<< Our Photo Pages >> Swinburne Stone - Standing Stone (Menhir) in England in Northumberland
Submitted by vicky on Tuesday, 03 December 2002 Page Views: 12322
Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Swinburne Stone Alternative Name: ERA-1478; Beckensall 736; NMR 19172; SAM 20936; SMR/HER N9290Country: England County: Northumberland Type: Standing Stone (Menhir)
Nearest Town: Hexham Nearest Village: Swinburne / Great Swinburne
Map Ref: NY9375574543 Landranger Map Number: 87
Latitude: 55.065319N Longitude: 2.099318W
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 29th Jul 2017 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 3 Access: 4
Anne T visited on 13th Jun 2014 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 4 We sought the landowner's permission prior to visiting the stone. We parked outside the Roman Catholic Church at Ox Hills, and walked back to the footpath leading firstly to Swinburne Castle, then splitting off to the left at a large tree to tumuli and the standing stone.
The footpath is easy walking. Almost immediately to the left are some impressive earthworks (possibly related to the original castle?) and some large terraces - much bigger than normal ridge and furrow ploughing. Websites from local historians say these may be medieval strip lynchets.
We first visited the tumuli just before a gate/field boundary crosses the path, before doubling back to the gate which allowed access to the field with the stone (there being sunken stone walls between the footpath and the field boundary, presumably allowing views of the stone from the upper floors of the castle (now private house).
The stone isn't visible from the footpath, but as soon as you top the brow of a small hill, the stone stands below you in the middle of the field.
The stone is impressive, being around 12 feet tall, and if the compass on my phone is correct (it switched 180 degrees several times during my visit) the wider faces are orientated north-north-west/south-south-east.
The southern face of the stone has some easily identifiable cup marks; generally there are quite a few initials carved into the stone.
There are also a couple of other tumuli, which are in private fields, but this is beautiful and peaceful part of the countryside, and we spent a very pleasant afternoon exploring.
Average ratings for this site from all visit loggers: Condition: 3.5 Ambience: 3.5 Access: 4
The rock art on this standing stone is recorded in England's Rock Art entry for ERA-1478 Swinburne Standing Stone, which includes NADRAP's notes, Beckensall's Archive Notes and description, photographs, a sketch of the stone and its motifs, plus photogrammetry and media from the Beckensall Archive.
Beckensall describes this as "the largest standing stone in the county ... The north face has four ovals and 14 other cups, some small; there are two prominent cups on the south face and 10 faint cups." NADRAP counted 10-12 cups on the south eastern face, about eight of them in a loose cluster. They add that many of the cups are elongated, possibly by extensive water erosion.
The original Beckensall record can be found at Internet Archive: Beckensall 736 Swinburne Standing Stone.
Please note this standing stone is located on private land.
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Wir möchten mehr über diese Stätte erfahren. Bitte zögern Sie nicht, eine kurze Beschreibung und relevante Informationen in Deutsch hinzuzufügen.
Nous aimerions en savoir encore un peu sur les lieux. S'il vous plaît n'hesitez pas à ajouter une courte description et tous les renseignements pertinents dans votre propre langue.
Quisieramos informarnos un poco más de las lugares. No dude en añadir una breve descripción y otros datos relevantes en su propio idioma.