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.
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 stoneThe 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 designEast-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.
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.
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:
Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland, North-East Perth: An Archaeological Landscape, HMSO: Edinburgh 1990.
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.
From near Skipton town centre, at the Cross Keys Inn along Otley Road, go up Short Bank Road all the way to the very top and then into the trees onto the Dales High Way footpath. Walk up for literally ¼-mile (0.4km) and where the path bends and heads ENE, notice here a footpath that takes you over the wall. Once on the other side, the path splits with one heading SE and the other roughly alongside the walling to the SW, which is where you need to go. About 200 yard on, go through the gate into the field and then another 375 yards on you’re into another field (copse of trees in front of you). Just as you’ve gone into this field, walk immediately left, uphill, by the walling for about 100 yards, over the marshy dip, then head into the field where, about 75 yards in, you’ll see some rocks scattered about…
Archaeology & History
Cleland Stone, looking S
In an area that’s had some considerable quarrying done to it, we’re lucky to find that this carving still exists. It was rediscovered by Thomas Cleland (hence its name!) in the summer of 2024. It consists of four distinct cups, with a possible fifth (and maybe more?) on its smooth elongated surface. The cups, as we can see, are quite deep and unmistakable. An incomplete ring seems to be around at least one of the cups; and there seems to be a carved straight line running between another two of them. A simple but distinct design and in a lovely setting gazing cross the Airedale valley from here.
There are very few other carvings in this neck o’ the woods (the Great Laithe Wood carving aint too far away), but the fact that this has been found would suggest that others are probably hiding away in the undergrowth. Check out the Iron Age Horse Close Hill enclosure while you’re up here too.
Acknowledgements: A huge thanks to Thomas Cleland, not only for finding the carving, but also for allowing use of his photos in this site profile.
Cup-and-Ring Stone: OS Grid Reference – NT 200 522
Also Known as:
La Mancha
Archaeology & History
Simpson’s 1867 drawing
This is what I’ve come to term dyslexic cup-and-rings, due simply to the fact that it’s a cup-and-ring stone carving, but the cup in the centre hasn’t been carved out or pecked away. They’re rare – but for some odd reason, a small cluster of them occurs in this part of lowland Scotland. The Drumelzier carving 13 miles SSW is one; the Carnwath carving 14 miles west is another; 14 miles to the south, the multiple-ringed carving in the Woodend cairn had no defined pivotal cup; and in Childe & Taylor’s (1938) short piece on the Hawthornden petroglyphs near Roslyn (less than 10 miles northeast), they noted—like Simpson & Thawley (1972) years later—the peculiarity of “the complete absence of cups”, akin to Lamancha’s carved rings. (although we should be cautious about the archiac nature of the Hawthornden carvings)
The carving here was first mentioned by one of the great petroglyphic pioneers James Simpson (1866; 1867):
“A broken slab, about two feet square, covered with very rude double rings and a spiral circle, was found by Mr Mackintosh, at La Mancha, in Peeblesshire, in digging in a bank of gravel. There were some other large stones near it; none of them marked. Possibly this stone, therefore, is sepulchral in its character.”
Lamancha carving (G. & A. Ritchie, 1972 )
Eoin MacWhite (1946) was somewhat sceptical of Simpson’s “sepulchral” association, simply due to there being no account of a burial here. But in Simpson & Thawley’s (1972) survey of passage grave art, they thought the Lamancha carving was from “a possible cist slab.” We might never know for sure one way or the other.
The carving ended up living in Edinburgh’s National Museum where it should, hopefully, still be on display. As a result of this, it received the attention of the Royal Commission doods who gave a good description of the design in their Peeblesshire Inventory (1967). They state that it
“is irregular in shape and has maximum dimensions of 2ft 6in by 1ft 10in; it averages 4in in thickness. The markings, which have all been formed by the pecking technique, occur mainly on one face, the most common symbol being single or double rings. There are four complete double-ring symbols, in which the outer rings measure from 5in to 7in in diameter, and the inner rings from 2in to 4in. Round the margin of the face there are the broken arcs of five more double-ring symbols and of five single rings and one small V -shaped figure. As well as the ring markings there is a double-spiral, each lobe of which measures about 4in in diameter. In one lobe the spiral has two and a half turns and in the other only one turn. In addition, in a space which is otherwise free of markings, there is an area, about 4in square, heavily pitted with punch-marks measuring one-eighth of an inch across and one-sixteenth of an inch in depth. A remarkable feature of the stone is that three incomplete single ring symbols have been made on one edge. They have been formed by the same technique and measure 3in across; as in all the other symbols, the grooves themselves measure about half an inch in width and about one-eighth of an inch in depth.”
