to add a reply so people could get into the thread!
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Hob
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rocknicker wrote: ... so people could get into the thread!
Try and stop me... I could waffle for weeks. Here's my halfpennorth:
Hiya Beaker, Duddo, Three Kings, Lordenshaw, Matfen and Roughting Linn are all worth a visit, and though Hethpool isn't much to look at, it's got a nice feel, and is in a good spot. Threestone Burn wood is a better circle, but not as easy to get to, and spoiled by the trees, so give it a miss. Assuming the Howick reconstruction is the one at the Maelmin trail ( I can't think of any others) then it's worth a nip in between Duddo and Routing Linn. In a similar vein Brigantium might be worth a visit when you go to Three Kings.
I've not been to Blawearie Cairn, but seem to know that the track up to that bit of the moor is a bit rough, so if you ditch the car at the Village and proceed on foot, Old Bewick is well worth a wander past, it's more or less on the way.
Goatstones is nice enough, but can be rather underwhelming. If a slightly longer walk is feasible, you could park at Sewingshields, on the other side of Simonburn Common, which will put you within walking distance of Haughton Common circle, which is not awesome, but is in an gorgeous landscape and has oodles of that good old 'lost on the moors' remoteness and timelessness. Bearing in mind the walk, and the fact that it's not right on the fublic pootfath, Goatstones is probably a better bet. With either of them, if you had a bit of time afterwards, the Great Swinburne stone isn't terribly awkward to get to, as long as you ask the posh folks in the big house. I couldn't say for Lune Head, as I've not been.
Other lesser possibilities include the relocated stone at Wallington Hall, can't fault it for easy access, but it's a bit sad, 'cos it's been faffed about with. If you're heading down to Blawearie Cairns/Old Bewick from the north, Ewe Hill is right next to the road, and has a certain amount of stumpy charm. Neither of them are particularly fantastic though. I think you've made a good sensible list there Beaker. Northumberland is short on circles, the standing stones are few and far between, and the long cairns are all remote. So if you're not on a rock art/hillfort tour, your list covers just about everything that's worth seeing and is reasonably accessible (and isn't rock art or hillorts). But that's a whole separate waffle in itself. The two RA sites are good examples, and both within spitting distance of parking. So good choice there too.
One thing to watch out for, if you end up looking for stuff on the OSmap when you get one, don't be tempted by the Circle on Dod Moor, as it's a right pain to get to in bracken season, the paths on the map are iffy, and there's only one stone standing now. All the other circles are 'blink and you miss em' jobs, lost in bracken/heather.
Hope you and your Ma have a grand time Beaker, feel free to get in touch via mail if you want tedious levels of waffley detail about any of those sites I've been to :)
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rocknicker
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there is a reconstruction at Howick, Hob
http://www.archaeologicalresearchservices.com/content/projects/howickhut.htm
http://www.archaeologicalresearchservices.com/content/projects/howick.htm
near Craster, where the kippers live ;)
(sorry can't remember how to do the links thingy)
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BeakerUK
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Thank you a hundred times over, Hob!! See, I knew there would be clever people here who could offer sage words. I clearly need to do the map thing and come up with a more detailed plan of action now.
A very grateful Beaker :-)
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BeakerUK
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Yes, Rocknicker, that's the one. I was only partly swayed by the fact that the lovely Dr Alice Roberts had a hand in its making on the TV series Coast, but I also love the reconstructed things at Flag Fen near Peterborough, so it had to go on my list!
Beaker
(Incidentally, apologies for not putting a topic title in my first post. It's hot and my class are completely wild with the end of term coming up, so the brain is fried. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!)
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Hob
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Glad to be of assistance :)
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Hob
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rocknicker wrote: near Craster, where the kippers live
Tarnation. Was at Craster at the weekend and nearly went to Rumbling Kern, which is the next field up from that site. There's a few bits of that coast that could be worth visiting. Meso-huts, cups-from-walls* and apparently a couple of shoreline cists at Beadnell.
*And from the sea, as you well know ;)
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