Rock Art Database

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Section A. CORE INFORMATION

A1. Identifiers

Classifications And Periods

County

INVERNESS-SHIRE

A2. Grid Reference(original find site)

A3. Current Location & Provenance

Section B. CONTEXT

B1. Landscape Context

B2. Current land use & vegetation

• Improved Pasture

B3. Forestry

• No selection

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

• Other rock art
• Burial Mound/Cairn

B5. Location Notes

This panel can be found in a cairn which is located in an open flat area of both improved and rough grazing, in the middle of Strath Nairn. It is positioned between the River Nairn and the River Farnach which join approximately 1.5km downstream. The cairn itself is much damaged; the panel is positioned at the SW edge of the main kerbstones, which also form part of a line of stones which may once have been used as a field wall. There is a ring of standing stones around the cairn. At the time of recording the cairn was located at a place where three wire fences met, close to a gate.

Previous Notes

NH63SE 3 6801 3350. (NH 6801 3350) Stone Circle {NR} OS 6" map, Inverness, 2nd ed., (1905) Tordarroch: A ring cairn now crossed by a drainage ditch on the E and a wall on the SW. Though greatly ruined it can be seen that the monument has been particularly impressive, covering a larger area and employing more massive stones than usual. Few of the stones remain standing, but many of them have fallen inwards or outwards and have not been disturbed, and the only considerable gap in the circle is on the north side. A large prone slab measuring 5 ft. by 6 ft. on the S.W. side opposite the tallest monolith is marked with thirty-three or thirty-four cup-marks. The slab appears to have fallen outwards from the kerb. If this is so the cupmarks must have faced inwards and been hidden by cairn material. The stone was already in its present position in 1881 before the wall which now crosses it had been built. The interior of the cairn has been removed and the ground is greatly disturbed. In 1879 five stones were visible in the centre. There have been nine monoliths encircling the cairn; seven of the stones remain upright. One fallen stone remains over its original position to the NE and another stone was recorded by Fraser (J Fraser 1884) on the SW side, but it has since been removed. Many large stones lie about the site. A S Henshall 1963, visited 8 April 1957; J Fraser 1884; W Jolly 1882. The remains of this ring cairn are as described above. Resurveyed at 1:2500. Visited by OS (W D J) 10 September 1963. This ring-cairn is situated in low-lying ground in the corner of an improved field. It measures 20m in diameter, within a kerb of stones up to 1.3m in height. The N arc has been destroyed and the centre of the cairn has been much disturbed and denuded of stone. On the SW there is a flat slab, whose upper surface measures 1.8m by 1.5m; it bears at least 36 cup-marks measuring up to 75mm across and 25mm deep, with one oblong cup measuring 100mm long by 75mm broad. Around the cairn, at a distance of 7m from it, there is a circle of monoliths; eight stones remain, one, on the WSW, having fallen. The tallest stone is on the SW, measuring 2.25m in height. (USN93 212-13) Visited by RCAHMS (SDB) 5 November 1992. Scheduled as 'Tordarroch, ring cairn 250m E of'. Information from Historic Scotland, scheduling document dated 29 August 2007.

Pre-afforestation survey undertaken in Tordarroch, Davoit and Dunlichty, Inverness, commissioned by Historic Buildings and Monuments, Scottish Development department. S T Driscoll, 1989.

This site was recorded as part of the RCAHMS Emergency Survey, undertaken by Angus Graham and Vere Gordon Childe during World War 2. The project archive has been catalogued during 2013-2014 and the material, which includes notebooks, manuscripts, typescripts, plans and photographs, is now available online. Information from RCAHMS (GF Geddes) 12 November 2014.

Section C. PANEL

C1. Panel Type

C2. Panel Dimensions, Slope & Orientation

C3. Rock Surface

C4. Surface Features

• Fissures/cracks
• Smooth Surface

C5. Panel Notes

Lying flat on the ground, the panel is roughly circular in shape, and measures 1.6m in length by 1.4m in width. The rock is a medium grained schist. It has been carved with 44 cupmarks, two of which are joined by a channel. This channel roughly widens a natural crack which crosses the surface. In addition there is a short bar or elongated cup-mark about 9cm long.

C6. Probability

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

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.
• Panel is on Private land.

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 No

D3. Risk

Natural

• Large areas of the rock are covered in lichen, moss or algae.

Animal

• There are sheep near the rock.
• There are cattle near the rock.

Human

• No selection

Comments and other potential threats

Evidence of animals rubbing against adjacent standing stones