Tag: neolithic

North Beachmore, Muasdale, Argyll

megalithix

Cup-and-Ring Standing Stone:  OS Grid Reference – NR 6928 4184

Also Known as:

  1. Canmore ID 38589
  2. Gaigean

Archaeology & History

This lovely-looking 5-foot tall standing stone, marking an old boundary line in the Muasdale parish, is a curious one with elongated cups, some of which have the appearance of natural beach-side erosion caused by molluscs — unlikely though it may be.  It first appears to have been described in an early PSAS article by Duncan Colville (1930), who told us:

“The writer was informed by the Rev. D.J. MacDonald, the minister of the parish, of the existence of this cup-marked stone forming a gatepost in the boundary wall between the arable and hill ground on the farm of Gaigean.  The gate referred to is situated on the top of a steep bank on the south side of a small stream, a short distance uphill to the east of the farm steading of Gaigean.  The front of a stone is now set an angle of about 45° to the ground facing almost southwest (105° magnetic across the face).  Underneath the stone is another boulder similar in size, with several smaller stones wedged between the two, thus preventing further inspection.”

The North Beachmore stone

Some years later when the Scottish Royal Commission (1971) lads described the site in their Kintyre survey (monument no.97), they gave a more detailed description of the cup-and-rings, saying:

“The markings consist largely of plain cups, but one cup is accompanied by a partial single ring which measures 0.11m across.  At the foot of the lower half of the stone four cups linked by broad gutters form a curious branched pattern, and a similar combination of three cups and gutters occurs in the upper half, while in two other instances a pair of cups are joined by a short straight channel to form a dumb-bell figure.  The remainder of the markings comprise twelve oblong or kidney-shaped hollows measuring up to 0.15m in length by 0.064m in breadth, and thirty-one plain cups ranging from 0.038m to 0.076m in diameter, the largest being 0.019m deep.”

References:

  1. Colville, Duncan, “Notes on the Standing Stones of Kintyre” in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 64, 1929-30.
  2. Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland, Argyll – volume 1: Kintyre, HMSO: Edinburgh 1971.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Shooting House Hill, Askwith Moor, North Yorkshire

megalithix

Settlement:  OS Grid Reference – SE 1711 5110

Getting Here

From the Askwith Moor car-parking spot, walk up the road (north) for 350 yards and go thru’ the gate on the left-side of the road, up along the track onto Askwith Moor.  To get to it, walk on the footpath towards the trig-point on Shooting House Hill from the Askwith Road.  Between 50-100 yards before the trig, walk into the heather to the right.  Just 5-10 yards off the footpath, it’s there!  If the heather’s grown back, don’t even bother looking for the place!

Archaeology & History

Although I add this as the remains of a small Bronze Age or neolithic settlement — which was found on August 3, 2005, in the company of Richard Stroud — subsequent walks up hereabouts in the surrounding heather has shown that, far from being a small independent site, it was part and parcel of a much greater prehistoric landscape all round here: with the remains on High Low Ridge immediately west; the cairnfields of Askwith Moor and Snowden Crags south and east; and numerous cup-and-ring stones scattered all over the place here.  It’s a veritable minefield of archaeological remains, from the mesolithic to the Iron Age all over these moors!

Barely visible remains of walling
Barely visible remains of walling
More of the walling

We came wandering up here looking for another of Eric Cowling’s “lost circle” sites described in 1946, near Shooting House Hill, which Graeme Chappell and I looked for ten years previously without success. But on the August 2005 visit, much of the heather had been burned away.  Instead of the lost circle however (which remains unfound, though something suspiciously like it is close by) we came across a well-defined, though small settlement complex.  The walling of two well-defined near-rectangular structures emerge either side of a reasonably large boulder. Beyond these is further walling and what seems a well-defined hut-circle less than 10 yards away. Like many other sites on these moors, the walling seem to have been pretty much robbed for building grouse-butts. (hence the pictures here looking a bit sparse of stone!)  Subsequent investigation found more neolithic walling which ran into the deeper heather — so it has been difficult to work out the full scale of it all.

