Ancient carved stone found by river in Brechin
Ross Murphy, who made the discovery, says experts believe it could be as old as Stonehenge
Last updated 9th Aug 2024
An ancient carved stone has been discovered by a river in Brechin.
The cup and ring marked stone was found by Ross Murphy during a walk by the River South Esk in May.
He says experts believe the stone could be around 4,000 years old and a similar age to Stonehenge.
He says finding the historic stone was a chance encounter. He said: "I was just walking along the river one day, taking some time out in nature, and I saw an area where the flood waters (from Storm Babet) had come up and washed away a lot of rubble.
"I was just looking at all of the different stones and I noticed that one of the stones was very unique and had clearly been worked on by humans so I was very excited.
"I took some pictures of it and sent it to Treasure Trove and they confirmed it was a unique stone."
The Treasure Trove Unit investigate newly found objects like the carved stone found in Brechin.
After finding the historic stone Ross contacted the unit to alert them of his discovery.
He said: "There was a lot of emails sent back and forwards with the Treasure Trove, I dealt with a really nice lady there.
"It took a while to confirm but she is under the impression that it's about 4,000 years old and she reckons it's about the same age as the Pyramids and Stonehenge.
"She also mentioned the Aberlemno stones, that people are quite familiar with, and they believe this is about 2,000 years older than the Aberlemno stones."
For Ross, finding an object of such history wasn't a complete shock, he said: "It was absolutely amazing; it was better than anything I could have imagined. It's funny, I used to work on the rivers and I always hoped I would find something one day.
"I always imagined finding a roman sword or Viking crown. So when I found it I was surprised, but in a way I wasn't surprised as I always believed I would find something."
He added: "I'm quite proud that I could help Brechin's heritage and hopefully find more people interested in this kind of thing and spark the imagination of the local community by making them think about what was here before Brechin even existed."
Following the discovery, Ross hopes it can remain in Angus. He said: "There's talk about it being kept in the local area which is absolutely fantastic because ultimately this is where the stone belongs so I think it should be kept here."
Not satisfied with this find alone, Ross hopes to find more fragments of the stone. He said: "'My next mission is to find the rest of it. I know it's out there somewhere and fingers crossed I might just be lucky enough to find it and, if not me, then somebody else who has become aware of it because of this article."