Rock Art

Fellside Walk
(Stage 4)

If things had been ‘normal’ we would have been in Northumberland this week and next and one of the things I had planned was to visit some of the Rock Art sites that I learnt about during some talks in Newcastle (I used to travel by train and sit in rooms with lots of other people - imagine that!!). Obviously I am not in Northumberland now, but at the stage I am at on this walk, there is some rock art of our own. 

To get here we have followed the track that you could see disappearing round the bend yesterday. It’s a rough track that winds between fields, currently full of sheep and lambs (see extra). And eventually we arrive at this point, which is a bridge over the Eller Beck one of the top stones of which has a series of distinct depressions - cup marks. These almost certainly examples of rock art, carved around 5,000 years ago. It is doubtful that the carvings were done in situ. It is far more likely that this stone was lifted from somewhere close by and used when the bridge was built. 

As we were walking towards the bridge, we passed over a fault - a fracture along which rocks have moved relative to each other. There is nothing to see, as this happened so long ago and it is now hidden under glacial deposits, but it is possible to note a change in rock type, from the red sandstone we saw at the beginning of the walk, to much older slates and volcanic rocks. Some of these rocks can be seen in the walls around here. 


We are now very close to Dufton Pike and tomorrow we will be climbing up towards it. The way has been fairly level so far, I hope everyone is ready for some climbing!