Walker Dene, Celtic stone head

HER Number:
6853

District:
Newcastle

Site Name:
Walker Dene, Celtic stone head

Place:
Walker

Map Sheet:
NZ26NE

Class:
Gardens Parks and Urban Spaces

Site Type: Broad:
Sculpture

Site Type: Specific:
Statue

General Period:
Roman

Specific Period:
C2?

Form of Evidence:
Find

Description:
Found in 1936 by a man digging for topsoil in Walker Dene. Accessed into the Museum of Antiquities in 1975. The head is triangular in shape. The features are primitive with oval eyes, curved eyebrows in relief, a broad nose and wide off-centre mouth with thick lips. Part of right forehead and right eyebrow are missing. The head is 250 metres high, it would have been 220 metres wide maximum and 136 metres thick. There have, thus far, been three "Celtic Heads" found in close proximity to Hadrian's Wall in the eastern sector - in 1969 one was found at West Denton (HER 1292) close to Milecastle 8 and another found at Lemington (HER 1321) close to the same Milecastle in 1980. A head carved into a roundel on a building was also found at Milecastle 35. Although all of these heads bear the characteristics of the "Celtic Head", they bear little similarity to each other in their features or general shape. Their interest as a group is in their findspots and possible link between the cult of the head in the C2 and the building of Hadrian's Wall.

Easting:
28

Northing:
65

Grid Reference:
NZ2865

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
<< HER 6853 >> L. Allason-Jones, A Stone Head from Walker, Museum Notes 1994, Archaeologia Aeliana, 5 Series, Vol XXII, pp 263-265