THE COCK ON THE ROCK, HEYSHAM.
By DawnHilton-MACAlister 2018
HEYSHAM ART EXHIBITION, ARTEFACTS & TWO LECTURES.
Viking Settlement in North West England
Dr Clare Downham is a senior lecturer at the University of Liverpool, whose research and publications have focused on the Irish Sea region in the middle ages.
Æthelflæd, Domina Merciorum: an Irish Sea queen?
Dr Charles Insley is a senior lecturer at the University of Manchester, he has written extensively on Anglo-Saxon charters and state formation, as well as a book on Aethelstan, first King of the English. His current research is focusing on the Irish Sea region and its connections and interactions. His lecture will look at Aethelflaed, Lady of Mercia (911-918), on the 1100th anniversary of her death, and how she was perceived from the Irish Sea perspective, as a powerful female ruler.
Please see the link for tickets.
Where is Heysham?
Ah, it's a wee sleepy coastal village just by the Irish Sea (Manx Basin) on the West coast of Lancashire, UK.
It's not so much as the present history or past history it's the Prehistory that fascinates me with any place.
Because as with any prehistorical place the story has to be written once found.
I love to go to a place and if I see something odd or out of place
I then have to study it till I can't find anymore.
I usually give myself a mental boundary of a place to work at, once I have looked and gathered I then I have to piece it together in my mind's eye.
I kin-da have to place it like a piece of woven cloth on a quilted background, only when I'm happy can I then stitch it together in my mind's eye.
A little like planning a jigsaw puzzle but with land and landmarks.
Heysham has this appeal to me and after my 1st visit to the Viking cut rocks I just knew I had to study the place.
You see not only did I see the graves, the white sea lion pup but I also saw a white phallic stone sat on a tri-angle.
I had to look more, I had to really look to see what there was to be found, what I started to see was a whole new language that I sensed I had lost.
Original artwork oil mixed media on 100% lime free recycled paper.
By Dawn Hilton MACAlister 2018
The years went by and after many visits I just carried on photographing and drawing what I could see.
Before I knew it a whole body of work started to appear and I was making more and more observations.
Drawing and sketching the stones, photographing them really helped me see them better.
Every time I went to Heysham I saw something else, every time I went I learned something else & I was also showing people what I had found.
As with anywhere one must go into the community and speak to the locals about the myths of a place. Information isn't always found in textbooks.
Personal wisdom can't always be told, it has to be found no matter the age & what you find maybe something that hasn't been noted since the artist placed it there.
Once I stopped off at the half moon cafe' & got speaking with an ow'd boy over a breakfast.
He was local and he had grown up in Heysham. He recalled playing as a wee lad on the rocks at Lionshead but he had never noticed the seal pup lion sunbathing on the rocks keeping watch over the bay.
He told me that he had gone off to war and came back, had his family and grandchildren and great-grandchildren and they all had played on the rocks.
Luckily the ow'd boy was still able to go down to the rocks to see the pup for himself.
He saw it straight away and his smile said it all to me.
I knew at that point that I had to carry on discovering what Heysham was hiding from us & what indeed it still has to offer.
By Dawn Hilton MACAlister 2018
By Dawn Hilton MACAlister 2018
My most recent trip in June 2018 I found what I can only describe as a huge solar wheel on the rocks at Heysham Cliff's.
DAWN HILTON-MACALISTER 2018
DAWN HILTON-MACALISTER 2018
The huge wheel sits on an angle not flat, it was obviously meant to capture the Solar rays to form the shadows within the body of the wheel.
DAWN HILTON-MACALISTER 2018
Here my model stood for me and helped me see the shadow that was reflected within the line of the stone. Such an amazing sight.
A huge solar wheel on the rocks at Heysham Cliff's.
DAWN HILTON-MACALISTER 2018
So looking at the shadows that the Sun was leaving I started to make detailed observations.
I hadn't noticed the white cross on the stone until I returned home and saw it on the PC screen & that was days after looking at the stones.
