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<< Our Photo Pages >> Five Kings - Stone Row / Alignment in England in Northumberland

Submitted by vicky on Thursday, 06 February 2003  Page Views: 14599

Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Five Kings
Country: England County: Northumberland Type: Stone Row / Alignment
Nearest Town: Rothbury  Nearest Village: Hepple / Holystone
Map Ref: NT9574000102  Landranger Map Number: 81
Latitude: 55.295011N  Longitude: 2.068633W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
4 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
4 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
4 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
5

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SandyG visited on 22nd Jun 2018 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 3 Access: 2 Limited car parking is available at NT 95789 02379. From here follow the footpath south westward to the row. In common with most rows next to forestry watch out for ticks, but another hazard here was clouds of flies – fortunately of the non biting variety.

Anne T couldn't find on 1st Jan 2017 - their rating: Access: 3 Five Kings, near Grasslees, Northumberland: The easiest access looked as if it was from the footpath near Ovenstone Plantation off the B6341, just past Grasslees. Parking off the road at the entrance to the footpath, we headed off up the track - easy walking at this stage. 100 metres up the track there was a gate/stile with two display boards. Neither bore any similarity to each other, or to the OS map. We had intended walking up the footpath to its fork, 100 metres further up, then take the right hand fork following the stone wall up past The Long Chirn and Woodhouses to the Five Kings. Sadly (presumably being military land) this part of the footpath no longer exists and the walking was difficult (very tussocky, marshy ground). When the heavens opened (despite the weather forecast saying it would be fine!), we contemplated finding a second footpath through Dueshill Farm but it would be dark by the time we reached the stone row, so we decided to go somewhere else and headed back to the car and try another route on a better day. I was so disappointed, as this was a stone row I'd loved to have seen, but the Tosson Tower and Lordenshaw had to suffice for this afternoon.



Average ratings for this site from all visit loggers: Access: 2.5

Five Kings
Five Kings submitted by SandyG : View from south west. (Vote or comment on this photo)
A Row (Alignment) of Five Stones, one of which has fallen, in Northumberland

Update October 2019: The Five Kings Stone Row is featured on the Stone Rows of Great Britain website, which includes a description, a plan of the row from a recent survey carried out in June 2018, photographs of the alignment and the individual stones, access information and a list of online resources for more information.

The row is also recorded as Pastscape Monument No. 1682 and scheduled as Historic England List Entry No. 1009448(Stone alignment, 900m south-west of Holystone Grange). The Pastscape entry tells us that "one of the stones had been used as a gatepost, the other four are still in situ".
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Five Kings
Five Kings submitted by Strider : Five Kings, Northumberland NT955001 Alignment of four large, irregular stones - the fifth may have fallen but I could not be certain. (1 comment - Vote or comment on this photo)

Five Kings
Five Kings submitted by SandyG : View from south. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Five Kings
Five Kings submitted by SandyG : Plan of the Five Kings stone row (Source: 1:100 survey by Sandy Gerrard). The green slab is recumbent. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Five Kings
Five Kings submitted by SandyG : Looking west along the row (Scale 1m). (Vote or comment on this photo)

Five Kings
Five Kings submitted by SandyG : View from south east (Scale 1m). (Vote or comment on this photo)

Five Kings
Five Kings submitted by Bladup : Five Kings stone row. This is how overgrown it gets in summer.

Five Kings
Five Kings submitted by SandyG : View from the north east.

Five Kings
Five Kings submitted by SandyG : The recumbent slab. View from the north (Scale 1m).

Five Kings
Five Kings submitted by SandyG : View from north east.

Five Kings
Five Kings submitted by SandyG : View from above and west.

Five Kings
Five Kings submitted by SandyG : View from north. The ranging rod is standing beside the recumbent slab (Scale 1m).

Five Kings
Five Kings submitted by SandyG : View from south east (Scale 1m).

Five Kings
Five Kings submitted by Bladup : Five Kings stone row. This is how overgrown it gets in summer.

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Stone Rows of Great Britain by Sandy Gerrard


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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
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 7.4km E 91° Great Tosson Enclosure* Ancient Village or Settlement (NU03130003)
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"Five Kings" | Login/Create an Account | 5 News and Comments
  
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Re: Five Kings by Anonymous on Monday, 16 September 2019
The stones are aligned due east-west. More probably east as the hill to the west would have obscured the setting sun whereas the rising sun to the east is easily seen. This suggests that their alignment had something to do with the rising, or setting, sun. Perhaps as a marker or reminder to plant crops or perform ceremonies. Admittedly this is in 2019 so it would be necessary to to check back to see the exact angle at certain times of the year 3,000 or more years ago. The stones are midway between the top of Daw's Hill and the valley floor with its stream, which may have been larger in Paleolithic times. The hill itself was obviously a tribal camp of some sort, probably fortified with ditches and brushwood, as were many of the hills around. Together with the stones and the river this suggests te area was a prosperous encampment of dwellers over a consistent and considerable period. It's hard to iagine the necessary effort and organisation needed just to survive in predominantly cold and bleak conditions as hunter/gatherers with a bit of agriculture. Raising stones like this would have taken a massive leap in confidence and effort. We came across them on a walk and there also looks to be other geographic features that could be plantation ridges, defensive ditches and possibl even barrows that would repay a proper site survey and further study.
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Re: Five Kings by Hobson on Monday, 01 November 2004
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Strider asks why are these here and not elsewhere. Before visiting, I'd have hazarded a guess that they're here due to the view to the 'scared' hill of Simonside (which today you can't see due to the conifer plantation). But having had a gander at these stones, I'm not so sure.

The approach from the northern path on the map is the easiest, from the Holywell-Hepple road.

For Northumberland, stones of 2m height are a rarity, they even reached above the bracken, making them easy to spot.
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Re: Five Kings by LenW on Wednesday, 19 February 2003
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There are only 4 kings left. According to a local book. (Upper Coquetdale by D.D. Dixon written around 1900), the fifth king was taken away to be used as a gatepost in the 19th century
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Re: Five Kings by Strider on Tuesday, 04 February 2003
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These large stones are difficult to reach, due to the lack of convenient footpaths.
This area has many sites of historical interest, but the Five Kings has got to be the most thought provoking.
The postion in the landscape seems strange and without reason - why was this place chosen?
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