[NY 82937471] Stones [TI] (1)

A small stone circle formed of four, upright, stone slabs, one of which bears several well preserved cup marks. (2)

Scheduled. (3)

Correctly described above, (see sketch plan and GP. AO.56.302.4). A total of thirteen cup-marks can be identified on the most easterly stone. Published 1/2500 survey revised. (4)

Condition unchanged. (5)

NY 829748. Goatstones, Simonburn. Cup marks on 'four poster' barrow. Tallest stone 2ft high. Lowest stones on WNW and ESE, the latter with 13 cup marks on a flat top. (6)

Goatstones (H00766) NY 82937471. Four small standing stones, two with cup marks. (7)

Probably belongs to 4-Poster class of stone circle, most commonly found in Perthshire. Four stones at the corners of a square c.16ft long. Tallest stone barely 2ft high, lowest stones on WNW and ESE, the latter also has 13 cup marks on its flat top. Traces of digging seen in 1970. (8)

Small circle of four stones, one with seven or eight small cups on its flat top. (9)

NY 829748 Goatstones stone circle. May have a turf-covered ring-cairn inside. Probably dates no earlier than mid-second millennium BC. (10)

The Goatstones stone circle, 280m south west of Ravensheugh Crags. Scheduling revised on 14th April 1994, new national monument number 25065.
The monument includes the remains of a four poster stone circle situated on a small knoll at the south-west end of Ravensheugh Crags. It is formed of four squat stones set in a 4m square. The stones are graded in height, the tallest on the WSW side being 0.8m high and the
smallest on the ESE side is 0.4m high. The latter stone is decorated with cup marks or small depressions pecked out of the rock, a well known form of prehistoric rock art in Northumberland. There are 13 cup marks arranged on the flat top of the stone and they range in size from 40mm to 80mm in diameter. Within the circle there are traces of a low mound; this is though to be the remains of a stone cairn which predates the construction of the stone circle and by analogy elsewhere may have covered Bronze Age burials.
The four poster stone circle near Ravensheugh Crags is very well preserved. Additionally, it is the only recorded example to bear cup marks. The re-use of an earlier burial monument is unusual. Study of the site will provide information on changing burial and ritual practices in the later prehistoric period. (11)

All the stones are cup marked and some fluting that may be the result of pecking cups on to a sloping surface. (12)

NY 82940 74709 - East stone (ERA 1434, Beckensall Archive 726). Twelve cups of fairly uniform size (5 - 7cm), plus two shallower cups on the top surface of the stone. This is the only stone in the stone circle that has clear carvings.
NY 82939 74712 - North stone (ERA 1432, Beckensall Archive 723). Two or more cup-like depressions on the north sloping face and natural grooves and hollows on the top.
NY 82939 74707 - South stone (ERA 1433, Beckensall archive 724). Minimum of two cup-like depressions, probably the result of natural processes; grooves have eroded in the bedding planes.
NY 82936 74711 - West stone (ERA 1431, Beckensall Archive 725). Some shallow cup-like marks are on the east face, some below the grass line. A groove about 15cm long on the top surface runs from north to south and is possibly later damage. May be natural. (13)

A distinctive and relatively rare funerary monument, situated on a small knoll at the south-west end of Ravensheugh Crags. (14)

Goatstones, Bellingham. This is the southernmost of a pair of 'Scottish' Four-Posters in Northumberland, the other being the Three Kings, 16 miles to the N (NT 70 SE 1). The four plump stones were erected on a spur by Ravensheugh Crags from which there are long views. Three stand with one fallen at the S. None is more than about 0.7m high. Although they are placed at the corners of a fairly good rectangle, like other Four-Posters the stones were arranged around the circumference of a true circle, in this case one with a diameter of 5.2m. The interior is slightly domed, suggesting it contains a low cairn. On the top of the ENE stone are 16 well preserved cup marks. There is no record of an excavation but the centre has been disturbed since 1930 when there were 'no signs that any sacrilgious hand has ever disturbed the bones of the dead man who was honoured with this simple monument'. The name of Goatstones may be a corruption of 'gyet-stanes', 'wayside stones', the ring standing close to an old droveway. (15a-b)

Goatstones, SimonburnH00766 NY 8293 7471
I have recorded and drawn 12 large cups and 13 smaller ones on the top surface of the eastern stone. The south stone witht he largest top surface has four cups and two grooves that may be slightly enhanced with pecking. There are three, possibly four cups among natural grooves on the north stone and the west stone has four cups on top and 12 small, faint ones on the side. A few metres to the east of the 'circle' are the remains of a cairn. (15c)

The four stones are visible on oblique air photographs. (15d)