Cup-and-Ring Stone: OS Grid Reference – NY 0708 2536
Getting Here
St Oswald’s church stands at the western edge of the village of Dean beside the road to Branthwaite. The village is located some 5 miles due south-west of Cockermouth and about 6 miles to the south-east of Workington.
Archaeology & History
In the nave of St Oswald’s church there is now housed a small sandstone boulder that has a well-defined central cup-mark around which are two large concentric rings, a third ring being left open – perhaps indicating a portal (gateway), and three other well defined cup-marks at the side of that, one of which has become almost adjoined to the other through erosion.
The boulder was ploughed up in a field at nearby Park Hill to the south-west of the village in 1918. It was then placed in the churchyard but, in recent times it was brought into the church for safety reasons.
References:
- Beckensall, Stan, Cumbrian Prehistoric Rock Art, Abbey Press: Hexham 1992.
- Beckensall, Stan, British Prehistoric Rock Art,Tempus: Stroud 1999.
- Beckensall, Stan, Prehistoric Rock Art in Cumbria, Tempus: Stroud 2002.
© Ray Spencer, 2011