At 1st I was looking at the pitted marks on the stone, I wasn't looking at the marks that the lichen was leaving.
Sometimes you don't always see what is right under your nose, it takes years of practice and skill to see things.
Can you see the white cross?
What you see will be totally different from what I see.
Did the prehistoric artist and mind know this as well?
DAWN HILTON-MACALISTER 2018
Now, do you see it? It's rather easy when you know where it is. Like spot the difference.
Can you see all the pitted marks? I thought it was all down to glacial erratics and the last ice age that had left pebble marks but the more I look at the working of the shadows and the working of the stone I'm convinced it's manmade.
After studying sculpture at University and learning the basic's my head and heart is telling me manmade but of course, only science could prove this point and a detailed study of the stone.
If I'm right, we could be looking at a very early solar calendar that has been fashioned in stone.
Could it be a Solar Map & indeed a map of the immediate area around it?
My question is who would leave a STONE MAP on such an old stone?
I know some arrow flints have been found by here around this area but surely the white cross has been etched at a later date or maybe not.
The New Stone Age folk could they have left us codes to decipher?
Where these marks left by the Storegga Slide survivors that predate 6,500BC?
So many questions to ask about our lost past in this spectacular place.
The area itself is so peaceful and so relaxing, well worth a visit if you find the time.
Close up of the pitted marks on the huge solar wheel.
DAWN HILTON-MACALISTER 2018
It reminded me of the HOGBACK stone that I had just looked at in St Peter's church.
But this one was different, this one looked strange like it looked as if it had prehistoric graffiti on it, reminded me of a mix of Ogham and Aztec. The Sun was beating down leaving a pattern on the stone.
I noticed straight away the two huge cup rings and then as I stepped back I started to see the cut markings as the sun was leaving its shadows.
I prefer to photograph between the hours of 12pm and 2pm as this gives me the best light and the best shadows.
I prefer full sun on a clear day and I usually photograph a stone in all four seasons if I can.
This helps me see the colouration & saturation of the stone and how it responds in cold and hot conditions.
I noted under this stone there appeared to be like a Coverstone but I'm no expert just a keen observer.
Dawn Hilton-MACAlister 2018
When I was stood on the Sun wheel I had an overwhelming feeling to look to my left as if someone was watching me. As I looked around I noticed 'CLIFORD' with huge eyes and a great smile.
He's too handsome not to be natural and if you look hard you'll see why.
Cliford looking out over the West coast of Lancashire over the Irish sea and the Manx Basin
Dawn Hilton-MACAlister 2018
Straight away you can spot the worked stones if you know how to look at them with a simple but effective eye.
Only a builder or a sculpture really understand the basic principals of looking so keen.
Dawn Hilton-MACAlister 2018
The Cock stone I found some years ago and I couldn't believe my eyes. A cock stone in limestone sat on an upside-down triangle..to the left of the stone appears to be a parrot or a bird.
Maybe the bird has a connection to the cock stone like Gamecock? or Peacock?
Dawn Hilton-MACAlister 2018
It's such a fun stone and hard to find, you really have to look for it but when you know where it is it can be rather rewarding spending time looking at it.
I'm not sure who left it here but it's wedged in for sure and almost reminds me as if it's offering something to the viewer.
If it is indeed a votive offering I'm certainly not going to disturb it, it can stay lost for me.
Was or is it part of a secret code left by an artist or someone who had the intention of grabbing your attention?
I know as an artist that I personally leave clues within my work and I think many, not all, but some artists I speak to say that they do leave something in their works.
Maybe it's an artist thing.
Whatever the reason it' grabbed my attention ha ha ha.
I have placed together a map with more stones to find and lost codes around Heysham on a CD-R and also a PDF format.
This can be bought from me by contacting me at
dawnhilton@live.co.uk
All proceeds from this work will go towards further study of the stones at Heysham & their protection.
Thank you and remember if you visit the stones please use the 'GREEN 'X' CODE' and take your litter home.
A green earth is a healthy earth.
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