The Modern Antiquarian. Stone Circles, Ancient Sites, Neolithic Monuments, Ancient Monuments, Prehistoric Sites, Megalithic MysteriesThe Modern Antiquarian

Crummock

Cup Marked Stone

Fieldnotes

If you are arriving at this site by car, you will probably find parking a problem. The lanes are very narrow so don't mistake a passing point for a parking space. There is a carpark at the pub in Loweswater village, this is for customers only. I guess it's worth the price of a pint to park your car.
To reach the site walk along the lane from the village to the lake and cross over the small bridge. There is a footpath along the stream, it's a bit muddy and pot holey and quite narrow in parts so may not be suitable for everyone. Once through the gate the path opens out into a large meadow and the carved outcrop is on your right, it's a massive lump of rock and quite difficult to miss.
I visited on a wet, gloomy and extremely windy, autumn day and walking into the field was like opening a door into a howling gale. The wind being funnelled between the fells and along the lake straight at me. It was that bitterly cold kind of wind that makes your teeth hurt.

The rock outcrop is beautiful, it's one of those places that makes you work a little bit for what you want. The carvings are all in the form of cupmarks but due to the nature of the rock and the lack of contrasting sunlight, they were not that obvious at first but once you get your eye in, you start to notice the buggers everywhere.
Once you've figured out the carvings just take a step back and look at the landscape, it's breath taking. The high fells and lake frame this site beautifully.
It's also worth having a look around the immediate area of the outcrop. There seems to be an enclosure of sorts running behing the outcrop and the modern stone wall. There are also two upright stones and a sunken trackway in front of the outcrop. A little further down the path towards the lake is a mound upon which a Peel once stood. I would imagine that the stones, trackway and enclosure may be contemporary with the Peel, but you never know.
Cumbrian rock art is a fairly rare commodity but this site has parallels with the carved panels at Beckstones in Patterdale.
fitzcoraldo Posted by fitzcoraldo
7th January 2006ce

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