Hob

This is just about viewable from the path to the main concentration of stones. It’s next to a modern memorial stone, the latter placed in memory of a fella who evidently loved the moor. Nice to think he’s sort of joined the ancestral landscape in a way. Shame about the wooden fence erected around the modern thing detracts from the solitary ambience of the ancient stone, but a few thousand years of weathering may take care of that.

The old stone seems very much a solitary affair, and I certaintly couldn’t see any trace of the remains of a circle which was once alleged to be here.

You can’t easily see this one when the bracken is up. It peeks out, barely visible, and even up close, it’s almost impossible to make out anything beyond the upright stones. It seems to be one of a couple of remnants that mark the start of the megalithic patch of the moor, possibly, being closer to the road, it’s been more prone to having bits nicked than have the monuments further into the moor.

But it’s not far from the track, so it’s worth checking, albeit briefly in my case.

Access for wheelchairs/buggies isn’t all that bad (if you can avoid the presents left by the sheep) until you’re nearly at the good bit. Then it’s ruined by an awkward gate thing, which in our case involved some lifting over a wire topped fence. You don’t half get a lot of old rocks for the effort though.

I was slightly saddened to see that a crude symbol had been hastily scratched into the lichen on one of the stones, it didn’t look deep enough to have done much damage to the actual stone itself.

Couldn’t figure out what was going on with the things that look like abandoned millstones. We spent a good couple of hours mooching about, but still felt like we needed twice that amount of time, there’s just so much to see.

The new improved access Rhiannon mentions above seems to be a great improvement.

There is now a small sign on the road heading east out of the village, it’s only about A4, and is almost obscured by a hedge, but it’s there, and it shows the permitted route. The last bit is still through crops, following the tractor tyre gaps. Not exactly easy for wheeled contrivances such as buggies and wheelchairs, more’s the pity. We did manage to get a big 3-wheeler buggy up there though.

The area around the stones is now crop-free, so future plough damage is likely to be nil.

On the down side, someone had deposited a can of beer in one of th grooves of the northernmost stone. Unusual form of ‘offering’, but compared to the usual dried wildflowers, at least it seems to have a bit more of an element of genuinely sacrificing something treasued by the offeree.

I wouldn’t care to comment on the structural aspects of this site, I know nowt of chambered cairns, and this seems to be a fairly non-standard, complex one.

What I can say is that it’s easy to get to, and it’s worth a quick wander about the immediate vicinity, as there are traces of features lurking in the long-grass.

A patch of overgown outcrop about 2m from the road. It’s just by the steam, directly below the telegraph pole. I spotted 2 sets of carvings, quite clear they are too. Only got pics of the top one on the flat the other is below it, to the left as you’re looking towards the road. It surprised me to see a cup with 5 rings, yet the overall diameter was only about 30cm. Quite a tightly executed bit of rock art, precision stuff, very discrete. Especially when compared to the larger, more easily visible 5 ring motifs that exist in Northumberland and Argyll. They’re so neatly done, I couldn’t quite convince myself that they weren’t incised, rather than pecked.

It’s almost in a different ‘tradition’ entirely. Made me think about the theories that RA was intended for a limited audience, and that needing to know the location of a panel was an integral part of the meaning of the things. Allegedly, the more complex a motif, the smaller the intended/permitted audience.

The Ordnance Survey and Garmin have seriously undermined that aspect of these enigmatic carvings, but even with the internet adding to this effect (NX 6033 4836), ‘limited audience’ is probably still quite applicable. I reckon it’s just nice to know they’re still where they’ve always been, even after all these years.

It’s a proper subliminal CnR this one is.

Just down from Kirkudbright, on the west side of the bay, there’s a line of rock art sites, and this is the southern end of the line, the closest to the sea. Supposedly proximity/views of the sea is an important factor with the RA in this neck of the woods.

I couldn’t sea the coast from here, but it’s such a tiny, ‘blink-and-you-miss-it’ motif, amidst oodles of likely looking outcrops, so it was tempting to think that this may just be the tip of the iceberg, and that more impressive panels would be found in the higher areas with wider views. But I did’nt get to check the other nearby stones, so I couldn’t comment.

There’s a sort of sheepfoldy/storage thing where it’s possible to park, and the stone is flushwith the ground, so easy to miss. It’s near a more conspicuous natural outcrop with a possible cup mark.

Strange anomaly in one of the stones here. It has a sort of ‘hole’ in its surface, revealing a chunk of crystally quartzy stuff. It tempted me to wonder if the whole stone was a big chunk of quartz, with a layer of something else covering the crystal. Admittedly not very likely, but an entertaining thought to mull over whilst moping about the stones in the pouring rain.

Couldn’t help but wish the HS enclosure fence was a bit larger, the poor stones seemed to be a bit hemmed in. But at least they’re being looked after.

If it wasn’t for the gate, wheelchair access would be a doddle, being as it is, right next to the road.

The main motif is clear enough, but the others are rather faint. It’s north facing position isn’t exactly the best to show up the fainter carvings, as it looks as if it’s usually in the shadow of the building.

It’s worth a visit, as the centre has a nice little exhibition of local finds, not many, but recompense for this exists in the form of the various informative video screens detailing the heritage of the valley, with a strong emphasis on archaeology. It’s a good spot to start from if you want to explore the high density of reasonably well preserved prehistoric settlement nearby. Also a good spot to pick up a replica bronze age pot, should you like such things.