Cup-Marked Stone: OS Grid Reference – SE 1421 5440
From Blubberhouses church by the crossroads, walk up the slope (south) as if you’re going to Askwith, for 100 yards or so, taking the track and footpath past the Manor House and onto the moor. Once you hit the moorland proper, take the footpath that bears left going down into heather and keep going till you hit the dead straight Roman Road path running west onto Blubberhouses Moor. Go on here for nearly a mile until you hit the stream and nearby Eagle Stone boulder. Walk upstream from here, on its eastern (right-hand) side for 100 yards, then walk up onto the level moor, scattered with rushes. Keep up here, heading towards the upright cairn open the skyline to the north. Once here, walk 80 yards (73m) WNW and you’ll note a number of flat stones embedded in the heather around you. You’re damn close!
Archaeology & History
Off-path and takes some finding and will all-but disappear when the heather grows back, so this one’s probably only for the purists amongst you. But I like it anyway! This is one of at least seven newly-discovered cup-marked stones hereby, including the nearby ‘Owl Stone’ with it’s big eyes! There are just two cup-marks on the flat surface: one an archetypal large cup 3 inches across and a half-inch deep; the other, a small faint cup less than 2 inches wide and very shallow which is easily missed if you pay little attention. On the photo here, the fainter cup is slightly above right of the centre. The carving appears to be on the far eastern edges of the Slade Cairnfield. Other undiscovered remains are likely to be found here.
© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian
