The escarpment
which flanks the hillfort, looking across the vale to the Cheviot Hills.
Old Bewick
Hillfort is on a steep hill near the Cheviot Hills in Northumberland. It
comprises two stone-walled structures of circular banks and ditches, side by
side, built against the steep hillside to the south. Little remains of them
today but they can easily be seen as circles of green and brown. Bracken is
very fussy about growing on the remnants of historic sites, and these patterns
are often the first clue to their presence. Several hut circles can be seen.
It is
described as a fort but was a relatively small settlement, perhaps for one or
two families, although the effort needed to create the walls and ditches
perhaps suggests another purpose. It may have had religious significance.
The fort dates
to the Iron Age but the site was of significance long before this time. Several
Bronze Age cairns were built nearby, and excavation has revealed pottery urns,
a necklace of jet and shale, and another necklace of amber. These were
prestigious items and suggests the graves of wealthy or important people. The
site was venerated long after the Bronze Age.
Cup-and-ring
marked rock, prominent in the moorland.
The site is
also significant for its cup-and-ring marked rocks. Northumberland is famous
for these stones, which are found on many hillsides with substantial views, and
those at Old Bewick were the first to be recognised as of ancient origin,
rather than the work of an idle shepherd. They are thought to originate in the
late Neolithic or early Bronze Age.
They resemble
art found in Neolithic passage graves such as Newgrange in Ireland and
Pierrowall in Orkney, and engraved slabs have also been found in Bronze Age
burials in Northumberland.
Each carving
is unique and uses the contours of the rock to enhance its art. They are
certainly of great symbolic importance, but their meaning remains entirely
unclear.
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