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Braids

Cup And Ring Marked Stone (Prehistoric)

Site Name Braids

Classification Cup And Ring Marked Stone (Prehistoric)

Canmore ID 38909

Site Number NR74SW 2

NGR NR 7176 4440

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/38909

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

  • Council Argyll And Bute
  • Parish Killean And Kilchenzie
  • Former Region Strathclyde
  • Former District Argyll And Bute
  • Former County Argyll

Archaeology Notes

NR74SW 2 7176 4440.

(NR 7176 4440) Cup and ring markings occur on a large flat boulder at a height of 170m OD in rough pasture 365m S of Braids farmhouse. Measuring 2.7m by 1.4m and portruding 0.3m above ground, the boulder lies 135m NNE of the junction of two small nameless tributaries of the Killean Burn; its level upper surface bears an unusual combination of designs including cup-and-ring markings, plain cups and rayed circles. Near the NW corner of the stone there is a cup surrounded by two rings, measuring 0.09m and 0.15m in diameter respectively, to the outer of which there is attached a small cup and gutter enclosed within an elongated horse shoe-figure. Close beside it is a second double-ringed symbol in which a radial groove runs from a central cup across the inner ring (0.10m in diameter) to end a short distance beyond a gap in the outer ring (0.17m in diameter). Elsewhere there are at least four other cups, each accompanied by a complete or partial ring (0.076 to 0.10m in diameter) together with twenty-two plain cups ranging from 0.025m to 0.070m in diameter, the larger examples being up to 0.025m deep. The most unusual symbols, however, are the two rayed circles, which are rare within the varied repertoire of cup-and ring designs. The larger example, near the S end of the stone, consists of a small central cup from which six evenly-spaced grooves radiate to a surrounding ring (0.15m in diameter), thus forming a wheel-like figure. The smaller example, situated among a group of plain cups in the NE quarter of the stone, consists of a small cup with six radial grooves, but no surrounding ring, forming a design resembling an asterisk.

RCAHMS 1971; Information from D Colville to OS, 1953.

The 'wheel' and the 'asterisk' had weathered away by 1974.

R W B Morris 1977.

The cup-marked boulder noted above is as described and illustrated by RCAHMS. The 'wheel' is still clearly visible, but the 'asterisk' is very obscure.

About 23.0 metres to the north there is an uneven block approximately 1.4m by 1.0m by 0.7m high. On the southerly inclined face is a well-formed hollow, almost certainly a cup-mark. On the opposite face there is a weathered, elongated oval depression. It is probably a 'dumb-bell' mark, but it is not as clearly defined as the cup mark.

Surveyed at 1:10 000.

Visited by OS (J B) 16 February 1978.

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