Rock art (present location) in Ballyduff

It consists of an uprooted granite boulder, to the rear of a derelict farmhouse. The fields here have been cleared and improved in relatively recent years and it is likely that the boulder was moved to its present position from a location nearby, most likely from the north where the ground rises. The location comprises a south facing slope of a ridge. To the east there is a view of the Ballyduff Pass, whereas the views of the mountains to the south and southwest are blocked by the mature trees that surround the adjacent farmhouse. This large boulder measures 1.9m x 1.6m (max) across, and 1.3m high. It is clear that this was originally an earthfast boulder whereby the majority of the stone was buried below the surface. One end of the top surface of the stone is undecorated, which may indicate that this portion of the stone never protruded above the ground surface. Instead, the decoration is concentrated on the remaining two-thirds of the upper surface and comprises a dense collection of at least 40 shallow cup marks averaging 3cm to 4cm across. Many of the cups appear to be arranged in pairs and in one or two instances are conjoined. Roughly central within decorated area is a shallow borehole, which may indicate an abortive attempt to split the stone in modern times. The cup marks have been quite significantly weathered, but there are no obvious traces of rings that once enclosed any of the cup marks, and given the density of the decoration, it is possible that none of the cup marks were originally enclosed. At corner is a triangular formation of quartz veins, and within the triangular space appear to be traces of 5 cup marks and a short groove. WI018-053----_01.jpg and WI018-053----_02.jpg show the rock art on the boulder (Photographs: Christiaan Corlett). Compiled by: Christiaan Corlett Date of upload: 24 September 2014