<< Our Photo Pages >> St John Lee Church (Oakwood Stone) - Rock Art in England in Northumberland
Submitted by Modern-Neolithic on Monday, 24 June 2013 Page Views: 4674
Rock ArtSite Name: St John Lee Church (Oakwood Stone) Alternative Name: ERA-716; Beckensall 754; SMR/HER N8606; Oakwood Stone; Church of St John of BeverleyCountry: England
NOTE: This site is 0.807 km away from the location you searched for.
County: Northumberland Type: Rock Art
Nearest Town: Hexham Nearest Village: Acomb
Map Ref: NY9329865718
Latitude: 54.986011N Longitude: 2.106263W
Condition:
5 | Perfect |
4 | Almost Perfect |
3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
0 | No data. |
-1 | Completely destroyed |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
4 | Short walk on a footpath |
3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
2 | A long walk |
1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
0 | No data. |
5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
0 | no data |
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SolarMegalith visited on 14th Jun 2016 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 4 Access: 5
Anne T visited on 14th Sep 2014 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 3 Access: 5 St John Lee Rock Art, near Hexham. Also known as The Oakwood Stone: We’ve been to St John Lee Church near Acomb a few years ago, as it is only 6 miles from our house, when our interests lay in finding Roman remains reused within local churches. At the time I only had a small camera and wasn’t taking many photographs.
St. John Lee can be reached from the roundabout at the junction with the A69 and the A6079 turnoff to Hexham. Turning north from the roundabout opposite the A6079, drive along a small side road signposted to St John Lee. The road climbs uphill but levels out after about half a mile and just as the houses come into view there is a sharp left hand turn down a small single track road to the church.
The church is on the left hand side of the road, with the graveyard divided between both sides of this small road. There is room to park one car on the verge by the lych gate.
The Church itself is relatively modern: The Church of England web site tells me St John Lee was built in 1884, but it certainly contains some old relics, including this portable rock art stone, according to ADS “found approx. 1,000 metres east of the church, although this was still unlikely to be its original position.”
The stone is located in the porch of the church, which is sited at the west end, furthest away from the lych gate (although the path is smooth and disabled access is possible). We were a little taken aback that someone had very recently chain-sawed down two or three of the yew trees at either side of the path, and the church felt somewhat denuded as a result, although we had a clear view of the east end of the church as a result.
The stone itself is situated immediately to the right hand side of the door as you walk into the porch. The rock art motifs are striking, but someone has outlined the patterns using what looks like brown watercolour, which has sunk into the stone. Using my finger, I traced round the faint lines and found the marks to be accurate to the faint depressions in the rock.
There is no church guide book, which is a shame, but there is a framed description of the stone on the wall above the stone (there is a page of visitor notes in the porch which describes the painted memorial plaques, but nothing else that we could find).
Also within the porch, to the left hand side, is a Roman altar stone, the top of which has been chiselled out to house an old sundial.
On the wall facing you as you enter the porch, there are also some old grave covers and the remains of old carvings displayed. On the window sills there are also small stone fragments, but no explanation as to what they are.
Worth stopping by if you are passing.
NickyD have visited here
Average ratings for this site from all visit loggers: Condition: 3.5 Ambience: 3.5 Access: 5
A long slab or rock found under a beech tree by a dog walker on the ridge on which the church of St John Lee stands. The ridge is an important landscape feature, sitting above the floodplain. Stan Beckensall recorded the rock at its location on the ridge and noted that there were chain marks around it where it had been dragged from the field to join a pile of stone, and was not in its original place.
The motifs are arranged lengthways. At the top is a cup and serpentine groove with five concentric penannulars around it. The groove continues a meandering course down the rock, meeting two cups and ring motifs spaced widely apart. The top cup and ring is faintly joined to a cup and two rings, the outer ring touching the outer penannular of the main motif. Below it is a detached cup and ring. There are other faint cups and rings incorporated, which make the pattern more elaborate.
The slab is now displayed between the font and a Roman altar inside St John Lee Church. The stone does not appear to be mentioned in the history of St John Lee.
For more information see England's Rock Art entry for ERA-716 St John Lee Church, which includes both NADRAP's and Beckensall's descriptions, Beckensall's Archive notes, photographs, a sketch of the rock and its motifs, plus photogrammetry and media from the Beckensall Archive. ERA record access to this panel as being on Open Access land; the church is usually unlocked during daylight hours.
The original Beckensall record can be found at Internet Archive: Beckensall 754 St John Lee Church. The scheduling information for Historic England List ID 1044822 simply mentions 'a cup and ring stone' as part of the interior details of the church; there is no informaiton on Pastscape. The Journal of Antiquities also has an entry for The Oakwood Stone, St John Lee, Northumbria, which includes both a photograph and a drawing of the stone, a description and a brief history of the church.
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