As the sun was setting - coincidentally - I got the rock into a tub and gave it a good rinse - found a pristine carved groove clogged with mud down one side. The rock's slowly drying now and seems a complete item rather than a broken off bit. It's been inside a drystone wall for a few centuries and this must have preserved it from both abrasion and frost damage. It's odd to consider all the speculation that its carved design is going to receive. It'll get called something. (Suggestions please).

The Blocking Stone, from Kirkhaugh, will be next in but will need a wheelbarrow - and Fat Dudley's Bedford Rascal. The UK Art establishment doesn't admit aboriginal art - so it's a 'heritage' item only - and this is badly wrong. It's sculpture first (and that new groove is disturbing) and antique second ! In Art History it's Barbara Hepworth credited with inventing the hole and of passing it on to Henry Moore - but we all know it's really indigenous and ancient ...

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