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Stones, Ragstone Rig, Cranshaws. |
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Description
There are no stones recorded as antiquities on Ragstone Rig but
close inspection of the area revealed two small stone settings, located
about 15.00m apart and consisting of no more than a few small
stones in each, with one or two larger earth fast upright
stones. The largest stone is in the north east setting and
reaches 0.60m in height.
Directions
Take the minor road between Whiteadder Reservoir and Garvald.
Leave car as noted below and follow the road north until Rangely
Kip is on your left. The spur of Ragstone Rig is between you and
Rangely Kip. A GPS is recommended to find these stones.
Parking
At off-road parking area leading to Johnscleugh Farm.
Fieldnotes
The purpose of this field trip was to see if there was anything
on the ground to throw light on a couple of interesting place
names, Tipperstone Rig and Ragstone Rig, two areas of land not
far from Nine Stone Rig stone circle. I did not expect to
actually find anything but to discover two unusual groups of
stones was quite amazing. Both stone settings comprise a small
number of earth fast stones protruding from the heather. They do
not look natural, i.e. in that they are natural rock outcrops,
and might be the remains of burial cairns or some other
prehistoric structure. Both are in slight hollows, possibly
indicating where further stones have been removed.
One thought is that they are the remains of
shepherds cairns or perhaps old shooting butts, now robbed of
stone to construct the present grouse shooting butts that are
located not far to the west, although this does seem rather
unlikely as many of the stones seemed to have been deliberately
set on edge. Neither of these sites is recorded in the RCAHMS
database and my perambulation of Tipperstone Rig did not reveal
any similar structures.
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