The landscape from here stretches way off. To the eastern horizon (not far away) is the legendary Almscliffe Crag, with the rising hills of Rombald’s Moor due south; whilst far to the sunsetting west rises the great contours of Pendle Hill, to which legend relates some of the witches of the Fewston Valley, a mile below…

References:

  1. Cowling, Eric T., Rombald’s Way, William Walker: Otley 1946.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Rough Haw, Flasby, North Yorkshire

megalithix

Hillfort:  OS Grid Reference – SD 963 558

Getting Here

Travel up the B6265 (Skipton to Grassington road) for a mile, watching on the small hills on your left (western) side, and then take the left turn up to Sandy Beck. You can’t miss the place!

Archaeology & History

Rough Haw, looking west

My first view of this place was from the hills east of here, atop of one of the great rock outcrops on the edge of Embsay Moor. The very first impression it gave me was – “That’s a bloody hillfort!”: an obvious worked rounded hill, with ridges typical of such monuments.  Subsequent investigation found that there were extensive remains of walling, more typical of the Iron Age period than the neolithic (which some modern archaeologists have proposed), clearly visible around the edges of this great hill.  The structure of the site is similar in size and design to the remains at the nearby Horse Close Hill above Skipton, aswell as another (officially unknown) site closer to Keighley.  A large overgrown cairn rests on the southern side of the hill, seemingly more of archaic import than a mere clearance or marker point. But I may be wrong…

Very notable at this site are the profusion of springs emerging from all round Rough Haw: the blood of seven such water sources comes from its edges on all sides and would obviously have been of some importance here.

References:

  1. Dixon, John & Phillip, Journeys through Brigantia – volume 1: Walks in Craven, Airedale and Wharfedale, Aussteiger Publications: Barnoldswick 1990.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Bàrr a’ Chuirn, Kilmartin, Argyll

megalithix

Cairn:  OS Grid References – NR 8122 9782

Also Known as:

  1. Canmore ID 39465
  2. Lady’s Seat Cairn

Getting Here

Many ways to get here, but you’ve gotta amble off-path through the woods to eventually find it — but it’s not difficult. From Kilmartin village head to Slockavullin and walk up the winding track which takes you towards the Ballygowan cup-and-ring stones, but follow it into the woods instead. The OS-map’s gonna be your best guide here. I first visited this spot from the south and ambled about, aimlessly at times for several hours, after I’d first been to the great ruined mansion of Poltalloch. Well worth checking out if you enjoy finding allsorts!

Archaeology & History

The old tomb is actually a few hundred yards beneath the small rocky summit of Barr a’ Chuirn, with the overgrowth of the woods imposing itself upon it. The Scottish Royal Commission report (1988) told that there was a large seat built here in the 19th century called the Lady’s Seat, and actually set up on the cairn itself so giving groovy views all round to those who came here. The Seat was made from large slabs of stone, which may originally have come from the old tomb.  An excavation here in the mid-19th century,

“found the remains of two cists and some burnt bones, with a ‘skeleton of later date, between the two cists, but probably put there by the men who destroyed the cairn.’ In 1929 Craw re-examined the site and found that the central cist had chambered and grooved slabs. This cist is aligned ENE and WSW, and the E end-slab is now missing; the cist measured about 1m by 0.5m and about 0.3m in depth internally. The northern side-slab is grooved at the west end.”

References:

  1. Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland, Argyll: volume 6 – Mid-Argyll and Cowal, HMSO: Edinburgh 1988.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Grumbeg, Loch Naver, Sutherland

megalithix

Cup-and-Ring Stone:  OS Grid Reference – NC 635 384

Archaeology & History

This small cup-marked stone came to light following the work of Mr Angus MacKay of Sutherland, more than 100 years ago.  In his essay in the Scottish Antiquaries journal (1905), he wrote the following:

Grumbeg carving

“A cup-marked stone was found by me in the burial place of Grumbeg, Strathnaver, September 1905, standing upright at the head of a grave, and showing about 6 inches above the ground. It is evidently a fragment of a larger slab: its extreme length is 20 inches, and it is about 15 inches at its broadest part. The upper three circles are 2.5 inches in diameter and 1.5 inches deep, very symmetrically hollowed out, but the fourth and lower circle is shallow and indistinct. As the stones covering the other graves are for the most part what is called rough mountain slabs, it seems to me that this cup-marked fragment was found in its present condition elsewhere, and placed here to conveniently show a lair.”

