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Diamond Hill

Cup And Ring Marked Rock (Neolithic) - (Bronze Age)

Site Name Diamond Hill

Classification Cup And Ring Marked Rock (Neolithic) - (Bronze Age)

Canmore ID 41229

Site Number NS25SW 3

NGR NS 21399 53899

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/41229

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
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Administrative Areas

  • Council North Ayrshire
  • Parish West Kilbride
  • Former Region Strathclyde
  • Former District Cunninghame
  • Former County Ayrshire

Archaeology Notes

NS25SW 3 2139 5390

(NS 2139 5390) Cup & Ring Marked Rock (NR)

OS 6" map (1958)

There is a cup and ring marked rock S of the wood on Diamond Craig. About twenty cup marks are visible; only one or two have fairly well-defined rings.

J Lamb 1896.

A rock slab measuring some 8.0 by 3.0m, partly overgrown by moss. A number of small cup marks, 1 to 2 ins in diameter, and one ring, are visible.

Visited by OS (DS), 21 September 1956.

The rock, which is natural outcrop, is generally as described previously, but the ring mark is no longer evident.

Surveyed at 1:2500.

Visited by OS (JTT), 27 October 1964.

Morris notes at least three worn cups with one ring, and over a hundred cups, adding that others may be covered by turf.

R W B Morris and D C Bailey 1967.

(NS 2139 5390) Cup-marked Rock (NR)

OS 1:10000 map (1980).

No change. The assessment of Lamb as to the number and type of cups is probably the most accurate, but it is difficult to be exact due to the weathered and quartz-veined nature of the slab.

Visited by OS (JRL), 2 December 1982.

Activities

Note (17 September 2019)

Date Fieldwork Started: 17/09/2019

Compiled by: ACFA West Glasgow

Location Notes: The panel is located on a W facing hillside with views over the Firth of Clyde to Ailsa Craig, Arran, Great Cumbrae, Bute, Kintyre and Cowal. It lies in rough pasture 11m SW of a stone dyke beside a conifer wood. The summit of Diamond Hill lies to the W. There is a standing stone in a field approximately 150m to the E.

Panel Notes: The panel outcrop is of conglomerate measuring 8.6 x 3.2m. It is low lying, rising to a maximum of 0.3m above the ground surface. Its long axis lies NW/SE. The conglomerate contains numerous quartz pebbles and the surface is rough with natural fissures and hollows. There are 3 lines of quarry marks at the NW end of the panel. Quarrying may have removed some rock art. There are 6 cup and ring motifs and 5 cupmarks in the central part of the panel, and 5 possible cupmarks at the NW end of the panel.

References

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