McWhite, Eoin, 1946 “A New View on Irish Bronze Age Rock-Scriblings”, in Journal Royal Society Antiquaries, Ireland, vol. 76, 1946.
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.
Morris, Ronald W.B., “The Cup-and-Ring and Similar Early Sculptures of Scotland; Part 2 – The Rest of Scotland except Kintyre,” in Transactions of the Ancient Monuments Society, volume 16, 1969.
Morris, Ronald W.B., The Prehistoric Rock Art of Southern Scotland, BAR: Oxford 1981.
Ritchie, Graham & Anna, Edinburgh and South-East Scotland, Heinnemann: London 1972.
Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments, Scotland, Peeblesshire – volume 1, Aberdeen University Press 1967.
Simpson, D.D.A. & Thawley, J.E., “Single Grave Art in Britain,” in Scottish Archaeological Forum, no.4, 1972.
Simpson, J.Y., “On Ancient Sculpturings of Cups and Concentric Rings,” in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 6, 1866.
Simpson, James, Archaic Sculpturings of Cups, Circles, etc., Upon Stones and Rocks in Scotland, England and other Countries, Edmonston & Douglas: Edinburgh 1867.
Cup-and-Ring Stone (destroyed): OS Grid Reference – V 838 896
Archaeology & History
o’Connell’s 1939 sketch
In 1939 when D.B. o’ Connell wrote about this impressive cup-and-ring stone, he told that, with the exception of the Caherlehillan petroglyph (at V 569 837), this was “by far the most extensively decorated stone” that he’d seen in Kerry. He would therefore have been appalled to hear that it was subsequently destroyed in the 1950s and some remaining fragments of the stone “were used to line a well”! (o’ Sullivan & Sheehan 1996) Not good. There had already been an attempt to destroy the stone at the end of the 19th century, but that was prevented. Thankfully we had some early pioneer antiquarians who left us with information and sketches of this once great carving.
It was first described in John Cooke’s (1906) fine essay on the prehistoric antiquities scattering this part of Kerry. According to him, a certain “Dr. Digby is due the credit of having discovered this stone” a few years prior to him writing his essay. He told that:
Cooke’s 1906 sketch
“In one of the fields is a huge boulder, or rather earth-fast rock, somewhat rectangular in shape, of the purple grit of this district, and lying north and south. It measures 7 feet 8 inches long, 5 feet 8 inches broad at the south end, and 4 feet 6 inches at north end, the heights respectively being 2 feet 6 inches, and 2 feet 3 inches. A section from north to south would show a slight curve, as the rock is a few inches higher in the middle than at either end. The greater portion of this massive rock is covered with an extraordinary number of cup-markings, and cups with concentric circles. There are connecting channels everywhere, and the whole, though apparently intricate and unmeaning at first, yet shows, on examination, evidence of intention and design. It is much worn and weathered, and the north end has no markings. It is difficult to take a good rubbing of it, and still more difficult to sketch the markings, as the more it is examined, the more work does it show.”
This last comment applies to many petroglyphs. Mr Cooke continued:
“A peculiar feature of the ornament consists in the groups on the top left-hand corner, not unlike the tentacles and cupules of a cuttlefish. The dumb-bell-shaped ornament is found on other stones, but the truncheon-shaped figures on the right below are, I think, exceptional.”
A discrepancy arose a few years later when Miss C. Hussey (1909) told how the carving had been discovered by a certain “Captain Magill, who some years afterwards saved it from destruction.” She told how,
“One day, when shooting in the neighbourhood, he saw some men breaking it with crowbars, etc., merely to clear the field of stones, and his daughter, who first showed it to me, said she believed that before he reached the spot, some four feet or more had been broken off the broader (south) end.”
So whether it was him or Dr Digby, we may never quite know. As for the design, Miss Hussey told us:
Miss Hussey’s sketcho’Connell’s 1939 photos
“The stone itself is a large block of sandstone, some four feet in height, and six feet wide. The entire length at present is nine feet, but the flat carved top only measures seven feet four inches in length, as the northern side slopes gradually instead of being upright like the others. The largest circle on the stone is twelve inches in diameter, and the cups and hollows vary in size down to about an inch across. It was difficult to be certain whether some hollows were cups or merely natural inequalities in the stone, but I have only given those which seemed to be unmistakably the work of man” in this sketch.
In o’ Connell’s (1939) description he echoed what our earlier writers had said, and thankfully gave us a couple of photos of the carving, highlighting the design in chalk so we could see it clearer. It’s such a pity that it’s no longer with us…
References:
Cooke, John, “Antiquarian Remains in the Beaufort District, County Kerry,” in Proceedings of Royal Irish Academy, volume 26, 1906.
Hadingham Evan, Ancient Carvings in Britain: A Mystery, Garnstone: London 1974.
Hussey, C., “Gortbuee Cup and Circle Stone,” in Kerry Archaeological Magazine, volume 1, 1909.
o’ Connell, D.B., “Notes on Three Inscribed Stones in County Kerry,” in Journal Cork Historical & Archaeological Society, volume 44, 1939.
o’ Sullivan, Ann & Sheehan, John, The Iveragh Peninsula: An Archaeological Survey of South Kerry, Cork University Press 1996.
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.
In o’ Sullivan & Sheehan’s (1996) magnum opus, they reported the discovery of a decent cup-and-ring stone “during road-widening operations in the 1970s,” a short distance west of the river Staigue. It was “seen to have rock art motifs on it, but it has since been covered over.” Its design was apparently similar to a complex carving at found Liss (V 608 617), just 300 yards or so to the south.
References:
o’ Sullivan, Ann & Sheehan, John, The Iveragh Peninsula: An Archaeological Survey of South Kerry, Cork University Press 1996.
Cup-and-Ring Stone (lost): OS Grid Reference – Q 508 001
Archaeology & History
An impressive multiple cup-and-ring stone was discovered near the beginning of the 20th century by Rev. Orpen (1908) who gave a reasonably good description of its whereabouts and, thankfully, a sketch of the basic design. But since his day, it’s not been seen again. He told us that after,
“Leaving the Church of St. Martin, and passing down the main road towards Dingle, we take a turn to the left, and cross the river to the village of Furacht. Here, on the farm of Mr. Brosnan, about 300 yards up the hill towards the south, may be seen a carved stone…marked with cups and concentric circles. The stone is about 6 feet long by 4 feet wide. It was partially covered with sods of grass, which, when they were cleared away, revealed some other cups and circles. This stone lies on one of the ditches running north and south on Mr. Brosnan’s farm.”
The grid-reference given for this site is taken from Judith Cuppage’s (1986) fine survey, who had no success finding it. But a stone of this size shouldn’t be too difficult to locate—unless it’s either covered in vegetation or it’s been destroyed. Do any Lispole or Dingle folk know what’s become of it?
References:
Cuppage, Judith, Archaeological Survey of the Dingle Peninsula, Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne: Ballyferriter 1986.
Orpen, R., “Antiquities near Lispole, Co. Kerry,” in Kerry Archaeological Magazine, volume 1, 1908.
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 – Q 58 04
Archaeology & History
Judith Cuppage (1986) reported that in 1953 a Mr Adams of the County Kerry Field Club, when he was checking out two recognised petroglyphs in this locale (Coumduff [1] and [2]), his attention was brought to this, previously unrecognized carving,
“which lay against the bank from which it had previously fallen. It was decorated with numerous cup-marks, at least one of which were enclosed by circles.”
For some reason, Mr Adams didn’t give any good directions as to its whereabouts and as a result, since that day in ’53, it hasn’t been seen since! The likelihood is that it lays somewhere either in-between, or at least pretty close to the other two carvings. If there are any explorers in that neck o’ the woods who might know where it lies sleeping, please let us know so we can bring it back to life, so to speak.
References:
Cuppage, Judith, Archaeological Survey of the Dingle Peninsula, Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne: Ballyferriter 1986.
Cup-and-Ring Stone (lost): OS Grid Reference – Q 53 03?
Archaeology & History
Gowlane East (3) stone (Graves 1877)
First discovered by Richard Hitchcock in 1848, this petroglyph (along with the Gowlane East (2) carving) was one of two missing stones in the area that James Graves (1877) thought were seemingly “fragments of a large monument,” although he said nothing more about it and, sadly, Mr Hitchcock’s sketch here is all that we have left to guide us. The carving may have come from one of the nearby raths, souterrains, or have been part of a circle or cairn. The stone looks to have been reasonably small in size and, hopefully, is residing in a wall somewhere or is just buried in a field.
There are several Gowlane place-names in the area, but Judith Cuppage (1986) told that the great 19th century artist and antiquarian George du Noyer “identified the townland as Gowlane East”, although the closest “neighbouring townland” would be Gowlin (Gualainn). If any local folk know where this might be hiding, please let us know. (the grid reference cited here is a very vague guess!)
References:
Cuppage, Judith, Archaeological Survey of the Dingle Peninsula, Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne: Ballyferriter 1986.
Graves, James, “On Cup and Circle Sculptures as Occurring in Ireland,” in Journal Royal Society Antiquaries, Ireland, volume 4 (4th series), April 1877.
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.
