New Find at Ketley Crags ?

Dashed down to Chatton in mid afternoon today - because the sky looked beautiful and I just fancied an hour or two mooching around. Managed to get some better shots of panel 5 but didn’t bother much with the main panels - apart from gazing respectfully. Then I wandered across to Ketley Crags because the low sun was very bright and very clear - and I thought I might get some even better shots - I did. I thought I would take a wider look at the boulders and outcrops on that slope, which have wonderful, swirly organic forms that must have appealed as much to our Neolithic ancestors as they do to me today. Found a few interesting things but nothing decisive. Then - I decided to go down the very bottom of the slope to look at a very large boulder - about 6 feet cubed - which is by far the most prominent rock at the base of the slope next to a wooden gate and a stone dyke. This is what I found on top of the boulder. I am hoping this is a new find because I can’t see any reference to this on BRAC. If it is already known I apologise.

It appears to be a carved basin with at least three rings around a central depression. The whole figure is about ten inches in diameter and there is a carved channel - possibly an enhancement of a natural feature - which drains the basin down the face of the boulder.

Here is a shot taken standing on top of the boulder looking vertically down. It gives more idea of the length of the carved channel.

There are what seem to be various cups pecked into the stone to the left of the basin

.OK here is a long shot taken from the boulder at the base of the entire slope -looking up to the main group of Ketley Crags with the existing Rock Art Shelter being in the very centre of those large outcrops. The monolith is plainly visible on Flash Earth, which gives its position as: Lat: 55 deg 33′ 44.3 N Long: 1deg 52′ 58.8″W

Here is a view from the known rock art panel looking down the slope to the massive boulder which is on the extreme right of the picture. This also gives a good idea of why this site is so beautiful.

I found some other interesting boulders of the ‘brain coral’ variety further along the slope, which to me suggest that artificial work has been done to enhance existing features, but I’m too tired to edit those pics now. Just wanted to share this with you all and - hopefully - get your views as to whether this is a ‘new’ find. If you think it is - then I suspect there is a possibly more to be discovered at Ketley since this is just 40 yards from the main rock art feature that has been known for many years.

Graham

Possible New Find, Chatton

I came across this basin with what appears to be an artificial channel alongside the main track which ascends Chatton Park Hill. It is about ten yards to the left of the landrover track and about 50 yards below the summit of the hill where the main carved panel is (1a). The channel is about 2″ wide and looks distinctly man-made.

Here is a more vertical shot of the same basin and channel - with a smaller circular, or horse-shoe shaped feature on the rock below it (which may be natural).

The Flash Earth reference is (approx) Latitude: 55 deg 33′ 15.3″ Longitude: 1 deg 52′ 50.7″

What do you think? Man made channel?

Weetwood 6 - New Find?

After my trip to Fowberry yesterday I went over to Weetwood Moor and revisited the main motifs. At one point it started to rain and I ran for shelter into the woodland where the Weetwood Panel 6 motifs are. After the rain I walked back along the rock outcrop where it leaves the wood and runs back towards the main area of panels at Weetwood. Just outside the wood - on the outcrop edge - I noticed what look like faint traces of rings on a large boulder outcrop - about 10 metres from the wood edge. Do you think this is a ring pattern or just natural? when I ran my fingers over it I could feel what seemed like concentric circles. Wishful thinking?

The suspected motif is about 8″ in diameter. My eye was drawn to it by the circular patch of lichen and the low angle light which seemed to reveal circle patterns and pecks. It is very close to the two large motifs which are inside the edge of the wood - and the outcrop is a continuation of the main rock which they are carved on.

Fowberry Mains Park Find

Hi rock friends,

I risked life and limb going back to Fowberry Mains Park today in a 60mph gale with blustery showers- though the light was wonderful - if you could stand upright. If Turner had been alive he would have been painting the Cheviots and that enormous sky.

I spoke to Lance Strother earlier in the morning and he was most welcoming - merely asked that I didn’t take a dog into the field as he has cows about to calve; as it turns out they were almost a mile away from the motifs. So I got much better photos at mid afternoon. I also paced out the distance from the main group of rock motifs - it is 30 paces ‘uphill’ (south-west) from the end of the rock outcrop and 15 paces ‘inland’ from the line of the outcrop. It is 50 paces in a direct line to where the ‘chicken’ motif and main motifs are. The rock is detatched but earthfast.

Here below is a photo looking North East to the North Plantation. The main group of motifs is on the highest edge near the top of the picture, where the bracken ends.

In the much better light it was obvious that there is only one ringed-cup - at the right hand end (eastern end) and it is linked to a triad of cups by a cruciform groove. There are nine cups in all on the rock and there are serpentine grooves linking the two most central large cups.

Here you can see a close-up of the ringed cup with a cruciform groove linking three small cups at the Eastern end of the rock panel.

Here you can see faint but clear serpentine grooves linking the two right hand cups.

Late light shot which reveals slightly more detail.

I find this whole experience quite remarkable - the fact that this rock has been lying here with most of the cups visible for decades - only 50 metres from the main rock art panel - and nobody stumbled upon it. Gives me hope that there are other small discoveries to be made out there.

Graham

Fowberry Mains - New Find

Hi guys,

Had a great visit to Fowberry Mains and Weetwood Moor today - still learning to read maps and Stan Beckensall’s directions. It was a rather gloomy day but I found the Fowberry Mains motifs easily.

