Poltalloch
Cup And Ring Marked Rock (Prehistoric)
Site Name Poltalloch
Classification Cup And Ring Marked Rock (Prehistoric)
Canmore ID 39496
Site Number NR89NW 52
NGR NR 8126 9637
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/39496
- Council Argyll And Bute
- Parish Kilmartin
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Argyll And Bute
- Former County Argyll
NR89NW 52 8126 9636
See also NR89NW 53.
(NR 812 963) A rock outcrop at the edge of the wood, below the drive, 220 yards SSW of Poltalloch is sculptured with cup and ring markings. The rock, which slopes NE, measures 15' x 12', and the figures include 34 cups, having from 1-5 rings, and a number of cups without rings.
J H Craw 1930; M Campbell and M Sandeman 1964.
NR 8127 9636. An excellent example of cup and ring markings as described.
Surveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (JP), 1 May 1973.
NR 8127 9637. Generally as described in the previous information, although many of the markings are now obscured by a growth of moss. Surveyed at 1/10,000.
Visited by OS (TRG), 12 April 1977.
Field Visit (May 1983)
This impressive cup-and-ring marked rock outcrop is situated in woodland 160m SW of the ruins of Poltalloch House (NR89NW 81.00). The rock surface dips steeply to the E and is criss-crossed by deep fractures, which, in places, have led to the shearing-off of some of the marks. The decoration comprises: seven cups with four rings (one of which has widely spaced rings, giving it an unusually broad diameter); nine cups with three rings; nine cups with two rings; thirteen with single rings; and at least eighty plain cupmarks. To the NNW of the largest of the four-ringed cups there are two star-shaped marks, one of which is surrounded by a ring.
(For the significance of these marks, see the Introduction to Argyll volume 6, RCAHMS 1988).
RCAHMS 1988, visited May 1983.
Measured Survey (May 1983)
RCAHMS surveyed Poltalloch cup-and-ring markings on May 1983 with plane-table and alidade producing a plan at a scale of 1:100. The plan of the cup-and-ring markings was redrawn in ink and published at a scale of 1:250 (RCAHMS 1988a, 123).
