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A rock-cut basin is a natural cylindrical depression cut into stream or river beds, often filled with water. Such plucked-bedrock pits are created by kolks; powerful vortices within the water currents which spin small boulders around, eroding out these rock basins by their abrasive action. These basins are frequently found in streams and rivers with a relatively soft rock substrates such as
limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms w ...
s and
sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicat ...
s. The rather unusual and man-made appearance of such depressions has led to various folk-tales becoming associated with them, such as their identification as
petrosomatoglyph A petrosomatoglyph is a supposed image of parts of a human or animal body in rock. They occur all over the world, often functioning as an important form of symbolism, used in religious and secular ceremonies, such as the crowning of kings. Some a ...
s, including knee prints, elbow prints, etc. of saints, heroes, kings or
supernatural Supernatural refers to phenomena or entities that are beyond the laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin (above, beyond, or outside of) + (nature) Though the corollary term "nature", has had multiple meanings si ...
beings.Pennick, Nigel (1996). ''Celtic Sacred Landscapes''. Thames & Hudson. . P. 40.


Formation

Rock-cut basins are formed by the action of fast running water currents that cause small boulders to move in a circular motion or
vortex In fluid dynamics, a vortex ( : vortices or vortexes) is a region in a fluid in which the flow revolves around an axis line, which may be straight or curved. Vortices form in stirred fluids, and may be observed in smoke rings, whirlpools in ...
. The friction created by these kolks propelling small boulders in a circular motion erodes the natural rock substrate to create concavities called rock-cut basins, that increase in depth and circumference over the years. One or more rounded stones may be found within them, often of varying sizes as these stones also wear away with the physical abrasion effect. The conditions on the river bed must be just right, so that the 'abrasion stones' remain in approximately one area as they circle, allowing the processes which create the rock-cut basins to occur. During times of heavy flood, river currents provide considerable energy to stones lying on the bottom, as can be witnessed beside many rivers where audible sounds are made by boulders as they are tumbled downstream over the
bedrock In geology, bedrock is solid rock that lies under loose material ( regolith) within the crust of Earth or another terrestrial planet. Definition Bedrock is the solid rock that underlies looser surface material. An exposed portion of be ...
or as they clash against other boulders. The term
Bed load The term bed load or bedload describes particles in a flowing fluid (usually water) that are transported along the stream bed. Bed load is complementary to suspended load and wash load. Bed load moves by rolling, sliding, and/or saltating (hop ...
is used to describe the material carried by a river by being bounced or rolled along its bed.Bedload
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Folklore

If a rock-cut basin forms on an overhanging ledge at a waterfall or drop in the river level, then a circular holed stone may eventually form.
/ref> These may have been used in the construction of megalithic monuments, especially tombs. Such holed stones are often associated with folklore as healing stones through which sick children are passed etc., as with the Mên-an-Tol in Cornwall, where the legend is that passage through the stone will cure a child of
rickets Rickets is a condition that results in weak or soft bones in children, and is caused by either dietary deficiency or genetic causes. Symptoms include bowed legs, stunted growth, bone pain, large forehead, and trouble sleeping. Complications ma ...
(osteomalacia), also scrofula as well as spinal conditions in men and women.Roud, Steven (2003) ''The Penguin Guide to the Superstitions of Britain and Ireland.'' Penguin Books. P. 438. For centuries, children with rickets were passed naked through the hole in the middle stone nine times, Men an Tol healing legends or three times against the sun. Below the confluence of the North Teign River and the
Walla Brook The Walla Brook is the name of four different streams on Dartmoor, England:Dartmoor National Park Authority: Landscape Character Assessment * The Walla Brook rises near the Warren House Inn and flows south for some 4 miles (6 km) to join th ...
on
Dartmoor Dartmoor is an upland area in southern Devon, England. The moorland and surrounding land has been protected by National Park status since 1951. Dartmoor National Park covers . The granite which forms the uplands dates from the Carboniferous P ...
there is a large boulder covered with rock-cut basins, one of which the kolks have completely worn through and therefore the stone has an almost perfectly circular hole. The holed stone thus produced is called the 'Tolmen' stone and it has, like others, been the focus for some stories of magical cures and mystical activities. It is said that passing through the hole is a cure for
rheumatism Rheumatism or rheumatic disorders are conditions causing chronic, often intermittent pain affecting the joints or connective tissue. Rheumatism does not designate any specific disorder, but covers at least 200 different conditions, including ar ...
or
arthritis Arthritis is a term often used to mean any disorder that affects joints. Symptoms generally include joint pain and stiffness. Other symptoms may include redness, warmth, swelling, and decreased range of motion of the affected joints. In som ...
,Rheumatism
/ref> whilst children would be cured of
whooping-cough Whooping cough, also known as pertussis or the 100-day cough, is a highly contagious bacterial disease. Initial symptoms are usually similar to those of the common cold with a runny nose, fever, and mild cough, but these are followed by two or ...
or
tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, ...
.Whooping-cough cure
/ref>
/ref> Another legend is that if you pass through the hole you will see the future.
/ref> This may be linked to the belief, recorded elsewhere, that looking through a holed stone gives a person 'second sight', and some later Christian pilgrim sites retain the holed stones which exist in the area so that pilgrims may get a 'glimpse of heaven.' Connected with this was the belief by that looking through a piece of grass made into a circle one was given second sight into the land of the supernatural, making
fairies A fairy (also fay, fae, fey, fair folk, or faerie) is a type of mythical being or legendary creature found in the folklore of multiple European cultures (including Celtic, Slavic, Germanic, English, and French folklore), a form of spirit, ...
visible, etc.Second sight
/ref> Passing through the stone may be symbolic of 'rebirth', however it seems that the idea of transferring the disease or condition to the stone was uppermost in the thoughts of the practitioners. To add weight to this idea it has been recorded that sick children were also passed through double-rooted bramble hoops, split ash trees and even holes in the ground. Faithless wives and wantons were punished and put back on the 'right track' by forcing them first to wash in
Cranmere Pool Cranmere Pool is a small depression within a peat bog in the northern half of Dartmoor, Devon, England, at . It lies above sea level on the western flank of Hangingstone Hill, close to the source of the West Okement River, about north west of ...
on Dartmoor, then to run round Scorhill circle three times, then they had to pass through the Tolmen stone and finally they went up to the
Grey Wethers Grey Wethers consists of a pair of prehistoric stone circles, situated on grassy plateau to the north of Postbridge, Dartmoor, in the United Kingdom. Description The circles are each approximately in diameter, and less than five metres apa ...
stone circle where they knelt and asked forgiveness. If the stones remained standing then all was well, but if their penance was not sincere then a stone would fall and crush them.Hippisley Coxe, Anthony E. (1973). ''Haunted Britain''. Pub. Hutchinson. . P. 30.


Marriages and other binding contracts

Folklore connected with holed stonesBord, Janet and Colin. (1973) ''Mysterious Britain''. Pub. Garnstone. . P. 23. indicates that they were also used for a ceremony of grasping hands to form a Teltown marriage, this being a marriage of a year and a day in which either party could return to the spot a year later, renounce the marriage and walk away from the stone and their partner. It is also recorded that hands shaken through a holed stone created unbreakable agreements or contracts.Teltown marriage
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/ref>


Druids

Tolmen stones, said to derive from the Cornish tol (hole) maen (stone), were thought to have been used by
Druid A druid was a member of the high-ranking class in ancient Celtic cultures. Druids were religious leaders as well as legal authorities, adjudicators, lorekeepers, medical professionals and political advisors. Druids left no written accounts. Whi ...
s for purification and that the wrongdoer was lowered through into the water for 'lustration', a purification rite or cleansing ritual.Druids and bullauns.
/ref> Until recently the role of perforated stones may have been twofold; use in fertility or healing rites and as traditional settings for the pledging of vows between couples. The hole in the stone might also represent the female birth canal in the Druid or 'pagan' mind and by passing through it a person was symbolising the act of rebirth and therefore regaining innocence or being cleansed of post- parturition illness, etc.Tuck, C. (2003).''Landscapes and Desire''. Pub. Sutton. Stroud.


