Category: Cup-and-Ring Stones

Ostensibly non-linear carved designs, generally assumed to be Bronze Age in date, but many originate in the neolithic period (some may indeed date back to 5000 BCE). Their central features are small rounded cup-markings, circles, semi-circles, curved lines (short, mid-length, and long), straight-ish lines, double- and multiple-rings, all in usually abstract design-forms. Their almost complete non-linear nature relate to non-egoic structuralisms, making them difficult to ‘intellectually’ grasp. Added to this is that no two carvings are the same. Although no direct ‘meaning’ can be ascribed to the carvings, many of them have a relationship with ancient notions of death and/or burial. In animistic terms, they relate to the spirit of rocks and other features of the natural landscape. They have very little relationship with alignment features (though exceptions in some megalithic rings have been found). Some modern writers allege positive relationships with water, but this ingredient (if tenable) cannot yet be said with any certainty: the idea should be forged onto animistic relationships with the land itself.

Fairy Stone, Cottingley, Bingley, West Yorkshire

megalithix

Cup-and-Ring Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SE 09816 37862

Also Known as: 

  1. Black Hills Carving 01
  2. Cottingley Woods (01) carving

Getting Here

To get here, start from Bingley centre, go through Myrtle Park, across the river bridge and turn right at the dirt-track. Walk on & go over the old bridge/ford of Harden Beck, keeping with the track until the next set of buildings and be aware of a footpath left here. Take this and cross the golf-course, bearing SE until you reach the edge of Cottingley Woods. Take the distinct footpath into the trees & walk up the vivid moss-coloured path until you reach the level at the top where the woods become more deciduous. Here, turn left for 100 yards into the bit of woodland which has been fenced-off and walk about. You’ll find it!

Archaeology & History

Cottingley Woods Fairy Stone

This is a truly superb cup-and-ring stone which anyone into the subject must take a look at!  It was first found by the old forester here, Ronald Bennett, in 1966 — ten years before the rock art student Keith Boughey (2005) mistakenly reported it to have been found “by Valerie Parkinson…in 1976.”  Everything about it’s excellent — but I think the setting in woodland is what really brings it out.

The first published account and photograph of this superb carved stone seems to have been in Joe Cooper’s (1982) precursory essay on the Cottingley Fairies in an article he wrote for The Unexplained magazine in the 1980s.  A few years later I included the stone in a short article on local folklore (Bennett 1988), then again much later in The Old Stones of Elmet (2001).  It was curiously omitted from Boughey & Vickerman’s (2003) survey, as were the other carvings that are found very close by.  Not sure why…  But of the small cluster here (I’ll add the others later), this carving stands out as the best of the bunch by far!  Its name has nothing to do with the Cottingley Fairy folk down town: it simply originates from my own teenage thoughts and the true ambience of the setting. Check it out!

Joe Cooper’s 1982 photo
Fairy Stone carving

The rock is typical millstone grit and its carved upper surface measures roughly 3 yards east-west and 2 yards north-south, sloping gently into the ground.  As the photo shows, this is an elaborate design seemingly centred around two large and another smaller circular form, each enclosing a number of internal cups, ring and lines.  The next time we’re over there, we’ll try get some clearly images and make a detailed drawing of the old fella!  In the event that you visit here, check out the other three carvings close to this primary design — and try work out which one of the three was carved by the scouts in more modern times!  Another simple cup-marked stone was recently found in the undergrowth a short distant east of this group.

Sketch of the design in 1981

Recently the carving was given attention with what’s known as photogrammetry software: this enables a more complete image of the 3-dimensional nature of objects scrutinized.  In the resulting photos (which I’m unable to reproduce here due to copyright restrictions), a previously unseen long carved line was detected that runs across the middle of the larger of the two enclosing rings.  Hopefully in the coming months, those with the software (can’t remember whether it’s English Heritage or Pennine Prospects who won’t allow it) might allow us to reproduce one or two of their images to enable the rest of the world to see what their images have uncovered.  After all, considering that we peasants brought this carving to their attention, you’d at least hope they could repay the finds.  Some of these larger organizations, despite what they may say, simply don’t swing both ways!

