Cup-Marked Stone: OS Grid Reference – SE 00549 40888
Also Known as:
- Carving no.1 (Boughey & Vickerman)
Go through Laycock village and take the left turn along the lovely, hidden country lane towards Slippery Ford (called Todley Hall Road) until you get near the end of this beautiful wooded valley (called Newsholme Dean). Just by Grey Stones Hill, on your left, is a track heading down to a large farm building with numerous rocks and boulders in the fields either side of you. Stop! – and look in the field on the right.
Archaeology & History
This particular stone is in the field to the right of the track, over the wall, right near the top of the field. Described for the first time in Boughey & Vickerman’s (2003) survey where they describe “at least eight cups” on the rock; and it’s listed on the MAGIC Map survey as having 6 cups — which are the ones you can plainly see on the very top edge of the stone. What may be three other faint ones can be discerned on the sloping sides of the rock.
Another ‘possible’ cup-marked stone can be seen lower down the field, past the large Cob Stone. There is also another cup-marked stone in the adjacent field at SE 00610 40841 (listed as stone no.2 in Boughey & Vickerman, 2003) with apparently 17 cups on the large rock there, but this can be difficult to see unless lighting conditions are just right.
References:
- Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, West Yorkshire Archaeology Service 2003.
© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian
