Along the A822 road from the Gilmerton junction on the outskirts of Crieff, heading up towards the Sma’ Glen, after literally 1¾ miles (2.8km) on the right-side of the road you need to follow the route to reach the Connachan rock art cluster by walking up the dirt-track leading up past Connachan Farm. Walk past the carving of Connachan (2) and up the track past Connachan (4), then onto the level ground and walk right to the low-lying ruined Connachan cairn. From here, look up the gentle slope to the fence. A small-ish stone protrudes out 40 yards away. Head straight for it!
Archaeology & History
Close-up of line of cups
You’ll check this out when you’re doing your tour of this petroglyph cluster and sit here to admire the view. It’s the last of the small bunch of carvings, on level ground, close to the denuded cairns. It consists of just eight cup-marks, all of which are carved close to the edge of the stone on its upper sloping surface; although this doesn’t tally with Margaret Stewart’s (1967) description of any of the carvings hereby. There’s nowt much more to be said about it to be honest; apart from saying how it’s highly likely that other carvings remain hidden, undiscovered, not far from this stone along the edge of these hills.
References:
Stewart, Margaret E.C., “Connachan, Crieff – Cup Marks and Hut Circle,” in Discovery & Excavation, Scotland, 1967.
On the A816 road, a mile-and-a-bit north of Kilmartin, take the small road (east) to Ford—passing the Creagantairbh stone on your right, then a bit further on the Auchinellan stone on your left. Go through Ford village, making sure to stick to the road that goes along the north side of Loch Awe — as if you’re heading to Dalavich. Just fractionally over a mile out of Ford village, just where the road begins to swerve into a large bend, there’s a small left-turn that takes you to some houses. Just 60-70 yards along this little road, take the trivial little path on your right that takes you straight to a piece of manicured scrubland. If you walk into it, and bear left, you’ll see what you’re looking for. It’s unmissable!
Archaeology & History
When I first visited here in the 1990s, a farm building stood by this huge standing stone and there were no other houses nearby. How things change—but thankfully our old sentinel stone is still living here.
Site shown on 1875 mapRomilly Allen’s 1880 sketch
It was highlighted by the Ordnance Survey lads on their early map of the area, and visited a few years later by the great petroglyphic pioneer J. Romilly Allen. (1880) Standing eleven feet tall and more than four feet across at the base, Allen noticed that, about four feet above ground-level, someone had carved an old cross onto the northeast face of the stone (you can just make it out in the attached photos). It had obviously been carved many centuries ago, by a wandering christian no doubt—although it was incomplete and never finished. Perhaps the person who carved it was chased away by local folk, who would obviously and rightly seen such an act as outright vandalism. The cross was deemed by Ian Fisher (2001) and the Royal Commission (1992) to be medieval in nature. Apparently there’s another, much fainter cross that was first mentioned by Marion Campbell etched on the other side of the stone, but in all the times I came here I was never able to make it out.
Old faint cross carvingSmall person, big stone!
But even further back in time someone had carved a cup-marking on the stone—and the cross was etched onto the same spot, enclosing the cup-mark. When I lived nearby, I made a sketch (long since lost) of what seemed to be two other faint cup-marks at one end of the extended arms of the cross, but on our recent visit here these were very hard to make out. When Ron Morris (1981) mentioned the stone in his survey, he mentioned its proximity to other cup-and-ring carvings immediately to the southeast and a hillock thereby, wondering whether there was “an astronomical complex” going on here. I doubt it—but I like the idea!
But it’s the size of the stone that’s most impressive here and keeps up with the tradition of similar megaliths in and around the Kilmartin area. Check the place out when you’re hunting the other stones nearby. You won’t be disappointed!
Folklore
Local tradition ascribed this great stone as marking the grave of an ancient warrior. The full folk tale seems to have been lost.
Fisher, Ian, Early Medieval Sculpture in the West Highlands and Islands, RCAHMS: Edinburgh 2001.
Morris, Ronald W.B., The Prehistoric Rock Art of Southern Scotland, BAR: Oxford 1981.
Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland, Argyll – Volume 6: Mid-Argyll and Cowal, HMSO: Edinburgh 1988.
Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland, Argyll – Volume 7: Mid-Argyll and Cowal: Medieval and Later Monuments, HMSO: Edinburgh 1992.
Ruggles, Clive, Megalithic Astronomy, BAR: Oxford 1984.
Swarbrick, Olaf, A Gazetteer of Prehistoric Standing Stones in Great Britain, BAR: Oxford 2012.
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.
This is a relatively new find that was uncovered in 2019 by members of the Association of Certified Field Archaeologists, on the western edge of a small bowl of blackthorn trees, just past one of the Corrycharmaig East carvings — and it’s a bit of a beauty!
Topmost part of carvingCorrycharmaig (9) stone
Described, albeit briefly, in the superb survey by Gardiner, King & MacInnes (2024), the carving here has been cut into a sloping straight line of rock along the ridge of a very tiny cliff and consists of cups, single rings and multiple rings. At its crown, so to speak, where the rock surface levels out and is flat, a very well-preserved multiple cup-and-ring greets our senses: a cup-and-four rings to be precise. The outermost edge of the rings cuts into a natural crack that runs to the edge of the stone; and close to where this crack reaches the edge, another standard cup-and-ring rests against it. On this same section you’ll see a single cup which, by the look of it, was intended to have a much wider ring surrounding it—but for some reason it was never executed.
Second multiple-ringerSecond multiple-ring
From the topmost section, the rock then slopes gradually downward and the design is broken by several natural splits in the stone before we reach a single unfinished cup-and-ring and a solitary cup-mark. These occur shortly before we reach a near-duplicate of the multiple-ringer that we’ve just seen on the flat top of the stone. The outer ring of this is broken and the edges of it are intruded (again) by natural cracks in the stone (a not uncommon feature). The erosion level of this and its fellow four-ringed compatriot at the top are much the same, suggesting that the two were executed at around the same time.
Lower-half with cup&ringsClose-up of cup&rings
As we move down the slope of the rock with its veritable scattering of geological splits, the rest of the design consists of several single cup-and-rings—at least three of them—over its lower-half, almost in a gentle arc over the surface. The one closest to the four-rings has a single cup-mark attached to its outer edge and another single one just a few inches away from it. The others don’t seem to have any additional carved features attached to them; although one or two other singular cup-marks can be seen on this, the lowest section of the carving.
Looking to the hillsFrom the bottom up
An interesting feature noted here is the direction that this line of rock points to: a dip between two distinct rocky peaks on the horizon and which is close to the winter solstice sunset. I should point out however, that the relationship between open air petroglyphs and astronomical alignments (in Britain at least) is very debatable. Even alignments from one carving to another are pretty meaningless, despite the attempts of some modern archaeologist to show otherwise. In my younger days when I raced into rock art studies, I threw everything I had to show astronomical and other alignments were involved in these carvings—but it turned out not to be…. Instead, it turns out that some of these seeming ‘alignments’ (and only a few) relate to pathways and ancient routes: pointers, if you like, to the way ahead. Makes sense…
Addenda
When we visited this carving, it had been completely covered in both soil and large stones preventing anyone from seeing it. It’s important to ensure that carvings are visible to everyone. Of the several thousand people I’ve taken to see our ancient carvings over the years, only a handful thought they should be covered. Rock art was meant to be seen by people – that is one of its primary functions. Let’s make sure it stays that way.
References:
Gardiner, M., King, L. & MacInnes, Dugald, In the Glen of the Dark Goddess, Bell & Bain: Glasgow 2024.
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.
Cup-and-Ring Stone (lost): OS Grid Reference – SE 1347 3882
Also Known as:
Carving no.143 (Boughey & Vickerman)
Archaeology & History
In Johnnie Gray’s (aka Harry Speight) early work on Airedale (1891), he described a number of the prehistoric sites on and around Baildon Moor and Shipley Glen Almost all of the things he wrote about have been identified, but a cup-and-ring stone at “Glen gate” (as he called it) remains elusive. He wrote:
“After crossing the stream from the Glen gate, and going about thirty paces, we come upon…an incised stone, whereon are a number of circling lines and cup-like cavities — one at each corner, with a long line branching off to the north-east; but this stone unfortunately has got broken, and lying on the main path is much defaced.”
Prod Gate on 1852 map
The exact location of this has proven difficult as the name ‘Glen gate’ was obviously a local one as it wasn’t included on the Ordnance Surveys of the period. There are two named “gates” hereby: one is Prod Gate at the east end of Prod Lane, and the other is Trench Gate a few hundred yards west at the other end of Prod Lane. But the most likely gate of the two would be Prod Gate. When Speight wrote his words, a stream existed that crossed the track about 70 yards west of Prod Gate, whereas no such water-course existed anywhere close to Trench Gate. And so we assume that he was writing about “the stream from the Glen (Prod) Gate.”
Having said all that, there are no known petroglyphs like the one that Speight described anywhere hereby. There are a couple of so-called “carvings” that have been included in so-called official surveys (Boughey & Vickerman 141 and 142; aka ERA- 2445 and ERA-2446) another 150 yards or so on the left-side of the road that could have been regarded as contenders, but these stones have just a mix of modern and natural markings and can be discounted. In all likelihood, this impressive-sounding petroglyph was broken up and destroyed when the proper road was laid in the middle of the 20th century; or perhaps broken up and stuck into one of the garden walls along the roadside. Either way, the carving seems long lost.
References:
Boughey, K.J.S. & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS: Leeds 2003.
Gray, Johnnie, Through Airedale from Goole to Malham, Walker & Laycock: Leeds 1891.
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.
Along the B6265 old road between Keighley and Bingley, at Riddlesden go up Granby Lane, bending left into Banks Lane. About a mile up you’ll reach the moorland road. Turn left at the junction and nearly half-a-mile along there’s a layby on y’ right. From here walk along the footpath on the edge of the ridge, half-mile along bending slightly above Rough Holden Farm until, a coupla hundred yards on, you hit the dirt-track. There’s a long straight stretch of walling on your left: follow this for a few hundred yards, go through the gate and here walk on the other (left) side of the wall (if you’ve reach a derelict farm, you’ve gone too far). Some 60 yards or so down here, keep your eyes peeled on the long earthfast stone right near the walling. An alternative is to start at the steep hairpin bend up Holden Lane and follow the footpath into the woods. Walk along here (parallel with the stream below) for about 600 yards until you hit the bridge crossing the stream. Don’t cross over: instead double-back up the field on your right, go diagonally across and through the gate into the next field, and walk up along the walling to your right. 160 yards up, go through the gate and walk about 30 yards along the side of the walling again. Tis there!
Archaeology & History
Unveiling the Sunset Stone
This is a fascinating carved stone on the western edge of Rombald’s Moor that I was fortunate to find in 2008. It’s found in association with two other cup-marked stones, north and south of it. I first noticed it when I was walking along the footpath by the side of the wall and saw that on a small exposed part of the rock a single cup-marking carved close to the vertical edge of the stone—and I’m glad that I stopped to give it more attention. The stone was very deeply embedded and the covering soil so tightly packed that I could only shift a small part of it—but the section that I managed to uncover and, importantly, the time of day when I did this, brought about an intriguing visage with subtle mythic overtones.
Carved arc on edgeEarly photo in low light
The carving was found near the end of the day just as the sun was setting and touching the far horizon. I noticed there was a cup-and-half-ring to the side of where I’d sat for a rest, near the northern edge of the stone, and the clear but soft light of the evening caught this element and almost brought it to life! As I gazed down at the half-ring, the sun highlighted it even more and I saw that some extended carved lines continued and dropped over the near vertical edge of the stone, becoming an unbroken elongated ‘ring’ that stretched twice the length of the half-ring on the flat surface. Not only that, but a faint cup-mark seemed to be inside this extended vertical ring and, as I saw this, a dreaming epiphany hit me that the symbolism behind this was a representation of the setting sun that I was watching at that very moment. It was quite beautiful and the carving seemed to come to life. The thought, nay feeling, that this part of the carving symbolized a setting sun not only slotted easily into a common animistic ingredient, but hit me as common sense too! However, as my ego and rational sense rose back to the fore (I had to get mi shit together and walk a few miles home before night fell), I saw that this impression may be a completely spurious one; but, as the rock-face inclines west, towards the setting sun, the name of Sunset Stone stuck. As I carefully fondled beneath the heavy overgrowth of vegetation covering the stone, I realised that I needed to come here again and uncover more of it, as additional cups and lines seemed to be reaching out from the mass of soil.
Cups near the S edgeClose-up of ring-edge
I returned to the stone a few times, but it was several years that I revisited the site with the intention of uncovering more of the design in the company of Richard Hirst and Paul Hornby on August 4, 2013—and it took considerable effort to roll back the turf that covered the stone. But it was worth it! For it soon became obvious that much of the stone that was covered over had been unexposed for many centuries: as Richard pointed out, the edge of the rock was very smoothed by weathering, whilst the covered section of the stone that we were revealing was still quite rough and misshapen all across the surface, lacking weather and water erosion. Much of this design therefore, highlighted itself to us as it was when the mason first carved the stone. And it turned out to be a pretty curious design!
Faded photo of the carvingFaint proto-ring nr centre
Our first impression was that the design comprised of two cup-and-rings near the middle of the rock, with another cup-and-drooping-ring near the northern edge of the stone, and between ten and twelve typical cup-markings, many on the western exposed side. But curiously near the middle were also a couple of rings whose edges had been defined, but the hollowed-out ‘cup’ in the middle remained uncut or unfinished, being a proto-ring, so to speak. Also, lines leading from these unfinished ‘cups’ were also pecked and laid out, but they were also unfinished. Some sections of the unfinished lines ran onto the western edge of the stone and were very faint, but they were undeniably there. Unfinished cups is an unusual feature for carvings on Rombald’s Moor.
Mr Hirst’s clearanceCups & curves on edge
But the most interesting element in the fainter, seemingly unfinished carved lines, was what may be a small spiral that started above the two faint cup-and-rings. This then continued in a sharp arc which doubled-back on itself. In the other direction, the lines curve round and go down to the vertical face of the rock, before bending back up onto the level surface again, then disappearing. The topmost cup-and-half-ring is also a curious feature. When you visit here you’ll see how this aspect of the design looks for all the world like a simply cup-and-half-ring near the edge of the stone. But, as I’ve already mentioned, closer examination shows that this “half-ring” has a larger oval body beneath it on the vertical face of the stone, very worn due to its exposure to the elements and very much in the shape of a bell—and within this large cup-and-ring ‘bell’ is a much fainter complete cup-and-ring, just below the topmost cup-marking. I know that I’ve already mentioned this, but I’m giving it added emphasis as it’s a unique design element for carvings on these moors.
Early photo of the carvingEdge of the carving
The Sunset Stone really requires more attention, when the daylight conditions are just right, so that all of these intriguing aspects can be highlighted with greater lucidity. There is also the potential that more carved ingredients remains hidden beneath the compacted soil.
What seems to be a more trivial single cup-marked stone can be seen roughly 20 yards to the north.
Acknowledgements: Massive thanks to Richard Hirst of Hebden Bridge, and Prof. Paul Hornby, for their help in bringing this carving to light.
Loch Earn (between the villages of Lochearnhead and St Fillans) has a road running on each side: the north-side is the A85, the south-side is a minor single-track road. You need to be on the south-side. Roughly halfway along the loch, there’s rough parking near Ardvorlich House; and from the track to Ardvorlich, keep on the lochside road, walking east for about 400 yards and then go up the dirt-track on your right. Walk up here for 450 yards until your reach the cottage. There’s a field above you to the left with some small crags near the top: walk uphill (through the gate) for 175 yards and on the topmost crags you’ll see a telegraph pole. The cup-and-ring stone is right next to it!
Archaeology & History
The first and only reference to this stone followed its rediscovery by George Currie (2011) in one of his many bimbling forays seeking out these old carvings. He told, in his usual minimalist manner that,
“A stretch of bedrock adjacent to a telegraph pole on a terrace above Balimeanach farmhouse bears thirteen cup marks, at least two of which have single rings, including the largest at 70 x 25mm.”
Line of cup-and-ringsView from above
The two cup-and-rings are next to each other on the northen side of the stone, with one based on a small concave depression in the rock itself; but next to this is what seems to be another, third and very faint incomplete cup-and-ring (you can see it in some of the photos here). We walked round and round this and whilst it seems quite obvious, some elements of it appear to be based on natural cracks in the stone, accentuated with minimal pecking by the artist. These three cup-and-rings are next to each other in a veritable Orion’s Belt formation, with a single cup hanging down from the middle.
Carving, looking southLooking across the design
The other main section of the carving consists of a series of plain cups, scattered in a typically chaotic form and clustering mainly round the centre of the stone; whilst on its southern tip a single cup sits quietly.
When we peeled the turf back to see the entire carving, we found there was a considerable scatter of broken quartz all along the western edge of the stone. This element was also found at the Balimeanach (2) carving less than ten yards away and we’ve found this at a number of other petroglyphs in Perthshire and beyond. Even more intriguing was a large carved stone spearhead covered in soil alongside the quartz scatter! We left this where we found it.
In all probability, there are other carvings that remain undiscovered beneath the turf all along this ridge. Get y’ gardening gloves out!
References:
Currie, George, “Comrie: Balimeanach (BC 3), Cup-marked Rock”, in Discovery & Excavation Scotland, New series – volume 12, 2011.
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 to Paul Hornby for use of his photo in this site profile.
If you can make your way to the Stroness (2) carving, then walk down the slope for less than 50 yards past quite a few other earthfast stones, you’ll eventually run into the stone shown here in the photos. You’ll find it easily enough.