Folklore

In an early edition of my old Fortean archaeology rag of the 1980s, I narrated the tale of one Anne Freeman, who was walking through the woods here.  When she reached the top of the woods, near some stones she heard a loud chattering and allegedly saw two tiny figures barely one-foot tall wearing red outfits and green hats in “medieval peasant dress”.  Andy Roberts (1992) later repeated the tale and illustrated the carving in his Yorkshire folklore work.

In the 1960s, the old ranger Ronnie Bennett (no relative of mine) who first found these carvings, also reported that he saw little people here: “not one, but three,” as he said.  Not fairies with wings, but more gnome-like.

References:

  1. Bennett, Paul, Of Cups and Rings and Things, unpublished: Shipley 1981.
  2. Bennett, Paul, ‘Tales of Yorkshire Faeries,’ in Earth 9, 1988.
  3. Bennett, Paul, The Old Stones of Elmet, Capall Bann: Milverton 2001.
  4. Boughey, Keith, “A Group of Four Cup-and-Ring-Marked Rocks at Black Hills, Cottingley Woods,” in Prehistory Research Section Bulletin, no.42, 2005.
  5. Cooper, Joe, ‘Cottingley: At Last the Truth,’ in The Unexplained 117, 1982
  6. Roberts, Andy, Ghosts and Legends of Yorkshire, Jarrold 1992.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian

Ellers Wood (614), Washburn Valley, North Yorkshire

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Cup-and-Ring Carving:  OS Grid Reference – SE 1895 5099

Ellers Wood carving 614 (after Boughey & Vickerman)
Ellers Wood carving 614 (after Boughey & Vickerman)

Getting Here

Ellers Wood is at the very northern edge of the beautiful parish of Askwith and has a very particular ambience of its own. The small cluster of at least 5 cup-and-ring stones in this lovely little woodland gives you the impression that they stood out on their own, living here representing the genius loci of this luscious watery vale, all-but-hidden from all but the lucky few.  It’s very likely that there are still more carvings hidden away nearby.

The best way to check them out is simply to walk down past the haunted Dobpark Lodge, where it turns into a footpath and where it crosses the lovely old packhorse bridge at the valley bottom, walk a few hundred yards up the river-side (at the bottom of the fields) until you reach Ellers Wood. Once there, look around.  This one’s on the west side of the main stream, close by where it meets up with another small burn coming down from the western wooded slopes.

 

Archaeology & History

First sketch of the carving, c.1994
First sketch of the carving, c.1994

In the same region as the Ellers Wood 618 and other carvings and very close to the river, somehow this heavily cup-marked stone evaded the prying eyes of such notaries as Cowling, Stuart Feather and Sidney Jackson – all of whom ventured to look at the other petroglyphs in Ellers Wood.  But with good fortune, Graeme Chappell and I re-discovered this fine-looking carving in our explorations in 1993-94 and gave it back the attention it truly deserves.

The main feature here is the clustering of cups into sections, as the drawing indicates.  It is listed as “stone 614” in Boughey & Vickerman’s (2003) survey.

References:

  1. Boughey, K.J.S. & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS: Exeter 2003.
  2. Cowling, E.T., ‘A Classification of West Yorkshire Cup and Ring Stones,’ in Yorks. Arch. Journal 1940.
  3. Cowling, Eric T., Rombald’s Way, William Walker: Otley 1946.
  4. Cowling, E.T. & Hartley, C.A., ‘Cup and Ring Markings to the North of Otley,’ in Yorks. Arch. Journal 33, 1937.
  5. Grainge, William, The History and Topography of the Forest of Knareborough, J.R. Smith: London 1871.
  6. Grainge, William, History and Topography of the Townships of Little Timble, Great Timble and the Hamlet of Snowden, William Walker: Otley 1895.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian 


