Take the directions to reach the Ninewells ring cairn on the hills east of Dunkeld. Once here, if you can work your way through the dense mass of prickly vegetation in and around the circle, on its western side you’ll find three elongated monoliths (if you stood them upright they’d be taller than all the rest) laid next to each other. On the smallest of these three, next to an upright, almost pyramidal stone, you’ll find what you’re looking for. Persevere! (someone needs to clean up this impressive site and keep it in good condition)
Archaeology & History
Cluster of 4 or 5 cups
This minor-looking petroglyph can be found on the upper surface of the westernmost stone in the cairn circle. It’s nowt much to look at and will only be of interest to the hardcore rock art freaks among you. Carved onto the flattened edge of the stone are at least four shallow cup markings, close to each other. When we visited here, the light wasn’t good, but it seemed that a fifth cupmark was sat amidst the small cluster. You can make them all out (just!) in the photo. Another visit on a better day would tell us one way or the other…
References:
Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland, South-East Perth: An Archaeological Landscape, HMSO: Edinburgh 1994.
Acknowledgements:Huge thanks for use of the Ordnance Survey map in this site profile, reproduced with the kind permission of the National Library of Scotland.
A couple of miles east of Crieff, take the A822 road from the Gilmerton junction and head up towards the Sma’ Glen. After literally 1¾ miles (2.8km), on the right-side of the road, you can park-up right opposite the dirt-track that leads up to Connachan Farm a half-mile away. Walking up and then past the farm, go past the Connachan (2) petroglyph, keeping on the same track uphill and just past the (Connachan 4) carving the land levels out where the track curves. From here, walk to your right, into the grasses, and about 90 yards along you’ll see a small rise in the ground with two or three fallen stones in the middle.
Archaeology & History
The cairn, looking N
There’s nothing truly notable about this much-overgrown cairn and you could very easily walk past it without noticing it was even there! Much of its original mass has been removed and, no doubt, its stones reused in the old walling a few yards to the north (a long section of that walling appears to have a prehistoric provenance). It measures roughly 10 yards across and its outer edges are clearly visible as a raised grass-covered mound all round, just one or two feet high at the most. Obviously it was much larger when first built, but all that we see now are its final ruins, four or five thousand years after its birth… The one thing of great note here is the view: you’re looking from east to south to west across an awesome landscape for many many miles. Check it out!
References:
Stewart, Margaret E.C., “Connachan, Crieff – Cup Marks and Hut Circle,” in Discovery & Excavation, Scotland, 1967.
Cup-Marked Stone (lost): OS Grid Reference – NO 262 503
Archaeology & History
In an excursion to the Iron Age Hillfort on Barry Hill in the early 1960s by some members of the Perthshire Society of Natural Science, near the very top on its southwestern side they discovered “a small cup marked stone.” (Longworth 1962) It hasn’t been seen since. And whether it was in the walling of the fort, or was a carved earthfast rock, they neglected to tell. When I visited here several years ago I couldn’t find the damn thing and presume that it’s simply been overgrown by the vegetation. In the event that you manage to rediscover the carving, see if you can catch us a good photo or two and stick ’em on our Facebook group.
References:
Longworth, Ian, “Dundee, Angus,” in Discovery & Excavation, Scotland, 1962.
A couple of miles east of Crieff, take the A822 road from the Gilmerton junction and head up towards the Sma’ Glen. After literally 1¾ miles (2.8km), on the right-side of the road, you can park-up right opposite the dirt-track that leads up to Connachan Farm a half-mile away. Keep walking up past the farm to the Connachan (2) petroglyph, and keep to the track uphill for another 600 yards keeping your eyes peeled for a notable singular rock on your left, about 10 yards into the heather. It’s pretty easy to see. If the track’s levelled out, you’ve gone too far!
Archaeology & History
Perhaps the most attractive of the Connachan petroglyphs is this curvaceous stone with its archetypal double-ringed motif. It seems to have been described firstly by Margaret Stewart (1967), whose description (to me at least) doesn’t quite do it justice; but then, they are somewhat troublesome abstract creations most of the time. She told it to it be,
“a boulder 4’10” x 3’10 x 2′ in height with 6 cups and a grooved circle, which incorporates two more cup marks on its outline. The grooved circle encloses a gapped circle with another cup mark at its centre.”
Connachan (4), looking NMain face of the carving
So, nine cups in all: one with the double-ring around it, and two of the cups touching the outer ring. The cup-marks are ostensibly as Stewart described them, but there are another two or three which I was unable to capture in the photos, as the daylight wasn’t good when we came here. They’re shallow but very distinct when you see and feel them in the flesh, so to speak, and are closer to the top- and bottom-centre of the stone in the photos here. Well worth checking out if you’re in the area!
References:
Stewart, Margaret E.C., “Connachan, Crieff – Cup Marks and Hut Circle,” in Discovery & Excavation, Scotland, 1967.
Acknowledgements:Huge thanks for use of the Ordnance Survey map in this site profile, reproduced with the kind permission of the National Library of Scotland.
