North Beachmore

NR64SE 7 6928 4184.

(NR 6928 4184) An unusual group of cup and ring markings occurs on a stone situated 345m E of North Beachmore farmhouse at a height of 120m OD. Measuring 0.9m by 0.3m at the base, and standing to a height of 1.5m, the stone now serves as the N gatepost of an entrance in the wall through which a track leading eastward from the farm passes from the arable ground to the open hill beyond. The stone is now leaning at an angle of 45 with the decorated surface facing SW. The markings consist largely of plain cups, but one cup is accompanied by a partial single ring which measures 0.11m across. At the foot of the lower half of the stone four cups linked by broad gutters form a curious branched pattern, and a similar combination of three cups and gutters occurs in the upper half, while in two other instances a pair of cups are joined by a short straight channel to form a dumb-bell figure. The remainder of the markings comprise twelve oblong or kidney-shaped hollows measuring up to 0.15m in length by 0.064m in breadth, and thirty-one plain cups ranging from 0.038m to 0.076m in diameter, the largest being 0.019m deep.

RCAHMS 1971; R W B Morris 1977.

This cup and ring-marked stone is as described and illustrated by the previous authorities.

Surveyed at 1:10 000.

Visited by OS 12 December 1977.