No. 5. Craigmaddie Muir, Strathblane.-On the day of my visit, in the company of Mr Callander and Mr Mann, to examine the great Stones called The Auld Wives' Lifts, we observed numerous flat surfaces of the sandstone cropping out among the heather. At a point some 300 yards nearly due south of The Auld Wives' Lifts, I found the group of six 19723456 7 8 9 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 INCHES Fig. 25. Cup-marked Stone at Arngask, near Glenfarg. small but distinct cup-marks shown in fig. 25. We carefully measured them, and the drawing shows a disposition of cups in pairs equidistant, forming a group which is, I think, quite unlike any other hitherto noticed. The cups in each group are 13 inches apart, measured between their centres. Three of them, also, are 39 inches apart, measured in the same way. They are all 2 inches in diameter and not over inch in depth. 1 See Proceedings, vol. xxxvi. p. 218, for a group somewhat similar. No. 6. Arngask, Glenfarg, Perthshire.—The small Stone bearing the very clear and well-made cups shown in the next illustration (fig. 26) was brought to my notice by Dr Mungle of Kinross during the summer of 1905. How long before that it may have been known, I cannot state; but it was some time ago built into the east wall of the churchyard, not many feet to the south of the gate. The Stone is an oblong block of blue whin, measuring 18 by 13 inches. It contains sixteen plain cups which vary in diameter from 3 inches to 1, and are all deep and neatly executed. 1 No. 7. Kirkmuir, Kirkdale, Stewartry of Kirkcudbright.—In a former paper I put on record, through the readily afforded help of Mr Adam. Birrell of the Creetown Salmon Fishings, a fine group of cup- and ringmarks found on Cambret Moor, Kirkmabreck. In July 1903 a notice occurred in The Kirkcudbrightshire Advertiser, of which I give the following abridgment: Another interesting group of cup- and ring-markings has been discovered on Kirkmuir, near Kirkdale. Mr Robert Wilson, Cairnholy, made the discovery this spring. They are situated in a field midway between Cairnholy 2 and Kirkdale old churchyard. The plough was the first to unearth them, as they were just six inches below the surface; and on further investigation were found to consist of fourteen finely cut cups round two of which are the usual ring-marks. The writer then goes on to note the various localities in the Kirkmabreck district where cup-marked stones or rocks are to be seen. These are at Ringdow, near Mossyard, at Lagganmullen, at Cauldside (on Cairnharrow), at Cambret,3 on Glenquicken Muir, at Bardristane, and at Cardoness. 1 Proceedings, vol. xxxvii. p. 219, and xxxiii. p. 369. 2 Cairnholy and its adjacent lands are specially interesting. See Proceedings, vol. xxiii. p. 151, and The Reliquary, vol. iii., No. 14, p. 8. 3 This Cambret sculpturing, which consists of a fine group of seven concentric rings enclosing a central cup, may quite possibly be the stone described so long ago by Rev. Andrew Symson as the "stone that hath on it that draught commonly called the walls of Troy" (s (see Proceedings, xxxiii. p. 369). No. 8. Monreith, Mochrum, Wigtownshire.-In a recently published brochure from the versatile pen of Mr Andrew Lang, there occurs the following brief notice : : "I have seen the archaic patterns of concentric circles and fish spines (or whatever we call the medial line with slanting side lines) neatly designed in white on the flagstones in front of cottage doors in Galloway. The cottagers dwelt near the rocks with similar patterns on the estate of Monreith." Under the impression that the rocks at Monreith with concentric rings, etc., had never been recorded, I at once, on reading the above passage, wrote to Sir Herbert Maxwell. His reply was to the following effect :— "There are several (four)2 cup- and ring-marked rocks on this estate, most of which I caused the Ordnance surveyors to mark on their latest maps. One rock, a glaciated surface of Lower Silurian, within a mile of this house, bears a very extensive group. The road-surveyor began quarrying for road-metal there some years ago, and brought me word of the sculptures, which he found upon stripping the turf. I stopped the destruction, and had the rock scheduled as an ancient monument. The remainder of the turf has never been removed, so I do not know how far the carvings extend. There are three large monoliths in the next field, 9 and 10 feet high. The place is called Drumtrodden = Druimtrodain, "The ridge of strife." = This discovery, and the prompt action taken by Sir Herbert Maxwell towards the preservation of the sculptured rock, occurred so long ago as 1883. Three years later an account of some of these sculptured surfaces appeared in The Galloway Gazette, accompanied by (so far as I recollect) only one illustration. This was described and reproduced 3 in my last notice of Cup- and Ring-marks. In another letter Sir Herbert Maxwell names four other farm-lands as having rock-sculptures. These are: Barwinnock, Balcraig, Knock, and Blairbuy. Of none of these have we as yet any record whatsoever. 1 The Clyde Mystery, p. 93. 2 Five, in reality, as will be seen later on. III. THE CEMETERY OF NUNRAW, EAST LOTHIAN. BY THE HON. During the process of ploughing a field on the property of Col. W. W. Gray of Nunraw, in the parish of Garvald, East Lothian, a cemetery was brought to light. The field lies on the top of the right bank of the burn which flows past the village of Garvald, and is exactly opposite it (fig. 1). I made my first visit on 21st December 1903, and again in company with Mr Pirrie, assistant-demonstrator to Professor Cunningham, on 23rd February 1904. As the weather was very inclement on both occasions, I am indebted to Mr James Boucher, schoolmaster in Garvald, for the use of his notes in addition to my own. Altogether twenty-four graves were discovered, lying in five rows from 9 to 10 feet apart. These graves consisted of stone cists constructed of thin slabs of red sandstone. In nearly every case the covering-stones had been broken by the ploughshare in previous ploughings and had been removed, as they lay only a few inches below the surface. The long sides, the covering and the paved floor of the cists, were formed of two slabs each, and the short ends of a single slab (fig. 2). The form of the cist was not always a parallelogram, but was sometimes coffin-shaped. Some of the measurements were 6 feet by 15 inches; 5 feet 2 inches long by 14 inches wide at the head and 10 inches at the foot, but 17 inches at the widest part; 6 feet long by 12 inches at the head, 9 inches at the foot, and 17 inches at the widest part; 5 feet 3 inches long by 18 inches at the head and 12 inches at the foot; 5 feet 9 inches long by 14 inches at the head, 13 inches at the foot, and 8 inches deep. |