Tag: Cup-and-Ring Stones

Duncroisk 6, Glen Lochay, Killin, Perthshire

megalithix

Cup-Marked Stone:  OS Grid Reference – NN 53466 36485

Getting Here

Position of ‘Duncroisk 6’ cup-marked stone

Follow the same directions to reach the Duncroisk Crosses stone.  From here, look up the slope to your right and you’ll see the line of fencing running uphill.  Follow this until you reach the ruined remains of the old sheepfold building.  From here, look towards the tree-lined gorge of Duncroisk Burn, a few hundred yards west and walk towards it for about 50-60 yards.  There’s a group of three rocks hereby, two are large, but the carving’s on the smallest one in the middle.

Archaeology & History

This cup-marked stone was rediscovered as a result of the fine archaeological survey work by that Glasgow bunch of Certified Field Archaeologists, in their assessment of remains in and around Duncroisk Farm.  As well as mentioning — albeit briefly — the carvings of Duncroisk Farm and Duncroisk Crosses, Dugald MacInnes (2001) and his team came across another that hadn’t been recorded before.  Described in their survey as ‘feature 2’, he told,

“Some 20 metres downslope from the sheep fank and about 60 metres NW from it, there is a group of large boulders.  On the southeast sloping face of one of these there are three previously unrecorded cup-marks.  These are oriented vertically on a northeast to southwest alignment and are no more than 4cm apart.  They are all about 7cm in diameter and 2.5cm deep.”

The carved rock is a relatively small one sitting roughly in between two much larger rocks, both of which are easily visible from the Duncroisk Crosses stone less than 100 yards down the slope.  It’s probably only gonna be of interest to the rock-art purists among you and some may even question its veracity, particularly the bottom of the three cups, which gives the impression of being unfinished.  If you visit the site in summer and autumn it will be much harder to find, as it gets overgrown with bracken. (we did take a number of photos of this stone, but managed to somehow delete them all before saving to disk – so have gotta check it again when we next visit here)

References:

  1. MacInnes, Dugald, An Archaeological Field Survey of a Deserted Settlement at Duncroisk Farm, Glen Lochay, Association of Certified Field Archaeologists: Glasgow 2001.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Duncroisk Farm, Glen Lochay, Killin, Perthshire

megalithix

Cup-Marked Stone:  OS Grid Reference – NN 53159 36409

Also Known as:

  1. Canmore ID 24170
  2. Duncroisk 1 carving (Canmore)
  3. Garnet Stone

Getting Here

Duncroisk Farm stone & Garnet Rock behind

Pretty easy to find this.  Go up Glen Lochay for 3 miles or so, on the road past the brilliant Stag Cottage carvings for a couple of hundred yards where you’ll see an old run-down army-looking building and past that is a curious large wooden and wire construction.  Go up the farm-track next to this, past Duncroisk Farm, taking the footpath through the gates that go up to the side and behind the farm.  You’ll see a rounded grassy knoll ahead of you.  Head straight for it!

Archaeology & Folklore

This carving would appear to have been described for the first time by Mr Cormack (1952) in his longer essay on the cross-marked stones nearby.  He said briefly:

“On the top of a small rock-strewn knoll about 300 yards behind Duncroisk farmhouse is a recumbent boulder, at one corner of which is a group of five fairly deep cup-marks of 2- to 3-inch diameter.”

Little else has been said of the site and even Ron Morris (1981) only gave the carving a brief mention in his survey, saying in passing how “east of a prominent rocky knoll, on whose summit is a cup-marked boulder…”, as he journeyed further uphill to explore the fascinating Duncroisk 4 carving with its scant cup-marks, human figurine and other curious insignia.  And although this carving is probably only worthwhile for the real fanatics amongst you, I like the place — sad fella that I am!

Cup-marked stone, looking south
Close-up of cups

There are five very distinct cup-marks etched onto a small, almost triangular section of the rock, sat close to a couple of other larger stones on top of the grassy knoll overlooking the glen, not far from some iron age walling.  The cups are etched onto the topmost (northern) section of the rock, which is defined by a natural crack running across the surface, almost splitting one part of the stone from the other.  The five cups are in no discernible linear formation.  A possible sixth cup-mark and extended line may have been started on the other side of the crack on the stone, but its execution was stopped for some reason.  This is by no means certain though.

Of some note is the larger stone immediately adjacent on top of this knoll, which — as Paul Hornby pointed out  — is encrusted full of small garnets all over its surface.  This may or may not have some significance to the cup-marked stone here.  According to Mr Hornby, the nearby cup-and-ring stone at Duncroisk Burn also has garnets in it.

References:

  1. Cormack, E.A., “Cross-Markings and Cup-Markings at Duncroisk, Glen Lochay,” in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 84, 1952.
  2. Morris, Ronald W.B., The Prehistoric Rock Art of Southern Scotland, BAR 86: Oxford 1981.
  3. Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland, Archaeological Sites and Monuments of Stirling District, Central Region, Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 1979.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian