Cup-and-Ring Stone (removed): OS Grid Reference – NX 546 530
Archaeology & History

A small multiple-ringed archetypal design consisting of a central cup-mark with seven consecutive rings emerging from it, with a second outlying, incomplete cup-and-double-ring that nearly touches the outer edge of the seven-rings, was found by a Mr Sproat “in the bed of a shallow stream on Laggan farm” in 1960. The design, as the old photo (right) shows, is very well preserved, suggesting that it cannot have been in the stream for too long, as the erosion on the carving isn’t in anyway excessive. In all likelihood it originally came from a nearby prehistoric tomb: of which, there are several upstream from the farm.
Described by A.E. Truckell (1961) as “a particularly fine example”, the carving is on a particularly small and thin piece of stone, measuring 18 inch by 8 inch amd just 2 inches thick, with one edge of it snapped-off. It’s obviously no longer in situ and, I presume, is still resting somewhere in the Kirkcudbright museum.
References:
- Morris, Ronald W.B., The Prehistoric Rock Art of Galloway and the Isle of Man, Blandford: Poole 1979.
- Morris, Ronald W.B. & Bailey, Douglas C., “The Cup-and-Ring Marks and Similar Sculptures of Southwestern Scotland: A Survey,” in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 98, 1967.
- Morris, Ronald W.B., “The Cup-and-Ring Marks and Similar Sculptures of South-West Scotland,” in Transactions of the Ancient Monuments Society, volume 14, 1967.
- Truckell, A.E., “A Group of Separate Cup-and-Ring-Marked Slabs in the Cairnholy-Auchinlarie District,” in Transactions Galloway & Dumfriesshire Natural History & Antiquarian Society, volume 40, 1961.
© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian