The existence of this carved rock has been known since 1937 when a photograph of it appeared in the Yorkshire Archaeological Journal (1). However the precise location of the stone was not recorded at the time, so it could only be listed on the modern Sites and Monuments Record as being somewhere on Stoup Brow moor. 

In recent years, fieldwork on this large heather covered  moor has located a number of carved rocks, but this particular rock has eluded detection.

In December 2002 Paul Brown visited the Whitby Museum where another photograph of the stone came to light in the museums archives. Intriguingly there were features in the background of the photo which gave clues to the stones position and so a return visit to Stoup Brow was in order. After much pacing around the moor with a selection of photographs, the apparent location was pinpointed  by two boulders identifiable on the ground and in the photograph, But the carved rock was nowhere to be seen.
 
In actual fact, the stone was right in front of us, but a carpet of peaty soil about 2.5cm thick had completely covered the surface of the stone, when this was rolled back the cup and ring mark and interconnecting channels were revealed.  

The confirmed location of  this rock carving coincides with the grid reference given for a cup and ring stone plotted by the ordnance survey in the 1970's, but at that time they did not realise it was the same stone reported in 1936. Since it was last seen in the 1970's the stone gradually became overgrown until it was completely buried.

(1) This carved stone was originally discovered by a Mr H.P. Kendall in 1936. A report and photograph of it appeared in the Yorkshire Archaeological journal for 1937. Unfortunately Mr Kendall died that same year and the stones exact location was known only one other person, a Captain H.L. Boyle. The captain was able to show the stone to the Whitby Naturalists Club on a field trip to the Stoupe Brow moor in 1937, where they also found five more marked rocks in the vicinity. The photograph above shows club members looking at another marked stone.