<< Our Photo Pages >> Bellshiel Law - Chambered Cairn in England in Northumberland
Submitted by vicky on Tuesday, 03 December 2002 Page Views: 7235
Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Bellshiel LawCountry: England County: Northumberland Type: Chambered Cairn
Nearest Town: Otterburn Nearest Village: Rochester
Map Ref: NT8131601173 Landranger Map Number: 80
Latitude: 55.304295N Longitude: 2.295851W
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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Anne T visited on 28th May 2017 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 5 Access: 5 Bellshiel Law, Otterburn Ranges: It felt very strange driving onto the Otterburn Ranges with no red flags flying and no military around – I felt like I was trespassing. The ranges are absolutely huge – the Access map and Guide says they cover 90 square miles. We saw 3 other cars all day, 2 of those from a long distance, and 3 cyclists.
Bellshiel Law can be reached by a military road approx. 2 km on the western side of Rochester. The start to this road system is quite complex, but we headed left and left again taking us up over Bellshiel Road. AT NT 81079 01161 the road forks. At this point take the right hand fork. The cairn comes into view on the right hand side of the road. There is a small parking area underneath a natural crag at NT 81267 01260. My first reaction was “Wow, this is huge”.
Narrow trackways through the grass lead you to the cairn, which is fenced off and labelled “Archaeological Area” and “Out of bounds to Troops”. A gate (difficult to open with all the marren grass around it, but managed to squeeze through) lets you into the cairn. It is large – Pastscape recording it as 367 feet long and 52 feet wide at its eastern end, with a maximum height of 6ft (1932 measurements), which translates to 109m long, varying in width from 8.8m at the west end to 15m at the broader east end, maximum height of 1.6m (1994 English Heritage Scheduling).
Someone has built a sheep pen on the southern side, presumably using stones from the cairn. Walking along the stones at the side of the cairn, largely turf covered, I spotted a number of circular ‘rooms’ inside the cairn, with one oblong shape. Called a long cairn by Pastscape, they record “the cairn on the whole, was found to contain no structural remains of an earlier period (ie cists, chambers, revetments internal structures ….. and cannot be dated any earlier than Early Bronze Age and possibly later.”
Great views to the south to the River North Tyne Valley and beyond.
This cairn, sited on the Otterburn Ranges, can only be reached when the Military aren't carrying out training or live firing exercises, but is well worth making the trip to see this impressive long stone structure.
This cairn is recorded as Pastscape Monument No. 263, which tells us the cairn "measures 109m long and varies on width from 8.8m at the west end to 15m at the broader east end. It has a maximum height of 1.6m. The north side is partially turf-covered but the remainder of its length consists entirely of bare stone. A stone walled enclosure is attached to the south side of the cairn is a later features re-using stones from the cairn .... this elongated stone mound occupies the crest of a narrow ridge in open moorland at about 1010 feet above sea level."
Also a scheduled monument, more information can be found at Historic England List Entry 1009459, which adds: "the monument includes a prehistoric long cairn situated 200m south-east of the summit of Bellshiel Law."
Six cairns are to be found some 150 metres to the south/south east, centred on NT 8143 0105, although these are mostly low mounds and it will be easier to find them when the grass has died back.
For access times check with Otterburn Ranges.
The Ranges are usually open to the public on Bank Holidays and live firing is suspended during lambing time (although sheep and lambs on the roads usually make for slow driving around the Ranges!). The cairn is fenced off to prevent damage by the military, with a small parking area adjacent on a spur of the Bellshiel Road at NT 81264 01259.
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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
57m SE 132° Bellshiel Law 1d Rock Art (NT8135801135)
82m SE 124° Bellshiel Law 1e Rock Art (NT8138401127)
83m SE 129° Bellshiel Law 1f Rock Art (NT8138001120)
158m W 280° Bellshiel Law 1c Rock Art (NT8116001200)
159m W 281° Bellshiel Law 1b Rock Art (NT8116001204)
253m NW 308° Bellshiel Law 1g Rock Art (NT8111801331)
390m WSW 250° Bellshiel Law 1a Rock Art (NT8094901039)
585m SSE 161° Bellshiel Law 2d Rock Art (NT8150600619)
595m SSE 158° Bellshiel Law 2c Rock Art (NT8153400619)
608m SSE 158° Bellshiel Law 2b Rock Art (NT8154600609)
614m SSE 158° Bellshiel Law 2a Rock Art (NT8154200601)
724m SSE 158° Bellshiel Law 2e Rock Art (NT8158800501)
1.2km SW 214° Bellshiel Law 2f Rock Art (NT8064400188)
2.3km WNW 294° Dour Hill (Rochester)* Chambered Cairn (NT79230212)
2.3km WNW 294° Dour Hill Long Cairn a Rock Art (NT7920302130)
2.3km WNW 294° Dour Hill Long Cairn b* Rock Art (NT7920302142)
2.3km WNW 294° Dour Hill Long Cairn d & e Rock Art (NT7920002140)
2.4km WNW 294° Dour Hill Long Cairn c* Rock Art (NT7917002158)
2.6km S 181° Burdhope (Rochester)* Ancient Village or Settlement (NY8128098584)
3.4km W 275° Byrness Forest Office Site Rock Art (NT7794101470)
3.4km SSE 152° Rochester (Otterburn)* Modern Stone Circle etc (NY8293998149)
3.9km W 266° Three Kings* Stone Circle (NT7742500922)
3.9km SE 140° Bremenium Roman tumulus* Artificial Mound (NY8384098165)
4.3km NE 43° Ridlees Cairn* Cairn (NT8426204308)
4.6km N 5° Inner Golden Pot (Otterburn)* Marker Stone (NT81730571)
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