Tag: history

Ballinvownig, Dingle, County Kerry

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Cup-and-Ring Stone (lost):  OS Grid Reference – Q 46 00

Archaeology & History

This lost carving probably still exists, but in all likelihood is well overgrown by vegetation.  It was in that state of affairs when Rev. Orpen (1908) wrote about it more than a hundred years ago in  his essay on the petroglyphs between Lispole and Dingle.  After describing and illustrating several carvings in the area, he told:

“I may mention here that further west, near Ballintaggart, at Ballywoonig, there is another single cup and circle which I found on a rock, the last of which was covered with clay and grass. I had these removed, hut nothing further was disclosed.”

Sadly, he left us with no sketch.  His wording suggests that the carving is close to the southern boundary of Ballinvownig, pehaps near the souterrains near Ballintaggart house…?  Perhaps some local antiquarian explorers might be able to find out where it’s hiding—although it will doubtless be covered in vegetation.

References:

  1. Cuppage, Judith, Archaeological Survey of the Dingle Peninsula, Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne: Ballyferriter 1986.
  2. Orpen, R., “Antiquities near Lispole, Co. Kerry,” in Kerry Archaeological Magazine, volume 1,  1908.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian

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Tweed Ford, Drumelzier, Peeblesshire

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Cup-and-Ring Stone (removed):  OS Grid Reference – NT 12364 32627

Also Known as:

  1. Drumelzier Carving

Archaeology & History

Position of stone in cairn

A carving that was located at the edge of a cairn on a knoll on the east-side of the River Tweed, this is an odd design that now lives in Edinburgh’s central museum: odd, inasmuch as the design looks as if it’s a typical cup-and-ring carving, yet none of the cups on this stone were ever hollowed or pecked out, and so the “cups”, so to speak, are actually small rings (if that makes sense!).  There are a number of similar unhollowed “cups” on other carvings that are found associated with prehistoric tombs, so perhaps this aspect was something of a burial trend—amongst a very small tribal group, perhaps… It’s an element that was remarked upon in Simpson & Thawley’s (1972) examination of petroglyphs in neolithic tombs that were called “passage grave style” carvings: a sort of dyslexic cup-and-ring design no less!  The intriguing thing about this carving is that it’s one in a small cluster of dyslexic cup-and-rings that are found in this part of Scotland—in an area where rock art itself is pretty scarce.  Which begs the question: was it a local tribal style?  Anyhow…

The carving was first uncovered when J.H. Craw (1930) excavated the aforementioned cairn, finding therein a number of cists.  There’s speculation that the petroglyph might originally have been a covering stone for one of the cists, but we don’t know for sure. Craw described the carving as follows:

Craw’s 1930 sketch
Ron Morris’ 1981 sketch

“The ring-marked slab…measures 3 feet by 2 feet by 6 inches.  It lay at the north side of the cairn (highlighted in sketch, PB), outside the encircling ring, but may originally have been the cover of cist No.2.  On the upper side are five shallow ring-markings, four being double and one single.  The former measure 3 inches to 4 inches in diameter, and the latter 1¾ inch.  The figures are thus much smaller than in typical cup-and-ring-marked stones, and the lines are only ¼ inch in width.  The only similar markings known to me are on a slab which I found a number of years ago near the site of several former cairns, and forts at Harelawside near Grant’s House, Berwickshire.  The stone is now in our Museum.”

The “museum” in question being Edinburgh’s National Museum (I don’t know if it’s in a box somewhere or on public display, which is where it needs to be).  If anyone can get a good photo of this carving, please send it to us or add it on on our Facebook group.

References:

  1. Craw, J.H., “The Excavation of a Cairn at Drumelzier, Peeblesshire,” in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 65, 1930.
  2. Morris, Ronald W.B., “The Cup-and-Ring and Similar Early Sculptures of Scotland; Part 2 – The Rest of Scotland except Kintyre,” in Transactions of the Ancient Monuments Society, volume 16, 1969.
  3. Morris, Ronald W.B., “The Cup-and-Ring Marks and Similar Sculptures of Scotland: A Survey of the Southern Counties – part 2,” in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 100, 1969.
  4. Morris, Ronald W.B., The Prehistoric Rock Art of Southern Scotland, BAR: Oxford 1981.
  5. Ritchie, Graham & Anna, Edinburgh and South-East Scotland, Heinnemann: London 1972.
  6. Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments, Scotland, Peeblesshire – volume 1, Aberdeen University Press 1967.
  7. Simpson, D.D.A. & Thawley, J.E., “Single Grave Art in Britain,” in Scottish Archaeological Forum, no.4, 1972.

