Craikness Hill 1

NX64SE 44 68796 44847

At least ten plain cups, twelve cup-and-ring markings and a rosette design are carved into this subrectangular sheet of bedrock exposed on a SW-facing hillside to the ENE of Balmae Gardens Cottage. The rock is separated into two panels by a strip of turf and with the exception of three cups and several gutters, all the carvings are on the W panel.

The seven plain cups on the W panel range from 35mm to 50mm in diameter and are 10mm in maximum depth. Two cups measuring 50mm in diameter and 10mm in depth are set within single rings 100mm in diameter. The other ten cup-and-ring marks are pierced by gutters, the cups ranging from 50mm to 70mm in diameter by 10mm in depth and the rings from 100mm to 140mm in diameter. There is a network of interconnected gutters and lines around these carvings and at the W end there is a group of seven small cups forming a rosette around a central cup. These cups measure 30mm in diameter and 5mm in depth and a gutter skirts the rosette on the W.

The three plain cups on the E panel measure between 30mm and 55mm in diameter by 10mm in depth. One of the cups has a short gutter to the N. A fourth cup at the S end of the panel measures 75mm in diameter by 25mm in depth, and is set within an enclosing gutter that runs off to the NW. There are further gutters at the SW end of the panel.

(KTA02 25)

Visited by RCAHMS (AGCH, DCC), 26 November 2002.