Rock Art Database

KINNELL PARK STONE CIRCLE, KILLIN, STONE 3

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Canmore ID 24189 SCRAP ID 3374
Location OS Grid Ref: NN 57702 32808 Team Not in team
Existing Classifications None.
Date Fieldwork Started 06/08/2020 Date Fieldwork Completed
New Panel? Yes  

Section A. CORE INFORMATION

A1. Identifiers

Panel Name KINNELL PARK STONE CIRCLE, KILLIN, STONE 3 Number
Other names Achmore, Stone Circle
HER/SMR SM Number 1557 Other
Classifications And Periods
Classification 1 Cup Marked Stone Period 1 Neol/bronze Age
Classification 2 Stone Circle Period 2 Neol/bronze Age
County
PERTHSHIRE

A2. Grid Reference(original find site)

OS NGR
New OS NGR NN 57702 32808
Lat/Long 56.46585 -4.31122
Obtained By: Google Earth

A3. Current Location & Provenance

Located
  • At original location
Accession no. Not given

Section B. CONTEXT

B1. Landscape Context

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

B2. Current land use & vegetation

  • Improved Pasture

B3. Forestry

  • No selection

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

  • Stone Circle
Other: listed buildings

B5. Location Notes

The panel is most northerly of six upright stones which form the Kinnell Park stone circle, Killin (Scheduled Monument SM1557). The panel was numbered as stone 3 in a 2018 survey by the University of North Alabama/HES. The stones, between 1.4m and 1.9 m high, form a flattened circle measuring approximately 10.5m (NE-SW) by 9.5m. The survey recorded possible traces of an internal cairn. The stone circle lies near the northern edge of a pasture field SW of Kinnell House, the ancestral home of the Macnab chiefs from 1654, which lies 140m to the NE. It is considered possible that the stone circle may have been "improved" during the late 18th and early 19th centuries when it was fashionable to have antiquities in the parkland surrounding great houses. The stone circle lies at approximately 115m asl on slightly undulating ground; there is a low rise in the ground to the immediate W. Some 100m to the NW the ground falls steeply down to the the NE flowing River Dochart; the stone circle is 650m from Dochart's confluence with the River Lochay, before it flows into the western end of Loch Tay. Stone 3, the southern (inward) facing side of which bears a number of cupmarks, is distinct from the other stones in the circle in having a broad, flat upper surface. The view over it, and across the peaked top of the opposing stone, aligns closely on the summit of Bienn Leabhainn, up to which the ground rises to the S. The same line, to the N, may align on the summit of Meall Garbh, the most visually prominent peak on the Tarmachan ridge. Today the view to the N is obstructed by trees planted along the Kinnell House driveway. The view to the W is of Sron a Chlachain, the prominent hill above Killin between the two rivers, although this view is similarly partly obstructed by trees, as is the view of Loch Tay to the E. No rock art motifs are visible on the other five stones.

Section C. PANEL

C1. Panel Type

In a structure Standing stone monument

C2. Panel Dimensions, Slope & Orientation

Dimensions of panel (m to one decimal place)
Length (longer axis) 1.4 Width 0.6
Height (max) 1.4 Height (min) 1.3
Approximate slope of carved surface
90 degrees degrees
Orientation (Aspect e.g. NW)
Rock Surface S Carved Surface S Carved Surface

C3. Rock Surface

Surface Compactness Hard Grain Size Coarse Visible Anomalies Quartz Veins
Colour Bands
Rock Type Schist

C4. Surface Features

  • Fissures/cracks
  • Natural Hollows
  • Bedding Planes
  • Rough surface

C5. Panel Notes

The panel is a subrectangular upright schist slab, aligned close to E-W. It is 1.4m long and 0.6m wide at its widest points, and stands 1.4m high. It has an almost level upper surface, near vertical front (S facing) and rear surfaces, and irregular sides, the W side overhanging. It is considered a possibility that the stone may have been moved to some degree in the modern period, but this has not been established. The panel comprises a hard, coarse visibly laminar schist, containing thin quarts viens. There are a number of prominent cracks, and the front and back faces have rough uneven surfaces, with some natural depressions. There was some moss mainly on the N side near the top and close to the turf line. Only the S (inner) face bears any decoration; there are no cupmarks on the top surface as previously reported (RCAHMS 1985). There are 6 cup marks, all on the upper half of the decorated surface, and in the central and E parts. They form no clear pattern. Three are 80mm in diameter and up to 15mm deep, two are 60mm in diameter and less than 10mm deep, and one at the top right is 40mm in diameter and less than 5mm deep. Three other shallow circular depressions, two of them among the cupmarks and one at the bottom left, are possibly cupmarks but are more likely to be natural in origin.

C6. Probability

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

Comments

No comments added

C7. MOTIFS

Cupmark
cupmark_1
6

Visible Tool Marks? No

Visible Peck Marks? No

Section D. ACCESS, AWARENESS & RISK

D1. Access

  • Right to Roam access.

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
  • 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