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. 

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian

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Kinard East (2), Lispole, County Kerry

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Cup-and-Ring Stone (destroyed):  OS Grid Reference – V 4967 9923

Archaeology & History

In Rev. Orpen’s (1908) description of the impressive Kinard East (1) carving, he told that before leaving the place:

“about 20 yards to the north of this…stone may be seen a single cup and circle on the corner of a rock.”

Judith Cuppage (1986) reported that this stone, “has apparently been broken up for use as road-metal.”  Gone!

References:

  1. Cuppage, Judith, Archaeological Survey of the Dingle Peninsula, Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne: Ballyferriter 1986.
  2. Finlay, F., Rock Art of Cork and Kerry, unpublished MA thesis 1973.
  3. Orpen, R., “Antiquities near Lispole, Co. Kerry,” in Kerry Archaeological Magazine, volume 1,  1908.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian

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Ballinknockane, Kilquane, County Kerry

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Cup-and-Ring Stone (lost):  OS Grid Reference – Q 43 11

Archaeology & History

Judith Cuppage (1986) recounted that in the unpublished Minutes of the County Kerry Field Club for 1944, mention was made of a multiple-ringed petroglyph that hasn’t been seen since.  It sounds quite impressive.  She told how they’d,

“discovered a stone bearing a cup-and-gapped circle and a cup-and-3 gapped circles, “on the fence opposite the church” at Camp.  Mortar still adhering to the stone as if it had been removed from a building.” Adding that, “neither its original provenance nor present whereabouts are known.”

Surely some good wise local still knows where this olde stone lives?  In a garden perhaps…?  It would be good to know that it’s still alive and well.

References:

  1. Cuppage, Judith, Archaeological Survey of the Dingle Peninsula, Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne: Ballyferriter 1986.

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. 

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian

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Easter Brackland, Callander, Perthshire

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Cup-Marked Stone:  OS Grid Reference – NN 65736 07989

Getting Here

The carved stone in situ

Less than a mile east of Callander on the main A84 road, nearly 300 yards just past the entrance into the Keltie Bridge caravan park, take the tiny road on your left (north) and barely 100 yards along where a small crossroads can be said to exist, go straight forward up the tiny single-track road ahead of you.  Literally 0.62 miles, or 1km up, park on the right-side of the road where a small grassy track runs up the slope.  From here, you need to keep walking up the road itself, bearing right just past the small bridge and, about 350 yards along you’ll see a notable rise in the field on your right less than 100 yards in.  Head straight for it!

Archaeology & History

Despite this being a very basic simplistic design, I’m somewhat disappointed in myself as (for once!) I didn’t indulge myself in the soaking muddy ground and peel back the dung-infested turf to see the entire surface of this stone and, as a result, didn’t see the carving in its entirety.  I’d have got soaked and been covered in shit, but that’s my usual course of action anyhow.  But this time we were visiting an antique centre and book-dealer straight afterwards, so for once I couldn’t play in the mud.  Damn those neat and tidy folk!

It’s nowt special to look at in all honesty, but it’s in a good state of preservation as it was seemingly uncovered in pretty recent times beneath the curious large mass of loose stones right next to it.  The stone mass gives the impression of it being a ruined cairn, but seems more likely to be a clearance cairn that was piled up, quite fortuitously, next to the cup-marked rock.

The carving consists of eight cup-marks (not all shown in these photos): five large and prominent, one not so prominent, and two that are small and very shallow.  The more distinct cups would seem to have been worked and re-worked many times, obviously possessing a practical nature of some sort.  As we can see in the photos, four of the larger cups stand out, whilst the small ones can be difficult to see.  I need to go back here sometime and clear the rest of the stone to see if there are more cup-marks underneath the soil.  Check it out for yourself when you’re looking at the nearby cairns at Ballachraggan and beyond.

References:

  1. Main, Lorna & Page, R., “Easter Brackland, Stirling,” in Discovery & Excavation Scotland, volume 2, 2001.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian

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Woodend, Mossfennan, Broughton, Peeblesshire

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Cup-and-Ring Stone:  OS Grid Reference – NT 12136 31360

Also Known as:

  1. Mossfennan Farm

Archaeology & History

Carving, looking W: courtesy Jim Ness

A little-known multiple ringed carving was discovered a few years ago during the excavation of a prehistoric cairn just immediately east of the A701 roadside, several miles south of Broughton.  The cairn itself had been recognised many years prior to the recent excavation, when one of two cists inside it was noted by R.B.K. Stevenson (1940), and which was subsequently described in slightly more detail in the Royal Commission Inventory (1967).  But when the modern investigation was undertaken by the Biggar Archaeology Group in 2008, a damaged but impressive carving was uncovered that somehow hadn’t been noticed before.  It was described in Tam Ward’s (2008) excavation report where he told that,

Carving in situ (photo courtesy Jim Ness)
Carving looking N: courtesy Jim Ness

“lying almost immediately on the east side of Cist 1 is an angular rock…measuring 1m long and over 0.3m wide on the uppermost face, itself lying at an angle facing SW and away from  the cist.  The rock has fractured due to weathering in post deposition times, as indeed several other surface stones had, but on the widest part of the upper surface are at least seven concentric lines faintly pecked into the smooth flat surface of the stone. The lines are up to 10mm wide and appear to have been intended to form semi ovals on the edge of the rock.  The outer ring forms an arc of c270mm on the long axis by c140mm on the short one (the former measurement being straight between the ends of the lines and the latter being a radius across the design). The terminals of the inner curved line are about 80mm apart. The lines are slightly irregular in distance from one another. Although it is far from certain, it does not appear that the rock has been part of a larger one with a more complete design on it, rather the pecking appears not to have been finished since the surface of the rock is similar in appearance overall while the abrasion of the carving varies.”

Fractured design (photo courtesy Jim Ness)

The carving remains in place with the cist, which was covered back over when the excavation had been finished.

Carvings such as this are uncommon in this neck o’ the woods; although less than a mile downstream from here, on the other side of the river, another petroglyph—known as the Drumelzier carving—accompanied another prehistoric tomb.  Apart from this, there’s a great scarcity of carvings scattering the Lowlands—although it’s likely that there are others hiding away, waiting to be found on these hills…

References:

  1. Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments, Scotland, Peeblesshire – volume 1, Aberdeen University Press 1967.
  2. Stevenson, R.B.K., “Cists near Tweedsmuir,” in Proceedings Society Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 74, 1940.
  3. Ward, Tam , “Excavation of a Bronze Age burial cairn at Woodend, Mossfennan Farm, Upper Tweeddale,” Biggar Archaeology 2008.

Acknowledgements:  Huge thanks to Jim Ness and Tam Ward of the Biggar Archaeology Group for use of the photos in this site profile. 

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian

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Synton Mossend, Ashkirk, Selkirkshire

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Cup-and-Ring Stone (lost):  OS Grid Reference – NT 482 214

Also Known as:

  1. Blackcastle Hill

Getting Here

Archaeology & History

Despite there being a number of references to this carving, it would seem to have been lost.  First described by James Elliot (1967) in the Discovery & Excavation journal , albeit briefly, he told that,

“A cup-marked stone which was found on this farm several years ago, has been recently identified as a “cup within a cup” type.  (It was) retained by finder.”

But there was some initial confusion about its general whereabouts when Ron Morris (1967) gave a brief note of what seemed to be an additional carving in the same edition of the 1967 journal, telling us that at nearly Blackcastle Hill there existed the following:

“Small gritstone boulder, truncated-cone-shaped, having on its top surface a “cup-and-ring”, composed of a “saucer” 4½in diameter, within its centre a much deeper and clearly defined “cup”, 2in diameter.  Depth 1¼in.  Now removed for safety by J. W. Elliot to Whinfield Sawmill yard, Whinfield Road, Selkirk.”

As it turned out, both Elliot and Morris’s separate entries were talking about the same stone.  Morris subsequently clarified this when he came to describe the petroglyph in his survey of Southern Scotland. (1981)  He reported then that the carving was “beside the house’s porch in the sawmill’s yard” — but it hasn’t been seen since.  Does anyone know what’s become of it, or where it might be?  If you happen to find it, see if you can get a good photo or two and let us know on our Facebook group.

