cup-and-rings – Page 27

Calverley Woods 03, Leeds, West Yorkshire

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Cup-Marked Stone: OS Grid Reference – SE 20370 37925

Cup-Marked Stone near centre (courtesy Mike Short) — Cup-Marked Stone near centre
(courtesy Mike Short)

Mike Short tells: Walk ENE along Thornhill Drive (no vehicular access) to gate across road at the last house on the Drive and continue on for approx 475m where road starts to narrow slightly, becomes a little steeper and gently turns to E. Thornhill Drive is now cut into the hillside at this point with an upwards sloping bank on the S side of the path. After approx 25m further on at approx SE 20375 37950 look out on the S side of the path for a pile of boulders sitting on bedrock on top of the bank and a large rectangular tabular rock on the side of the bank. Ascend the bank and from the boulder pile the panel is approx 22m 200º(T) in the middle of an ephemeral E-W path more defined to W.

Archaeology & History

The profile (and ‘How to Get There’) for this recently discovered cup-marked stone was forwarded to me by fellow rock art explorer, Mike Short. The carving is another basic design found in Calverley Woods, between Leeds and Bradford, nearly halfway between the missing petroglyphs of West Woods 2 and Sidney Jackson’s Calverley Woods Stone. Rediscovered by Lisa Volichenko some time ago, Mike described the new carving here as follows:

Looking down on the 3-4 cups (courtesy Mike Short) — Looking down on the 3-4 cups
(courtesy Mike Short)

Sketch of the carving (courtesy Mike Short) — Sketch of the carving
(courtesy Mike Short)

“Panel is carved on W sloping face of a sub-triangular earthfast coarse-grained sandstone boulder 0.81m X 0.50m X 0.38m, the longest axis lying almost exactly N-S. Carving consists of 3 cups, the most N of which is elliptical approx 65mm X 55mm; the central cup is elliptical approx 50mm X 40mm and the most S is circular diameter approx 40mm. On the N edge of the W face is a shallow elliptical depression thought to be of natural origin. There is an area of damage along the ‘crest’ of the boulder close to its S end.

“Carved rock is the most E of five rocks, measuring between 0.70m and 1.15m in length, in very close proximity forming an arc, 3 of which are in the footpath and one of which is resting on a large slab of rock almost completely covered by soil and vegetation.”

And so the small number of cup-marked stones in this woodland slowly grows. One wonders how many more are hidden beneath the roots of the trees—and are all of the lines and cups atop of the great Hanging Stone, a short distant away, all Nature’s handiwork…?

Acknowledgements: Huge thanks for Mike Short for the data, photos and sketch of this carving.

Raven Stones (559), Thruscross, North Yorkshire

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Cup-Marked Stone: OS Grid Reference – SE 11835 58006

Getting Here

Heavily cup-marked Raven Stone (after QDanT)

Take the A59 road from Harrogate and Skipton and at the very top of the moors near the Gill Head Enclosures, take the small Kex Ghyll road up past the disused quarry works north for a mile or so. At the junction go left, past the Outdoor Centre, thru West End up Whit Moor Road, then go left down to Brays Cross Farm and over the ford. Note the clump of trees on the moors to the west and take the path there. Once here, a large outcrop of rocks will be seen about 150 yards on the moor to the west. That’s the spot! Otherwise, follow the directions of the legendary wandering Teddy!

Archaeology & History

This dramatic looking outcrop of rocks rising out of the ground a half-mile due west of Bray farmhouse has long been known as the rocks of the ravens: oracular birds of ill-omen in all peasant traditions, yet carrier birds of shamans in their Underworld ventures, from accounts in Russia and Scandinavia, through the Scottish highlands and into Yorkshire’s northern hills, as folklore records show. Whether such mythical figures used the Raven Stones here for such magick, we have no firm accounts; but the existence of the many cup-markings on this particular rock (and others in the outcrop) show that animistic traditions of some form or another occurred here in prehistoric times at the very least.

