Tag: Duntocher

Auchentorlie, Old Kilpatrick, Dumbartonshire

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Cup-and-Ring Stones (lost):  OS Grid Reference – NS 444 747

Archaeology & History

A couple of interesting multiple-ringed carvings were found high up on the slopes above Bowling, not far from the Bow Linn waterfalls, near the end of the 19th century.  John Bruce (1893) told that, shortly after the discovery of the Cochno carvings,

“in the year 1889, two cup and ring marked stones were discovered in a dyke near the old farmhouse of Auchentorlie while the reservoir for the district water supply was being excavated close by.”

But since then, they seem to have disappeared.  Searches for them by the old petroglyph writer Ron Morris in the 1960s and the Royal Commission lads in the 1970s both drew a blank.  If we’re lucky, they might be hiding in a box somewhere, in the storage rooms of Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Museum.  As you can from the sketches done by W.A. Donnelly, they’re quite impressive.  The drawings give the impression that they were small portable carvings, which may suggest they were once part of a prehistoric cist or cairn, although no such site has been found in this locale.  If this isn’t the case, their small size is an oddity.

References:

  1. Bruce, John, The History of the Parish of West or Old Kilpatrick,  John Smith: Glasgow 1893.
  2. Morris, Ronald W.B. & Bailey, Douglas C., “The Cup-and-Ring Marks and Similar Sculptures of Southwestern Scotland: A Survey,” in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 98, 1966.
  3. Royal Commission Ancient Historical Monuments, Scotland, The Archaeological Sites and Monuments of Dumbarton District…, HMSO: Edinburgh 1978.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian

Dumbuck Hill, Milton, Dumbarton, Dumbartonshire

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Cup-Marked Stone (lost):  OS Grid Reference – NS 419 747

Archaeology & History

Very little is known of this site.  It was discovered in the 1890s by a Mr W.A. Donnelly who was responsible for some of the early drawings of the famous Cochno Stone carving (found a few miles east of here), but it seems that he made no such sketch of this particular carving—although it doesn’t sound too impressive when we compare it to some of the others in this area.  It was thankfully mentioned, albeit briefly by John Bruce (1893), who told that it was “a boulder with a large basin and a duct heading therefrom…at the foot of Dumbuck Hill.”  The carving may well have been destroyed by quarrying.

References:

  1. Bruce, John, The History of the Parish of West or Old Kilpatrick,  John Smith: Glasgow 1893.
  2. Morris, Ronald W.B. & Bailey, Douglas C., “The Cup-and-Ring Marks and Similar Sculptures of Southwestern Scotland: A Survey,” in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 98, 1966.
  3. Royal Commission Ancient Historical Monuments, Scotland, The Archaeological Sites and Monuments of Dumbarton District…, HMSO: Edinburgh 1978.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian

Dunarbuck, Old Kilpatrick, Dumbartonshire

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Cup-Marked Stone (lost):  OS Grid Reference – NS 449 740

Also Known as:

  1. Dunerbuck
  2. Greenland (5)

Archaeology & History

Bruce’s 1893 sketch

This small and visually trivial cup-marked stone is one of a number in this neck o’ the woods that have either been destroyed or simply lost.  This stone has the “lost” label stamped on it!  It was first described in John Bruce’s (1893) classic local history work where he told it to be “a boulder of sandstone with three cup-marks…(that) lies on the slope of the Hill of Dun, about 100 yards north of Dunerbuck  farmhouse.”  It doesn’t appear to have been seen since, as none of the classic petroglyph writers described seeing it and a search for it in Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Museum in the 1960s drew a blank.  The carving has subsequently been added to archaeological inventories with the standard, “this cup-marked boulder cannot now be located.”  It may yet be found, overgrown by grasses and mosses, just that hundred yards or so above the buildings behind Dunarbuck.  That entire area needs scanning to be honest…

References:

  1. Bruce, John, The History of the Parish of West or Old Kilpatrick,  John Smith: Glasgow 1893.
  2. Bruce, John, “Notice of Remarkable Groups of Archaic Sculpturings in Dumbartonshire and Stirlingshire,” in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, volume 30, 1896.
  3. Royal Commission Ancient Historic Monuments, Scotland, The Archaeological Sites and Monuments of Dumbarton District…, HMSO: Edinburgh 1978.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian

Round Wood (1), Bellsmyre, Dumbartonshire

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Cup-Marked Stone:  OS Grid Reference – NS 433 773

Archaeology & History

Round Wood petroglyph

Of the “two stones bearing possible cup markings” mentioned in the Royal Commission (1978) survey of the area, this is one them – and it’s a dead cert, not a mere “possible.”  It was rediscovered by Tom Welsh (1976) when he explored the large low-walled enclosure on this plateau.  The carving is on a small rounded stone near the southern perimeter of the enclosure.  Welsh described it as, “a boulder 48 x 35 x20cm, bearing six cups 45mm diameter, arranged five round a sixth, the pattern being 15cm across.”

A second cup-marked stone was also located “2.5m in from the last perimeter” bearing a single well-defined cup-mark more than an inch across.  This seems to have been lost.

References:

  1. Royal Commission Ancient Historical Monuments, Scotland, The Archaeological Sites and Monuments of Dumbarton District…, HMSO: Edinburgh 1978
  2. Welsh, T C. (1976d) ‘Lang Craigs, Milton, enclosure, cup marks, foundation, mound, platform’, Discovery Excav Scot, 1976. Page(s): 30

Above photo copyright © Lairich Rig and licensed for reuse under Creative Commons.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian

Cochno (05), Duntocher, Dumbartonshire

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Cup-Marked Stone:  OS Grid Reference – NS 50301 73655

Also Known as:

  1. Auchnacraig
  2. Canmore ID 44536

Getting Here

The sprayed Cochno-5 stone

The sprayed Cochno-5 stone

Along the A810 Bearsden to Dunochter road, 100 yards past the Faifley roundabout, turn right up Cochno Road. Go up for literally 1 mile and hit the car-park.  Go back onto the road and walk uphill.  Barely 50 yards up, turn right and walk down the track.  About 350 yards along its bendy route, some grasslands appear on your right and there, about 40 yards away, is the large Cochno-5 carving.

Archaeology & History

First described by James Harvey (1889) in association with adjacent carvings, he told that “there are eight isolated cups, two of which have a diameter of 2½ inches” on this stone.  Harvey was one of those who loved the idea that our ancestors were etching cup-marks as receptacles for collecting blood and similar christian fantasies. It was a bittova fad at the time.

Close-up of topmost cupmarks

Close-up of topmost cupmarks

The sprayed Cochno-5 stone

James Harvey’s 1889 sketch

As we can see, the kids have sprayed their own ID onto the stone.  It’s highly unlikely that they were even aware of this being a prehistoric site as there’s nothing to indicate it as such, and I know of archaeologists who wouldn’t have even seen the cup-marks on the stone, so we can’t really apportion blame. (We must recall that businessman Tom Lonsdale and Ilkley Council branded such things as “twenty-first century informal unauthorised carvings” when they sought and succeeded to get large amounts of cash to justify their own ‘brand’ of vandalism and called it ‘art’.  Very common amongst those social types.)

References:

  1. Harvey, James, “Notes on Some Undescribed Cup-Marked Rocks at Duntocher, Dumbartonshire”, in Proceedings Society Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 23, 1889.

Acknowledgements:  Huge thanks to the awesome Aisha Domleo and her little dynamic duo for helping us get to this site.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian