Cup-Marked Stone (missing): OS Grid Reference – SK 7618 0095
Archaeology & History
In this neck o’ the woods, cup-marked stones are very rare. This one was described in Phil Vine’s (1982) regional archaeology survey as consisting of eight cup-marks on a piece of stone three-feet across. The carving, he told, could be found outside of a “former blacksmith’s shop, immediately south of Chestnut Cottage”, but was removed some time ago and is now in “private possession.” Very little else seems to be known about it and there are no other prehistoric sites in close attendance that could help us contextualise it (eg, hut circles, cairns, standing stones, etc). It was mentioned in passing in Gwilym Hughes’ (2000) short piece on the Netherfield cup-marked stone 25 miles to the north-west, but he doesn’t appear to have seen it in the flesh, so to speak. So what has become of it…?
References:
- Hughes, Gwilym, “The Cup Marked Stone,” in The Lockington Gold Hoard, Oxford 2000.
- Vine, Philip M., The Neolithic and Bronze Age Cultures of the Middle and Upper Trent Basin, BAR: Oxford 1982.
© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian
