Cnoc Ravoch

Date Fieldwork Started: 09/12/2018

Compiled by: NOSAS

Location Notes: The panel is located on a SE facing slope, not actually on Cnoc Ravoch, which is to the SE with the Cromarty Firth beyond. Cnoc Ravoch has a circular enclosure close to the top (Canmore 12900). Allt a'Ghaill is about 60m to the S. There are at least five springs within 500m of the panel. None of the surrounding area is currently visible from the panel. ScRAP 2203 Fleuchlady is about 350m N up the hill in open ground, and the photographs on that record give a very good idea of the general area.

The panel is not easy to locate, being in recently planted dense trees. The best way (see location sketch) is to find the third fence post S from the bend in the fence and push in through the trees for about 15m where there is a very small clearing. Note that the MyCanmore attachment to Canmore 12916 has pictures of this panel taken in 2010 before the trees were planted.

Panel Notes: The panel is approximately oval, measuring 2.8m by 1.7m, on schist with gneissose areas. It lies low in the ground, and has a low ridge running N-S. The smaller W part of the panel slopes at about 30deg to the W, and the much larger E part at about 20deg to the E. A clear straight natural fissure divides the panel almost equally into N and S halves. A further fissure, running approximately N-S separates about 20% of the E area of the panel, on which there is a single cup.

Low down on the W part of the panel is a single cup with a faint ring. There are several larger cups which show internal natural 'rings' of lighter minerals due to the gneissose fabric of the rock. There is also a dumbbell, a 'courgette', and a complex rosette arrangement of partly linked cups. Some of the cups are relatively small and indistinct. As drawn the totals are: 1 cup with 1 ring, 1 dumbbell, 1 'courgette', 1 partial rosette incorporating 7 cups, 5 larger cups, and 53 other cups, some indistinct.