I took photos of all the main ones on the outcrop edge - which has been extensively quarried. Then I wandered uphill about 30 metres and found an earthfast rock with 8 cups on it. The rock is about 0.75 of a metre in length and the cups are very well defined - about 2 inches across and fairly deep. Six of them are in a dead straight line - and the fourth prominent one from the top has the remains of a circle around it - just visible in this shot. I will go back on a sunnier day and get a better shot. I can’t see this collection of cups on the BRAC gallery for Fowberry Mains and it doesn’t appear in Stan’s graphic record of the site. I apologise if this is just wishful thinking - but is this a new one?

Cheers

Graham

Gled Law - New Find

Hi rock people; I sent a bunch of photos to Jan the other day from my recent wind blasted afternoon on Gled Law near Doddington. To my amazement Jan responded to tell me that he thinks this is a ‘new find’ - which would be remarkable if it turns out to be so. I knew that this entire area has been curry combed for decades - so was not expecting to find anything new- moreover, I could not find any of the large sets of motifs anywhere on Gled Law - it is a very large area, Ended up going to Buttony where I found the main motifs in the wood behind the WWII Pillbox.

As you can see from the photo this is an isolated boulder which sits right on the scarp edge at Gled Law, about 500 yards East of Cuddy’s Cave - on the same contour - more or less. There is a farm vehicle park in the field below with my car in it - which is directly in line with Cuddy’s Cave above it. There are a lot of isolated boulders and rocks on this scarp face but this was was close to an obvious line of ascent. Hope it really is ‘new’. Thanks to Jan for including it on BRAC.

Graham

Motif from Roughting Linn

Hi Rock folk,

As a newcomer to this rock-hunting game I hope you will bear with me while I learn the ropes, acquire the terminology and undoubtedly ‘re-state the obvious’. Thanks to Brian and to Jan for inviting me to contribute to this long established group of very knowledgeable people. OK - about 2 weeks ago I visited Roughting Linn for the first time; this was my first ever visit to a Rock Art site - and I am still recovering from the shock of so much beauty, mystery and ancient culture in a single concentrated spot. The waterfall alone was worth the visit - and the Matthewson brothers - who farm at Roughting Linn were friendly and informative - told me much of the history of the early visits by Stan Beckensall and other academics from Newcastle and Durham universities. I spent an hour photographing the well-documented motifs on the main whaleback - which I then matched against Stan Beckensall’s expert drawings of the site. I was able to match all the motifs I photographed -except one - a small 3 inch motif which Jan characterised as ‘looking like a small swastika’. I thought it looked like an animal figure - but the main point is I can’t find it described in any of the various drawings or photos of the site.

The only photos I took that day were of the main rock and a few general ones of Goat Crag ( I could not find the ‘goat pictograms’) - so I am 99% certain this motif was on the main rock. I am going back again to double check.

Does anybody recognise this?
Borderglider

New Carvings at Achnabreck

Hi Folks,

Thought you might like to see the first images of the new carvings recently found after a storm three weeks ago at Achnabreck. The new carvings are only a short distance from the main carvings, and actually only 1meter from the cycle path that runs near the main carvings at Achnabreck. The carvings are rather faint, perhaps from an earlier period or have been exposed for a long time prior to the tree covering them over until the storm.

                    

 More of the photos will appear on BRAC soon.

Brian

Lurgan-5; another Top-site!

 

Hi Folks,

Today, George Currie sent me another series of photos from the Lurgan-5 site and I was pleasantly surprised (again!). What a stunning variety of motifs and what a exclusive design. As George said, this looks like Perth and Kinross’ Achnabreck. But he had to do a lot of digging and pulling and might well hope for a saw under the three this X-mas.

You are kindly invited to take a look at the collection on BRAC.

Thanks for all the hard labour and the awarding results George!

Hunt for RA in Wales goes on!

From George Nash:

Photos from left to right: Cae Dyni, Cae Dyni Detail, Cist Cerrig (click to enlarge)

In early November 2007 a team from the newly formed Clifton Antiquarian Club investigated several megalithic sites in northwest Wales - Cae Dyni and Cist Cerrig, both near Portmadog. Myself, Abby George, John Swann and Laurie Waite discovered 13 or so cupmarks on an upright belonging to Cae Dyni in 2006 and have confirmed this discovery this year. The site has now been fully recorded. At the Portal Dolmen site of Cist Cerrig, club members discovered further cupmarks, this time located on exposed smooth rock outcropping close to the monument. The celebrated archaeologist, Hemp in the 1930s discovered 15 or so cupmarks as well. The distribution of the cupmarks suggests that a ritualised Neolithic landscape is present (rather than just the site). This phenomena appears to be widespread with a similar distribution found on rock outcropping close to the passage grave of Bryn Celli Ddu in Anglesey. Here, up to 30 cupmarks have been found. The rock-art discoveries from these two sites will be posted later. For further information, go to: The Clifton Antiquarian Club’s website

Adam Stanford and myself are at present investigating several more megalithic sites in the North Wales area where further discoveries have been made. News of these sites will be posted in the New Year. Watch this space.

(The sites on BRAC: Cae Dyni and Cist Cerrig)