Four carved rocks on Blake Hill, 520m NNW of Hill Gill Farm, Baldersdale

Reasons for Designation

Prehistoric rock art is found on natural rock outcrops in many areas of upland Britain. It is especially common in the north of England in Northumberland, Durham and North and West Yorkshire. The most common form of decoration is the `cup and ring' marking where expanses of small cup-like hollows are pecked into the surface of the rock. These cups may be surrounded by one or more `rings'. Single pecked lines extending from the cup through the `rings' may also exist, providing the design with a `tail'. Pecked lines or grooves can also exist in isolation from cup and ring decoration. Other shapes and patterns also occur, but are less frequent. Carvings may occur singly, in small groups, or may cover extensive areas of rock surface. They date to the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age periods (2800-c.500 BC) and provide one of our most important insights into prehistoric `art'. The exact meaning of the designs remains unknown, but they may be interpreted as sacred or religious symbols. Frequently they are found close to contemporary burial monuments and the symbols are also found on portable stones placed directly next to burials or incorporated in burial mounds. Around 800 examples of prehistoric rock-art have been recorded in England. This is unlikely to be a realistic reflection of the number carved in prehistory. Many will have been overgrown or destroyed in activities such as quarrying. All positively identified prehistoric rock art sites exhibiting a significant group of designs will normally be identified as nationally important.

The carvings on the four rocks on Blake Hill survive well and form an important part of the prehistoric landscape on the north side of Baldersdale, which includes other prehistoric carved rocks and evidence of prehistoric land use and settlement.

Details

The monument includes four prehistoric carved rocks on the south brow of Blake Hill in Baldersdale, 520m NNW of Hill Gill Farm. The complexity of the carvings varies; one rock has only one cup, another has several cups, some with rings, and another rock has at least ten cups, two of them joined by grooves. Three of the rocks are well embedded in the ground, with fairly level carved surfaces protruding just 0.15m. The fourth rock, near the centre of the group, is more upright, with a triangular profile. A collection of stones at the base of this rock suggests that it may once have formed part of a small cairn, now almost totally robbed for walling stone.

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

32092

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Other
Beckensall, S and Laurie, T , Prehistoric Rock Art of County Durham Swaledale and Wensleydale, forthcoming
Beckensall, S and Laurie, T , Prehistoric Rock Art of County Durham Swaledale and Wensleydale, forthcoming

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