Braes Of Balloch 1
Cup And Ring Marked Stone (Neolithic) - (Bronze Age)
Site Name Braes Of Balloch 1
Classification Cup And Ring Marked Stone (Neolithic) - (Bronze Age)
Canmore ID 24897
Site Number NN74NE 18
NGR NN 79446 45186
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/24897
- Council Stirling
- Parish Kenmore (Stirling)
- Former Region Central
- Former District Stirling
- Former County Perthshire
NN74NE 18 7944 4518.
(NN 7944 4518) Boulder (Cup) (NAT)
OS 6" map (1901)
Mackenzie describes a cup and ring marked boulder, with a 4' square top, c.1/4 mile E of the house at Tombuie, facing N on the slope of the hillside of Braes of Balloch, c.100yds S of the fence separating the arable land from the partly arable, and a few yards from an old road leading from the arable to the hill. The field in which it lies is full of rocky hillocks and about 100 yds to the S is a "? beehive shaped building".
According to Gillies, this is the boulder marked on the OS map.
J B Mackenzie 1895; W A Gillies 1938
This unusually ornate cup and ring marked boulder measures 1.0m square. On its upper surface it bears 17 small shallow dots rather than cup marks, each having up to three concentric rings around it. The majority of the rings are penannular. The slab bears some interconnecting grooves, and on the E edge, a series of curved lines. The stone is now covered with turves to protect it. The alleged beehive building is a relatively recent animal pen.
Surveyed at 1:10,000.
Visited by OS (JB) 14 April 1975
No change to previous field report.
Visited by OS (BS) 8 December 1978
Note (21 September 2020)
Date Fieldwork Started: 21/09/2020
Compiled by: Killin
Location Notes: The panel is situated in rough grazing at approximately 355m asl, some 440m E of Tombuie House. It lies on undulating ground which has a generally shallow slope to the W. It is located near the base of a small ridge running uphill to the NE. It lies 14m NNW of a modern forestry track, and 40m NNW of a westward flowing tributary of Allt a' Blealaich. The view to the W is down to Kenmore and Loch Tay, and beyond to the Ben Lawers range; to the S the view is up gently rising ground; to the E is forestry; and to the N the view is partly obscured to the nearby ridge beyond which are visible the hills north of Strathtay and Schiehallion.
There is a broad distribution of rock art in the surrounding landscape, but no panels validated by ScRAP with 200m. Other features include a droveway which at the location of the panel comprises three deeply eroded parallel tracks. The panel is situated on the edge of one of these tracks, suggesting that its present location is relatively recent. There is a possible cairn, 4m in diameter, recorded approximately 80m to the NE (Canmore 282824), and an oval enclosure surrounding a rocky hillock 100m to the NE.
Panel Notes: The panel is a flat topped sub-square slab, measuring 1.1m by 1.0m, and with a maximum height of 0.2m at the SW. It slopes down at 20 degrees to the NW in line with the natural slope of the hillside, and part of its lowest edge concealed by the turf-line. It is made of a hard, laminated rock, probably Schist; some of the laminations have partly flaked off. Parts of the decorated surface are heavily weathered and appear to have a rough coarse texture; however, the NW part has a very smooth and seemingly fine-grained texture. This variable weathering suggests that the slab could have been incorporated in some structure in which part of it was covered and therefore protected from the elements. It is noted that a possible cairn, 4m in diameter, is recorded some 80m to the NE (Canmore 282824, ScRAP 208).
The whole surface of the carved. The decoration is dominated by a number of cup and ring marks, the majority with small central cups and penannular rings, some which have twin extended ends forming double radial lines. There is differential weathering of the motifs. In the unweathered area on the W side of the panel the detail of the picking is very clear, and includes small clusters of individual pick marks. Even here, however, the forms of some of the motifs remains unclear; this is also the case in the more weathered parts.
There are 9 cup and ring motifs with 2 or 3 rings and radial lines - 7 with paired radials/extended rings, and 2 with single radials. In 7 of these motifs, the radial lines extend from the inner rings, and in the other 2 they extend from the outer rings. Near the NW side there are a number of apparently connected motifs, including a cup with 3 penannular rings, from the gap in which a curving line runs to a slightly lozenge shaped motif, from which a wide straight line in turn extends toward the SW edge of the panel. The lozenge shaped motif appears to comprise a cup with partial double rings, although the interior has been heavily pecked so that its cup and inner ring are not clear. Between these two connected motifs is a cup with 2 rings from the outer of which a single radial extends. Three of the motifs with double radials have short lines lying across the openings between them. In one of these (next to and partially conjoined with the lozenge motif) there is a single line, in another (at the NE) there are three parallel lines, and in the third (at the S) there are 6 parallel but slightly curving lines. In addition, there are 4 cups with single rings, 3 of which are certainly annular, and one (at the E corner) that is possibly penannular. 2 of these motifs, on the E corner of the panel, are conjoined. There are at least 2 small simple cupmarks among the motifs, as well as other possible small cupmarks or large dots. A line running roughly N-S on the E side of the panel may or may not be natural, and there are other marks that are not clearly definable.
