Duddo Five Stones

Duddo Five Stones is a Bronze Age stone circle set on a hill in a field in Northumberland, near the Scottish border. Access is via a permissive path from the nearest lane – park carefully to avoid blocking the large agricultural vehicles that use the lane. It takes fifteen to twenty minutes to walk to the stones – we walked through the stubble as the corn had only recently been cut.

Approaching the stones

You can see the stones ahead of you as you approach, standing out on the skyline.

Five stones, originally seven

The five stones don’t quite make a circle – there is a large gap to the west where two other stones would originally have stood. Instead, the stones look like the tips of a giant’s five fingers, reaching through the soil. I’m sure that’s just my imagination, though. 

The site was excavated in 1890, and the remains of a cremation were found in the centre.

Cup marks may or may not be present on the stones. We found an interesting pattern – a depression a couple of inches across surrounded by smaller depressions, giving the impression of a flower. Deliberate or weathering? No idea.

Local legends

According to The Old Stones (edited by Andy Burnham), a couple of local legends concern the stones:

• They were erected in 1588 to commemorate the battle of Grindon (discussed here).
• They are all that remains of five men who committed the heinous crime of digging turnips on the Sabbath.

Nearby hill figure

Ever since I read John Drews’ The Silbury Revelation (where he suggests that Silbury Hill is an effigy – the artificial head of a hill figure), I’ve been interested in finding similar hill figures (Earth Mothers or Earth Goddesses) that can be seen from stone circles.

Miss H points west, with the
Cheviots in the background

And sure enough, there’s one at Duddo.

To the south, there are the Cheviots (which may hide a hill figure), but there’s one to the west, where from the circle, Sweethome Hill and Hume Craigs in Scotland form the head and body of a sleeping hill figure on the horizon. As a bonus, on the beautiful September day we were there, it looked as if the sunset would be on or near the hill figure.

You can just see it in the picture below, to the right of Mrs H (who won’t thank me for the photo).

Links

TripAdvisor (actually useful, explained where to park and so on)

Duddo Five Stones on www.stone-circles.org.uk

Duddo Five Stones on www.megalithic.co.uk