A couple of miles east of Crieff, take the A822 road from the Gilmerton junction and head up towards the Sma’ Glen. After literally 1¾ miles (2.8km), on the right-side of the road, you can park-up right opposite the dirt-track that leads up to Connachan Farm a half-mile away. Keep walking up the track, past the farm and the cottages, and about 300 yards further along, right by the track-side, you’ll see a large stone. Y’ can’t really miss it!
Archaeology & History
This carving was seemingly rediscovered by J.H. Maxwell of Crieff in the 1960s, but not in the position it presently occupies by the trackside. A large body of field clearance rocks lies scattered 60 yards to the west, which is where it was reportedly first seen; which means that, even then, it wasn’t in its original spot. But at least we can be assured that it came from somewhere very close to its present location, by the trackside.
Close-up of cups & linesThe carving, looking SW
It’s not overly impressive in terms of its design, comprising almost entirely of cup-markings: at least thirty, perhaps as many as thirty-four. When we visited here recently, Nature wasn’t overly concerned about giving us decent daylight, so we couldn’t see the carving clearly, but it did seem that a carved broken “ring” swerves around at least one of the cups near the middle of the stone. You can make it out in the photos here (centre-left). There are what seems to be several other carved lines on different parts of the stone but, again, without decent daylight, we could neither get decent photos, nor do a decent sketch of them. The Scottish Rock Art Project, who got themselves nigh on a million quid to survey all our carvings up here, neither sketched, photographed or visited this or the others in this Connachan petroglyph cluster, so we’re none the wiser as to its original form. If you happen to visit this carving when the daylight is being nice, see if you can catch us a good photo or two and stick ’em on our Facebook group.
References:
Stewart, Margaret E.C., “Connachan, Crieff – Cup Marks and Hut Circle,” in Discovery & Excavation, Scotland, 1967.
Go west out of Perth city centre, along Longcauseway which runs straight into Jeanfield Road, then (keep your eyes peeled) turn left and go along Burghmuir Road to the end where, at the roundabout, go straight across. 100 yards along, a dead straight path starts on the left-side of the road. Walk 400 yards along here, cross the road, keep straight on the path (called Old Gallows Road) into the trees and a half-mile on you reach a large pylon on your right; but walk to your immediate left here and after 25 yards go through the gate on your left. In this field, 100 yards to the south you’ll see a tree inside a large low stone enclosure. You need to find the stone that’s the most northerly one in this enclosure walling.
Archaeology & History
It’s debatable as to whether or not this carving is in its original position as it’s located within the outer walling of an enclosure, deemed by Fred Coles (1903) to have been a large garden, yet which has all the hallmarks of being much earlier structure, possibly even Iron Age. Either way, the cup-and-ring that we see today on the northernmost edge of this old walling, would seem to have been moved into the position it presently occupies.
Close-up of the carvingPosition in line of walling
There’s another oddity about it too, as one (or more) of the cup-markings have been incised and worked upon in much more recent centuries, as evidenced by a small thin almost pencil-like cut into the centre of one of them, perhaps with the intention of smashing the stone to pieces. A geologist or stonemason could perhaps look at this and let us know what they think. Thankfully the stone and the carved design remains intact!
It was described by the great Fred Coles (1903) in a summary essay of numerous antiquities both here and further afield. He told us:
Coles (1903) sketchClose-up of the design
“The cup-and ring-marked stone here was first brought to my notice by Mr David Smith in the summer of 1900. He then reported that the stone appeared to be one of a large number forming a rough circle in a plantation on the west of this farm. On reaching the house, I was fortunate in meeting Mr Douglas the tenant, who at once conducted me to the westmost field and showed me the stone. It is a squarish and not very thick block of ‘bastard whinstone,’ uneven, weathered, and moss-grown. It measures 2 feet 10 inches by 2 feet 8 inches. As far as examination in the gloom of the clump of trees allowed, I believe I am correct in recording…the seven single cups and the two surrounded by rings as all the definitely artificial marks now visible on this stone. The stone at present lies prone upon the curved alignment of many stones which have been set on edge, enclosing an area roughly oval, and measuring in round numbers about 210 feet nearly east and west by 90 or 100 feet north and south.”
There are in fact a few more cups with rings than what Coles described, but they’re difficult to make out. At least five have rings, possibly six of them. If you happen to visit this carving when the daylight is being nice, see if you can catch us a good photo or two and stick ’em on our Facebook group.
References:
Coles, Fred, “Notices of…some Hitherto Undescribed Cup-and-ring-marked Stones,” in Proceedings Society Antiquaries Scotland, volume 37, 1903.
Acknowledgements:Many thanks for use of the Ordnance Survey map in this site profile, reproduced with the kind permission of the National Library of Scotland.
Cup-Marked Stone (lost): OS Grid Reference – NN 4808 0140
Archaeology & History
On the south-side of Loch Ard, just a few yards from the entrance to Rob Roy’s Cave (one of several), right by the water’s edge are the natural upstanding pillars known locally as Gog and Magog. In Peter Joynson’s (1996) work on Aberfoyle, this site is listed as one in a number of unrecorded cup-and-ring stones in the area. Discovered by a local lady—”the late Mrs Maitland”—here we have,
“two huge stones about 30ft high known as Gog and Magog situated at the mouth of Blan Ross Bay. They have numerous cup marks, but sadly have disappeared from view as they have been covered by forestry planting.”
