Duddo Stone Circle

A few months back, when I was collecting the final few photographs for my book The Great North-East: An English History Tour, vol.1 (see left), I persuaded my wife to take us on a visit to what is arguably the region's most important prehistoric site. We accessed it by taking the minor road some 300m west of Duddo, parking up by the roadside, then traipsing about 1k over (accessible) farmers' fields to the remote spot in question.

Duddo Stone Circle, at grid reference NT930437, is situated about 3 miles south-east of the border town of Norham. It sits, half-forgotten and rarely visited, quite literally in the middle of nowhere. As for the stones themselves, well, originally there were seven (we think), then six, five and, inevitably, four. Then five again. They are, you might say, Northumberland’s equivalent of the mighty Stonehenge.

As has often been remarked, the ancient monument is one of Britain’s finest, and enjoys a spectacular setting. The Cheviot and Eildon Hills loom to the south-west and west, respectively, with the stones themselves enjoying a slightly elevated and isolated position to the north-west of the village after which they are named.

Until recently, no one knew quite how old the little stone circle is. It is a modest affair at around ten yards across with none of its components more than eight feet in height, and early speculation suggested a Druidical origin. In time, the locals assumed it to be a memorial laid down after a victory over the Scots in 1558 in which the Percies chased off a party of plundering invaders. Quite how this tradition arose no one knows, for the truth is that the landmark is, indeed, ancient, with investigations in 1890 revealing remnants of a cremation burial. In 2008, an archaeological dig unearthed charcoal remains which were radiocarbon dated to around 2000BC. Furthermore, faint traces of man-made cup-and-ring marks have been found carved on the large east-facing stone, which seem to confirm its Bronze Age origins. In actual fact, it seems to have been built on the cusp of the transition from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age, being erected, possibly, by the native Neolithic population as a sort of ‘plea to the gods’ in the face of the growing influx of immigrants known as the Beaker People (the bringers of the Bronze Age to Britain).

There were at least seven stones to begin with, six surviving into the nineteenth century. Two more seem to have disappeared or toppled over during the ensuing decades, after which they became known as the ‘Four Stones’. Then, in 1903, a fifth was re-erected to ‘improve the skyline’.

Duddo's 'standing stones' are certainly a curious lot. They have been known in the past as ‘The Ladies’ (due to their tapering shape) and ‘The Singing Stones’ (perhaps a reference to the wind whistling through their weathered grooves). And, once more, they can be easily and freely visited by the casual passer-by ... if, as in my case, you don't mind a lengthy car journey followed by a 20-minute hike across the fields.

[This post is taken from the text of my above-mentioned book. So, yes, it's a little teaser for you]