Details

The monument includes a standing stone of Late Neolithic/Bronze Age date,
situated in an area of natural outcropping rock on a north-facing slope above
the Whitton Burn. The stone is apparently of a different raw material to that
which outcrops locally. It measures 80cm by 50cm in section, with 1.2m of its
height above ground, and now leans backwards at an angle. The top is pitted
and on the south-west face there are three circular depressions or cupmarks.

MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.
It includes a 2 metre boundary around the archaeological features,
considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

Standing stones are prehistoric ritual or ceremonial monuments with dates
ranging from the Late Neolithic to the end of the Bronze Age for the few
excavated examples. They comprise single or paired upright orthostatic slabs,
ranging from under lm to over 6m high where still erect. They are often
conspicuously sited and close to other contemporary monument classes. They can
be accompanied by various features: many occur in or on the edge of round
barrows, and where excavated, associated subsurface features have included
stone cists, stone settings, and various pits and hollows filled in with earth
containing human bone, cremations, charcoal, flints, pots and pot sherds.
Similar deposits have been found in excavated sockets for standing stones,
which range considerably in depth. Several standing stones also bear cup and
ring marks. Standing stones may have functioned as markers for routeways,
territories, graves, or meeting points, but their accompanying features show
they also bore a ritual function and that they form one of several ritual
monument classes of their period that often contain a deposit of cremation and
domestic debris as an integral component. No national survey of standing
stones has been undertaken, and estimates range from 50 to 250 extant
examples, widely distributed throughout England but with concentrations in
Cornwall, the North Yorkshire Moors, Cumbria, Derbyshire and the Cotswolds.
Standing stones are important as nationally rare monuments, with a high
longevity and demonstrating the diversity of ritual practices in the Late
Neolithic and Bronze Age. Consequently all undisturbed standing stones and
those which represent the main range of types and locations would normally be
considered to be of national importance.

The standing stone at Whittondean is apparently undisturbed and well
preserved. Standing stones are not a common feature of the Northumberland
landscape. This monument is therefore an important example and its importance
is enhanced by the survival of a group of other ritual monuments of a similar
date in the vicinity, including cup and ring marked rocks, bowl barrows and a
now destroyed cist burial.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Newbigin, E R, 'Archaeologia Aeliana 4 ser 9' in Incised Rocks at Lordenshaws: Addendum, (1932)
Other
No. 884,

Source: Historic England