Stan Beckensall
Attribution:
Stan Beckensall
Stan Beckensall
Archaeologist and Rock Art Expert
Dr Stan Beckensall first became interested in rock art in the mid-1960s, when he visited the large rock art block at Old Bewick in North Northumberland. What he saw so excited him that he has devoted his leisure time to studying similar art in the British Isles. His main career has been as a teacher, headteacher, and trainer of teachers.
His academic career began when he moved from a Stoke-on-Trent high school to Keele University, from which he was one of the first graduates with a BA (Hons) in English and History and a Diploma in Education in 1954. He was later honoured as one of their most notable ex-students (along with Kofi Annan's son and the Bishop of Lichfield), for his work in rock art.
This recognition was well-earned, as Beckensall has spent many years recording examples of prehistoric carvings throughout Britain and Ireland. In particular, he has contributed to some very significant discoveries in and around Northumberland, including the recovery of 60 decorated portable stones and five decorated kerbstones during his excavations of the Fowberry and Weetwood cairns. He has kept careful records of all his findings, as well as those of other experts, and over the years has put together one of the most comprehensive rock art archives in Britain. For this work, he was awarded a Fellowship of the Society of Antiquaries of London to add to his Fellowship of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. In 2002, he donated his Northumberland archive to the University of Newcastle, and as a consequence he is celebrated in the prehistory section at the Great North Museum.
In 2004 he was awarded an honorary D.Litt by the University of Newcastle (along with Antony Gormley, Miriam Stoppard, Graham Wylie and Sir John Sulston), for his work in rock art, education and drama. Then, in 2005, he represented Britain at the Rock art symposium at Eyzie de Tayac at the invitation of UNESCO, wrote the section on Britain, and took part in compiling the joint international document recently published for all governments. Beckensall was presented with the Channel 4 ICT British Archaeology Award in 2006 for the Newcastle University website which incorporates his rock art archives. This now has 17 million hits.
Over the years, Beckensall has become a familiar face on Britain’s television screens. His work had been shown mainly on northern BBC and ITV programmes. BBC TV recently invited him to talk about the prehistory of the Lordenshaw area, Northumberland for Countryfile. He has also done another programme for the BBC about a site at Chatton Park Hill when DEFRA paid the farmer to keep his animals off an important site.
Stan has written many books, some of them on rock art, including two recent publications from Amberley Publishing, Northumberland’s Hidden History and Prehistoric Rock Art in Britain.
