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<< Our Photo Pages >> Goatstones Four-Poster - Stone Circle in England in Northumberland

Submitted by vicky on Tuesday, 03 December 2002  Page Views: 14867

Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Goatstones Four-Poster Alternative Name: ERA-1431 to 1434 incl; ERA-2045; Beckensall 723-726 incl & 1117; SAM 25065; SMR/HER N7833; NMR 16849
Country: England County: Northumberland Type: Stone Circle
Nearest Town: Haydon Bridge / Bellingham  Nearest Village: Simonburn / Wark
Map Ref: NY8294074709  Landranger Map Number: 86
Latitude: 55.066555N  Longitude: 2.268664W
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
 5 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.
 3 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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I have visited· I would like to visit

SandyG visited on 23rd Jun 2018 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 4 Access: 4

bishop_pam visited on 28th Aug 2017 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 4 Access: 4

Anne T visited on 30th Jun 2014 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 4 Access: 4 There are a couple of parking spaces next to 'Manor House' on Ward Lane, just below Ravensheugh Crags, and followed the footpath up to the crags, turning right up to the stone circle. It is an easy walk, with spectacular views - the visibility was around 30 miles - we could see the Cheviot Hills in the distance. The stones of this unusual four poster stone circle are low to the ground (with other outlying stones buried in the grass around?) but very atmospheric. It feels very remote, with very little noise apart from birdsong, although there is a steady (but small) stream of traffic along Ward Lane. There are very definite cup marks on the eastern most stone, and other possible cups on the southern most stone (now partly toppled and hidden by marsh grass). We met the farmer from Great Lonbrough, at the very end of the footpath, and he told us more about the hut circles and cairns in the fields below. We checked the Portal when we got home and were inspired by the photographs of the rock art at Goatstones, so we intend to go back and look again in the next few weeks and look at these, plus also walk along to Standingstone Rigg. Will most definitely visit again.

BolshieBoris visited on 5th Aug 2009 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 4 Access: 3 Lovely isolated spot, small 4-poster.



Average ratings for this site from all visit loggers: Condition: 4 Ambience: 4 Access: 3.75

Goatstones Four-Poster
Goatstones Four-Poster submitted by Bladup : Goatstones Four-Poster. (Vote or comment on this photo)
Stone Circle in Northumberland

Both Beckensall and NADRAP have recorded cup marks on the stones of this charming four-poster. For more information about the rock art panels see England's Rock Art entries for:

ERA-1431 Goatstones The Four Poster - West 1 and Internet Archive: Beckensall 725 Goatstones The Four-Poster West;
ERA-1432 Goatstones The Four Poster - North 2 and Internet Archive: Beckensall 723 Goatstones The Four-Poster North;
ERA-1433 Goatstones The Four Poster - South 3 and Internet Archive: Beckensall 724 Goatstones The Four-Poster South; and
ERA-1434 Goatstones The Four Poster - East 4 and Internet Archive: Beckensall 726 Goatstones The Four-Poster East.

The ERA entries include NADRAP's notes, Beckensall's Archives Notes and descriptions, photographs, panoramic photographs, sketches of the stones and their motifs, plus photogrammetry, VRML/QTVR models and media from the Beckensall Archive.

England's Rock Art also has a summary page for this site - see their entry for ERA-2045 Goatstones The Four Poster Site, which holds Stan Beckensall's Archive Notes, which read: "According to the tenant farmer, Mr Lee, small shaped standing stones mark an area of common quarry rights for limestone. The Ravensheugh scarp has a profile of limestone overlying massive sandstone, and to the south is coal."

"When Mr Honeyman inspected this site in 1931 he thought that he could detect an undisturbed rise in the centre, but later there were only signs of untidy digging. Aubrey Burl says that the four stones belong to a type called a ‘four poster’, most commonly found in Perthshire. Generally there are four stones set in a rectangle whose sides average 16’ (4.88m) east to west by 14’ (18.59m) north to south. The stones are usually graded in height and ‘a quarter of the sites have cupmarks, but these, unlike the tallest stone, are invariably on the eastern side, nearly always on the south east stone.’ He declares them to be ‘primarily sepulchral,’ having cremations that date to about 1800BC."

