Lordenshaw
Rock Art
NZ 050 992
Take the B6342 from Rothbury and after about 3 miles turn right for Simonside. After a short distance stop in the car park and walk up the footpath uphill. Take the left fork in the path to take a permissive footpath and the main outcrop of carvings will be found on your left on the brow of the hill.
Near this site are other remains of interest. There are several Bronze Age cairns and an Iron Age enclosure (NZ055992) around the top of the hill that was later used as a Romano-British settlement. The most impressive carvings are to be seen on an outcrop at the top of the ridge where part of the rock has been quarried but most of the surface has been well preserved. This is one of the largest decorated rocks in Northumberland. It consists mainly of cup and ring motifs and channels as well as isolated cups. The highest part of the rock has been eroded but the carvings are clearer lower down.
The designs are organised in an arrangement downhill as if they were intended to direct the flow of water. The views are again excellent from here and this could have been the reason for so much carving and decoration.
Cup and ring cut in half
This is the main outcrop of carving here and on the edge you can see where rings have been cut in half by quarrying. A few metres further south along the ridge of rocks are a few more examples of cupmarks and a cup and ring.
Horseshoe Rock
About
250m NW of this site is a second ridge that slopes down to Whitton Burn
where the Horseshoe Rock can be found. An old field wall leads in that
direction and it is just beyond a wooden post that is visible from the
main outcrop. This rock is set in a cairn and has quite deep cups and
grooves forming a “horseshoe” shape. It also has a clear ring and
groove leading down to the left.
The hillfort
Just beyond the NE edge of the hillfort are several cairns and a sloping outcrop of whitish grey sandstone. On some of these slabs are numerous cups, some quite large ones, and grooves. Some of the grooves are natural but have been enhanced. The ridge here is another good viewpoint.
Cairn with deeply fluted stone
Sandstone outcrops to the NE
Northumberland sites -