Duddo Five Stones
Stone Circle
NT 931 437
This site is just ¾ mile NNW of Duddo. There are plenty of lanes signposted to Duddo from the B6525 south of Berwick. Park near Duddo Farm and ask permission to visit the site as it is on their land in the middle of a large field.
The small circle is on top of a small hill and measures almost 10m (32ft) diameter. You can see it as you approach and is visible for some distance. As the name suggests it consists of five large stones, the tallest reaches 2.3m, almost 8ft high. The next tallest stone is about 2.1m to the NW and the others are between 1.5 and 1.8m.
They
are sandstone and heavily eroded by the weather. In the 19th
century it was known as Four Stones as the ENE stone was re-erected in
1903, making it five. An earlier excavation in 1890 had found two
stoneholes in the gap in the NW. There are several small stones between
the large ones. The tallest stone is to the ESE and has 3 cupmarks on the
outer face. The stones are deeply fluted and some have natural cupmarks.
The tallest stone with cupmarks
They are mostly naturally shaped but at their bases they have been narrowed and smoothed. One local name of “The Women” might refer to their waists and another local name “The Singing Stones” might refer to the fluting making sounds in the wind. When we were there the wind was certainly whistling by. Charcoal and cremated bones were found in the central pit but some field clearance stones have been added.
Northumberland
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