Standing Stone (lost): OS Grid Reference – NN 795 168
Archaeology & History
When Fred Coles (1911) visited the giant impressive Dunruchan standing stones, he told that “some distance to the east” of the Dunruchan E stone, “near the unnamed stream…my friend Mr James Simpson has seen another great Stone, but lying prostrate.” When he visited the area the weather beat him back (easily done up here!) and prevented him “from wandering far over the moor, and therefore this Stone was not observed.” It remains lost. (the grid-reference given for this site is an approximation)
Cup-Marked Stone (lost): OS Grid Reference – SG 21640 43035
Also Known as:
Ballykean Stone A (Kinihan 1884)
Archaeology & History
Kinihan’s rubbing of the stone
This is one of at least fourteen petroglyphs in this parish that have been either lost or destroyed since their initial description in the 19th century. First noticed by a Mr Hugh Jones of Ballykean House, it was the northernmost carving in the cluster. When the Archaeological Survey of Ireland looked for the carving in 1990 it could not be located—although they did note a stone of similar size in the field boundary to the north-east, but could find no cup-marks on it.
Ballykean (14 ) stone
When George Kinihan (1884) described the stone, he told it to be a block of granite, “about 5 feet by 5.3 feet, and standing 3.3 feet high” in a field known as the Fort Field (although there are no remains of a fort here). Kinihan took a rubbing of the carving, which highlighted eleven cup-marks on its upper surface, as illustrated here. More recently, in Corlett’s (2014) rock art survey, he told that there were “several large dumps of granite boulders” north of the field and wondered whether these might be where this, and the other stones, had been moved. Does anyone know…?
References:
Corlett, Christiaan, Inscribing the Landscape: The Rock Art of South Leinster, Wordwell: Dublin 2014.
Kinihan, George H., “Proceedings: Cup-marked and Inscribed Stones in the Counties of Wicklow and Wexford”, in Journal Royal Society Antiquaries Ireland, (4th series) volume 6, 1884.
Cup-Marked Stone (lost): OS Grid Reference – SG 21584 42230
Also Known as:
Ballykean ‘Stone M’ (Kinihan 1884)
Archaeology & History
Ballykean (2) or “Stone M”
This is one of at least fourteen petroglyphs in this parish that have been either lost or destroyed since their initial description in the 19th century. When the Archaeological Survey of Ireland looked for this carving in 1990, it could not be located. It was first described by George Kinihan (1884), who told that it was, a “block about 6 by 5.5 feet, and 2.25 feet high. The upper surface has eight cups, two of which are joined by a channel.” The site was included in Corlett’s (2014) fine survey, who could add no additional data about the stone.
References:
Corlett, Christiaan, Inscribing the Landscape: The Rock Art of South Leinster, Wordwell: Dublin 2014.
Kinihan, George H., “Proceedings: Cup-marked and Inscribed Stones in the Counties of Wicklow and Wexford”, in Journal Royal Society Antiquaries Ireland, (4th series) volume 6, 1884.
Cup-Marked Stone (lost): OS Grid Reference – SG 21648 42072
Also Known as:
Ballykean ‘Stone N’ (Kinihan 1884)
Archaeology & History
This is one of at least fourteen petroglyphs in this parish that have been either lost or destroyed since their initial description in the 19th century. The carving was, wrote Kinahan (1884) in his day, “in the field south of Ballykean House.” But when the Archaeological Survey of Ireland looked for the stone in 1990, it could not be located. Kinihan told that it was,
“a large flattish stone, which slopes SW. On the SW surface near the top margin is one cup. In the vicinity of this block there are others, but on none of them were cups remarked. Most of these have been split, while others are said to have been broken up to build Ballykean House, with the farm buildings and walls.”
References:
Kinihan, George H., “Proceedings: Cup-marked and Inscribed Stones in the Counties of Wicklow and Wexford”, in Journal Royal Society Antiquaries Ireland, (4th series) volume 6, 1884.
Along the A85 road between Comrie and St Fillans, just over a mile out of Comrie, on the right-hand side (north) of the road is the small farm-track into the fields where the ruined stone circle of Tullybannocher lives. Walk up this track (known as Maam Road), past the stones, and keep going uphill for more than a mile (literally 1 mile up, another track turns sheer right, but ignore it) where the track eventually levels-out; keep walking for another 600 yards, slightly downhill, until you reach a distinct fork in the track where you need to veer right, uphill, and keep walking up the track for ⅔-mile (1km) where you’ll eventually see a cottage ahead of you. 150 yards before this, to your left, down the slight slope and just as it begins to slope back up again on the other side, there’s some olde walling with a coupla big stones in it. It’s there!
