Cup-Marked Stone (missing): OS Grid Reference – NJ 747 289
Archaeology & History
When James Ritchie’s (1918) wrote his lengthy essay on the cup-and-ring designs on the megaliths of Aberdeenshire, he mentioned one of the two known carvings that are in Loanhead of Daviot stone circle, but also mentioned one “in the wood, a short distance to the northwest of the circle.” It’s not been seen since he wrote about it. Ritchie described there being several rocks in the trees and, “on the upper surface of one of these, two plain cups are to be seen.” He told them to be “similar in size and appearance to those on the standing-stone” in the Loanhead stone circle a short distance below, but he thought there was no connection between the two sites. The carving is likely to be still there, beneath the undergrowth. It would be worthwhile seeking it out during the Winter and Spring months, before the vegetation returns.
References:
- Ritchie, James, “Cup-Marks on the Stone Circles and Standing Stones of Aberdeenshire and Part of Banffshire,” in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquity, Scotland, volume 52, 1918.
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
