Cup-Marked Stone (missing): OS Grid Reference – SP 3245 9752
Archaeology & History
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.
© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian