Re: Rowtor Rocks, it's all fake | Forum

Rowtor Rocks 3

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Rowtor Rocks, it's all fake

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megadread Dec 15, 2009 23:57:13

Replying to tiompan

tiompan wrote:

megadread wrote:

baza wrote:

megadread wrote:

Ah, but if Mr Eyre had an interest in all things rocky couldn't he have seen such designs himself before and copied them for the benefit of his friends whom it's said he took up there to entertain.
I just find it strange that Rowtor is full of "art" and it's neighbour just a couple of hundred yards away apparently has nothing, Eyre did live by the bottom or Row-tor, very conveniently for him.

Derbys. hasn't got a lot of rock art; it only occurs in a few places, as far as I know.
Rowtor is hardly full of the stuff, and there's only one motif which could be described as prominent.
There is a nice little group of classic cup and rings which really look genuine. Is there another example anywhere which the rev could have got inspiration from?

I think they must be prehistoric. The only doubt that could cross my mind is the case of the cross within the circle.

Well there's several groups of cup marks, the 3 cup and rings, 2 "serpent" designs and the "flower" motif.
It's the placing of them too, especially the flower motif very conveniently placed just below the path and right next to some of Eyres larger carvings.

As for the other examples he might have seen, i didn't mean ones he might have seen in the area though i'm not sure as to how well travelled he was.

I've never visited but judging by the pics have to agree Geoff they do look dodgy .

Well i guess we'll never know for certain will we unless someone comes up with a new technique to verify the antiquity of them, dunno how they'd achieve that though.

Baza, think about it the opposite way, why is it Rowtor rocks had a relatively dense concentration and the immediate area has nothing similar for Eyre to have copied them from. ?
There's something fishy methinks, though i'd love to be proved wrong of course.

Hob Dec 16, 2009 00:53:56

Replying to megadread

Apologies to Baz for jumping in at a question directed to him, but I've got to point out that up in the RA zone of Northumberland, it's common to find areas which cry out for RA to be totally free of the things, even though there are other BA bits and bobs nearby. Often, it's the parts with the funny rock formations that are suspiciously free from adornment, which has led some to postulate that these areas were so special it was deemed inappropriate to carve upon them. Of course this is total speculation, and even if true wouldn't help much in supporting the idea of a prehistoric provenance for the Rowtor carvings.

I can't easily buy the idea that Rev. Eyre would have decided to put Irish Passage grave inspired carvings on an open air site in Derbyshire, but I guess it is theoretically possible. Then I wonder why if they are modern(ish) they look like they were pecked with a fairly blunt tool, not the kind of thing I'd associate with people who use iron tools, which anyone trying to implicate Druids in the 18thC would have probably used, as I am under the impression that even proto-druid-revivalists would have imagined something a bit more like the Rocky Valley carvings at Tintagel. But that's all just me filtering the stuff through my own bias. I loved Rowtor, didn't get to spend anywhere near enough time there.

On the subject of the strangeness of the larger motif, it had crossed my mind that the thing looks a bit like a flower with a cross. Like a rose and a cross? Rosy-cross - Rosicrucian. But I honestly can't place Rosicrucians in any sort of meaningful timeframe. When were they kicking about? And would they have carved something crudely onto a rock?