Reasons for Designation
Standing stones are prehistoric ritual or ceremonial monuments with dates ranging from the Late Neolithic to the end of the Bronze Age for the few excavated examples. They comprise single or paired upright orthostatic slabs, ranging from under lm to over 6m high where still erect. They are often conspicuously sited and close to other contemporary monument classes. They can be accompanied by various features: many occur in or on the edge of round barrows, and where excavated, associated subsurface features have included stone cists, stone settings, and various pits and hollows filled in with earth containing human bone, cremations, charcoal, flints, pots and pot sherds. Similar deposits have been found in excavated sockets for standing stones, which range considerably in depth. Several standing stones also bear cup and ring marks. Standing stones may have functioned as markers for routeways, territories, graves, or meeting points, but their accompanying features show they also bore a ritual function and that they form one of several ritual monument classes of their period that often contain a deposit of cremation and domestic debris as an integral component. No national survey of standing stones has been undertaken, and estimates range from 50 to 250 extant examples, widely distributed throughout England but with concentrations in Cornwall, the North Yorkshire Moors, Cumbria, Derbyshire and the Cotswolds. Standing stones are important as nationally rare monuments, with a high longevity and demonstrating the diversity of ritual practices in the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age. Consequently all undisturbed standing stones and those which represent the main range of types and locations would normally be considered to be of national importance.
In addition to being a prehistoric monument, the Battle Stone has historical connections with an important battle. Taken together with Yeavering Bell hillfort, the site of Old Yeavering Anglo-Saxon township and Old Yeavering Henge, the Battle Stone forms an important part of a multi-period landscape from the Late Neoltihic through to the medieval period.
Details
The monument includes a standing stone of Neolithic/Bronze Age date, situated on flat ground overlooked to the south by Yeavering Bell. The stone stands approximately 2.3m above the surrounding ground level. The stone fell in 1890 and was re-erected in 1924. The name of the stone derives from a traditional association with the victory by Sir Robert Umfreville over the Scots at Geteryne in 1415, however, its form and position suggests that it is a prehistoric standing stone. The standing stone is in alignment with the opposed entrances of Old Yeavering Henge, which is preserved as a cropmark and lies 150m to the WNW.
SOURCES
PastScape Monument No:- 3938
NMR:- NT93SW40
Northumberland HER:- 2016