Archaeology & History
When James MacIntosh (1888) first visited this carving in the 19th century—which is close to the curious cairn of Druim na Cille just 75 yards to the west—he described there being a group of seven large stones forming, what he thought, might have been a large enclosure. I think he was right. Several of these stones can still be seen: each of them along some ancient walling that swerves in an arc to the east. One of these stones has a number of cup-marks on it.
Fred Coles’ 1991 sketchThe carving, from the track
The design isn’t too impressive when compared to others in this neck o’ the woods, but they’re very distinct. We visited the place on a truly dark grey day: conditions that don’t usually allow for good visibility regarding cup-marks; but thankfully the cups along this stone are quite deep and hard to miss. Running along one section of the stone are what Gow called, “eleven beautifully formed cups, varying from 2¼ to 4 inches in diameter and from half an inch to an inch in depth.” When Fred Coles (1911) came here he counted thirteen cup-marks. There may be fourteen.
The stone does possess some more recent groove marks made by a metal instrument, possibly a tractor or perhaps when local workmen stuck up a microwave tower close by. Thankfully it hasn’t directly affected the cups on the stone. Check it out when you visit the nearby ring cairn.
Cup-Marked Stone (missing): OS Grid Reference – SK 7618 0095
Archaeology & History
P.M.Vine’s 1982 sketch
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.
Cup-Marked Stone (lost): OS Grid Reference – SP 3245 9752
Archaeology & History
Witherley’s cup-marked stone (P.M.Vine 1982)
In his survey of prehistoric sites in the Trent basin area, archaeologist Philip Vine (1982) described a cup-marked stone that was “found in a rockery at Witherley Hall, formerly the Rectory, during the 1970s… along with medieval stone work of the chancel of the village church.” Two distinct cup-markings that he described as “deepish” had been carved into a large ‘portable’ stone of coarse-grained diorite rock, measuring 53 by 51 cm — making it somewhat larger than your standard portable. It looks like it may have come from a cairn (was there one nearby?). Vine told that the carving was held in “private possession.” What has become of it…?
References:
Vine, Philip M., The Neolithic and Bronze Age Cultures of the Middle and Upper Trent Basin, BAR: Oxford 1982.
Along the A85 road between Comrie and St Fillans, just over a mile out of Comrie, on the right-hand side (north) of the road is the small farm-track into the fields where the ruined stone circle of Tullybannocher lives. Walk up this track (known as Maam Road), past the stones, and keep going uphill for more than a mile (literally 1 mile up, another track turns sheer right, but ignore it) where the track eventually levels-out; keep walking for another 600 yards, slightly downhill, until you reach a distinct fork in the track where you need to veer right, uphill, and keep walking up the track for ⅔-mile (1km) where you’ll see a cottage ahead of you. About 50 yards before the house, down the slope on your left, a large rounded mass covered in bracken is the site you’re after.
Archaeology & History
This is an odd site, in more ways than one. In the 18th and 19th century, local people told that it was “a very ancient churchyard, so old, indeed, that the grave-stones among the rank grass are scarcely discernible.” (Carment 1882) This lore was reinforced by the fact that, as James Gow (1888) put it,
“within living memory that a burial took place here, and the tradition is that people came to bury the “wee unchristened bairns” from long distances, such as Loch Tayside, Glendochart, Balquhidder, and Strathyre.”
Looking W, at the circleThe old mound, looking SE
That’s a lot of effort and a considerable distance for some people to travel! But the age and nature of this site is curious. It very name, Drum-na-kill derives from either “ridge of the burial ground” or the “hill of the chapel” (and variants thereof)—yet there are no records of any such early church or religious cell here. That doesn’t mean, of course, that there never was one. A wandering Culdee priest may have set up camp here more than a thousand years ago after doing his service with the fading druids of Dull, less than 20 miles to the north. Such things, never written down, will obviously have happened in these mountains and cannot be discounted merely due to a lack of scripts. But we simply don’t know. When Mr Gow described the place—as “a raised enclosure 25 to 30 feet in diameter, with, a turf-covered wall or rampart 3 or 4 feet high surrounding it”—he emphasized that “in former times (it) was used as a burying ground for unbaptised infants.” (large numbers of Highlanders weren’t in the slightest bit interested in the ways of the Church) So how far back in time did this tradition go…?
Well, Gow thought the place to be an early christian site. But when Fred Coles came here more than thirty years later, during his massive survey of the Perthshire stone circles, he deemed it to be a much earlier construction. A “cairn circle” no less—which would give it a more Bronze Age footprint. And this definition has stuck. Coles (1911) told that,
Coles’ 1911 diagramRaised ‘walling’ highlighted
“This Cairn-circle is about seventy yards east of the shepherd’s cottage, and it slightly resembles others already noticed in Perthshire. It measures from crest to crest of its circular ridge 44 feet 3 inches east and west by 37 feet 10 inches north and south. Several large blocks of stone lie exposed on the crest, and many others can be felt as one walks along it. The ridge is completely oval-circular, having no break or passage-way, and encloses a flattish, rather uneven space measuring about 34 feet in diameter. The height above the outside ground at the best-preserved portions is fully 4 feet.”
