Tag: symbols

Piper’s Crag (3), Ilkley Moor, West Yorkshire

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Cup-Marked Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SE 08673 47062

Getting Here

“X” marks the spot!

Heading up from Ilkley, follow the directions to reach the Swastika Stone, then keep walking (west) along the footpath to the small clump of trees, and keep walking past them too and keep going along the same path as if you’re heading toward the Piper’s Stone.   About 200 yards before reaching it, just where the gate and boundary stone is in the old walling, there’s a small line of crags to the right of your feet and there, at the edge of the path, is the stone in question.  You’ll see it (unless it’s a cloudy gray day, in which case you might struggle).

Archaeology & History

The two cup-marks

This is one of a number of cup-marked stones that you’ll find scattering this part of the moor, almost all of which are Nature’s handiwork (a few of these natural carvings have somehow found their way into Keith Boughey’s [2018] updated West Riding rock art book).  I’m not 110% certain that this doesn’t have Nature’s name on it either, but it’s got a greater degree of probability to it than some of the others.  It’s a simple little thing, as y’ can see, consisting of just the two cup-marks, smaller than usual, living next to each other.  If it’s the real deal, we can surmise that it may have been carved by a young person back-in-the-days.  In the walling just above this stone you can see the medieval boundary stone, which might—just might—have a prehistoric pedigree to it….

References:

  1. Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding Supplement, 2018.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian

Connachan, Crieff, Perthshire

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Cairn:  OS Grid Reference – NN 88098 27498

Getting Here

The stones mark the cairn

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:

  1. Stewart, Margaret E.C., “Connachan, Crieff – Cup Marks and Hut Circle,” in Discovery & Excavation, Scotland, 1967.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian

Barry Hill, Alyth, Perthshire

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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:

  1. Longworth, Ian, “Dundee, Angus,” in Discovery & Excavation, Scotland, 1962.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian

Connachan (4), Crieff, Perthshire

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Cup-and-Ring Stone:  OS Grid Reference – NN 88028 27394

Getting Here

Connachan (4) looking NW

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 N
Main 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:

  1. 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. 

© 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

Keppoch, Gilmerton, Perthshire

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Cup-and-Ring Stone (lost):  OS Grid Reference – NN 880 252

Archaeology & History

A long lost carving, probably quite impressive in design, was recorded by John Laurie, schoolmaster in Monzie.  He told us that,

“a large Druid stone with rude carving upon it lies on the side of the public road between the villages of Monzie and Keppoch.  This stone was one of a Circle which Mr Monroe, the then minister, caused to be broken and dispersed.”

When Fred Coles looked for the remains of this “circle” at the beginning of the 20th century, he questioned Laurie’s location of the site, but found remains of one in an adjacent field consisting of two stones, but told that “on neither of them could we discern any carving of any sort.” It’s likely that the carving has been completely destroyed, or if we’re lucky it may be hiding in some nearby walling.

References:

  1. Coles, Fred, “Report on Stone Circles Surveyed in Perthshire, Principally Strathearn” in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 45, 1911.
  2. Laurie, John, “Parish of Monzie,” in New Statistical Account of Scotland – volume X: Perth, William Blackwood: Edinburgh 1845.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian

Ryton (3), County Durham

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Cup-Marked Stone (removed):  OS Grid Reference – NZ 1480 6417

Archaeology & History

Ryton cup-marked stone

In a short piece read before Newcastle’s Society of Antiquaries in 1942, a Mr Cocks (don’t laugh!) told that when a friend of his was clearing out an old land drain in his garden, he found this fragmented cup-marked stone, “which had been made use of as a corner slab on the drain”!  It was located “about 40 yards south-west of Tweedy’s Buildings,” on the west side of town.  Broken from a larger piece of stone, the attached photo here shows the simple design of the basic cup-marks, measuring respectively 2½, 2 and 1⅝ inches across.  Mr Cocks told that “there are also two finger-tip hollows on the stone tone which or may not be natural.  A dark line running between the cups is a natural fissure.”

Last we heard, the stone was living in a box somewhere in the archives at the Great North Museum, Newcastle.

References:

  1. Cocks, W.A., “A Cup-Marked Stone at Ryton,” in Proceedings Society of Antiquaries Newcastle-upon-Tyne, volume X, no.2, January 1943.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian

Briery Wood, Ilkley, West Yorkshire

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Cup-and-Ring Stone (lost):  OS Grid Reference – SE 0965 4797

Archaeology & History

In Ronald Morris’ (1989) gazetteer of British petroglyphs, he included this curious entry but gave no real details regarding its appearance or history.  Listed by the Royal Commission lads, it would seem to have been located immediately south of the dismantled railway where it used to cross the Addingham-Ilkley road, but no one seems to have seen it either before or since Morris’ description.  Any help regarding its whereabouts would be appreciated.

References:

  1. Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS: Wakefield 2003.
  2. 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.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian

Laighwood, Butterstone, Dunkeld, Perthshire

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Cup-Marked Stone (lost):  OS Grid Reference – NO 074 458

Archaeology & History

In J. Romilly Allen’s (1882) lengthy essay on rock art in Scotland, he mentions a singular boulder that was “found by Dr Rattray” at Laighwood, near Butterstone—but, unlike him, he gave no further details regarding its appearance or exact whereabouts.  It was included in the Royal Commission (1990) survey of the area, with no additional details.  It remains lost.  In the event that you manage to rediscover it, grab some good photos of it and stick ’em on our Facebook group. (the grid-reference to this site is an approximation)

References:

  1. Allen, J. Romilly, “Notes on some Undescribed Stones with Cup Markings in Scotland,” in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries Scotland, volume 16, 1882.
  2. Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland, North-East Perth: An Archaeological Landscape, HMSO: Edinburgh 1990.

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

Cross Well, Dundee, Angus

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Healing Well (destroyed):  OS Grid Reference – NO 4032 3025

Archaeology & History

This old water supply had no direct ‘holy’ nature, despite its proximity to the cathedral, the old market cross and St Clement’s Well some fifty yards away!  Most odd.  A much more mundane story lies behind this long lost water source.  The Dundee historian William Kidd (1901) told us,

“When the public wells were erected, about the year 1749, to supply the town with water from the Lady-well reservoir at foot of Hilltown, one was placed on the High Street, on the east side of the Cross, and was called the Cross Well.”

It didn’t have too long a life either—much like the old Market Cross, for,

“In the year 1777 that quaint structure was demolished.  The platform and octagonal tower were carted away as rubbish, the least decayed stones being selected to be used in other buildings.  The stone shaft, also, was preserved, and placed beside the Old Steeple. With the demolition of the Cross, the Cross Well was cleared away from the High Street, but, as water was an essential to the people, the well was re-erected behind the Town House in St. Clement’s Lane.  In that situation it remained for nearly one hundred years, when, being rendered unnecessary by the introduction of the Lintrathen water supply, it was also demolished, along with the old buildings in the Vault and St. Clement’s Lane, to make room for the additions to the Town House.”

References:

  1. Colville, A., Dundee Delineated, A. Colville: Dundee 1822.
  2. Kidd, William, Dundee Market Crosses and Tolbooths, W. Kidd: Dundee 1901.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian