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Bottacks, The Fairy Stone
Cup And Ring Marked Stone (Neolithic) - (Bronze Age)
Site Name Bottacks, The Fairy Stone
Classification Cup And Ring Marked Stone (Neolithic) - (Bronze Age)
Canmore ID 12488
Site Number NH46SE 2
NGR NH 48769 60426
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/12488
- Council Highland
- Parish Fodderty
- Former Region Highland
- Former District Ross And Cromarty
- Former County Ross And Cromarty
NH46SE 2 4876 6042.
Situated by the roadside about half way up the brae to Auchterneed is a Cup Marked stone ' A Chlach Phollach' (Clach Thollach or Clach Pollach (ISSFC 1898)) having on its surface about a dozen cupmarks, two inches or so in diameter (D Macdonald, A Polson and J Brown 1931)
W J Watson 1904; N Macrae 1923
No trace of this stone could be found.
Visited by OS (R D) 20 January 1965
Situated at NH 4876 6042 beside an old hill road is a large boulder 4.0m x 2.0m x 0.7m with its upper surface, sloping SW side and E edge covered by at least 145 cup marks. Some are sharply defined, the majority quite weathered. A number of the cups may have formed 'dumb-bells' but they are too obscure for definite identification. Mr Stewart (Information from Mr Stewart, Duran, Bottacks) knows the stone as 'The Fairy Stone'; the name Clach Pollach or Thollach is not known locally, and no other cup-marked stone can be located in the area.
Surveyed at 1:2500.
Visited by OS (J B) 16 November 1976
Note (8 July 2019)
Date Fieldwork Started: 08/07/2019
Compiled by: NOSAS
Location Notes: The panel is located about halfway up the S facing slope on the N side of the Peffery Burn, at the E end of the narrow pass through to the W, today followed by the railway. To the SE the valley is open and flat-bottomed and leads down to the sea at Dingwall. Knock Farril, a prominent vitrified fort, is visible across the valley to the SSE. It is in a field, by a rough track, about 150m beyond the end of the tarred road, and just before a narrow path leaves the track to the right. At that point it is visible through the bushes to the right.
Panel Notes: This large panel, of schist, is about 4.6m x 2.7m, tapering to a point at the N end. The N part is horizontal, the S part dips at about 45deg to the S. The S part is largely covered in a thick white lichen which disguises some of the motifs, and there is a pronounced horizontal fissure across it. It has a single cup and ring motif to the W, and 13 grooves which run down the face. One of the grooves links with the ring, and one appears to 'start' from a cup on the N (horizontal) face. There are 50 other simple cups visible on this face. The edge of the rock to the S and SW is not visible, under thick turf and tree roots, and it appears likely that there are other cups not yet revealed.
The N part is largely horizontal, with a broken edge about 1m high to the NE, and sloping gently under the turf to the NW. Motifs are concentrated on the horizontal parts, there are none on the part which slopes to the NW, but there are 2 probable cups on the vertical NE edge. The main horizontal area has numerous cups of all sizes. One cup is much larger than the others (deep and about 10cm across), and there is a rounded square feature about 12cm x 12cm which appears to have cups in at least 2 corners. 6 cups are elongated, and there are two distinct parallel grooves. The total number of simple cups on the N part is about 111 ignoring many fainter and smaller 'possibles'. There are also 2 sets of conjoined cups and a dumbbell on this surface, and 4 cups located at the corners of a lozenge-shaped depression.