If such was the case, a good contender might be the denuded chambered cairn close by.

References:

  1. MacKay, Angus, “Notes on a Slab with Incised Crescentic Design, Stone Mould for Casting Bronze Spear-Heads, A Cup-Marked Stone, Holy Water Stoup and other Antiquities in Strathnaver, Sutherlandshire,” in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquity, Scotland, volume 40, 1905-6.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian

Braid Hills, Edinburgh, Midlothian

megalithix

Cup-and-Ring Stone:  OS Grid Reference – NT 251 696

Archaeology & History

Braid Hills carving

This is a fine-looking old cup-and-ring stone!  Although no longer in situ (one of those really important golf courses needed to be built, so it had to go!), the 3 or 4 cup-and-rings seen here, carved at the end of what look like some sort of ‘stalks’, emerging from a distinctive radial under-curve, gave me a somewhat anthropomorphic impression of chaps in a boat — perhaps sailing into the Firth o’ Forth a short distance away! The Scottish Royal Commission (1929) report said the following of the stone:

“In 1897 a boulder of white sandstone with cup-and-ring markings on its surface was discovered on the Braid Hills golf course, and it was later presented to the National Museum of Antiquities.  The stone measures almost 3 feet by 1 foot 9 inches, by 1 foot thick and is roughly oblong.  The markings comprise seven cups in all, and at least three of these are completely surrounded by a ring and cut by a radial channel.”

Although nothing was said in the RCAHMS account, the stone gives one the impression it was associated with a tomb.  And I know it aint the same, but when I first saw this carving, it reminded me of the Ri Cruin carving in Kilmartin, Argyll.  It’s the potential “boat” feature that did it for me!

References:

  1. Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland, Inventory of Monuments and Constructions in the Counties of Midlothian and West Lothian, HMSO: Edinburgh 1929.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Netherfield, Lockington, Leicestershire

megalithix

Cup-Marked Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SK 471 291

Also Known as:

  1. Lockington Cupmarks

Archaeology & History

Prehistoric petroglyphs are rare things indeed in Leicestershire!  But the example that was found here — at the now destroyed prehistoric tomb  which archaeologists catalogued as ‘Lockington Barrow VI’ in this small graveyard — shows that such ritual art spreads further afield than previously reported by archaeologists.  Yet as with countless other cup-marked stones, it should come as no surprise to be found associated with a tumulus.   Death and petroglyphs are common bedfellows – even in this part of Britain!

Lockington cup-marking (courtesy Gwilym Hughes)
Lockington cup-marked stone

Found on the northern edge of a ring ditch surrounding this once-fine tomb, the carving was found on a small, triangular-shaped, broken piece of rock , less than 12 inches across along its longest side.  The small stone has what seems to be eight cup-marks (5 seem certain) pecked onto the stone: simple, without additional ingredients, akin to the basic forms found at Baildon and other more northern climes.  The stone itself didn’t seem to be local and was thought by Hughes (2000) “to be from one of the outcrops of millstone grit to the north of the site in southern Derbyshire.”

Less than 7 feet from this petroglyph, inside the barrow, was a pit containing a hoard of ancient gold and copper ware — though any likely relationship between the carving and the treasure hoard is doubtful.  The carving was probably a “portable” relic, carried some distance and put here for some reason or other: perhaps as an offering; perhaps a magickal artifact — we’ll probably never know…

References:

  1. Hughes, Gwilym (ed.), The Lockington Gold Hoard: An Early Bronze Age Barrow Cemetery at Lockington, Leicestershire, Oxbow: Oxford 2000.
  2. Hughes, Gwilym, “The Cup Marked Stone,” in The Lockington Gold Hoard, Oxford 2000.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian 


Lipney, Blairlogie, Stirlingshire

megalithix

Standing Stone:  OS Grid Reference – NS 8436 9803

Also Known as:

  1. Canmore ID 145078

Getting Here

From Menstrie, walk up the path behind the post office and head up onto the hills, following the track that runs up alongside the Menstrie Burn.  After about 500 yards, crossing a stream, the path has a sort of hairpin kink and, shortly past this a smaller path leads off up into the grasslands on your left.  The standing stone can be seen up this path about 100 yards up.

