Rock art on Weetwood Moor, 487m south of Clavering

Summary

Prehistoric rock art comprising two large panels, of Neolithic/early Bronze Age date (approximately 3800 BC to 1500 BC).

Reasons for Designation

The prehistoric rock art on Weetwood Moor 487m south of Clavering is scheduled for the following principal reasons:
* Survival: despite their susceptibility to natural weathering, the panels are reasonably well preserved;
* Documentation: ritual and religious sites of Prehistoric Britain including rock art are relatively scarce and lack contemporary documentation, hence the value of the archaeological remains is enhanced as they provide our only evidence of the belief system and society which produced them;
* Potential: these survivals will contribute to our knowledge of prehistoric society through study of the individual motifs and through an increased understanding of the circumstances in which rock art was created and the sites used;
* Group value: taken as a group with other rock art in the vicinity, they will enhance both our understanding of the inter-relationships between individual panels and their relationship to the wider landscape. The panels lie in the vicinity of nearby scheduled prehistoric rock art at Weetwood and Fowberry.

History

The term Prehistoric rock art is most commonly applied to a specific style of carvings created in the Neolithic and early Bronze Age (approximately 3800 BC to 1500 BC). This type of carving shares a limited set of motifs, with numerous variations around the main themes, and is found throughout northern Europe in a wide range of contexts, from isolated natural outcrops to burial cairns and standing stones. The most common form of motifs are the simple ‘cup mark’ (a shallow bowl-shaped depression a few centimetres across ) and the ‘cup and ring’ (a cup mark surrounded by one or more concentric circular grooves); many carvings also incorporate or are framed within linear grooves. Motifs may occur singly, in small groups, or may cover extensive areas of rock surface. The exact meaning of the designs remains unknown and a wide range of interpretations have been suggested, but they appear to be abstract and held some unknown, possibly sacred meaning for those who created and observed them. Over 5000 separate rock art sites are known in Britain of which more than half are in England and while some examples do occur further south, they are mainly confined to the upland areas of the north.

Some of the more prominent carved rocks on Weetwood Moor have been known about since the mid C19, and are described in early C20 works and by Ordnance Survey field surveyors in the later 1950s. More recently in the 1980s they were recorded by Stan Beckensall who identified many more examples. The rock art on the moor was resurveyed by The Northumberland and Durham Rock Art Project (NADRAP) in the late 1990s and early 2000s. One group of carved rocks on Weetwood Moor is already scheduled as an ancient monument (Westwood Bank cup and ring marked rock, NHLE entry 1006559), and in addition to rock art, Weetwood Moor retains evidence of further prehistoric activity in the form of scattered round cairns; one pair of round cairns is also scheduled (Westwood Moor round cairns, NHLE entry 1006454).

Details

Principal elements: prehistoric rock art comprising two large panels, of Neolithic/ early Bronze Age date (approximately 3800 BC to 1500 BC).

Description: the first panel occupies an outcrop (ERA 725) adjacent to a plantation, measuring 3.3m by 1.3m and bearing a single cup surrounded by multi penannulars; further motifs recorded by Beckensall are unconfirmed. The second panel occupies an outcrop (ERA 783) situated within an old coppice, now cleared, and measures 2.8m by 1.7m and slopes from east to west with natural fissures; motifs include a small single cup with a ring and a cup with a groove and multi penannulars.

Extent of scheduling: there are two separate protective areas of scheduling, each containing one of the two outcrops, and each comprising a 5m diameter circle around a central point.

Sources

Books and journals
Mazel, et al (eds), Art as Metaphor: The Prehistoric Rock-Art of Britain, (2007)

Websites
, accessed from http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/era/section/access/results.jsf

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