Millstone Burn 4c

Trip No.71  Entry No.1  Date Added: 8th May 2018
Site Type: Rock Art Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 7th May 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: Millstone Burn 4c: It was so hot at home this morning that we decided to seek cooler climes. Husband had compiled a list of rock art panels that looked interesting and their grid references. After having found the gps, we set off for Longframlington, this time parking round the bend at a larger entrance to a slightly different field at NU 11525 05542. This meant walking through virtually knee high heather up to the top of the slope, but we found some paths had been mown through the heather. At the top of the hill, we had to clamber over a double barbed wire fence to get to the main outcrop (there wasn’t a gate for some way).

What we actually saw was Millstone Burn 4c at NU 11516 05169, part of the same outcrop as Millstone Burn 4a and 4b (thank heavens for GPS). Two cups were very obvious, together with some of the iron stone banding/staining. These two cups appeared to be joined by a very faint groove, which could be felt with the fingertips. Much of the rest of the panel was under turf, which we left undisturbed to protect the rock art underneath.

Millstone Burn 2bb

Trip No.71  Entry No.2  Date Added: 8th May 2018
Site Type: Rock Art Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 7th May 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Millstone Burn 2bb: This would be a 'short walk on a footpath' if we'd come in through the gate we used at our last visit. This time we approached it from Millstone Burn 2c, walking down the hill towards the start of the bend in the A697 from Longframlington. The rock was instantly recognisable from ERA's description, as was finding the two indentations at its apex and the oval and groove on ERA's drawing. The three cup marks in a line were there, but underneath a heavy covering of moss and lichen. They could be felt by running your fingertips over the rock.

Millstone Burn 2d.

Trip No.71  Entry No.3  Date Added: 8th May 2018
Site Type: Rock Art Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 7th May 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Millstone Burn 2d: Closer to the A697, it's a good job we had the GPS to find this panel. In usual Tate style, we'd brought everything but a bottle of water to bring out the motifs. I had to call up the ERA media (photos and sketch) on my phone to ensure we understood what we were seeing. There really are cups beneath the lichen and moss, easier to feel with the fingers and see with the naked eye.

Millstone Burn 2dd

Trip No.71  Entry No.4  Date Added: 8th May 2018
Site Type: Rock Art Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 7th May 2018. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Millstone Burn 2dd: only 15m away from Millstone Burn 2d, and relatively easy to find amongst all the other boulders in the field. As these motifs are on top of the rock, they must have been designed to have been seen as you were coming down the hillside.

This rock looks very different shapes depending on what angle you view it at. We had huge difficulty making out any cup marks at all beneath the lichen and moss, although there are some grooves, which look as if they have been created (enhanced?) by rainwater trickling down and over the side of the rock over the years.

Not the best example of rock art we've seen, but one to tick off the list.

Millstone Burn 2e

Trip No.71  Entry No.5  Date Added: 9th May 2018
Site Type: Rock Art Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 7th May 2018. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Millstone Burn 2e: This rock is not far upslope from Millstone Burn 2dd and 2d. Again, without GPS we would have struggled to find this rock, and we did struggle to identify any of the motifs - Beckensall described these as two ringed cups and two other cups, one with a natural groove leading to it and a pecked groove leading away from the ring. By the time of the NADRAP survey, they recorded a cup and very thin ring with groove running to the northern edge of the outcrop.

This stone was very interesting as downslope it had a step in it, and not only was there a channel wearing, but there were green water stains from where rain water had trickled down the slight slope of the rock downhill.

These motifs must have been placed to have been seen as you were coming down or up the slope.

Millstone Burn 1d

Trip No.71  Entry No.6  Date Added: 7th May 2018
Site Type: Rock Art Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 7th May 2018. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Millstone Burn 1d: This rock art panel is just to the east of the A697 and largely covered in turf. There is a deep scar in the rock which looks relatively recent. It also has a curious vein of quartz which runs through the rock.

Millstone Burn 1e

Trip No.71  Entry No.6  Date Added: 9th May 2018
Site Type: Rock Art Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 7th May 2018. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Millstone Burn 1e: On the eastern side of the A697, not far from the gate into the field. This was the stone at the grid reference given, but was almost completely buried under moss/turf, with one end of it seeming to have been grazed by farm machinery, which had taken off the moss and a shallow layer of stone. We left the moss as it was, not wanting to harm the motifs (but then NADRAP said they didn't observe anything).

Millstone Burn 1c

Trip No.71  Entry No.8  Date Added: 9th May 2018
Site Type: Rock Art Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 7th May 2018. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Millstone Burn 1c: This panel was very near the road (some motorists tooted their horns as they went past) and parts of it were under turf and moss. Part of the line of cups visible on the ERA photographs were covered by moss, which we left undisturbed. It was difficult to distinguish any other cups on the rock, despite having the ERA images on my phone to compare it to.