A small alcove in the precipitous cliffs at Hawthornden on the South bank of the River North Esk contains a famous set of prehistoric rock carvings of various types which are unparalleled in the Lothians. The cliffs are located just to the West of Hawthornden Castle, East of Roslyn Chapel along Roslyn Glen, on the opposite side of the river to a curious carving of a human head.
Hawthornden from the Cliffs, Looking Down Roslyn Glen
The rock art is situated just below Wallace's Cave on the Hawthornden side. Potential visitors should note that they are notoriously inaccessible, and many attempted visits have resulted in, at best, torn and muddy clothes, and at worst, severe bruises! Click here for a location map provided by StreetMap.
The alcove which contains the rock art is almost cup-shaped in itself, and judging by the apparent decay of the overhanging rock structures, it may well once have formed a far more rounded, almost cave-like recess into the cliff wall. Some of the low-lying symbols currently visible were recovered by small-scale excavation in 1939 by V.G. Childe and John Taylor,[1] but it seems unlikely that there are any others remaining undiscovered.
The Alcove at Hawthornden Cliffs
Like other similar sites containing multiple symbol types, the surfaces on which the art is carved have the appearance of panels, and are generally smoother than the surrounding rock surfaces, suggesting that they were rudimentarily worked prior to the commencement of the carving itself. However, as is commonly noted with such sites, the shape and size of the panels themselves seem to follow the natural contours of fissures within the rock's own structure.
The Rock Art in the Alcove
The rock art itself consists of basically 9 different types of symbols: (1) simple vertical lines in parallel (Childe and Taylor suggest "sunk triangles");[2] (2) simple circles; (3) concentric circles; (4) simple circle with a line emerging from it, akin to a grooved cup-mark; (5) a single spiral; (6) a double spiral; (7) a spiral S-shape; (8) a fish-like symbol consisting of single circle with lines (Childe and Taylor suggest "a monogram IHO" symbol);[3] (9) an odd shield-like symbol. These 9 basic types can be seen in the following (very) rough sketch of the overall distribution, which also shows the division between the various panel sections:
(Very) Rough Sketch of the Rock Art
In the following close-up of the left panel, we can clearly see, from left to right, a single circle, the shield-like symbol, the circle with emerging line, a series of vertical lines, and finally, the fish-like symbol:
The Left Panel
In the following, we see the symbol consisting of three concentric rings, which is located between the main left panel and the main right panels:
Concentric Ring Motif Between Left and Right Panels
Moving rightwards, we come across two primary areas, with the upper panel containing a single spiral at the top, an S-shaped spiral lower left, a large double-spiral mid-right, and a small single circle to its right (barely visible in this photograph):
The Upper Right Panel
In close-up, the large double-spiral can be seen to be very geometrically regular, with the terminus-points of each line being perfectly aligned through the centre, while the overall circularity is somewhat skewed:
The Double Spiral Motif
The S-shaped spirallic figure can be seen in the following photograph, and bears some resemblance to other similar figures found on other sites in Lowland Scotland:
The Spiral S Motif
Moving back out and slightly downwards, we can see the lower right panel, as well as another view of some of the symbols on the upper. In this photograph, the triple circle located between left and right panels is also visible on the left of the shot:
The Lower Right Panel
This lower panel appears to contain only simple circles, the most prominent of which are found to the left, while the rest are now heavily weathered:
Single Ring Motifs on Lower Right Panel
Stylistically, Hawthornden is fairly unique in Lothian, and according to Childe and Taylor, there are possibly Irish connections:
The technique of their execution suggests attaching the Hawthornden scribings to the well-known series of memorials of Scottish Bronze Age art represented by "cup-and-ring markings." But there are conspicuous discrepancies, the most obvious being the complete absence of "cups." Moreover, the Esk valley lies rather outside the regular range of typical "cup-and-ring marks." The nearest parallel both in space and time is the cist-cover from Lamancha on the Esk-Tweed watershed in Peeblesshire. And the latter by its good spiral seems to be connected with art slightly earlier than the classical cup and ring marks and better represented in Ireland than in Scotland. There other figures in our group recur; in addition to spirals a relative of our figure (c) occurs in series 2 at Lough Crew, and sunk triangles in the latest series at New Grange.[4]
The most obvious local site to compare Hawthornden with is perhaps that at Tormain. However, given the former's immediate proximity to a river and its execution upon a vertical cliff wall, the best Lowland Scottish parallel is probably the much bigger and far more complex site at Ballochmyle in Ayrshire (click here for a Ballochmyle location map provided by StreetMap):
Ballochmyle
The execution of the Hawthornden work, however, seems much rougher than that at Ballochmyle, although this may be a result of the lower quality of the sandstone on which it was carried out, which in places is extremely brittle, and the fact that the site approximately faces the prevailing West wind as it comes down the strath, which would account for some natural erosion.
In addition to the prehistoric rock art at Hawthornden, there is a single modern motif, probably twentieth century, to be found by the old steps which lead down to the Wallace Cave and the rock art itself.
The Modern Motif
This modern triple spiral motif is excellently executed and the above photograph does not do it justice. Stylistically, it is highly reminiscent of the spiral motifs found at New Grange in Ireland, and given Childe and Taylor's reference to that site, it is tempting to speculate as to the identity of this more recent and clearly knowledgeable artist...
more to follow...
footnotes
[1] A.V Childe & John Taylor, "Rock Scribings at Hawthornden, MidlOthian", in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Vol.LXXIII, 1939, pp.316-318.
[2] ibid., p.316.
[3] ibid.
[4] ibid., p.317.