Ellers Wood (619), Washburn Valley, North Yorkshire

megalithix

Cup-and-Ring Carving:  OS Grid Reference – SE 1902 5102

Also Known as:

  1. Airship Carving

Getting Here

Old photo of CR-619

Follow the same directions for the Ellers Wood 614 and 618 carvings, as it’s nearby. The best way to check them out is simply to walk down past the haunted Dobpark Lodge, where it turns into a footpath and then when you reach the lovely old packhorse bridge at the valley bottom, walk upstream for 3-400 yards until you reach the next small wooded region.  Once there, look around…..

Archaeology & History

Ellers Wood is at the very northern edge of the beautiful parish of Askwith and has a very particular ambience of its own. The small cluster of at least 5 cup-and-ring stones in this lovely little woodland gives you the impression that they stood out on their own, living here respresenting the genius loci of this luscious watery vale, all-but-hidden from all but the lucky few.

Cowling’s 1937 sketch
1991 sketch of CR-619

Beautifully preserved, this carving was first described in an article by Cowling & Hartley (1937), then included in Cowling’s Rombald’s Way (1946).  As with the other cup-and-rings close by, the characteristic grouping of certain cups is here focused into three sections by enclosing rings.  This was something I used to call ‘central design’ features, which occur in different locales with their own individual geographical patterns/structures.  These central designs are non-numeric in nature, though have a tendency to cluster in patterns of 2, 3 and 4.  (I need to write a decent essay on this to outline what I’m on about with greater clarity!)

References:

  1. Boughey, K.J.S. & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS: Exeter 2003.
  2. Cowling, E.T., ‘A Classification of West Yorkshire Cup and Ring Stones,’ in Yorks. Arch. Journal 1940.
  3. Cowling, Eric T., Rombald’s Way, William Walker: Otley 1946.
  4. Cowling, E.T. & Hartley, C.A., ‘Cup and Ring Markings to the North of Otley,’ in Yorks. Arch. Journal 33, 1937.
  5. Grainge, William, The History and Topography of the Forest of Knareborough, J.R. Smith: London 1871.
  6. Grainge, William, History and Topography of the Townships of Little Timble, Great Timble and the Hamlet of Snowden, William Walker: Otley 1895.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Ellers Wood (618), Washburn Valley, North Yorkshire

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Cup-and-Ring Carving:  OS Grid Reference – SE 1901 5101

Getting Here

Sketch of CR-618, c.1990

Follow the same directions to reach the other Ellers Woods carvings, staying on the western-side of the river close to where it meets with Snowden Beck, just north of the footpath. Check it out in winter and early Spring — any later in the year and it might be a little overgrown.

Archaeology & History

A truly lovely, lichen enriched carved rock in a lovely little part of the Fewston valley.  The place has a distinct genius loci that’s very different from its carved rock companions on the moorland hills a short distance away.  As I’ve said elsewhere: the surroundings of trees and richer fertile growth is something we must remember to ascribe to these carvings when we encounter them, as the landscape in places such as Ellers Wood is much closer to the scattered forested landscape that profused when first these stones were inscribed.

Section of CR-618

First described by Cowling & Hartley in 1937, it was later included in Cowling’s (1946) more extensive prehistoric survey of mid-Wharfedale.  There may be as many as 38 cup-markings cut onto the rock here, along with several lines and grooves.  A meditative dreaming site indeed…

References:

  1. Boughey, K.J.S. & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS: Exeter 2003.
  2. Cowling, E.T., ‘A Classification of West Yorkshire Cup and Ring Stones,’ in Yorks. Arch. Journal 1940.
  3. Cowling, Eric T., Rombald’s Way, William Walker: Otley 1946.
  4. Cowling, E.T. & Hartley, C.A., ‘Cup and Ring Markings to the North of Otley,’ in Yorks. Arch. Journal 33, 1937.
  5. Grainge, William, The History and Topography of the Forest of Knareborough, J.R. Smith: London 1871.
  6. Grainge, William, History and Topography of the Townships of Little Timble, Great Timble and the Hamlet of Snowden, William Walker: Otley 1895