References:

  1. Elliot, James W., “Synton-Mossend, near Ashkirk: Cup-Marked Stone,” in Discovery & Excavation, Scotland, 1967.
  2. Morris, Ronald W.B., “Blackcastle Hill: Cup Marks,” in Discovery & Excavation, Scotland, 1967.
  3. Morris, Ronald W.B., “The Cup-and-Ring Marks and Similar Sculptures of Scotland: A Survey of the Southern Counties – part 2,” in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 100, 1968.
  4. Morris, Ronald W.B., “The Cup-and-Ring and Similar Early Sculptures of Scotland; Part 2 – The Rest of Scotland except Kintyre,” in Transactions of the Ancient Monuments Society, volume 16, 1969.
  5. Morris, Ronald W.B., The Prehistoric Rock Art of Southern Scotland, BAR: Oxford 1981.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian

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Almscliffe Crag carving, North Rigton, North Yorkshire

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Cup-and-Ring Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SE 26777 48952

Also Known as:

  1. Ormscliffe Crags

Getting Here

Almscliffe’s cup-&-ring

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 northwest
Central 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)

References:

  1. Bennett, Paul, “Almscliffe Crags, North Rigton,” Northern Antiquarian 2010.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian

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Cat Nab, Brotton, North Yorkshire

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Tumulus (destroyed):  OS Grid Reference – NZ 6692 2154

Archaeology & History

Location on 1930 OS-map

This long lost burial mound was first located by the local antiquarian William Hornsby in the early 20th century.  It had been constructed close to the summit of the prominent rise  of Cat Nab, immediately east above Saltburn.  Its position was shown on the 1930 OS-map of the area.  Destroyed by quarrying, it was thankfully excavated by Hornsby in 1913; and although his finds were never published, he left notes which told us that,

“there were two cremations and the sherds of at least three vessels: a collared urn, a pygmy cup and a vessel with an everted rim.” (Crawford 1980)

Crawford (1980) told that these finds could been seen in the Middlesborough Collection.

References:

  1. Crawford, G.M., Bronze Age Burial Mounds in Cleveland, Cleveland County Council 1980.

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. 

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


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Holy Well, Allerton, Bradford, West Yorkshire

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Holy Well (lost):  OS Grid Reference – SE 134 331 (approximation)

Archaeology & History

This site is both interesting and frustrating at the same time.  Interesting inasmuch that as early as 1258 CE, “the Knights Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem in England, had in Allerton a manor called the manor of Crosley.”  The Hospitallers, as some will know, were the immediate successors of the more famous Knights Templars.  As their name suggests, their patron saint was St John, whose festival date was summer solstice and had his name given to many holy wells.  But this one has left us with no name and its location has long since been lost.  In J.H. Bell’s (1888) essay on the early medical history of the area he told that local people with certain afflictions, “were wont to resort to them to drink their waters for their supposed medicinal virtues: there was one between Cemetery Bridge and Crossley Hall”.  But he doesn’t give its exact position.  In John James’ (1841) classic History of Bradford he thinks that near the place where the local stream known as the Hebble, “there was undoubtedly in former times a Holy well,” but is unable to cite a location.  No well is shown on the early maps between the old Hall and the cemetery and the only definitive reference to wells close by are in the early boundary perambulation record, which describe a Brock Well and a Cold Well.  Perhaps the the most probable contender and location is cited in Harry Speight’s (aka Johnnie Gray) Pleasant Walks (1890) where, taking a route between Great Horton and Allerton, he told us to,

“go through fields on to Necropolis Road, opposite Scholemoor cemetery, turn down lane left outside cemetery, ½ mile, descending steps, cross beck (here used to be the Spa Beck public gardens, now removed higher up) and ascend, at second field, leaving the forward path and turn left, following beck with Crosley Hall and trees to right.”

The location of the said Spa Beck gardens is very close to where Mr Bell described the medicinal spring and is/was the most likely position of what James (1841) thought to be a long lost holy well.  If we could get more information about the history of the Spa Well, we may be able to make more definitive statements about the place.

References:

  1. Bell, J.H., “Some Fragments of Local Medical History,” in Bradford Antiquary, volume 1, 1888.
  2. Gray, Johnnie, Where to Spend a Half-Holiday: One Hundred and Eighty Pleasant Walks around Bradford, Thomas Brear: Bradford 1890.
  3. James, John, History and Topography of Bradford, Charles Stanfield: Bradford 1841.
  4. Shepherd, Val, Historic Wells in and Around Bradford, HOAP: Wymeswold 1994.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian

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