Records of this place as an archaeological spot are scant indeed. It is passed with barely a mention by those Victorian antiquarian giants, Bogg, Grainge and Speight. The rock art students Boughey & Vickerman (2003) give the wrong grid reference here, but added the site to their inventory, saying only that it is “long, low, exposed bedrock. 22-25 cups; some very weathered and smooth.” A series of channels runs down the slope of the stone, but there are probably natural. However, a cup-and-line does occur on the eastern side of the carving.

References:

Armstrong, Edward A., The Folklore of Birds, Collins: London 1958.
Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS: Wakefield 2003.

Links:

Teddy Tour Teas

Acknowledgements: Huge thanks for QDanT & Teddy for the fine photos of the Raven Stone carving!

High Green (407), Skyreholme, North Yorkshire

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Cup-Marked Stone: OS Grid Reference – SE 07508 62599

Getting Here

Take the B6265 east out of Grassington, thru Hebden, for another 2 miles till you pass the tiny road down to Skyreholme on the right. Another few hundred yards on, past Nussey Farm and Dry Gill house, park up and look for the track going south into the moors. Go down the track called Black Hill Road for a few hundred yards till y’ reach the gate on the right. A track bends downhill to the psilocybin-rich pastures of Nussey Green. Several hundred yards on, to the right-hand side of the track, we find this and its companions. Look around!

Archaeology & History

This medium-sized, recumbent standing-stone-shaped boulder has perhaps fifteen cup-markings on it. It’s a plain carving with others of a similar ilk in the area. First described by Stuart Feather in 1970 as one of “two cup-marked rocks” he found when ambling around; in Boughey & Vickerman’s (2003) survey they give it the wrong grid reference, though describe it correctly as a “long flat rock of irregular outline (with) fourteen to sixteen cups.” A cluster of other carvings are nearby, though some have been destroyed through mining operations.

References:

Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS: Wakefield 2003.
Feather, Stuart, “Appletreewick, W.R.,” in Yorkshire Archaeological Register, 1969, Yorkshire Archaeological Journal, part 168, 1970.

Panorama Woods (230), Ilkley, West Yorkshire

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Cup-Marked Stone: OS Grid Reference – SE 10377 47027

Also Known as:

Carving no.63 (Hedges)

Getting Here

From Ilkley, take the directions up to the Panorama Woods 232 carving. From here you can step from this rock over the stride onto the cup-marked carving 231b, and then go onto the next adjoining rock surface a little lower down. From here, you’ll see another mossy rock surface in front of you by a yard or two. That’s the one!

Archaeology & History

Here’s another simple cup-marked stone, probably only for the purists amongst you—although in visiting here please take into account the primary carving’s association with other more prominent designs that once existed only a few yards to the west where the houses now stand. There is also the cluster of other carvings right next to this stone. A prehistoric settlement was also in evidence adjacent to this carving which was destroyed in the latter half of the 19th century.

Described simply in John Hedge’s (1986) fine survey as a small “piece of rock with three clear cups and one depression.” Boughey & Vickerman’s (2003) survey added nothing more and merely copied the same words. For some reason or other (mebbe cos I’m simple!) I really like this otherwise innocuous design and its close simplistic relatives. It’s probably due to the trees amidst which the stones are found and the bright mosses on the rocks, giving the site a slightly extra sense of more living genius loci than others on the top of these moors, where the winds move the subtle spirits with greater ease.

If you step down and look at the vertical side of this stone, you’ll notice a more modern stylistic carving etched onto the surface. Not as deep as the prehistoric cups on the top, it seems probable that a local artist by the name of Ambrose Collins carved this on here (and other similar designs on other rocks nearby) in the late 19th century.

References:

Bennett, Paul, The Panorama Stones, Ilkley, TNA: Yorkshire 2012.
Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS: Wakefield 2003.
Hedges, John (ed.), The Carved Rocks on Rombalds Moor, WYMCC: Wakefield 1986.

West Woods 02, Calverley, Leeds, West Yorkshire

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Cup-and-Ring Stone (lost): OS Grid Reference –SE 1956 3734

Getting Here

Although now seemingly lost, it’s location is damn close to this: Along the A657 between Greengates and Bradford, where the New Line meets Carr Road, the dirt-track takes you into Calverley Woods, down Eleanor Drive. About 250 yards along (just before you get to the field on the left), take the footpath down the embankment towards the stream where it bends to the left and where the land levels out (don’t cross the stream). It’s somewhere round there!

Archaeology & History

This was one of two previously unrecognised carvings we came across sometime in 1985 (see West Woods 1 stone), when we were seeking out another missing carving in the same woods. It was clear and well-defined as the faded photo here shows; but having been back to try find it twice in the last two years in the hope of getting better photos, I’ve been unable to locate it. The carving was described in an article I did in an old earth mysteries magazine. It comprises simply of a large ring surrounding and enclosing two deep cups, which were linked to each other by a connecting carved line. Parts of the stone had been chipped in parts—including a section of the large ring— due to some industrial workings that had happened here in the past. Thankfully I managed to find the old photo and hopefully, perhaps, some local explorer could try and seek out where it’s hiding beneath the trees and other vegetation.

References:

Bennett, Paul, “The Undiscovered Old Stones of Calverley Woods,” in Earth no.2, 1986.

Ninewells, Caputh, Perthshire

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Ring Cairn: OS Grid Reference – NO 0757 4360

Also Known as:

Canmore ID 27115
Nine Wells

Getting Here

Outer edge of the overgrown Ninewells circle

From Dunkeld, head out for a mile or so on the long and winding A923 road, taking your first road right along the Craigie and Caputh road, south of the Loch of Lowes. Go along here for about 2 miles, watching out for the little road to Black Hill on your left, where you can park up (if you hit a road junction, you’ve gone too far). Across the road, note the copse of trees. Go in there along the walling for about 50-70 yards, past the curious gathering of rounded stones, then walk into the trees where the giant fir trees stand. You’re damn close!

Archaeology & History

This is an excellent site, hiding away in a scattered copse of woodland, with young trees inside and very old ones in close proximity to its outer edge. We visited the place for the first time in the middle of summer, not knowing anything about it, and found Nature had covered much of the place in Her usual clothes of fern, bramble, gorse and other vegetation. Yet despite this, the site was superb! In a very good state of preservation this ring of small stones is more than 30 feet across, though the stones making up the ring are only small. Within the ring itself you’ll find many young birch trees growing over a mass of small rounded rocks, typical of cairn material such as found at other prehistoric sites of this nature up and down our northern counties, from the overgrown Roms Law, to Temple Wood and many others. No evidence of internal burial or cist of any form was noted on our visit, nor mentioned in the Canmore survey.

Plan of the Ninewells ring (after RCAHMS)

Although rightly classed as a cairn circle or ring-cairn, I’ve seen sites like this labelled as ‘stone circles’ in the past — and it’s easy to see why once you’re inside this! If the internal scatter of cairn-material had been cleared in earlier centuries—as with many others—this site would be classed as a typical stone circle. Curiously it hasn’t fared too well in archaeological surveys, but thankfully the Scottish Royal Commission (1994) lads included the site in theirs, telling us,

“This cairn measures 10m in diameter and 0.75m in height and has a near-complete kerb of large contiguous boulders and slabs set on edge. The kerb is graded so that the largest, though not the tallest stones are situated in the southwestern quadrant, and one of the stones on the west bears four cupmarks. Today the cairn material is roughly level with the top of the kerbstones, but there is no evidence to suggest that it has been heavily robbed and it was probably never much higher. Concentric with the kerb there is an external platform about 0.2m high. This type of feature is more usually associated with Clava ring-cairns and passage graves around Inverness, which are believed to be of late Neolithic date; but, despite the disturbance of the centre of the Ninewells cairn, there is no evidence of stones defining an internal court.”

Some broken quartz stones were also found inside this ring. The cup-marked stone on the west side of the circle has an entry of its own. Whether or not the ‘opening’ or lack of stones in the north of the ring was intentional can only be known with certainty if an excavation happens here; suffice to say that North is the airt or direction most commonly representative of the Land of the Dead in many early northern cultures, which may explain this. A truly fascinating site…

The name ‘Ninewells’ derives from a cluster of healing springs of water that once flowed nearby. Several legendary waters with this name can be found in this part of southern Perthshire.

