The Goatstones is a Bronze-Age four-poster

stone circle A stone circle is a ring of standing stones. Most are found in Northwestern Europe – especially in Britain, Ireland, and Brittany – and typically date from the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, with most being built from 3000 BC. The be ...

located near Ravensheugh Crags in

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land on ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It is 2.5 miles (4.0 km) to the north of

Hadrian's Wall Hadrian's Wall ( la, Vallum Aelium), also known as the Roman Wall, Picts' Wall, or ''Vallum Hadriani'' in Latin, is a former defensive fortification of the Roman province of Britannia, begun in AD 122 in the reign of the Emperor Hadrian. R ...

in the parish of Wark-on-Tyne. The name is thought to be derived from the

Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

"gyet stanes" meaning "wayside stones". The monument probably had some kind of religious purpose. The stones are no higher than , and are separated by a distance of approximately . The smallest stone is decorated with 13 cup marks, or small depressions in the rock, a well known form of prehistoric rock art in Northumberland. The Goatstones is the only recorded example of a four-poster stone circle bearing cup marks. Grooves can be seen on some of the other stones. Within the circle there are traces of a low mound. This is thought to be the remains of a stone

cairn A cairn is a man-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the gd, càrn (plural ). Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehis ...

which predates the construction of the stone circle and may have been the site of Bronze-Age burials. Four-poster stone circles are found mainly in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, particularly in

Perthshire Perthshire (locally: ; gd, Siorrachd Pheairt), officially the County of Perth, is a historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, ...

, and more rarely in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

and England. Another example in Northumberland is the ''Three Kings'' in the parish of Rochester. No professional

archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

excavations have been carried out at the Goatstones. The monument is scheduled under the

Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 The Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 or AMAAA was a law passed by the UK government, the latest in a series of Ancient Monument Acts legislating to protect the archaeological heritage of England & Wales and Scotland. Norther ...

References

Literature

* Richard Cavendish: ''Prehistoric England''. English Tourist Board, London 1983 *

Aubrey Burl Harry Aubrey Woodruff Burl HonFSA Scot (24 September 1926 – 8 April 2020) was a British archaeologist best known for his studies into megalithic monuments and the nature of prehistoric rituals associated with them. Before retirement he was Pr ...

: ''Four-posters: Bronze Age stone circles of Western Europe.'' B.A.R., Oxford 1988, S. 66-67 * Barry M. Marsden: ''Discovering regional archaeology: North-Eastern England.'' 1971, S. 12 {{DEFAULTSORT:Goatstones, The Bronze Age sites in England Archaeological sites in Northumberland Stone circles in England Tourist attractions in Northumberland

See also

References

Literature