Weetwood
Moor
Rock Art
NU 021 281
Take the B6348 from Wooler and after the road bends sharply and you pass the turning on the left for the B6349 look for a sharp left bend towards Chatton where there is a crossroad. Take the right here on a track to Weetwood Moor and park just after a cattle grid on the small piece of verge where you will see a gate giving access to the site. The rock carvings are just to the right in a field.
The carvings are found on several rock outcrops on this raised plateau of Weetwood Moor. The site of Old Bewick is nearby and in line of sight. Weetwood Moor has some of the best preserved rock panels in Northumberland. There are very good examples of complex cup and ring forms. The main sites are found in a small area. There are several decorated outcrops on the moor and small piles of stones mark their positions. The path is a little vague but just ahead of you is a slightly raised area where all the carvings can be seen. There are two sites of major importance here.
The main outcrop
The first is to be found near the centre of all the outcrops and is marked by the largest pile of stones. This is considered to be one of the most spectacular designs in Britain. The rocks in the other groups lead up to it on the gentle slope creating a focal point for the site.
Here
there are six cups with multiple rings with most of them interconnected
with long grooves radiating from the central cups. The carvings are very
clear and the views are very good.
Further beyond this is a small outcrop hidden by a gorse bush that almost covers it. There are only two gorse clumps so it isn’t hard to locate, but look behind the bush before walking on. Here are some elaborate carvings that include an unusual group of pear shaped rings instead of circular ones. These are to the right and partially hidden by turf.
The cairn with the cup and ring marked stone
Stones with cup and ring marks and plain cups have been found in a burial cairn not far from the road. On the road side of the footpath among the long grass is a burial cairn to be found as a low mound of stones. This is worth looking for. It is not far from the path.
When the grassy mound was being bulldozed for field clearance in the 1980s carved stones were found in the cairn. The largest is still there, it has two natural cupmarks on top but on the face is a large cup with multiple rings and radial grooves. Most of the carved cobbles have been removed to museums but this stone was replaced. The motif originally faced inwards suggesting that they were for a private purpose more concerned with the dead rather than the public outdoor carvings just a short distance away uphill.
Northumberland sites -