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Drumderg (3), Tullymurdoch, Perthshire

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Cup-Maked Stone:  OS Grid Reference – NO 18488 55054

Getting Here

Drumderg (3) petroglyph

Go up the A93 road from Blairgowrie, after 5 miles turn right at the Bridge of Cally and up Glen Shee.  After another 3½ miles, keep your eyes peeled for the iny road on the right signposted to the Drumturk Cheese farmshop.  Go up this long tiny winding road, a mile up past the cheese place (which are gorgeous btw!) and onto the open moors.  Keep on this road for another 2¼ miles where you can park up near the entrance to the huge wind-farm.  Walk up the track to the windmills, bearing right at the first junction, then right again at the next one.  From here, walk to the second windmill and from its base walk down, east, into the heather for about 80 yards. You’re damn close!

Archaeology & History

Drumderg (3) carving

On this T-square-shaped earthfast stone, a hundred-and-twenty yards north of the impressive Drumberg (2) petroglyph and just 10 yards below the remains of an impressive hut circle, we find this somewhat plain cup-marked design.  It was covered pretty deeply beneath the heather when we came here and it took some time before we could see what we were looking at.  The grey skies and poor daylight didn’t help matters either, as the cups were difficult to make out at first, but, thankfully, you can just about see them in the photos.

There are between five and seven shallow but distinct cup-markings on the flat surface, one of which may have a faint ring around it.  In truth, this carving’s only gonna be for the real geeks amongst you.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian

Dove Stones, Thornton Rust Moor, North Yorkshire

megalithix

Cup-Marked Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SD 96634 87493

Also Known as:

  1. DS3 Carving (Brown & Brown, 2008)

Getting Here

Takes a bitta finding and aint too accessible for those of you who need footpaths!  Below the eastern slopes of Addlebrough Hill, by the present source of the Gill Beck right beneath the Dove Stones (the water tastes gorgeous), are the ruinous remains of an old sheepfold. In the field immediately behind (south) of here are a number of small rocks.  Look around and you’ll find the stone in question!

Archaeology & History

Unless you’re a real rock-art-freak, I can’t imagine too many of you checking this one out!  When Richard Stroud and I visited this spot a few years back (2006), it was a mixture of love and madness that brought us here!

Dove Stones Carving
Dove Stones Carving

Amidst the many stones scattered hereabouts, one of them possesses two clear cup-marks on a stone measuring roughly 3ft by 2ft, along the line of a much ruined ancient wall.  This might be the one that Beckensall and Laurie (1998) described in their Prehistoric Rock Art of County Durham, Swaledale and Wensleydale, as “a rock with several cups (which) has recently been noticed on Thornton Rust Moor, near the Dovestones” — though it seemed blatantly apparent to us that there were only two cups here, not “several”.  However, Brown (2008) appears to list the site, citing it as having “two cups”, just like the one we found, and being “found in prehistoric low field settlement wall,” which fits the picture perfectly — although Brown gives a slight difference in grid-reference to the one Richard Stroud took.  It looks a good area to scout around and, I reckon, find previously unrecorded sites.

References:

  1. Beckensall, Stan & Laurie, T., The Prehistoric Rock Art of County Durham, Swaledale and Wensleydale, County Durham Books 1998.
  2. Brown, Paul & Barbara, Prehistoric Rock Art in the Northern Dales, Tempus: Stroud 2008.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Crooked Stane, Elvanfoot, Lanarkshire

megalithix

Standing Stone:  OS grid reference – NS 96590 15333

Also Known as:

  1. Canmore ID 47316

Archaeology & History

Described by Tam Ward and Douglas Graham (1989) as “the only surviving standing stone in Clydesdale” (which isn’t quite true), this lovely looking monolith, leaning to one side, appears to have several cup-markings on its surface, but they’re actually Nature’s handiwork. The stone aligns to the hill a short distance north, Bodsbury Hill, upon which a fortress was later built sometime in the Iron Age.