The reported rise in the centre of this one may have been such a location. A few metres to the east of the ‘circle’ are the remains of a cairn." [please note the 'cairn' is now thought to be the earth removed from the centre of the four poster]. The original Beckensall record can be found at Internet Archive: Beckensall 1117 Goatstones The Four Poster.

This four poster is located on Open Access land.
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Goatstones Four-Poster
Goatstones Four-Poster submitted by Postman : Looking a long way north. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Goatstones Four-Poster
Goatstones Four-Poster submitted by SandyG : View from west (Scale 1m). (Vote or comment on this photo)

Goatstones Four-Poster
Goatstones Four-Poster submitted by SandyG : View from north west (Scale 1m). (Vote or comment on this photo)

Goatstones Four-Poster
Goatstones Four-Poster submitted by SandyG : Cup marked stone. View from north east (Scale 1m). (Vote or comment on this photo)

Goatstones Four-Poster
Goatstones Four-Poster submitted by SandyG : View from south east (Scale 1m). (Vote or comment on this photo)

Goatstones Four-Poster
Goatstones Four-Poster submitted by SandyG : View from above and north west (Scale 1m).

Goatstones Four-Poster
Goatstones Four-Poster submitted by Postman : Big skies of Northumberland.

Goatstones Four-Poster
Goatstones Four-Poster submitted by Postman : Goatstones crag

Goatstones Four-Poster
Goatstones Four-Poster submitted by Postman : Cup marked stone on the left.

Goatstones Four-Poster
Goatstones Four-Poster submitted by Postman : I love four posters, don't know why, just do.

Goatstones Four-Poster
Goatstones Four-Poster submitted by Anne T : Walking along the footpath to the Goatstones Four Poster Stone Circle, we spotted to the left hand side the first of what might be a series of dismantled cairns, with clear upright stones still in place, and burial chamber exposed. The more we looked, the more there was to see, and we're definitely going back to look at other rock art nearer to Goatstones Farm.

Goatstones Four-Poster
Goatstones Four-Poster submitted by Anne T : Goatstones Four Poster Stone Circle: close up of possible cup mark on the top of the southern-most (partly toppled) stone.

Goatstones Four-Poster
Goatstones Four-Poster submitted by Anne T : Close up of cup marks on the top surface on the eastern-most stone.

Goatstones Four-Poster
Goatstones Four-Poster submitted by Anne T : Goatstones Four Poster Stone Circle: photograph of stone with clear cup marks on the top surface.

Goatstones Four-Poster
Goatstones Four-Poster submitted by Anne T : Goatstones Four Poster Stone Circle, taken from the southern side, looking out towards the Cheviot Hills in the far distance - what a view!

Goatstones Four-Poster
Goatstones Four-Poster submitted by Bladup : Goatstones Four-Poster.

Goatstones Four-Poster
Goatstones Four-Poster submitted by Bladup : Two of the stones Goatstones Four-Poster.

Goatstones Four-Poster
Goatstones Four-Poster submitted by Bladup : Goatstones Four-Poster.

Goatstones Four-Poster
Goatstones Four-Poster submitted by Bladup

Goatstones Four-Poster
Goatstones Four-Poster submitted by Bladup

Goatstones Four-Poster
Goatstones Four-Poster submitted by bolshieboris : The Goatstones from the North, Lughnasadh 2009

Goatstones Four-Poster
Goatstones Four-Poster submitted by wolfnighthunter : The Goatstones (2 comments)

Goatstones Four-Poster
Goatstones Four-Poster submitted by wolfnighthunter

Goatstones Four-Poster
Goatstones Four-Poster submitted by wolfnighthunter (2 comments)

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"Goatstones Four-Poster" | Login/Create an Account | 5 News and Comments
  
