Leckie 4

Date Fieldwork Started: 19/02/2019

Compiled by: Callander

Location Notes: Leckie Broch is situated on a steep snout of land between the confluence of the Leckie Burn, at St. Colm's Glen, with the Blackspout Burn, both lying within deep gullies either side of the promontory. The broch is about 20m in diameter and the outcrop upon which bears the carvings is on its N side, just outside and below the ramparts. The outcrop is normally covered in thick moss, which obscures all but the most deeply incised motifs. The whole promontory is thickly veiled by dense and invasive rhododendron cover. The broch lies on the Leckie estate and must be accessed by foot from the start of the estate road at grid ref. NS 69906 94700. It is possible to park on the verge of the road just past the estate entrance. Following the estate road for about 1km, a footpath through the woods is accessed on the left via a gate just before the bridge over the Leckie Burn at Sawmill cottage. After about 150m, cross the ford just beyond a gap in the trees on the right, then a few metres beyond the ford on the left a faint path takes you upwards to the broch through the rhododendrons. The moss-covered outcrop is encountered on reaching the top just in front of the N walls of the broch, which are above it. The three separate blocks of rock that top the outcrop bear the carvings, each quite different in character. All three were originally recorded under the same Canmore ID as the broch (45379), but are not part of its structure and their relationship with it is unclear.

Panel Notes: This is a strikingly decorated sandstone outcrop with an arrangement of deeply carved cupmarks and incised lines that appears to have some sort of design intent underpinning it. The rock measures 1.2 x 0.4m and is 0.4m high, sloping steeply to the N and E. It has a sloping fracture cleaving it at about two thirds along its length, and this has displaced the carvings slightly either side of the fracture. A second, smaller fracture meets this at about a third of the way down from the top so that there is a small triangular section of the rock that appears to have almost completely been detached (although this is still firmly held in situ). The most striking carved feature is the 'ladder' design of 3 deeply cut cupmarks, each surrounded by a carved sub-rectangular frame. To the E and above this is an arrangement of 9 larger, deep cupmarks (from 6-10cm diameter and 2-6cm deep), interspersed with subtly arranged smaller cupmarks and incised grooves. Like Leckie 2 and 3, it might reasonably be assumed that the carvings are contemporary with the adjacent Iron Age broch, although they may have been inspired by a far more humble cup markings that existed here beforehand and were then greatly elaborated by the broch-builders.