Rock Art Database

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Section A. CORE INFORMATION

A1. Identifiers

Classifications And Periods

County

MIDLOTHIAN

A2. Grid Reference(original find site)

A3. Current Location & Provenance

Section B. CONTEXT

B1. Landscape Context

B2. Current land use & vegetation

• Urban/Garden
• Route way

B3. Forestry

• No selection

B4. Archaeological Features within 200m / or visible from the panel

• Burial Mound/Cairn
• Standing Stone

B5. Location Notes

The standing stone is located as described in the Canmore record. It stands in a walled niche at the side of a residential street named Caiystane View – one of 9 streets in the vicinity named Caiystane – but it would once have stood on an open hillside as part of a wider complex. Around 230m E of the Caiy Stane were a pair of large cairns known as the Cat Stanes. A second standing stone known as the Camus Stone (now gone) stood a further 250m E of the Cat Stanes, and in the surrounding area hundreds of skeletons were found during road-building in the early 19th century.

Previous Notes

Bibliographic Ref: Title : The Buildings of Scotland : Edinburgh, Author(s) : J.Gifford, C.McWilliam, D.Walker and C.Wilson, Publisher : Penguin Books Ltd, Edition : 1991, Titleaddit : J.Gifford, C.McWilliam, D.Walker and C.Wilson, The Buildings of Scotland : Edinburgh, Page No.s : p.566 Bibliographic Ref: Title : Historic South Edinburgh, Author(s) : Charles J. Smith, Publisher : Charles Skilton Ltd, Volume : Vol. 2, Place : Edinburgh, Year : 1979, Titleaddit : Charles J. Smith, Historic South Edinburgh, Page No.s : pp.400-401 NT26NW 14 2424 6835 See also NT26NW 13. The Caiy Stane, also called the Kel Stane or Camus Stone (OSA 1797) (but cf. NT26NW 26), is situated in a recess in the wall on the E side of Caiystane View, near the junction with Oxgangs Road. It is a fine monolith of red sandstone, roughly rectangular in section, facing E-W. It measures 9ft 3ins (2.75m) in height, from 4ft 2ins (1.23m) to 5ft 9ins (1.55m) in breadth and from 10ins (0.25m) to 1ft 7ins (0.48m) in thickness. A row of six much-weathered cup-marks may be seen low down on its E face. T Whyte 1792; J Y Simpson 1866; F R Coles 1903; RCAHMS 1929; R W Feachem 1977. The Public Monuments and Sculpture Association (http://www.pmsa.org.uk/) set up a National Recording Project in 1997 with the aim of making a survey of public monuments and sculpture in Britain ranging from medieval monuments to the most contemporary works. Information from the Edinburgh project was added to the RCAHMS database in October 2010 and again in 2012. The PMSA (Public Monuments and Sculpture Association) Edinburgh Sculpture Project has been supported by Eastern Photocolour, Edinburgh College of Art, the Edinburgh World Heritage Trust, Historic Scotland, the Hope Scott Trust, The Old Edinburgh Club, the Pilgrim Trust, the RCAHMS, and the Scottish Archive Network. Standing stone with cup-marks 50cm from the ground on the east face, standing in a semi-circular cobbled area with a wall behind. Inscriptions : None Signatures : None Information from Public Monuments and Sculpture Association (PMSA Work Ref : EDIN0340) A signature 'J FORREST' has been incised into the rear face of this standing stone. The style of the lettering suggests that the graffiti is of 19th or early 20th century date. Visited by HES Survey and Recording (JRS) 10 October 2019. This project indicates that the record to which it is linked is within, or near the boundary, of an area managed by a SURE partner. Information from RCAHMS (SC) 18 October 2011

Section C. PANEL

C1. Panel Type

C2. Panel Dimensions, Slope & Orientation

C3. Rock Surface

C4. Surface Features

• Fissures/cracks
• Natural Hollows
• Bedding Planes
• Weathering Channels

C5. Panel Notes

This red sandstone standing stone is roughly rectangular, measuring 2.7m high with a pointed, segmented tip, and maximum width of 1.25m, narrowing at the base. It is 0.48-0.25m thick, and the wider surfaces face E and W. The W surface, facing into Caiystane View, is rough and undulating with wide weathering channels running from the top of the stone to about half the way down its height. This surface is pitted with small circular depressions and larger sub-circular depressions of varying sizes. There are also sub-circular depressions on the thinner S surface. The northern edge of the W face features several thin parallel incisions which extend round onto the thinner N surface. The E surface, which faces the back of the recess, is much smoother and flatter, suggesting that this was the original quarried surface whereas the W face originally formed the exposed surface of outcrop. The E face features several eroding bedding planes, narrow fissures, and numerous small pitted depressions, as well as several inscribed names and initials. Additionally, the E surface has groups of larger circular and sub-circular depressions on its lower half. These include and arc of 4 depressions near the centre of the E surface, and undulating alignment of size depressions of increasing size towards the base of the stone, and a rosette-like group of 7 small depressions. The arrangement of these depressions suggest some may be cupmarks, although most have uneven and asymmetric profiles that is more fitting with natural features. It is possible that the depressions were created on the quarried surface when the stone was erected, but have since eroded differentially through millennia of exposure to wind and weather.

C6. Probability

The probability that there is any rock art on the panel is Possible

Comments

No comments added

C7. MOTIFS

Visible Tool Marks? No

Visible Peck Marks? No

Section D. ACCESS, AWARENESS & RISK

D1. Access

• Right to Roam access.
• Access is managed by a national organisation.
• There is and interpretation on site.

D2. Awareness

• Panel was known before the project.
• This panel is known to others in the local community.

There are stories or folk traditions associated with this panel Yes

D3. Risk

Natural

• No selection

Animal

Human

• There is graffiti (paintings and/or carving) on or near the rock.
• The rock is located on/nearby a path or place where people might walk.

Comments and other potential threats

No comments added