Medieval boundary stone, 900m south-east of Callaly Crag

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; it is one of a group of four in the area. The stone, composed of local grey/brown limestone, is 0.2m thick and measures 1.25m high by 0.35m across. At the top of the south face there is a carving of an incised straight armed cross. The form of the cross indicates that it dates from the mid 11th to 13th centuries 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.

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract. It includes a 2 metre boundary around the archaeological features, considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

20989

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Nieke, M R, Callally Moor Field Survey, (1987), 1

Other
Stocker, D, (1992)

End of official list entry

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