Witches

The Killoch Burn and glen near Neilston in
East Renfrewshire East Renfrewshire ( sco, Aest Renfrewshire; gd, Siorrachd Rinn Friù an Ear) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. Until 1975, it formed part of the county of Renfrewshire for local government purposes along with the modern council areas ...
, Scotland has become associated with a witch because at low water the numerous 'pot-holes' have worn into one another, giving fantastic shapes. Locals named some of these the witch's floor, hearth, cradle, water-stoup and grave.Pride, David (1910), ''A History of the Parish of Neilston''. Pub. Alexanger Gardner, Paisley. P. 97.


Seashore rock-cut basins

All around the coastline of the island of
Coll Coll (; gd, Cola; sco, Coll)Mac an Tàilleir (2003) p. 31 is an island located west of the Isle of Mull in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. Coll is known for its sandy beaches, which rise to form large sand dunes, for its corncrakes, and for ...
are found rock-cut holes and basins which some people believe them to be prehistoric, related to the cup marks found in many places. Others think that they are bait holes, used for grinding shellfish such as limpets in order to attract fish. Another theory is that they were used for offerings in order to help the safe return of people out at sea. The prehistoric village at
Maes Howe Maeshowe (or Maes Howe; non, Orkhaugr) is a Neolithic chambered cairn and passage grave situated on Mainland Orkney, Scotland. It was probably built around . In the archaeology of Scotland, it gives its name to the Maeshowe type of chambered ...
had similar sized and shaped basins made from flat stones and possibly sealed with clay, used perhaps for storing bait. Although some of the holes on Coll may be natural, such as this large basin washed by the tide, many others are in locations and are of shapes which show that they are definitely man-made.


Man made basins

Many examples exist, created for a wide range of purposes from the grinding of fish bait to a possible ritual use for the inauguration of kings such as at Dunadd.
Bullaun A bullaun ( ga, bullán; from a word cognate with "bowl" and French ''bol'') is the term used for the depression in a stone which is often water filled. Natural rounded boulders or pebbles may sit in the bullaun. The size of the bullaun is high ...
s may fall into this category.


Details of rock-cut basins

These photographs were all taken on the Caaf Water, Lynn Glen, Dalry, Ayrshire, Scotland. The water conditions must be precisely right to create a fully formed kolk as shown by their absence or partial formation in sub-optimal parts of the same river system. Large basins form where the water flow is forceful and many small basins occur where the flow is fast, but the water shallower, such as near the edge of a waterfall. The stone substrate is made of fossiliferous limestone in these photographs. Image:Small rock-cut basins.JPG, Small basins cut by pebbles in fast moving water near the edge of the waterfall Image:Small rock-cut basins 2.JPG, Further examples of small kolk action in fast flowing water Image:Large rock-cut basin.JPG, A large rock-cut basin with small 'kolk moved' boulders in it Image:Rock-cut basins en mass.JPG, Basins en masse Image:Rock-cut basin and pebbles.JPG, Basins with the eroding pebble in situ. Very low water levels. Image:Rock-cut basin forms.JPG, Various basins just off the main current Image:Rock-cut basin overlaps.JPG, Several basins in the main current, of different ages, have overlapped and lost their integrity. Image:Peden's Falls Caaf Water.JPG, A particularly large basin near Peden's Pulpit on the Caaf Water


See also

* – more on holestones


References


External links


Video of kolks and rock-cut basins
*
A Researcher's Guide to Local History terminology A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes ...

Video of Rock-cut Basin formation and petrosomatoglyphs
{{Rivers, streams and springs Fluvial landforms