An increasingly annoying problem that many rock art students are having to contend with! When we visited the site, the tops of these huge stones were, indeed, covered in depths of mosses and pine needles and the carving is hidden from sight. When the trees are felled, let’s hope someone can find it!
Folklore
These natural rocks were said to have been two giants that were turned to stone, the story of which seems to have been forgotten…
References:
Joynson, Peter, Local Past, privately printed: Aberfoyle 1996.
This is an outstanding site visible for miles around in just about every direction – so getting here is easy! If you’re coming from Harrogate, south down the A658, turn right and go thru North Rigton. Ask a local. If you’re coming north up the A658 from the Leeds or Bradford area, do exactly the same! (either way, you’ll see the crags rising up from some distance away) As you walk to the main crags, instead of going to the huge central mass, you need to follow the line of walling down (south) to the extended cluster of much lower sloping rocks. Look around and you’ll find it!
Archaeology & History
On the evening of May 27, 2024, I received a phone call from a Mr James Elkington of Otley. He was up Almscliffe Crags and the wind was howling away in the background, taking his words away half the time, breaking the sentences into piecemeal fragments. But through it all came a simple clarity: as the sun was setting and the low light cut across the rocky surface, a previously unrecorded cup-and-ring design emerged from the stone and was brought to the attention of he and his compatriot Mackenzie Erichs. All previous explorations for rock art here over the last 150 years had proved fruitless—until now!
Looking northwestCentral cup-&-ring
On the east-facing slope of the stone, just below the curvaceous wind-and-rain hewn shapes at the very top of the boulder, is a singular archetypal cup-and-ring. It’s faint, as the photos show, but it’s definitely there. What might be another cup-and-ring is visible slightly higher up the sloping face, but the site needs looking at again when lighting conditions are just right! (you can just about make it out in one of the photos) But, at long last, this giant legend-infested mass of Almscliffe has its prehistoric animistic fingerprint, bearing fruit and giving watch to the countless heathen activities going back centuries. Rombald’s wife Herself might have been the mythic artist of this very carving! (if you want to read about the many legends attached to the major Almscliffe rock outcrop, check out the main entry for Almscliffe Crags)
Follow the directions as if you’re visiting the fascinating Wondjina Stone and its companion. From here look at the large rocks on the edge of the drop a few yards away (west) and you’re looking for the flattest rectangular rock jutting out over the edge of the slope, about 15 yards from the walling. The carvings of Rivock (2) and (3) are on the adjacent rocks.
Archaeology & History
The southernmost of (at least) three cup-marked rocks on the edge of this outcrop, it isn’t a carving I’d necessarily include in my own surveys nowadays. It’s a dubious one to say the least. Nonetheless, earlier surveyors added it in their catalogues.
Lichen-covered “cups”
First mentioned in John Hedges’ (1986) survey, this large and roughly flat rectangular boulder possesses three or four questionable cups close to the edge of the stone. Boughey & Vickerman (2003) subsequently included it in their own work—copying Hedges’ notes—and told it to be a “large rock. About three cups on NW side.” Have a look at it when you visit the other more impressive Rivock carvings nearby and see what you think…
References:
Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS 2003.
Hedges, John (ed.), The Carved Rocks on Rombald’s Moor, WYMCC: Wakefield 1986.
Morris, Ronald W.B., “The Prehistoric Rock Art of Great Britain: A Survey of All Sites Bearing Motifs more Complex than Simple Cup-marks,” in Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, volume 55, 1989.
Take the same directions as if you’re visiting the fascinating Wondjina Stone and its companion. From here, just a few yards to the west, are the large rocks overhanging the steep hill, several of which have cup-markings on them (including the carvings Rivock Nose [1] and [2]). This particular carving is the one closest to the wall. You can’t really miss it!
Archaeology & History
Line of 3 cups
A simplistic design that’ll only be of interest to the real geeks amongst you; but you might as well give it your attention when you’re looking at the adjacent Wondjina Stone. On its large surface, the most notable ingredients are the three large cups that run (roughly) in a straight line from the middle of the stone to its outer pointy edge. You can see them pretty clearly in the photo. Several other cup-marks can be seen on the more northwesterly side of the stone.
It was first described in John Hedges (1986) survey, whose notes were simply copied in the subsequent survey of Boughey & Vickerman (2003) where, in their traditional way, gave a very basic description, saying, “Large gritstone outcrop: 3m x 2m. Five cups towards NW edge.”
References:
Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS 2003.
Hedges, John (ed.), The Carved Rocks on Rombald’s Moor, WYMCC: Wakefield 1986.
Morris, Ronald W.B., “The Prehistoric Rock Art of Great Britain: A Survey of All Sites Bearing Motifs more Complex than Simple Cup-marks,” in Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, volume 55, 1989.