I must have a wander round this region sometime: there’s some very attractive place-names nearby crying out for archaeo-attention to rub myself up and down upon!

References:

  1. Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historic Monuments of Scotland, Lanarkshire: An Inventory of the Prehistoric and Roman Monuments, HMSO: Edinburgh 1978.
  2. Ward, Tam & Graham, Douglas, Ancient Monuments of Clydesdale, CDC: Lanark 1989.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Cob Stone Field, Keighley, West Yorkshire

megalithix

Cup-Marked Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SE 00549 40888

Also Known as:

  1. Carving no.1 (Boughey & Vickerman)

Getting Here

Cob Stone with cup-marks on top
Cob Stone its cup-marks

Go through Laycock village and take the left turn along the lovely, hidden country lane towards Slippery Ford (called Todley Hall Road) until you get near the end of this beautiful wooded valley (called Newsholme Dean). Just by Grey Stones Hill, on your left, is a track heading down to a large farm building with numerous rocks and boulders in the fields either side of you.  Stop! – and look in the field on the right.

Archaeology & History

Cluster of cup-marks on top
Cluster of cup-marks

This particular stone is in the field to the right of the track, over the wall, right near the top of the field.  Described for the first time in Boughey & Vickerman’s (2003) survey where they describe “at least eight cups” on the rock; and it’s listed on the MAGIC Map survey as having 6 cups — which are the ones you can plainly see on the very top edge of the stone. What may be three other faint ones can be discerned on the sloping sides of the rock.

Cob Stone Field carving

Another ‘possible’ cup-marked stone can be seen lower down the field, past the large Cob Stone.  There is also another cup-marked stone in the adjacent field at SE 00610 40841 (listed as stone no.2 in Boughey & Vickerman, 2003) with apparently 17 cups on the large rock there, but this can be difficult to see unless lighting conditions are just right.

References:

  1. Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, West Yorkshire Archaeology Service 2003.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Clach-na-Cruich, Fearnan, Perthshire

megalithix

Cup-Marked Rock:  OS grid reference – NN 71868 44743

Also known as:

  1. Canmore ID 25037
  2. Clach-na-Gruich
  3. St. Ciaran’s Seat
  4. Measles Stone

Getting Here

Pretty easy to get to.  It’s in one of the fields above the old farmhouse of Boreland on the western edge of Fearnan, a couple of hundred yards away on the other side of the road from the Clach an Tuirc.

Archaeology & History

Clach-na-Cruich in 1884

In the field we find this great chair-shaped boulder with a great ‘bowl’ on it where the seating section is, and on its top and sides are a few cup-markings — MacMillan (1884) noted seven of them, two of which had half-rings around them, “associated together in a singular manner, and forming a figure like the eyes of a pair of spectacles.”

Folklore

Regarded in local legends to be an ancient initiation seat, this was taken over and ordained as being the seat of St. Ciaran at some time when the Celtic church started having influence up here.

The ‘seat’ of this great stone regularly fills up with rainwater and was, wrote William A. Gillies, “regarded as an effectual cure for measles, and there are persons still residing at Fearnan who were taken as children to drink from the water in the hollow of Clach-na-Gruich, the Measles Stone.”  His lengthy account of the site told:

“In the district of Breadalbane, Perthshire – which has in it the Pool of St Fillans, famous for its supposed power of curing mentally afflicted persons – there are two boulders with water-filled cavities, which have a local reputation for their healing virtues. One is at Fernan, situated on the north side of Loch Tay, about three miles from Kenmore. It is a large rough stone with an irregular outline, somewhat like a rude chair, in the middle of a field immediately below the farmhouse of Mr Campbell, Borland. The rest of the field is ploughed; but the spot on which it stands is carefully preserved as an oasis amid the furrows. The material of which it is composed is a coarse clay slate; and the stone has evidently been a boulder transported to the spot from a considerable distance.

“In the centre on one side there is a deep square cavity capable of holding about two quarts of water. I found it nearly full, although the weather had been unusually dry for several weeks previously. There were some clods of earth around it, and a few small stones and a quantity of rubbish in the cavity itself, which defiled the water. This I carefully scooped out, and found the cavity showing unmistakeable evidence of being artificial. On the upper surface of the stone I also discovered seven faint cup-marks, very much weather-worn; two of them associated together in a singular manner, and forming a figure like the eyes of a pair of spectacles.

“The boulder goes in the locality by the name of Clach-na-Cruich, or the Stone of the Measles; and the rain-water contained in its cavity, when drunk by the patient, was supposed to be a sovereign remedy for that disease. At one time it had a wide reputation, and persons afflicted with the disease came from all parts of the district to drink its water. Indeed, there are many persons still alive who were taken in their youth, when suffering from this infantile disease, to the stone at Fernan; and I have met a man not much past forty, who remembers distinctly having drunk the water in the cavity when suffering from measles.

“It is is only within the lifetime of the present generation that the Clach-na-Cruich has fallen into disuse. I am not sure, indeed, whether any one has resorted to it within the last thirty years. Its neglected state would seem to indicate that all faith in it had for many years been abandoned.”

References:

  1. Gillies, William A., In Famed Breadalbane, Munro Press: Perth 1938.
  2. MacMillan, Hugh, ‘Notice of Two Boulders having Rain-Filled Cavities on the Shores of Loch Tay, Formerly Associated with the Cure of Disease,’ in PSAS 18, 1884.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian 


Calverley Woods (12), Leeds, West Yorkshire

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Cup-Marked Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SE 2006 3790

Also Known as

  1. Carving no.12 (Boughey & Vickerman)

Getting Here

Lost Cup-Marked Stone, Calverley Woods
Lost Cup-Marked Stone, Calverley Woods

Troublesome really, as it’s got lost somewhere amidst the undergrowth.  From the valley bottom at Apperley Bridge, take the road-then-track which goes up thru the Calverley Cutting (as locals call it), turning left along the dirt-track just as the track begins to slope uphill.  Go past the detached house in the edge of the trees and shortly past there is a small footpath taking you into the trees on your left,  Walk down and along here, near the bottom of the tree-line above the walling.  If you find it, let us know!

Archaeology & History

Included in Boughey & Vickerman’s (2003) survey as ‘stone 12’ – it was first described by Sidney Jackson in 1954, who later gave us a map and drawing of the stone.  I looked for it several times x-number of years back, but never found it (though was led astray a little by the profusion of Amanitas in the locale!).  Comprising at least 18 cup-markings on a generally flat rock surface, to this day the carving remains unfound, though is probably under the herbage hereabouts.  The same fate seems to have befallen the West Woods 1 and West Woods 2 carvings in another part of the same woods.  Does anyone know what’s become of them?

References:

  1. Bennett, Paul, “The Undiscovered Old Stones of Calverley Woods,” in Earth no.2, 1986.
  2. Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, West Yorkshire Archaeology Service 2003.
  3. Jackson, Sidney (ed.), ‘Calverley Wood Cup-Marked Rock,’ in Bradford Cartwright Hall Archaeology Group Bulletin, 1:1, 1954.
  4. Jackson, Sidney (ed.), ‘Cup-Marked Boulder in Calverley Wood,’ in Bradford Cartwright Hall Archaeology Group Bulletin, 1:7, 1955.
  5. Jackson, Sidney (ed.), ‘Cup-and-Ring Boulders near Calverley,’ in Bradford Cartwright Hall Archaeology Group Bulletin, 1:16, 1956.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian