Reasons for Designation
Boundary stones have a long history of use in the definition of the extent of
land holdings, especially in places where the boundary was most contentious or
less well defined by other features. The church was one of the earliest users
of single marker stones to delineate the extent of their holdings. The very
earliest examples, dating from the 6th and 7th centuries AD, were used to
define sanctified areas such as the extent of graveyards or the bounds of a
monastic site. Subsequently in the medieval period they were used to mark more
extensive ecclesiastical land holdings. They are important monuments which
often provide our only source of information about past territorial divisions
of the landscape. Boundary stones were once more common than they are today
and are frequently referred to in medieval and post medieval documents, but
most were simple and undecorated. Single, decorated boundary stones survive
today in certain areas, but groups of well preserved decorated stones like
those on Callaly Moor, designed to be closely set along a boundary are rare.
The group of stones on Callaly Moor date from between AD 1050 and AD 1250 and
are the only known group in Northumberland, paralleled elsewhere by only three
examples in Yorkshire, Humberside and Lincolnshire, marking ecclesiastical
sanctuaries.
Details
The monument includes a decorated boundary stone of medieval date adjacent to
Old Thrunton Woods and abutted on the north by a dry stone wall. The
irregularly cut stone of local grey/brown limestone is 0.3m thick and measures
1.7m high by 0.4m across. On its north face there is a carving of a splayed
armed cross; the area around the cross has been pecked out to a depth of
20-30mm. The form of the cross indicates a 12th or 13th century date. This
stone, along with three others, are thought to mark the limits of an area of
land at Thrunton which was donated to Brinkburn Priory in the mid 13th
century. On such an area of featureless, but well used, moorland a form of
artificial boundary marker may have been required.
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
Legacy System number:
20988
Legacy System:
RSM
Sources
Books and journals Other
Legal
This monument is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as amended as it appears to the Secretary of State to be of national importance. This entry is a copy, the original is held by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
End of official list entry
