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Banbridge Cup-and-Ring Stone is a prehistoric standing stone bearing a distinctive pattern of carved cup-and-ring marks. Located in County Down, it stands within landscape underlain by Gala Group wacke of Telychian age, sedimentary bedrock typical of this region. The monument is protected by the Historic Environment Division under reference 7453.
The carved decoration consists of cupmarks—small, rounded depressions—surrounded by concentric rings pecked or ground into the stone's surface. Such markings are characteristic of Bronze Age rock art in the British Isles, though their precise purpose remains uncertain. They may have held ritual, territorial or astronomical significance to prehistoric peoples. Cup-and-ring marked stones are distributed across upland and marginal areas, often positioned as solitary standing stones in the landscape.
This example represents a valuable record of Bronze Age artistic expression and cultural practice in the Irish landscape. The stone's survival in situ provides evidence of the region's prehistoric inhabitation and the continuation of Neolithic artistic traditions into the metal-working periods. Such decorated standing stones contribute to understanding prehistoric settlement patterns and the cultural values of those who marked the stone and maintained its position in the landscape.
Cup-&-ring-marked standing stone is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 7453. View the official record →
Banbridge Cup-and-Ring Stone is a prehistoric standing stone bearing a distinctive pattern of carved cup-and-ring marks. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) under reference 7453.
Cup-&-ring-marked standing stone dates from the prehistoric period, and is classified as a standing stone. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Cup-&-ring-marked standing stone is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, legally protected by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) — the body responsible for designating and safeguarding heritage sites in Ni. The official designation reference is 7453.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Cashel (5.5 km), Standing stone (6.7 km), Rath (7.2 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Cup-&-ring-marked standing stone's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Cup-&-ring-marked standing stone stands on Gala Group, bedrock that formed in the Telychian. The rock here is wacke.