Rock scribing - folk art

The National Monuments Service's description

Located on a gentle S-facing slope. A piece of rock outcrop in scrub has incised markings forming rectangles and crosses. They were first noted by George V. Du Noyer in 1864 who describes them (1865, 383-4) as covering an area of ‘about 11 feet by nine feet (c. 3.35m x c.2.75m)’ and consisting of small crosses, sometimes within rectangles or kite-shapes, or simple incised lines, some of which he thought might be fresh. Although these might be considered to have been prehistoric in date by Du Noyer and even into the twentieth century by O’Connell (1967, 240-1), they are now known to be fairly recent rock scribing, perhaps even eighteenth century in date. Their precise location was not known until recent research by the Munterconnaught Heritage Society, brought to attention by Pauline Hankin.

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of upload: 3 December 2020

References

O'Connell, P. 1967 The topography of the Lough Ramor region. Part II. Breifne, vol. 3, No. 12, 443-80.

Du Noyer, G. V. 1865 Remarks on a Carved Rock at Ryefiled, County of Cavan. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, vol. 8, 379-85.