Tag: ancient monuments

Riffa Wood, Leathley, North Yorkshire

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Cup-Marked Stone (lost):  OS Grid Reference – SE 2556 4687

Also Known as:

  1. Carving no.556 (Boughey & Vickerman)

Archaeology & History

We know very little about this carving, which was first highlighted on Eric Cowling’s (1940) map of Wharfedale petroglyphs.  Described simply as one of the “cup-marked rocks”, he mentioned it briefly in Rombald’s Way (1946) as being “the most easterly carving” in mid-Wharfedale—which it was at the time (a very recent find by Benn Potts of a cup-marked stone at Weeton has pushed the boundary further eastwards).  Oddly for Cowling, he left no further notes nor sketch of the carving and when Stuart Feather (1961) came to write of it, he merely copied Cowling’s earlier words.  It’s not been seen since.  In Boughey & Vickerman’s (2003) survey, they could find no cup-marked stone in the wood but thought instead that,

“this may be due more to confusion than to loss of the carving.  Riffa Wood does contain a carving: of a Native American on a conspicuous rock alongside one of the many woodland paths. Furthermore, one or two local residents recall a German prisoner carving something on a rock in Riffa Wood during the Second World War.  Presumably, this is the origin of the Native American carving.  Could it be that this man added something of his own to what was already a carved rock, in which case the Native American as he now appears is the site noted by Cowling before the War?”

No cup-marks exist on this Native American carving, and it’s highly unlikely that Cowling would have made such an elementary mistake.  The carving no doubt lies covered in woodland vegetation waiting, once more, for the day that someone comes along and exposes its visage to the world again.  Let us know if you manage to find it…

References:

  1. Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS: Wakefield 2003.
  2. Cowling, E.T., ‘A Classification of West Yorkshire Cup and Ring Stones,’ in Archaeological Journal, volume 97, 1940.
  3. Cowling, E.T., Rombald’s Way: A Prehistory of Mid-Wharfedale, William Walker: Otley 1946.
  4. Feather, Stuart, “Mid-Wharfedale Cup-and-Ring Markings,” in Cartwright Hall Archaeology Group Bulletin, volume 6, no.3, March 1961.

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

Balimeanach (2), Loch Earn, Comrie, Perthshire

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Cup-Marked Stone:  OS Grid Reference – NN 64118 22892

Archaeology & History

Faint cups, bottom right

Less than ten yards south of the Balimeanach (3) petroglyph, this innocuous-looking cup-marked stone can be seen.  Paul Hornby and I came across it when looking for the adjacent carving.  Comprising of between three and five very faint shallow cups, when we peeled some of the turf over we found a broken hand axe resting on the rock itself.  We assumed that this had been the instrument that had been used to knock the cups into being.  There were also many small shards of quartz crystal all along the inner edge of the stone: a feature that we and others have found at quite a number of carvings in the Scottish mountains.  We left the ruined hand axe where we found it.

4? faint cups in a square

The impression we got here is that the cups are so shallow because the design was never actually completed.  Instead, perhaps, they turned to look at the stone ten yards away and thought it was a better choice to cut a more ornate design… Perhaps… It seems pretty likely that other unrecorded carvings will be found close by on the many turf-covered rocks in this area.

Acknowledgements:  Huge thanks for Paul Hornby for use of his photo in this site profile. 

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian

Over Glenny (13), Port of Menteith, Stirlingshire

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Cup-and-Ring Stone:  OS Grid Reference – NN 57047 02878

Getting Here

Over Glenny (13) section with ‘bowl’

Along the A81 road from Port of Menteith to Aberfoyle, watch out for the small road in the trees running at an angle sharply uphill, nearly opposite Portend, up to Coldon and higher. Keep going, bearing right past Mondowie and stopping at the dirt-track 100 yards or so further up on the left (ignore the english fuckers up here who tell you it’s a pwivate road and they don’t want you parking there—unless you’re blocking the road obviously!).  Walk up up here for ⅔-mile, as if you’re visiting the Over Glenny (5) carving, but as you get close to the defining sycamore tree, walk past it for about 60 yards towards the ruinous buildings. You’re looking for a reasonably large earthfast rock with a notable bowl about 12-inch across at the edge of the stone.  That’s your defining feature.

