
RockRich tries to see the very faint carvings. The one visible at the base of the rock was hidden under the turf and made a nice hemisphere of roots and peat as we peeled it away. We put it back after pic taking, of course.
RockRich tries to see the very faint carvings. The one visible at the base of the rock was hidden under the turf and made a nice hemisphere of roots and peat as we peeled it away. We put it back after pic taking, of course.
Odd thing this. It appears to be a large rock that’s been shot at! On closer inspection, there are also some more weathered markings that *may* be cups. It’s about half-way between the former site of Bradup circle and the plantation at Rivock. Check it out and see what you think...
The large boulder on the eastern boundary of the conifer plantation. Looking south(ish), showing detail of the carvings with a walking pole for a sense of scale. Grid ref: SE 08142 44875.
A pair of carved rocks, Rivock Edge.
Cup marks on upper surface of rock now used as a boundary stone in plantation wall.
Rock with a single cup mark on it’s vertical face.
Cup marked rock at Rivock.
Carved rock, taken from about 12 feet up a tree! Grid ref; SE 075 445
Close up detail of cup-and-ring marked rock. Rivock Edge plantation.
A row of three cups. Grid ref; SE 074 446 approx.
At least fourteen cups on this one!
Much of what is here is poorly accessible due to the thick forestry plantation, but as the woodland is up for sale, the trees may be harvested soon. A few rocks exist in the heather nearby and a large boulder (now a boundary stone) set into the wall bears dozens of cup marks on its upper surface.
Rivock – Probabley Old English for ‘Riven Oak’.
At first this area gave me little inspiration to explore. Over the years I’d made a few trips through the barren interior of the plantation there. It always seemed a dead and forbidding place, so it was with little enthusiasm that we undertook a trip to search for the many cup-and-ring marked rocks we’d heard were there...
The entire wood is private land with one bridleway running through and one footpath that ends at the boundary! The only way to find anything is to accidentally wander off the paths and be ‘lost’!
Of course, I’d never advocate trespassing!
Within the plantation are lots of cup-and-ring marked rocks. Unfortunately they are covered in 30 years of conifer needles and accumulated dross!
It’s slow-going going crawling about on all fours, searching for the stones and scraping away the earth to see if there’s any carvings... fun though!
We only found a few during an entire afternoon – have to get ‘lost’ up there again soon...
There’s also the curious ‘Rivock Oven’; a sort of ‘chamber’ of rock with a chimney. And the Rivock Well. And probabley more that we haven’t found yet...
Apart from irate landowners, beware of the floating ‘hooded figures’ seen there in 1998 by council countryside workers who were resurfacing the bridleway! (Maybe they were the ‘Genii Cucullati’?!)