According to Colin Richardson, this cup marked stone is thought to have once been upright, and accumulated cairn material about it’s base afterwards. Presumably this material was removed during the excavation. Dating was inconclusive, though the usual late Neolithic/early bronze age period was assumed.
Excavations on a cup-&-ring marked boulder on Tortie Hill.
(Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian & Archaeological Society, 92, 1992, 7–11, ISSN 0309-7986):
I discovered the stone in January 1987. It was a crisp frosty day and as I walked down the track to catch a bus the sun was bouncing from the frosty surface and even from the track it seemed to highlight the carvings. I climbed over the wall (less hazardous than paddling through the mud at the gate) and leapt around shouting with delight when my suspicions were proved correct.
I'd missed the bus, so I went back home and phoned Tullie House and the tenant farmer. The stone had not been reported before. I would really have appreciated it being called the 'Jennifer stone' but can accept that 'Tortie' has a more authentic archaeological ring to it!
I'm very proud of 'my' stone. It was my 15 minutes of fame.