More than a century later, its not changed much—although if you were to believe the updated Trove website, “the cairn has been destroyed in the process of land improvement.” Which is untrue. As the albeit darkened photos here show (we visited it on a truly dark grey day), the raised cairn, despite being covered in a mass of deep bracken, is clearly in a condition similar to what Coles described. It looks like a typical example of this type of monument, of considerable size, with reasonably well-defined edges and comprising the usual scattered mass of stones in and around it. The large boulders that Coles described don’t seem to be in evidence, but these were apparently shifted a few decades back and added to the enclosure walling to the east. To honest, only the untrained eye would miss the place! Check it out when you’re looking at the cup-marked stone, less than a hundred yards to the east…
References:
Carment, Samuel, Scenes and Legends of Comrie, James P. Mathew: Dundee 1882.
From Blair Atholl village along the B8079 road, take the minor road signposted to the Bridge of Tilt and go all the way to the top, taking the same directions as if you’re visiting the large prehistoric cairn of Monzie. As you walk towards Monzie farmhouse, you need to look at the large end-facing wall and on the ground at the bottom-left corner you’ll see this old cup-marked stone, next to an old bullaun. It’s probably polite to knock and ask the farmer—who we found to be very helpful indeed. (huge thanks fella!)
Archaeology & History
This is an intriguing carving, inasmuch as its present habitat isn’t it original home. When we visited the old stone recently, the farmer was very helpful and told us what he knew of it, which was, he said, “not much.” In pointing out where it had originally come from, he pointed south, “past the fields – somewhere over there. My dad knew about it,” he told, and thought that he may have been the one who found it. Anyhow, it was his dad who brought it to the place where it now sits: right up against the edge of the house on its southeast corner.
“It looks like it might have come from a tomb,” I said, but he didn’t know about that. The giant cairn in the fields past his farmhouse certainly wasn’t where it had come from. Quite the opposite direction… And so it transpired when I looked at the very menial archaeological notes that have been written about it.
When archaeologist Margaret Stewart noted the carving in the 1960s, she told how the stone had reportedly been found in 1953 by the ruined lime-kiln (NN 9052 6672), just above the western shore of Loch Moraig. But what she didn’t know was that the lime-kiln was built at the edge of the prehistoric tomb that was known to local people as Carndeshal, or Cairn Deshal. The word deshal means sunwise, or the direction taken by the sun, clockwise, as in the word deosil. It is usually associated with a ceremonial procession. The cup-marked stone probably came from this cairn when it had been demolished and was thankfully saved by the farmer.
Altogether there are 24 or 25 mainly well-defined cup-marks on this thin slab, covering most of the surface. In a couple of places on the stone, two of the cups are conjoined. There are apparently no cup-marks on the other side of the stone.
Acknowledgements: To my awesome Naomi – for getting us up here.
Along the B8079 road in Blair Atholl village, take the minor road signposted to the Bridge of Tilt. After half-a-mile, where the road splits, keep to the right and head further uphill and, where the almost-track-like road splits again another quarter mile up, bear to the right again and just keep going uphill for nearly two miles until your reach the large car-park on the left. Park here. Note the long straight line of walling on the top-side of the car-park that runs to the NW. Walk along the other side of the wall and, after 100 yards, you go down the marshy dip and, once it rises up onto the small rise, truly truly truly keep your eyes peeled to see what lays beneath your feet. They’re there – honestly!
Archaeology & History
As the years drift by, the remains of these two hut circles—separated barely ten yards from each other—have become increasingly difficult to see. Upon our visit here, the hillside vegetation was at its lowest at the end of the Winter, yet it was still difficult to see them clearly, even when we stood right in them! The land here is marshy and it’s spreading more and more into the soil, slowly but surely taking these old circles back to Earth, where all things return….
It’s there, under your nose!
The circles—and their half-dozen companions on the far-side of the wall—were shown to the archaeologist Margaret Stewart in the 1960s by the farmer at Monzie, who made notebooks of various places and traditions in this area. Both of them are between 12 and 13 yards across, with the outlining walls that define them still thankfully visible above ground level—just! The hut circle that’s closest to the modern wall is more oval-shaped than its circular companion, both of whom have their respective doors or entrances on the southwestern sides—but these were equally difficult to make out when we came here.
To be honest, if you’re wanting to see the hut circles, I’d head for those on the other side of the wall, two or three hundred yards to the west, which are much easier to find and are in better condition.
Acknowledgements: To my awesome Naomi – for getting us up here.