References:

Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland, South-East Perth: An Archaeological Landscape, HMSO: Edinburgh 1994.

Basan an Sagairt, Balquhidder, Perthshire

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Cup-Marked Stone: OS Grid Reference – NN 5419 2089

Also Known as:

Canmore ID 24140
Priest’s Basin

Getting Here

From Balquhidder village, take the road east towards Auchtubh as if you’re heading to the Clach nan Sul or Wester Auchleskine cup-marked stones. Before reaching either of these sites, a few hundred yards on the road as you pass Tom na Cruich on the right-side of the road, you need to look in the next field past this house. About 40 yards past here in the field, and less than 10 yards from the wall, you can see the large rock from the roadside. If not, you’re damn close! Ask the owners of the adjacent house, who are very friendly and helpful.

Archaeology & History

This curious, large, man-made cup-marking or bowl was first described in J.M. Gow’s (1887) essay on Balquhidder antiquities. He wrote:

“Regaining the high road, and still going east, about 40 yards from the cottage of Mr Macdiarmid, there lies just inside the road dyke a large five-sided stone, about 8 feet long by 5 feet broad at the broadest part, and about 2 feet above ground. It is called “Basan an Sagairt” (the Priest’s Basin). When the present road and dyke were made, its name must have saved it. The hollow or basin is 18 inches in diameter and 6 inches deep, and is unmistakably artificial. The stone is the mica slate of the district, hard and granitic.”

The large bowl here was also deemed to be artificial by members of Ordnance Survey and Royal Commission archaeologists who have inspected the site. It is thought to have been a healing stone of some sort, or at least possessed some religious function, but we have no records stating this with any certainty. In examples similar to this, the water which collects in the carved bowl is deemed to have curative properties. It may have been a christian attempt to take locals away from magickal healing stone practices enacted at the Clach nan Sul, or Stone of the Eyes, just a couple of hundred yards along the road east of here. Or it may have being a stone used by indigenous medicine men for other medicinal purposes.

Carved stone in one of the fields across the road

On the other side of the road from here, in the field immediately past Wester Auchleskine farm, as you go through the gate just ahead of you is a rounded earthfast stone with a similar man-made circular impression like the Priest’s Basin carved upon it. (NN 5451 2089) However, this carving doesn’t appear to have been finished. Whether it has any mythic relationship to the Priest’s stone or the cupmarked rocks at Wester Auchleskine in the same field, is not known.

References:

Gow, James M., “Notes in Balquhidder: Saint Angus, Curing Wells, Cup-Marked Stones, etc”, in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries Scotland, volume 21, 1887.

Wester Auchleskine, Balquhidder, Perthshire

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Cup-Marked Stone: OS Grid Reference – NN 54584 20876

Also Known as:

Canmore ID 24154

Getting Here

From Balquhidder village, walk eastwards along the road for a few hundred yards until you reach Auchleskine Farm on your left. A short distance past here there’s a gate taking you into the rough field on the left. Go through here and note a large clump of rocks diagonally up the slope about 100 yards away. That’s your spot!

Archaeology & History

Very little has been said of this large cup-marked stone, just up from the road near Balquhidder. It was first found and described in J.M. Gow’s (1887) fine essay on the local antiquities of the area, where he told:

“About 400 yards directly east from the farm-house there is a group of three large water-worn boulders of coarse mica-schist, with veins of quartz, the largest of which is about 15 feet long, 7 feet broad, and nearly 5 feet above ground. On the top of this stone there are seven cup-marks of various sizes. The largest are 5 inches in diameter and 2 inches deep; the smaller ones are shallower and from 1½ to 2½ inches in diameter. There may have been more marks on this stone, as a portion of the top near the marks has been broken off, and there are several other faint hollows, but, in my opinion, not sufficiently pronounced to indicate that they ever were cups.”

Although his caution on the number of cups on the stone is to be commended, it was obvious during our visit to the site a few days ago that there are at least 18 cup-marks on the surface of this large rock. There may be more (the grey cloudy day and misty light wasn’t good in allowing us to see the carving clearly). The most pronounced of the cups are on the very top of the stone, whilst others were carved mainly on the eastern slope of the rock.

At least two other cup-marked stones occur at the farmhouse itself, whilst on the road immediately below was once the cup-marked healing stone known as Clach nan Sul. It’s likely that other carvings are hiding away in the hills hereby…

References:

Gow, James M., “Notes in Balquhidder: Saint Angus, Curing Wells, Cup-Marked Stones, etc”, in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries Scotland, volume 21, 1887.

Clach nan Sul, Balquhidder, Perthshire

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Cup-Marked Stone (destroyed): OS Grid Reference – NN 5456 2084

Also Known as:

Canmore ID 24150
Stone of the Eyes

Archaeology & History

Looking down Balquhidder Glen from the Clach nan Sul's old home — Looking down Balquhidder Glen from Clach nan Sul’s old home

Apparently destroyed, although some remains of the stone were said to be seen in the walling by the roadside; but when visiting this spot a few days ago the summer vegetation had completely covered any potential finds here. The stone fell foul of the usual self-righteous industrialists when the track alongside which it had sat for countless centuries was turned into a road and the stone was “blasted”. It was found some 20 yards below the large cup-marked stone known as Wester Auchleskine, seen amidst the clump of rocks in the field above.

The stone was described in MacKinlay’s (1893) fine survey on Scottish holy wells due to the healing properties of the waters that collected into the rock basin here. The earliest record of the site that I’ve found comes from the hallowed papers of the Scottish Society of Antiquaries, where—in J.M. Gow’s (1887) rambles just east of Balquidder—he told us the following:

“Going still further east to the first turning of the road beyond the farmhouse of Wester Auchleskine, and on the left-hand side, there used to be a large boulder with a natural cavity in its side, famous as a curing well for sore eyes. This stone was called “Clach nan sul” (the Stone of the Eyes). In 1878 the road trustees caused it to be blasted, as it was supposed to be a danger in the dark to passing vehicles. Its fragments were broken up, and used as road metal.”

Whether or not the site known as the Priest’s Basin, or Basan an Sagairt—a couple of hundred yards west by the roadside—was of a similar nature, or an attempt by christians to draw people away from the old healing Clach nan Sul and use this other one instead, we do not know. There are numerous accounts of other stones in this mountainous region of Scotland where rocks-with-hollows filled with water were attributed with healing properties, like the Whooping Cough Stone at Struan, the Measles Stone at Fearnan, and many others.

Folklore

The folklore described by Mr Gow was reiterated in MacKinlay’s (1893) survey. He also told how,

“The hollow in the Clach-nan-Sul at Balquhidder…contained small coins placed there by those who sought a cure for their sore eyes. Mr J. Macintosh Gow was told by some one in the district that ‘people, when going to church, having forgotten their small change, used in passing to put their hands in the well and find a coin.’ Mr Gow’s informant mentioned that he had done so himself.”

References:

Gow, James M., “Notes in Balquhidder: Saint Angus, Curing Wells, Cup-Marked Stones, etc”, in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries Scotland, volume 21, 1887.
MacKinlay, James M., Folklore of Scottish Lochs and Springs, William Hodge: Glasgow 1893.

Panorama Woods (231b), Ilkley, West Yorkshire

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Cup-Marked Stone: OS Grid Reference – SE 10378 47027

Getting Here

Follow the directions to reach Panorama Woods carving 232. Barely a yard or two southwest across the small gap where the kids have their little den or hideout, this long curvaceous rock is the fella in question.

Archaeology & History

Curiously not included in the ‘official’ records, this large piece of rock, living right in between the Panorama Woods carvings 231 and 232, has at least two, possibly three faint cup-marks etched in the top northeastern portion of the rock. Of the same style and probably period as the basic designs on stones 230 and 231, this is one in a cluster of petroglyphs that used to live at the edge of a prehistoric enclosure, destroyed at the end of the 19th century.

References:

Bennett, Paul, Of Cups and Rings and Things, unpublished: Shipley 1981.
Bennett, Paul, The Panorama Stones, Ilkley, TNA: Yorkshire 2012.