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 exist 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 situated on
the edge of Old Thrunton Woods. The stone is one of a group of four in the
area. It is composed of local grey/brown limestone and is 1.35m high and 0.4m
broad and is 0.2m thick. The top of the stone has been damaged and a
triangular section is missing. It has a simple straight armed cross cut
into the top of its south-west face. The form of the cross indicates that it
dates from the mid 11th to mid 13th century AD. 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 some 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:
20990
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
