Deaconsbank Golf Course
Thornliebank, Renfrewshire
Cup and Ring Marks; Millstone Quarry; Dovecot Canmore HES

At the southern end of Deaconsbank Golf Course, close to the railway, is a stone dovecot (possibly 16th century).

A few metres east of the dovecot is an outcrop of sandstone. There are five round basins carved into the upper surface, each about 1 metre across, from which millstones were quarried. There's a record of a nearby grain mill from the 1500s - it seems not unreasonable that the millstones were for that mill.

Around each basin are carved a number of notches where wedges could be driven in to remove the millstones. One of these notches, at the west end of the outcrop, cuts right through a pair of concentric rings and also removed the presumed central cup mark. The outer ring is about 30cm across.

There are lots of tooling marks at the east end of the outcrop where more quarrying has occurred. There's record of further cup and rings at the east edge, but I could find no signs of it - if it still exists it may be under the turf there.

Images ©2019 Martin McCarthy, Theasis Photography

Nearby Sites

0km Rouken Glen Cup and Ring Marks
3km Corkerhill Golf Course Barrow
4km Pollock Ring Work Iron Age Fort; Hillfort
5km Crookston Castle Castle
5km Carlin Crags Cup Marks
8km Covenanters Stones Stone Circle
8km Moyne Moor Cist; Cairns; Stone Setting
11km Craigston Wood Cup and Ring Carvings
14km Bearsden Bathhouse Roman Fort
14km Bothwell Castle Castle
16km Whitehill Cup and Ring Marks
17km Castle Semple Collegiate Church Church
18km Auld Wives Lifts Carved Stone; Celtic Heads
20km Craigenkirn Long Cairn? Modern Ruin? A combination?
(NB: All distances are as-the-crow-flies. Lochs, mountains and beautiful winding roads will make it further. Sometimes much further.)