Scotland's Rock Art Project (ScRAP)
Date 24 June 2020
Event ID 1129039
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Note
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1129039
Date Fieldwork Started: 24/06/2020
Compiled by: ScRAP
Location Notes: The panel was originally situated on the SSW facing slope of Whitelaw Hill in an area with cropmarks showing linear features though to be a prehistoric enclosure (Canmore 56447). The grid reference gives it approximate position. It was moved from the arable field by farm machinery about 20 years ago and placed close to the edge of the farm track that runs down the hill towards Tanderlane Farm (about 100m to the S), about 20m from a small stream at the bottom of the hillside. The area to the W of the panel was planted with forestry about 20 years ago, which may have partially obscured the stone. It was discovered and brought to our attention by local resident Douglas Ledingham in May 2020, after the forestry had been felled. It was subsequently moved by the farmer to the garden of West Mains Farm, about 1km to the N. An application has been submitted to claim it as Treasure Trove and the outcome of this is pending.
Panel Notes: This is a roughly square sandstone boulder measuring 0.9x0.9m, with a sloping surface and steep sides, rising to a maximum height of 0.6m and minimum height of 0.4m. It has been moved from its original location and damaged by mechanical machinery at some point in the recent past, with a number parallel gouges on its higher edge. There are several faint fissures and eroding bedding planes on the surface, as well as numerous short incisions, probably plough marks on two sides and across the centre, suggesting that lay in an arable field for some time. The surface is covered in well-preserved motifs, most of which have unusually clear tool marks. The motifs include at least 15 cups, with an arrangement of 7 or 8 smaller cups in two parallel rows on the lower edge of the panel. In addition there are 4 cups with radials, one of which is very long, a dumbbell, 3 cups each with 2 penannulars and radials (one of these motifs has 2 radials), 2 cups with 1 penannular, 2 cups with partial rings (one of these also has a radial) and several long or branching grooves that flow down the sides of the panel. Some of the penannulars are very thin - just one line of peck marks - and there are also areas of more random but clear pecking, such as around the edges of one of the bedding planes. The level of preservation of the tool marks suggest that the panel has been covered for a considerable time, possibly within a burial monument or with its carved surface turned towards the ground.
