What is recorded here

Aoibheann Lambe identified the site in 2015 on a NE-facing slope above River Behy valley. A fractured sandstone boulder holds five cupmarks and a small pickmark cluster, split by a deep east-west fissure that separates the northern and southern groups. A roofless drystone house sits forty metres to the northeast, suggesting people once lived beside this marked stone. The cups may have measured water, marked territory, or simply recorded that someone stood here, looked across the valley, and made the rock remember them.

This monument was initially identified as rock art by Aoibheann Lambe in 2015. In rough pasture (174m), on a NE-facing slope, overlooking River Behy valley to NE and overlooked by mountain landscape SE->W->NW. Rock art site is situated on S edge of a broad, linear concentration (long-axis c. E-W) of rock outcrop and boulders. Smooth and fractured sandstone boulder (dims. 1.20m E-W, 0.92m N-S, max. H 0.7m) having a rectangular decorated surface (dims. 0.75m E-W, 0.75m N-S) with a S-facing aspect. A deep fracture/fissure (long-axis E-W; Wth 10cm) divides the stone into two separate pieces. There are two cupmarks (diam. 5cm; D 5-8mm) on the N portion of stone. A short linear groove (dims. L 5cm NE-SW; Wth 1cm; D 5mm) is located 14cm to W of the eastern cupmark. Three cupmarks (diam. 4-6cm; D 4-15mm) are located upon the S portion of stone. A small cluster of pickmarks (dims. L 10cm NW-SE; 3cm NE-SW; D 3mm) is located in the area between the three cupmarks. The pickmark cluster appears weathered at the SE end, where there is a natural hollow. Roofless ruin of drystone house is located c. 40m to NE. Compiled by: Alison McQueen and Vera Rahilly Date of upload: 5 July 2017

Likely dating to the Neolithic or Bronze Age, this rock art may have held ritual or symbolic significance, possibly linked to the surrounding landscape or watercourse. Its meaning remains undeciphered, but such art often reflected spiritual beliefs or territorial markers in prehistoric communities.

The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.