What is recorded here

Kilcoe rock art marks a sunny Cork ridge above Roaringwater Bay, preserving a cup-and-ring pattern on rough sandstone while heather and pasture surround it. The clear central cup, narrow ring, nearby cupmark and partial ring suggest deliberate work rather than random weathering. A person may have knelt there in daylight, tracing a boundary between land, sea and memory.

On a partially heather-covered rocky ridge, on a S-facing pasture slope, overlooking Roaringwater Bay. A cup-and-ring motif is visible on the surface of an outcropping rock. Other small depressions on the rock appear to be naturally formed. The above description is derived from 'The Archaeological Inventory of County Cork. Volume 5' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2009). Date of upload: 22 December 2009 In extended garden plot (38m OD), upon a substantial rock outcrop, partially covered in vegetation. Excellent views E->S->W over Roaringwater Bay. Kilcoe Castle is visible c. 800m to SSW. A substantial, very rough and fractured sandstone rock outcrop (dims. 6.20m E-W; 3.50m N-S; max. H 4-5m at S and SW) with a triangular-shaped decorated surface (dims. 0.60m N-S; 0.65m E-W) having a gentle E-facing aspect. The best preserved decorative element is a cup-and-ring motif (overall diam. 20cm; ring Wth 3cm; D 4mm; cup diam. 6cm; D 19mm). A single cupmark (diam. 6cm; D 14mm) is located c. 0.27m to S and a partial ring motif (overall diam. 14cm; ring Wth 3cm; D 3-4m) W->N->E is c. 0.3m to E. Rock art (CO140-082----) is c. 60m to NNW and cupmarked stone (CO140-066----) is c. 280m to SE. Compiled by: Alison McQueen and Vera Rahilly Date of upload: 13 July 2017

Date likely to the Late Neolithic or Early Bronze Age (c. 2500–800 BCE). Cup-and-ring art is generally thought to have ritual or symbolic significance, possibly linked to water, fertility, or territorial markers, though specific meanings remain uncertain.

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