Rock Art Database

CAIRNHOLY 4

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Canmore ID 63726 SCRAP ID 1173
Location OS Grid Ref: NX 51551 54637 Team Not in team
Existing Classifications
Classification Period
CUP AND RING MARKED ROCK PREHISTORIC
Date Fieldwork Started 13/04/2019 Date Fieldwork Completed
New Panel? No  

Section A. CORE INFORMATION

A1. Identifiers

Panel Name CAIRNHOLY Number 4
Other names CAIRNHOLY 4 (grouped with Cairnholy 11, 12, 13 and 14)
HER/SMR MDG3326
SM Number Other
Classifications And Periods
Classification 1 Cup And Ring Marked Rock Period 1 Neol/bronze Age
County
KIRKUDBRIGHTSHIRE

A2. Grid Reference(original find site)

OS NGR NX 51550 54630
New OS NGR NX 51551 54637
Lat/Long 54.86442 -4.31453
Obtained By: GPS
Mobile Phone

A3. Current Location & Provenance

Located
  • At original location
Accession no. Not given

Section B. CONTEXT

B1. Landscape Context

Weather Sunny
Position in landscape Hillside
Topography(terrain within about 500m of panel.) Sloping
Aspect of slope (if on sloping terrain e.g. S, SE etc.) S

B2. Current land use & vegetation

  • Improved Pasture

B3. Forestry

  • No selection

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

  • Other rock art

B5. Location Notes

This is one of a group of carvings recorded at this location (see also Cairnholy 11, 12, 13 and 14). These carvings are located across the surface on an exposed outcrop which lies adjacent to the field wall at the lower, W edge of a field of improved pasture. The carving are positioned primarily towards the eastern most edge of the outcrop, which has a steep drop off to the north, west and south. The grid reference recorded at the time of survey (NX 51551 54637) was taken with 1.5m accuracy. There are other rock art panels nearby: Cairnholy 12 is 1.8m to the SW, Cairnholy 13 is 2m to the S of Cairnholy 4. In the wider landscape, Cairnholy 8 (ScRAP ID: 1090; Canmore ID: 77510) is located c. 100m to the NE, and Cairnholy 5 (ScRAP ID: 2159; Canmore ID: 63728)is located c. 180m to the NNE. This record has here been allocated solely to the record of Cairnholy 4 (Van Hoek's Cairnholy 4B), the other panels previously recorded under this record have been allocated their own unique records.

Previous Notes

NX55SW 29 5155 5463. NX 515 546. Cup-and-Ring marks are carved on a rock outcrop forming a hillock 350yds ENE of Kirkmuir farm, beside the W wall of a field. The marks comprise 3 cups with one, two, and three rings respectively, very worn in parts and nine cups. RCAHMS 1914, visited 1912; R W B Morris and D C Bailey 1967 The cup-and-ring marks described were located at NX 5157 5458. Visited by OS (RD) 29 February 1972 NX 5155 5463 These cup marks occupy a 5.0m long face of outcropping rock and are generally as described in the previous information. The "cup with three rings" measures 0.3m in overall diameter, the cup itself being 7 cms in diameter and 3 cms deep. On the same outcrop are a large number of single 'cups' many of which are natural. Surveyed at 1:2500. Visited by OS (BS) 22 June 1977 These markings are exposed in an area measuring about 5m NNW-SSE by 3.5m transversely on top of a prominent outcrop about 350m ENE of Kenmuir farmsteading. At least 31 plain cups, in four clusters, were identified, along with a cup-and-one-ring, 140mm in diameter, and two cup-and-two-rings, 190mm and 210mm in diameter, the last of these having a possible third ring 340mm across and a cup 70mm in diameter and 25mm deep. (Cree94 303) Visited by RCAHMS (SDB) 28 April 1994 Van Hoek divides the marks on this outcrop into seven groups, labelling them Cairnholy 4A-4G. Two of these groups were reported in 1992 ('Cairnholy 4F' by Van Hoek and 'Cairnholy 4E' by Schilders) at NX 5157 5458, some 50m to the SE, and these were formerly noted under NX55SW 59 and NX55SW 63. Van Hoek's 1995 description, however, makes it clear that these marks are on the same outcrop as the other 'Cairnholy 4' groups. In all about one hundred cups have been identified, eleven of them having between one and three rings. Naddair deturfed more of the outcrop, and identified over 200 cups. M A M van Hoek 1992, L Schilders 1992, M A M van Hoek 1995, K Naddair 1995.

Section C. PANEL

C1. Panel Type

In the landscape Outcrop

C2. Panel Dimensions, Slope & Orientation

Dimensions of panel (m to one decimal place)
Length (longer axis) 1.5 Width 1.1
Height (max) 0.4 Height (min) 0
Approximate slope of carved surface
15 degrees degrees
Orientation (Aspect e.g. NW)
Rock Surface W Carved Surface W Carved Surface

C3. Rock Surface

Surface Compactness Hard Grain Size Medium Visible Anomalies No selection Rock Type Greywacke

C4. Surface Features

  • Fissures/cracks

C5. Panel Notes

This panel is located on the highest point of the extreme N edge of the outcrop, on a roughly rectangular shaped projection measuring 1.5m by 1.1 m and up to 0.4m in height. The upper surface has been carved with one relatively deep cup mark (measuring 80mm in diameter and 20mm deep) enclosed by 2 rings (one complete; the other partial on the E side), and 1 possible cup to the west. There is one more probable cup on the W edge of the rock.

C6. Probability

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

Comments

No comments added

C7. MOTIFS

Cupmark
cupmark_1
1
Partial Ring
partial_ring_arc_5
1

Visible Tool Marks? No

Visible Peck Marks? No

Section D. ACCESS, AWARENESS & RISK

D1. Access

  • Right to Roam access.
  • Panel is on Private land.

D2. Awareness

  • This panel is known to others in the local community.
There are stories or folk traditions associated with this panel No

D3. Risk

Natural
  • No selection
Animal
  • There are sheep near the rock.
  • There are cattle near the rock.
Human
  • No selection
Comments and other potential threats

No comments added