Archaeology & History

Arty sketch of the design

This is another decent design in the mass of petroglyphs on this plain overlooking the Lake of Menteith.  On our first visit here ten yeas ago, only one half of the rock was visible—and half of that was covered with grasses!  But with patience, we slowly rolled back the turf and slowly uncovered more and more, eventually seeing the main elements you can see in these photos and the arty sketch I’ve made here. (the Over Glenny [14] carving a few yards further east may be just be a continuation of this design)

Full length of the stone
The triple cup-and-ring

When the carving was first noticed by George Currie (2010), he only noticed “a cup mark surrounded by two penannulars, an arc and a single radial”—ostensibly meaning, a cup-and-triple ring, with the outer ring incomplete, and a line running out from the central cup.  But there’s more, obviously.  On our second visit, a very faint but distinct cup-and-double-ring was noticed in low light on the same section of the rock where the triple-ringed element is carved.  We weren’t able to get a photo that showed it, as the light wasn’t doing as we needed, but I’ve highlighted it on the sketch, where it’s to the right of the large ‘bowl’ at the very edge of the rock.  This ‘bowl’ probably had utilitarian functions, whether it was for just crushing herbs or grains, or to make organic paints: and this function most likely had some relationship with the petroglyph—but we know not what!  It’s possible that the people who lived in the adjacent ruin, several centuries ago, may also have made use of this.

East-end of the design
East-end angular pose

When we exposed the other half of the carving, a very well-cut and well-preserved cup-and-ring sat beside another much more eroded partner, which was almost impossible to see from some angles. You can just make it out in the photos here.  You’ll also notice a scatter of several other cup-marks and elongated ‘cups’ on the same section of rock.  It was difficult to work out whether some of these marks in the stone were Nature’s handiwork, or the result of human hands.  Some were obviously man-made, but we need to look at it again when the daylight conditions are good, so that we can make a more accurate assessment.

References:

  1. Brouwer, Jan & van Veen, Gus, Rock Art in the Menteith Hills, BRAC 2009.
  2. Currie, George, “Port of Menteith: Upper Glenny (UG 1), Cup-and-Ring Marked Rocks”, in Discovery & Excavation, Scotland, New Series – volume 11, 2010.

Acknowledgements:  Huge thanks to the crew: Paul Hornby, Lisa Samson & Fraser Harrick in making this carving come to life, and for use of a photo or two. 

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian

Balnabroich, Kirkmichael, Perthshire

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Cairn:  OS Grid Reference – NO 1008 5695

Getting Here

Balnabroich cairn

From Kirkmichael village take the A94 road 2 miles south to the Balnabroich standing stone and another 100 yards past it, on the left (east) take the dirt-track uphill, following the directions to reach the Balnabroich hut circles. You’ll see the large prehistoric rock pile of the Grey Cairn on the near skyline just above the huts and roughly on the same level, 50 yards away to the south, you’ll see this scruffy lumpy dump of a cairn, all overgrown.

Archaeology & History

The cairn, looking S

Amidst the veritable scatter of a thousand clearance cairns (yes, that’s the estimate), there are a few up here that had more funerary functions than the rest.  This being one of them.  When Allan Stewart (1795) wrote about them all in the Statistical Account, he couldn’t have missed this one—and yet he made no mention of it.  We had to wait another seventy years before the outside world became aware of its existence.  Then, along with “a band of between twenty and thirty workmen,” John Stuart (1865) set out to see what lay beneath the rocky pile.  In truth, much more attention was given to the huge Gray Cairn close by (understandably so), but at least some attention was given here.  Stuart described this cairn as,

“about 9 yards across, defined by large boulders, with a raised ridge around, and a cup in the centre. The raised ridges and centre were all formed of small stones and earth. A trench was cut through it from the southeast, which showed that in the centre, at a depth of 2 feet, a deposit had been made, of which the remains were charred wood and fragments of charred bone, with traces of blackish matter, which had filtered into the yellow subsoil, as in the case of the graves at Hartlaw.’ Many fragments of white quartz pebbles appeared near the centre, as in other cairns to the east.”

Indeed, at least one of the “cairns to the east” is made entirely of quartz stones!  Since Mr Stuart’s dig into the tomb, it has widened out slightly as rummaging cattle and other damage has been inflicted, and the grasses have coloured the tomb with their life.  Check it out when you’re up here!

References:

  1. MacLagan, Christian, The Hill Forts, Stone Circles and other Structural Remains of Ancient Scotland, Edmonston & Douglas: Edinburgh 1875.
  2. Ramsay, John S., Highways and Byways of Strathmore and the Northern Glens, Blairgowrie Advertiser 1927.
  3. Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland, North-East Perth: An Archaeological Landscape, HMSO: Edinburgh 1990.
  4. Stewart, Allan, “Parish of Kirkmichael,” in Statistical Account of Scotland – volume 15, 1795.
  5. Stuart, John, “Account of Excavations in Groups of Cairns, Stone Circles and Hut Circles on Balnabroch, Parish of Kirkmichael, Perthshire,” in Proceedings Society Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 6, 1865.

