home
/ heritage alerts
/ ballochmyle
Ballochmyle,
Ayrshire
Iron age Rock Art. OS reference NS511255
Message from Brian Kerr
If we do not do something to look after this site, it will be gone within 10 or 15 years. The site is under constant threat from damage from various sources, so please let's try and save this so important and beautiful site.
Ballochmyle (Credit Martin McCarthy)
Heritage
Action's report
by Andy Sweet (Scottish Site Inspector) andy.sweet@heritageaction.org
Being in a secluded spot close to the main road and not far from surrounding villages, Ballochmyle is a popular hangout for local teenagers. As such, the extensive collection of rock art spread across a vertical rock face has suffered from vandalism. Names have been carved into the rock, and paint and wax applied to the carvings.
Possibly a greater threat to the carvings is exposure to the elements since the site was rediscovered in 1986 by Bert Liddell of the Catrine and Sorn local history group. Extensive vegetation, which hid the site for many years, was stripped back to reveal the full extent of the carvings. The result has been a marked acceleration in the deterioration of the condition of the carvings.
Historic Scotland don't own or manage the site, as it is privately owned, but it is protected by the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.
Ballochmyle's history
Archaeologists believe that the carvings are at least 3500 years old, and may be up to 5000 years old. They are unusual in that they are cut on a vertical rock wall rather than a horizontal surface. There are two large concentrations of cup-and-ring markings.
Heritage Action's recommendations
It is difficult to know exactly what should be done to protect this site. The stripping back of vegetation in 1986 and again in 1989 has surely contributed to the rapid decline in the rock art's 'sharpness'. Carvings that were clearly defined 19 years ago are now fading as the sandstone erodes and even crumbles.
Heritage Action believes the carvings should remain in situ, but protection is vital. What form the protection takes is open for debate and suggestion. It may be that protection for the carvings will make some kind of perspex or glass screen or enclosure necessary, even though this may detract from the experience of seeing the carvings. It may also simply result in that protection being vandalised.
As the greatest threat seems to be from environmental rather than human damage since the removal of vegetation, perhaps the first step could be to reintroduce some cover from vegetation until a future protection strategy can be decided upon.
Future actions
Heritage Action is contacting the local authorities and landowner to highlight the problems and to attempt to find a solution.
Check back for news on progress.
|