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Re: Goatstones Four-Poster by Anne T on Thursday, 02 April 2015
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At a recent talk organised by the Tynedale North of the Wall Archaeology Group (26th March 2015), archaeologist Pete Schofield from Oxford Archaeology talked about the recent survey of Ravensheugh Crags which encompassed all 44 rock art boulders and the Goatstones Four-Poster. He told us that this four-poster was definitely associated with funerary rites. From photographs, they had been able to identify that in the 1930s there had been a mound of earth between the stones. By the 1970s this earth had been moved to one side of the stones (clearly seen in the photograph he showed us as part of his presentation). What had been discovered in the mound was unknown. Fascinating! I'd love to get hold of a full copy of his report to explore the other Goatstones Rock Art boulders.
[ Reply to This ]

Rock Art : Exploration of an enigma. The case of Ravensheugh Crags by Andy B on Tuesday, 24 March 2015
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Once upon a time there were two known archaeological features near Ravensheugh Crags, west of Simonburn among the upland escarpments of the North Tyne valley. Beneath the crags there lie the remains of hut circles attributed to the Bronze Age, and up on the ridge there is a small stone circle. Both are designated scheduled ancient monuments.

The Goatstones Stone Circle is of the ‘Four Poster’ type, the vast majority of which are found much further north in Perthshire and Aberdeenshire. Immediately visible on the top of the north-eastern stone are dozen cup-marks.

Closer examination by Stan Beckensall revealed
small numbers of less obvious cup-marks on the surfaces of each of
the four stones. Within a few hundred metres of the four poster
circle Stan recorded half a dozen further stones bearing simple
cup-marks. For many years that was it.

Then in 2004, as part of Newcastle University’s Beckensall Rock Art Archives Project Stan revisited the site with fellow researcher Dr. Aron Mazel. Their discoveries on this occasion brought the number of recorded decorated stones, in addition to the Four Poster, to 16.

In their 2012 survey of the area Phil and Anne Bowyer discovered a further 6 decorated earthfast stones and in 2013 further discoveries by volunteers during the joint Northumberland National Park/ Altogether Archaeology survey brought the total number of recorded stones at the site to more than 30.

More at
http://tynedalearchaeologygroup.btck.co.uk/Articles/RockArt
[ Reply to This ]

Re: Goatstones by BolshieBoris on Wednesday, 05 August 2009
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Visited the site shortly before Sunset on 2-8-09 (Lughnasadh), lovely location with panoramic views in all directions. It is a bit further than 100m from the road, more like 500-600m, but an easy walk along a cart track, when it is met by another track joining from the left head up a small pathway from the junction and there they are. Reminiscent of the Druids Altar 4-poster near Grassington/Malham but no mound, the tallest stone (south) is toppled, but otherwise the site is intact. The cup-marked stone is to the east.

Possibilities of a further circle which the track passes through close to the bottom of the crags, two stones appear ancient/standing either side of the trackway, with a number of possibles, about 10m diameter if it is a circle or the remains of one.
[ Reply to This ]
    Re: Goatstones by Anne T on Tuesday, 23 September 2014
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    Just to note that we thought the same as BolshieBoris, that the track leading from Ward Lane cut through another circle. On our visit on 21st September 2014 we looked again. There are two stones sitting either side of the path, which look similar to the ones in the four poster, but more regularly shaped.
    As we walked up to see the Rock Art on top of the crags we noticed another stone, south of the trig point, identical to the ones either side of the trackway below the crags; so we came to the conclusion that they were some kind of relatively modern boundary/land markers rather than standing stones. Shame!
    But if anyone else visits this site, I'd love to hear their opinion.
    [ Reply to This ]

Re: Goatstones by Hobson on Monday, 08 November 2004
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'Four Poster', situated just over the rise of a line of crags. One of the stones has cup marks on the top, the others may have been carved/enhanced, or it could just be weathering. The faint traces of a central burial can be discrened only by vague difference in vegetation.

There are huts circles a couple of hundred yards to the south. Cup marks and grooves have been reported near these, which makes it quite possible there are more on the crags, though these have been heavily quarried.

It's close to a decent trackway, with about 100m to the nearest road.
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