Whenever you look for rock art you never know what you're going to find. Often you never know if you are going to find anything at all. I was reassured that the stone stil existed when I asked a local lady for directions and she pointed me in the direction of the stone.
When I first saw it I dismissed it, because it's a low, rough stone from the direction you first see it from. However, the west face, although not very big, is almost vertical and has two panels. One of the panels has a singlle cup-and-ring motif that has two rings and a faint gutter. The larger cared surface is very different. It has three cup-and-rings, all with two rings. It also has a complex series of interlinking lines that form a network of connecting boxes. Although covered in lichen, you can even make out some of the peccking marks in the lines.
I've never seen anything like this before and it's wonderful.
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This is an explanation of (and a bit of a disclaimer for) the coordinates I provide. Where a GPS figure is given this is the master for all other coordinates. According to my Garmin these are quite accurate. Where there is no GPS figure the 6 figure grid reference is master for the others. This may not be very accurate as it could have come from the OS maps and could have been read by eye. Consequently, all other cordinates are going to have inaccuracies. The calculation of Longitude and Latitude uses an algorithm that is not 100% accurate. The long/lat figures are used as a basis for calculating the UTM & ITM coordinates. Consequently, UTM & ITM coordinates are slightly out. UTM is a global coordinate system - Universal Transverse Mercator - that is at the core of the GPS system. ITM is the new coordinate system - Irish Transverse Mercator - that is more accurate and more GPS friendly than the Irish Grid Reference system. This will be used on the next generation of Irish OS maps. |