This year, I've spent a lot of time walking in the Cheviot Hills, exploring places I don't know or not been to for a long time. A recent walk on the England-Scotland Border east of Kirk Yetholm led me to another mystery.
What started it was a visit to see the Stob Stones (or Stanes to the Scots). Two large boulders, one standing, the other recumbent, east of the hillfort at Green Humbleton, and a stones throw (pun intended) from both the Pennine Way (high level route) and St Cuthbert's Way long distance footpaths. They are now firmly in Roxburghshire in Scotland, the Border boundary wall is to their east, but for a time were actually on the Border line.
What started it was a visit to see the Stob Stones (or Stanes to the Scots). Two large boulders, one standing, the other recumbent, east of the hillfort at Green Humbleton, and a stones throw (pun intended) from both the Pennine Way (high level route) and St Cuthbert's Way long distance footpaths. They are now firmly in Roxburghshire in Scotland, the Border boundary wall is to their east, but for a time were actually on the Border line.
The Stob Stones. Photo by A Curtis (2012).
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The Stob Stones. Photo by A Curtis (2012).
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They are often referred to as standing stones, which has a prehistoric connotation. What do the archaeologist think?
The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. An inventory of the ancient and historical monuments of Roxburghshire (1956) records their visit to the stones in 1938. The record can be read on the excellent on-line resource known as Canmore.
However, they were not committing themselves to any opinion regarding their origin..
The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. An inventory of the ancient and historical monuments of Roxburghshire (1956) records their visit to the stones in 1938. The record can be read on the excellent on-line resource known as Canmore.
However, they were not committing themselves to any opinion regarding their origin..
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The "Stob Stones", two standing stones, are situated 230 yds W of the Border and over 1000ft OD. One still erect, measures 4 1/2ft wide at the base, narrowing to 3ft, by 1 1/2ft and 5 1/2ft high; there is evidence of stone packing at the base. The other now lies across its original bed 18ft to the S; it is 5ft long, 3ft wide and 2ft thick.
Both stones are of native porphyry and are locally called the "Gypsy Stobs" from the tradition that the kings of the Yetholm gypsies were crowned here. Mack (J L Mack 1924) suggests that they are boundary marks, set up on the line of the Border; if this is correct they may be of early medieval date as this point is on the section of the Border that the English commissioners of 1222 regarded as fixed. |
A later visit by the RCAHMS in 1978 revealed no further information. As well as the gypsy lore, the stones are still used as the destination for the annual ride out from Kirk Yetholm. They have always had importance locally. There is some information on the Yetholm gypsies here.
Standing stones west of White Hill. Photo by A Curtis (2012).
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As I had walked that day from Hethpool in the Northumberland's College Valley, I was aware of the similarity between the Stob Stones and this site on White Hill. These stones are nowhere near the Border and the site has been interpreted as a likely Bronze Age burial mound.
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If the large stones had originally been covered in a stone mound or cairn, then the stones must have been robbed for use elsewhere. The small stones packing the base are very similar to those around that of the erect Stob Stone.
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