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Drumtroddan cup marked rocks are a Bronze Age rock art site located in Wigtownshire, south-western Scotland. The monuments comprise naturally exposed bedrock of the Hawick Group, a Silurian wacke formation that provided the canvas for their creation. The rocks bear multiple cup marks—shallow, roughly circular depressions pecked into the stone surface—a form of prehistoric rock art that appears across Britain and Ireland from the late Neolithic through Bronze Age periods.
Cup marked rocks typically occur on exposed outcrops in upland and moorland settings, and their precise ritual or territorial significance remains uncertain. The marks at Drumtroddan were created by repeated striking with stone tools, a labour-intensive process suggesting they held considerable importance for the prehistoric communities of this region. Such sites may have served as places of gathering, ceremonial activity or territorial markers.
The monument is protected by Historic Environment Scotland under scheduled monument reference SM90101. The survival of these rock carvings depends entirely upon the durability of the local stone and the weathering conditions of the upland landscape. Drumtroddan remains an important example of Wigtownshire's Bronze Age heritage and contributes to the archaeological record of prehistoric artistic expression in south-western Scotland.
Drumtroddan, cup marked rocks is a scheduled monument protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM90101. View the official record →
Drumtroddan cup marked rocks are a Bronze Age rock art site located in Wigtownshire, south-western Scotland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM90101.
Drumtroddan, cup marked rocks is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, legally protected by Historic Environment Scotland — the body responsible for designating and safeguarding heritage sites in Scotland. The official designation reference is SM90101.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Drumtroddan,three standing stones SE of High Park Plantation (0.5 km), Myrton Castle,tower,Monreith Park (1.4 km), Big Balcraig,cup and ring marked rocks 650m WNW of and 600m NNW of (1.6 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Drumtroddan, cup marked rocks'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.
Drumtroddan, cup marked rocks stands on Hawick Group, bedrock that formed in the Wenlock. The rock here is wacke.