Archaeology & History

The Lipney Stone

We came across this small standing stone, less than four feet high, after running and jumping down the steep eastern slope of Dumyat at some speed — or rather, Naomi came across the little thing and then told me about it after I’d run round and further down the slope towards the upper stretches of the Menstrie Burn (I was knackered!).

It’s a curious little thing inasmuch as it stands here alone, with no other companions close by; although there were a number of other stones scattering the grasslands hereabouts and other stones may await discovery.  Little seems to have been said of the site.  The Canmore record tells:

“It measures 1.1m in height, 0.7m in breadth and 0.4m in thickness, and is aligned with its long axis NE-SW. It rises with straight sides and leans to the SE.”

There are extensive remains of earthworks scattering the slopes hereby, though much of this seems medieval in nature.  Any further information about this old stone would be much appreciated!

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Cornwell Stone, Salford, Oxfordshire

megalithix

Standing Stone:  OS Grid References – SP 2770 2785

Getting Here

Go west along the A44 from Salford village ’til just before the crossroad with the A436. 100 yards before here there’s a small left turn, downhill, past Hollis Hill Farm and Park Farm. Before reaching Cornwell at the bottom, walk into the fields to your left and find the township boundary (on 1:25,000 OS maps), which is marked with old hedges.  It’s in here!

Archaeology & History

Walk along the line of old hedges, checking either side if it’s overgrown, until you find this well-worn three-foot tall standing stone (exact coordinate SP 2770 2785) standing in the hedgerow. It’s a cute little thing which may have marked the old boundary line, but it has a distinctly prehistoric feel and look to it, in a region where many old prehistoric remains still linger…

References:

  1. Bennett, Paul & Wilson, Tom, The Old Stones of Rollright and District, Cockley: London 1999.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


White Stone, Dunblane, Stirlingshire

megalithix

Standing Stone:  OS Grid Reference – NN 8063 0420

Also Known as:

  1. Glenhead
  2. MacGregor Stone
  3. NN80SW 3 (Canmore)
  4. Whittieston Stone

Getting Here

If you’re not into the walk, get the bus running NE between Dunblane and Greenloaning — the A9 — getting off at the Little Chef on the dual carriageway and cross the road, walking up the track to Upper Whiteston Farm (the owners here are very helpful).  As you walk up the track you’ll notice the large upright in the edge of the field a coupla hundred yards to your right.  That’s the one!

Archaeology & History

This is a mightily impressive site if you’re into yer megaliths!  When it was visited and measured by Mr Hutchinson (1893) in the 19th century he found it to be 9ft 4 in tall; and although it seems quite isolated at first sight, we find that there is another large stone companion laid down not far to the north of here which may have had some relationship with it .  But that aside…  There are also as many as eight cup-markings on the stone’s eastern face: one large one and seven smaller ones, in no particular order as usual!  It was these cup-marks that gave me the impression there was once a burial associated with the stone, but the archaeology records seem silent on such a matter; though folklore tradition tells another story…

Folklore

Mr Hutchinson (1893) told that the legend attached to this stone appears to be “of quite recent date.”  He said how,

“In the district the stone is known as the MacGregor Stone, and the tradition accounting for the name is to the effect that here a countryman was sacrificed by the followers of Rob Roy, when forming for the engagement on Sheriffmuir, in order to satisfy the ancient Highland superstition that first-blood was an infallible omen of success… The tradition is precise enough to state that a man of the name Dawson was seized in the adjoining hamlet of Whiteheadston (for such is the orignal name) as a whig, and therefore a foeman and proper victim.  Dawson, however, suspecting the intentions of the captors, vehemently professed himself a supporter of King James and was left off.  But another inhabitant of the hamlet not so acute or not so hypocritical, was immolated at the stone.”

Hutchinson however, doubts the accuracy of the tale and suggests that the local name of the MacGregor’s Stone derives from the fact that the monolith stands upon land once owned by the MacGregors of Balhaldies, countenancing that the stone “is of much earlier date than the MacGregors of Balhaldie or any other sept of the Children of the Mist.”  I think he’s got a point!

References:

  1. Hutchinson, A.F., “The Standing Stones of Stirling District,” in The Stirling Antiquary, volume 1, 1893.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian