Thank you for your e-mail of 16 September 2003 regarding the rock carvings at Ballochmyle Walls, East Ayrshire. As the Assistant Inspector of Ancient Monuments dealing with field monuments in Ayrshire, your e-mail was forwarded to me. Please accept my apologies for the lengthy delay in responding. This delay is partly due to the time it has taken to visit and research the history of the site.
As you are probably aware, the carvings at Ballochmyle are a scheduled ancient monument and as such, are afforded statutory protection under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. However, the carvings are not owned or managed by Historic Scotland, and although Historic Scotland can offer advice to owners, direct management of the carvings is not within Historic Scotland's remit.
Historic Scotland employs a number of Monuments Wardens who visit all scheduled ancient monuments to record their condition, usually on a 5-7 year cycle. The carvings at Ballochmyle were last visited by our Monuments Warden for East Ayrshire in February 2002, and, prompted by your e-mail, another colleague visited the carvings in late 2003. Based on these two visits and regular monitoring of the carvings by Historic Scotland since 1989, it appears that although one or two of the modern carvings seem to have been added within the last five years, the majority were created in the 1980s. Consequently, there appears to be little direct evidence of ongoing damage to the carvings. However, given the vulnerable nature of the carvings, I will be asking our Monuments Warden for East Ayrshire to visit the site annually to ensure that the condition of the carvings can be monitored closely.
I should add that I have had a good look at the Modern Antiquarian website, and I have been impressed by the quality of many of the written and photographic records it contains. It is reassuring to see that so many people take an active interest in Scotland's archaeological monuments and their condition, and would like to thank you for your assistance in this matter.
 Reply | with quote | Posted by TomBo
5th February 2004ce
14:18 |
|
Head To Head 
Historic Scotland (TomBo)