Archaeology & History
This carving was found when I was heading down the hillside to meet up with my antiquarian colleague 500 yards lower down. The sun was just setting, so visibility wasn’t good, but as I rushed from stone to stone feeling each one in the hope of finding a carving, this one gave my fingers that distinct feedback of a cup-marking; then another; and what seemed like another. I had a small amount of water left in a bottle and quickly sprayed it over the surface of the stone and saw that there were indeed a number of cups on it. Two or three certainly – but possibly as many as five. I laid on the wet ground and looked across its even surface from several angles and caught what seemed to be a very faint semi-circle around one of the cups. But I wasn’t sure it was real. However, on a number of quick photos I took, several of them do appear to show such an arc around one of the cups. But I’m very cautious about it. Only when we (or you) go back up and have a look at it in good light will we be able to affirm or discount it.
One additional feature that needs mentioning is a small low arc of walling just above this stone. It’s man-made, it’s very old, but I couldn’t work out what it might be: hut circle, cairn (there’s one further up the hill), enclosure walling. I’m not sure, but it needs to be looked at when we have a full day.
The minor road that runs roughly north-south between the hamlets of Fowlis Wester and Buchanty is probably your best bet. Nearly 2 miles north of the village up the tiny winding lane, where the moorland at the roadside finishes and the fields begin – is where to take the track, left, up onto the hillside. But after just 75 yards, go left over the rickety-gate and follow the walling until your reach the burn. Follow this up all the way to its source (it’s boggy as hell) and, once you’re there, walk due north for 250 yards until you reach a cluster of rocks. Look around!
Archaeology & History
It’s a long way to come to see such a simplistic design —but for the real petroglyph researchers among you, it’s worth it the trek. It’s had scant attention. George Currie (2004) seems to have been the only person to mention this stone, giving the standard bland description typifying archaeology. He wrote:
“SE-facing slope, 1.2m long pointed rock aligned E-W; three shallow cups, 30-40 x 6-10mm.”
Inspiring stuff, ey?! Anyhow… As usual, there’s more to it than that. If we assume that the carving described above is the same one I visited yesterday (Mr Currie’s grid-ref is slightly different), even despite the poor daylight, it was obvious there was more than three cup-marks on this.
Lower cups & upper cups
Cups on top
When I got to this stone, the evening sun was literally touching the horizon and so the light cutting across half the rock highlighted very little indeed. I was rushing, trying to fondle and see as much as I could before the darkening sky clouded everything, and as I almost frenetically sprayed showers of water across its surface, the two or three cups that I could see near the crown of the stone suddenly doubled in number. Two cups along one edge became three; whilst the sloping surface above these that had one cup suddenly seemed to have a companion. On the highest part of this gently sloping stone, the form of one of the two distinct cup-marks that first caught my eye seemed to slowly morph into one of the carved “footprint” designs, akin to those clustered on the Ardoch (2) carving 1½ miles south-west of here. However, this element needs looking at again, as it may have been a curious playful trick between stone and light showing me something that wasn’t there! Things like that happen with stones.
Altogether there are at least six cup-marks on here, but perhaps as many as eight. Obviously, if we (or you) visit the site when the light is much better, an even larger design might emerge from this old rock.
I spent perhaps just five minutes here, before heading back down to meet my companion 500 yards below in the midst of the boggy moorland. Usually a carving gets my fondles for a an hour or two, but conditions weren’t good for us to form a healthy relationship. And so, as I headed downhill, another unrecorded cup-marked stone appeared beneath my rushing feet (Stroness [3] carving)— and I spoke with that for only a couple of minutes. We need to come back up here and zigzag to find other companions that lay sleeping, forgotten for countless centuries…
References:
Currie, George, ‘Buchanty Hill (Fowlis Wester parish): Cup-marked Rocks’, in Discovery & Excavation Scotland, volume 5, 2004.
Cup-and-Ring Stone (lost): OS Grid Reference – NU 013 264
Also Known as:
Cairnfold Field
Archaeology & History
In James Hardy’s (1889) essay describing new archaeological finds from the Lilburn area, he told of seeing a triple-ringed petroglyph that seems to have been cast up from one of the cairns in the adjacent field. I can find no other reference to this. He wrote:
“On a wall top, near a gate not far from the Cairn-fauld’s field, lies a detached stone, supposed to have come from a cairn, with three circles and a hollow central cup incised on it, which no one seems to care for.”
Does anyone know what has become of it? Mr Hardy also described a series of other carvings a few fields away to the east, some with quite ornate cup-and-ring designs. These have never subsequently been seen and remain hidden.
References:
Hardy, James, “Further Discoveries of Pre-Historic Graves, Urns and other Antiquities, on Lilburn Hill Farm,” in Archaeoogia Aeliana, volume 13, 1889.
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.