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

Black Park (3), Callander, Perthshire

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Cairn:  OS Grid Reference – NN 66885 07447

Getting Here

Low-lying Black Park (3)

From Callander head east along the main A84 road and nearly 300 yards past the entrance to the Keltie Bridge caravan park, take the tiny road on your left (north) and barely 100 yards along turn right and go up here for exactly 1 mile.  Walk up the track from here and follow the directions to find the Black Park (1) cairn; and then the nearby small Black Park (2) cairn.  From here you need to walk north-east round the small rounded hillock in front of you, and cross a small burn (stream) up to the next small grassy rise.  Altogether this is about 200 yards from the Black Park (2) cairn.  On this grassy rise lives the Black Park (3) cairn!

Archaeology & History

As with its compatriot Black Park (2) cairn 200 yards southwest, this can be hard to see.  It’s an overgrown small singular cairn (it looks like a tumulus now) of no great note to look at: probably the resting spot of an individual or just a small family.  Measuring some 5-6 yards across and less than a yard high at the most, its easily missed unless you’re really mean to find it. More impressive are the ones on the hill immediately above you to the east.  Head there next!

References:

  1. Royal Commission Ancient & Historical Monuments, Scotland, Braes of Doune: An Archaeological Survey, RCAHMS: Edinburgh 1994.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian

Market Cross, Elstow, Bedfordshire

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Cross:  OS Grid Reference – TL 04864 47498

Archaeology & History

Elstow’s old cross, c.1900

Sitting quietly “on the village green, where the fair is still held,” wrote Wigram (1885), “stands the base of the old market-cross, reduced to a shapeless stump, but still bearing traces of leaden setting.”  Thought to be mediaeval in age, it was described as a sundial on some of the early Ordnance Survey maps which, perhaps, it may have been used as for a short period (although records are silent on the matter).  Standing just three-feet tall, this old stone pillar still lives on its ancient spot, as quiet as always, keeping itself to itself…

References:

  1. Wigram, S.R., Chronicles of the Abbey of Elstow, Parker & Co.: Oxford 1885.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian

Grey Cairn carving, Kirkmichael, Perthshire

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Cup-Marked Stone:  OS Grid Reference – NO 10058 57013

Archaeology & History

When the Grey Cairn above Balnabroich, Kirkmichael, was explored in the second-half of the 19th century by John Stuart (1865) and a number of local labourers, they found the floor of the tomb had been paved with a number of large boulders.  Near its centre, along with finding remains of charred wood, they moved some of the rocks and,

“On turning over the stones a circular disc of stone with a hole in the centre was found, and also a small boulder with a cup on its flat face.”

Grey Cairn at sunfall

He made no further remarks about the carving and no intimation that it was removed, so we must presume it is still there, at the botton of the cairn.  Any visitors to the site might want to have a look at the massive scatter of surface stones that make up the cairn to see if any further cup-marks exist on them.  It’s not uncommon to find them on such giant tombs.

Folklore

A very curious folktale was known of the cairn in the 19th century, whose theme is recognized at numerous other prehistoric sites, but the mythic creature involved here is very much different from the ones we’re used to.  Mr Stuart told that,

“The popular belief is that a mermaid is buried beneath it. This mermaid used to throw stones at people who were coming from church at Kirkmichael, and she could only be seen through a hole in the knot of the pine tree.  At last she was chased to the hill at Balnabroch on her flight to the waters of Loch Marech, on the other side of the hill, and there killed, when the Grey Cairn was raised over her.”

References:

  1. Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland, North-East Perth: An Archaeological Landscape, HMSO: Edinburgh 1990.
  2. Stuart, John, “Account of Excavations in Groups of Cairns, Stone Circles and Hut Circles on Balnabroch, Parish of Kirkmichael, Perthshire,” in Proceedings Society Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 6, 1865.

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

Balnabroich hut (10), Kirkmichael, Perthshire

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Hut Circle:  OS Grid Reference – NO 09997 56964

Getting Here

Hut Circle 10, circled

From Kirkmichael to the Balnabroich standing stone, take the same directions as if you’re heading up to the Balnabroich hut circle (9). Just over 20 yards NNW of it, on the other side of the faint footpath that takes you to the Grey Cairn, look closely at the ground and you’ll see a broken oval of stones in the grasses.

Archaeology & History

This can be difficult to see in poor light, and I found it easier to look at from above, closer to the Grey Cairn.

