Field Visit

Date 10 November 2014 - 1 March 2015

Event ID 1041768

Category Recording

Type Field Visit

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1041768

The Inventory of Scheduled Monuments (Historic Scotland 2014) records that this monument comprises a flat outcrop of rock, decorated with cup and ring markings. The decoration on the rock includes about 300 cups, 40 half cups, 27 cups with one ring, 11 cups with two rings, 3 cups with three rings and 3 spirals. Some rings are gapped, with a radial groove from the cup. The greatest ring diameters and the greatest depth of carving are 28 cm and 5 cm respectively. It is one of the most complex and one of the best preserved cup and ring marked rocks in southwest Scotland.

Canmore and the HER record that the rock has been fenced-off and de-turfed. It measures 5.2 m east to west and 3.2 m north to south. Adjacent to the southeast limit of the rock, on the other side of a field wall, is another flat rock surface (exposed area roughly 5 m by 2 m) bearing at least two cup marks.

Boyd and Smith (1887) records that parts of shale rings were found when cleaning soil from crevices in the rock in the 19th century.

Field survey for this assessment, identified the cup and ring marked rock which is located in an area of grassland on the edge of forestry. The main part of the bedrock outcrop is located to the north of a stone built field wall. There was no evidence for any fence surrounding the rock as noted by Canmore (see above). The cup and ring marks were still visible, although some moss cover has started to grow on the rock. The bedrock outcrop noted to the south of the field wall by the HER and Canmore (see above) has been subsumed by grass, and the cup marks previously recorded are no longer visible.

Information from OASIS ID: cfaarcha1-260699 (M Hastie) 2015