Prehistoric rock art, 150m south west of Nook End

Summary

A rock art panel bearing at least ninety eight cup marks and a complex arrangement of grooves of Neolithic/early Bronze Age date in two distinct groups.

Reasons for Designation

The prehistoric rock art 150m south west of Nook End is scheduled for the following principal reasons:

* Survival: despite susceptibility to natural weathering, it is reasonably well preserved with the survival of large numbers of reasonably well-defined motifs;
* Documentation: ritual and religious sites of Prehistoric Britain are without contemporary documentation and hence the value of the archaeological remains as our only evidence of their belief systems is enhanced;
* Diversity: the majority of motifs are simple cups associated with grooves and the focus on this individual motif at the expense of a wider variety of motifs contributes to its importance;
* Potential: it will inform our knowledge of prehistoric society through individual study of its motifs and carving style, and through an increased understanding of the circumstances in which rock art was created and used;
* Rarity: this rock art panel unusually occurs on an igneous rock surface within the Lake District; it is one of only a handful so far identified in this region, which emphasises its importance;
* Group value: it is considered that the presence of rock art in Great Langdale and its peripheries might have a significant association with the important Prehistoric Langdale Pikes axe quarries, towards which location this panel commands extensive views.

History

The term prehistoric rock art is most commonly applied to a specific style of carvings created in the Neolithic and early Bronze Age (approximately 3800 BC to 1500 BC). This type of carving shares a limited set of motifs, with numerous variations around the main themes, and is found throughout northern Europe in a wide range of contexts, from isolated natural outcrops to burial cairns and standing stones. The most common form of motifs are the simple ‘cup mark’ (a shallow bowl-shaped depression a few centimetres across) and the ‘cup and ring’ (a cup mark surrounded by one or more concentric circular grooves); many carvings also incorporate or are framed within linear grooves. Other shapes and patterns such as keyholes and rosettes also occur, but are less frequent. Motifs may occur singly, in small groups, or may cover extensive areas of rock surface. The exact meaning of the designs remains unknown and a wide range of interpretations have been suggested, but they appear to be abstract and held some unknown, possibly sacred meaning for those who created and observed them. Over 5000 separate rock art sites are known in Britain of which more than half are in England and while some examples do occur further south, they are mainly confined to the upland areas of the north.

It had long been considered that Prehistoric rock art was absent from the Lake District due to the concentration of volcanic rock and to the sheer volume of rock surfaces and their composition, which makes discovery challenging. In 1999 a local resident discovered prehistoric rock art in his private garden at Rooking, carved on exposures of ice smoothed domed outcrops or roches moutonnées. This discovery prompted further discoveries and resulted in finds near Rooking and at Copt Howe in Great Langdale and subsequently a further eight panels in central Lakeland. It is considered that the presence of rock art in Great Langdale and its peripheries might have an association with the Langdale Pikes axe quarries. This prehistoric rock art panel was is one of those recently discovered.

Details

PRINCIPAL ELEMENTS: a rock art panel bearing at least ninety eight cup marks and a complex arrangement of grooves of Neolithic/early Bronze Age date in two distinct groups.

DESCRIPTION: the rock art is formed on the top surface of an ice-smoothed domed outcrop of the igneous Borrowdale Volcanic Group (BVG); this outcrop has been extensively quarried to the south. The outcrop commands extensive views in all directions, but especially to the west towards the Langdale Pikes axe quarries and to the south west across Lake Windermere. The panel measures about 20m east to west and 20m north to south and bears two groupings of motifs: the first comprises at least ninety cupmarks of which three are oval-shaped and two form a dumbbell motif. The cups are associated by a complex arrangement of groves, some linking cups and others enclosing cups or groups of cups and some linked by serpentine grooves. The second and smaller group lie immediately to the west on the same outcrop and comprise a single cupmark and a small cluster of seven cupmarks.

EXTENT OF SCHEDULING: this is defined as a circle with a radius of 12.5m in order to fully capture the extent of the known rock art and to include a sample of the archaeologically sensitive surrounding ground. The wooden fence poles which cross the monument are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath these features is included.

Sources

Books and journals
Beckensall, S, Cumbrian Prehistoric Rock Art: Symbols, Monument & Landscapes, (1992)
Brown, Paul, Brown, Barbara, Prehistoric Rock Art in the Northern Dales, (2008)

Other
Brown, P & B, 'Further Discoveries of Prehistoric Rock Art in Central Lakeland' in CWAAS Newsletter 77; Autumn 2014

End of official list entry

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