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Cup-and-ring-marked stone at Down is a Bronze Age rock art monument comprising a natural wacke stone from the Hawick Group bedrock that outcrops across this landscape. The stone bears the characteristic cup-shaped depressions surrounded by concentric rings that define this class of prehistoric rock art, most commonly found in upland regions of northern Britain and Ireland. The monument sits upon the exposed Wenlock wacke geology that forms the bedrock of the Down area, providing a naturally prominent stone surface that Bronze Age communities selected for marking.
The purpose of cup-and-ring motifs remains debated among archaeologists, with interpretations ranging from territorial or ritual significance to shamanistic or astronomical markers. The concentration of such carvings in upland zones suggests they held particular meaning within Bronze Age settlement and land-use patterns, possibly marking important meeting places, routes or ceremonial sites. The modest scale of individual carvings contrasts with the labour required to produce them using stone or bone tools.
The monument is protected by the Historic Environment Division of Northern Ireland under designation 7883, reflecting its archaeological significance as evidence of Bronze Age artistic and cultural practice. The survival of the carved surface depends upon the durability of the wacke stone itself, though weathering and lichen growth gradually obscure the fine details that once marked this ancient work.
Cup-&-ring-marked stone is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 7883. View the official record →
Cup-and-ring-marked stone at Down is a Bronze Age rock art monument comprising a natural wacke stone from the Hawick Group bedrock that outcrops across this landscape. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) under reference 7883.
Cup-&-ring-marked stone dates from the bronze age period, and is classified as a cup-&-ring-marked stone. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Cup-&-ring-marked 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 7883.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Tower-house (7.8 km), Corbelled pig crew (8.3 km), Souterrain (8.5 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Cup-&-ring-marked 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 stone stands on Hawick Group, bedrock that formed in the Wenlock. The rock here is wacke.