Hut remains, circled

It’s one of the twenty (known) hut circles in this archaeologically rich neck o’ the woods.  Nothing special to look at, but it is perhaps 4000 years old!  This one seems to have been listed by Christian MacLagan (1875) as her hut circle no.12 and which she described briefly, telling that “the central chamber of this circle is 36 feet in diameter, and the surrounding wall is 15 feet broad.”  Much of the walling would seem to have been stripped away considerably since MacLagan’s time.  The faded remains of its entrance can be seen on its southwestern side.

References:

  1. Coutts, Herbert, Ancient Monuments of Tayside, Dundee Museum 1970.
  2. Harris, Judith, “A Preliminary Survey of Hut-circles and Field Systems in SE Perthshire”, in Proceedings Society Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 114, 1984.
  3. MacLagan, Christian, The Hill Forts, Stone Circles and other Structural Remains of Ancient Scotland, Edmonston & Douglas: Edinburgh 1875.
  4. Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland, North-East Perth: An Archaeological Landscape, HMSO: Edinburgh 1990.
  5. Stuart, John, “Account of Excavations in Groups of Cairns, Stone Circles and Hut Circles on Balnabroch, Parish of Kirkmichael, Perthshire,” in Proceedings Society Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 6, 1865.
  6.  Thorneycroft, Wallace, “Observations on Hut Circles near the Eastern Border of Perthshire, north of Blairgowrie,” in Proceedings Society Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 67, 1933.

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

Black Park (2), Callander, Perthshire

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Cairn:  OS Grid Reference – NN 6672 0735

Getting Here

Black Park (2) cairn

Take the same directions as if you’re going to visit the large Black Park (1) cairn, and from here look down the slight boggy slope to your right (east) and, across the other side of a small burn (stream) you’ll see a slightly raised grassy knoll.  A curved dyke is to its left (west) side.  You’re there!

Archaeology & History

This small cairn, barely two feet high at the most, and five yards across, is deemed as a possible Bronze Age cairn on Canmore and in the Royal Commission (1994) report of the area.  There is certainly a pile of small stones here, but it may be a clearance cairn (I hope I’m wrong).  Only an excavation will tell us for sure.

References:

  1. Royal Commission Ancient & Historical Monuments, Scotland, Braes of Doune: An Archaeological Survey, RCAHMS: Edinburgh 1994.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian

Black Park (1), Callander, Perthshire

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Cairn:  OS Grid Reference – NN 66612 07349

Also Known as:

  1. Black Wood
  2. Sruth Geal

Getting Here

Black Park (1) cairn, looking south

Less than a mile east of Callander on the main A84 road, nearly 300 yards past the entrance to the Keltie Bridge caravan park, take the tiny road on your left (north) and barely 100 yards along turn right and go up here for excatly 1 mile (give or take a few yeards) where  track goes into the forest on your left and you can park-up here.  Walk up the track into the silence for just under a mile where, as the track splits and you kink to the right, a gate appears.  On the other side of the gate, turn immediately left, almost walking back on yourself, just above the curving waters of a burn, through boggy reeds, keeping to the fence-line until, less than 300 yards along, you’ll reach what you’re looking for.

Archaeology & History

Black Park (1), looking W

This reasonably large cairn and its neighbours (Black Park [2], [3], [4] and [5]) would appear to be relatively new discoveries as I can find nothing about it prior to the Royal Commission’s 1994 survey.  They are even absent from Moray MacKay’s (1953) excellent work on the area!  Hence, descriptions of it are scant and visitors to the place are few indeed (we did meet a local who knew about the old tomb, but said that nothing was known about it); but it is, nonetheless, a fine, albeit denuded and very overgrown cairn, living today amidst a quiet mass of reeds and surrounded by boggy ground—so make sure you’ve got your boots on!

Internal line of stonework
Black Park (1), looking SE

At its height, today, it stands less than four feet tall and measures roughly 16 yards across at its widest.  Through one section of the tomb there runs a raised line of stonework that almost looks like internal walling, which may have been where a chamber once existed.  It’s been hollowed out by someone in the not-too-distant past but, as I said, there are no records of such a thing, so whether or not that was a chamber or merely a fortuituous collapse of stone in a straight line, we can’t really say.  Along its more northern edges there seems to be a small raised wall of stone defining its edge, although once again it requires a more discerning examination to work out whether this is part of its original facade, or is a result of some of the stone mass falling to the edges.

Visit the old place and sit with its silence for a while…

References:

  1. Royal Commission Ancient & Historical Monuments, Scotland, Braes of Doune: An Archaeological Survey, RCAHMS: Edinburgh 1994.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian