megalithix – Page 19

Newbigging, Lethnot and Navar, Angus

16/06/202417/06/2024 megalithix

Stone Circle (destroyed): OS Grid Reference – NO 5414 6935

Archaeology & History

Entered in Aubrey Burl’s (2000) magnum opus as a stone circle, the site has also been reclassified as a ring cairn or cairn circle, for obvious reasons. We can haggle about definitions if we wanna get a bit anal about it, but even from what little we know, this was an impressive looking site to say the least! Burl (1976) originally suggested that it may have been a recumbent stone circle: an Aberdeenshire outlier, so to speak—and he may have been right. Sadly the place has been destroyed, like so many megalithic rings in this neck o’ the woods.

It was first mentioned, albeit briefly, by Alexander Gardner in his 1843 summary of the parish in the New Statistical Account where he told that, “there are the remains of a Druidical Temple at Newbigging near the remains of an ancient Castle or Tower called Dennyfern.” Our main source of information comes via the early Ordnance Survey lads after they’d visited the place in 1861. They wrote:

“Though nothing now remains of this Circle but one very large upright stone, measuring 5 feet 4 inches high, 9 feet in circumference at the base, and 6 feet 3 inches at the top, yet its site is plainly traceable, and is slightly raised from the ground around it. It was an immense Cairn, 40 feet in diameter according to the farmer of Newbigging, containing 400 cartloads of stones which he removed …The one Stone standing is so large that this may be considered to be the remains of a “Stone Circle” of which the large quantity of small stones formed the raised plateau, the ring of which is still visible.”

The great regional historian Andrew Jervise (1853) culled a few extra snippets of information about the place, telling us:

“Some fifty years ago, a good specimen of concentric circles stood on the farm of Newbigging, about half-a-mile north of the house, on an elevated part of the mountain; but, of the twenty or thirty large stones that enclosed an area of from fifty to sixty feet in diameter, only one remains, the rest having been carried away for various utilitarian purposes. This boulder, which is about eight feet high, is sometimes called the Druidical, but more commonly the “Stannin’ Stane of Newbiggin’,” and many flint arrow-heads have been found in its vicinity. When demolished, the middle of the area of the inner circle was found to be filled with small stones to the depth of about three feet, under which lay a quantity of black clammy earth, mixed with pieces of charcoal, while a track about two feet broad, composed of loose red sandstone, laid to the depth of a few inches, ran directly through the clammy earth and pebbles, from side to side of the outer circle.”

Alex Warden (1884) mentioned the remaining Stannin’ Stane of Newbiggin’ in his survey of the area, and the monolith was still in place when Cruikshank (1899), the local minister, wrote his detailed history book, but he added little more by way of Jervise’s description, merely telling that the stone circle

“on Newbigging must have been in its original state interesting and remarkable. It was composed of upright stones of great size, as we can see by the only one now remaining, which is known as “the Stannin’ Stane of Newbiggin’.” The blasted massive remains of the other stones form the foundation of the field dyke close by.”

It’s obvious that Burl’s idea that this circle was a recumbent one is based on Jervise’s description of it being “a good specimen of concentric circles” with the internal cairn structure giving it additional archaeomythic clout. Its complete destruction prevents us knowing anything more.

References:

Barnatt, John, Stone Circles of Britain – volume 2, BAR: Oxford 1989.
Burl, Aubrey, The Stone Circles of the Britain Isles, Yale University Press 1976.
Burl, Aubrey, The Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany, Yale University Press 2000.
Cruikshank, F., Navar and Lethnot: The History of a Glen Parish in the North-east of Forfarshire, Black & Johnston: Brechin 1899.
Jervise, Andrew, The History and Traditions of the Land of the Lindsays in Angus and Mearns, Sutherland and Knox: Edinburgh 1853.
Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, The Archaeological Sites & Monuments of Central Angus, Angus District, Tayside Region, HMSO: Edinburgh 1983.
Warden, Alex J., Angus or Forfarshire: The Land and People – Descriptive and Historical – volume 4, Charles Alexander: Dundee 1884.

Acknowledgements: Huge thanks for use of the Ordnance Survey map in this site profile, reproduced with the kind permission of the National Library of Scotland.

Craigendowie, Lethnot and Navar, Angus

14/06/202412/06/2025 megalithix

Stone Circle (destroyed): OS Grid Reference – NO 5225 6924

Archaeology & History

All remains of this stone circle have long since bitten the dust. It was already described in the past tense when Alexander Gardner wrote his summary of the parish in the New Statistical Account in 1843 where he told that, “there are the remains of two or three small Druidical temples, one at Newbigging, one at Blairno, and one said to have been at Craigendowie, but now demolished.”

A few years later Andrew Jervise (1853), in his classic tome on the Mearns, gave us the best description of the place, based either on his own personal visit here, or one given to him by a local when he was surveying the history of the area. He wrote:

“In the vicinity of Craigendowie … among the mass of artificial-looking cairns (which are said to be the graves of warriors), there was a small circle, composed of a quantity of stones about the same size, and ranged in the same manner, as those at Fernybank…. Unlike the latter, this circle was never thoroughly explored, even at the time of its removal more than forty years ago, and if as old as prehistoric times, it cannot now be said in how far it may have been a place of sepulture. Craigendowie has, perhaps, its true etymon in the Gaelic Craigandubh, or “the black rock,” for the craig is an immense black rock close by the river-side; but, according to a truer etymology, as well as popular story, it implies the “rock of the funeral cairn,” or perhaps the “craig of battle or mischief;” and, if any reliance can be placed on the tales regarding the malicious actions of the kelpie in the dark pool beside it, or in the story of warriors having fallen in the neighbourhood, the latter rendering may not be altogether inept!”

When the Ordnance Survey lads wrote about it their Name Book (1861) they told simply of its memory, saying,

“There is now nothing remaining to mark the site except a portion of the ground being still uncultivated, nor is there any person who recollects seeing any remains. It is supposed to have been demolished in making an old road through it, the track of which is still plain.”

And, later still in Cruikshank’s (1899) major work on Lethnot township he added little extra information other than saying that “it was situated in the field in front of the farmhouse (but) is entirely destroyed.”

References:

Cruikshank, F., Navar and Lethnot: The History of a Glen Parish in the North-east of Forfarshire, Black & Johnston: Brechin 1899.
Jervise, Andrew, The History and Traditions of the Land of the Lindsays in Angus and Mearns, Sutherland and Knox: Edinburgh 1853.
Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, The Archaeological Sites & Monuments of Central Angus, Angus District, Tayside Region, HMSO: Edinburgh 1983.
Warden, Alex J., Angus or Forfarshire: The Land and People – Descriptive and Historical – volume 4, Charles Alexander: Dundee 1884.

Acknowledgements: Huge thanks for use of the Ordnance Survey map in this site profile, reproduced with the kind permission of the National Library of Scotland.

Golan Well, Glenisla, Angus

08/06/202415/10/2025 megalithix

Hut Circles: OS Grid Reference – NO 1974 6559

Getting Here

From Alyth, take the B954 road north to Glen Isla, or from Kirriemiur northwest up the B951. Whichever your route, once you pass the Kirkton of Glenisla about 10 miles up, make sure you DON’T cross the river bridge a mile past here—instead take the tiny right-turn just before the bridge and go up here (past Folda) for just over 2 miles and then park up where the signpost tells Cateran Trail (if you’ve crossed the next river bridge, you’ve gone 150 yards too far). Walk up the track and, after a mile, it levels-out just where it swerves to go back downhill. Once here, walk off the track and up onto the moorland on your right (south) and where the land levels out, zigzag around, keeping your eyes peeled for the circular stone enclosures. There are several of them.

Archaeology & History

On the way back from seeking out a forgotten holy well at Auchenchapel in the hills above Glen Isla last week, I stumbled across a small group of hut circles which, it turns out, weren’t in the record books. Unfortunately I found them near the end of the day, so it was a bit of a rush-job zooming back and forth taking quick photos of what was there, i.e., at least three hut circles, probably Iron Age in origin (although I’ve seen Bronze Age circles just like these) constructed very close to each other, with a possible fourth one buried in deeper heather nearby. The circles have been built on a high exposed ridge linking Glen Isla to Glen Clova a few miles to the east, but when these were built this area would obviously have possessed a good cover of birch, hazel and other trees, protecting the structures from the elements.

The first one—hut circle (1) (at NO 19765 65581)—has been built and cut into a slight slope in the hillside, with the floor inside obviously leveled out. Measuring roughly 16 yards across from outer wall to outer wall, the entrance to the building seems to be on the eastern side and the average height of the walling all round is roughly 2 feet. On the whole the structure is in very good condition, with hardly any damage done despite its great age. It was obviously built for a single family, but was no doubt used over and over for many centuries.

The second of the circles (at NO 19741 65590) is just 15-20 yards away to the northwest. Slightly smaller than hut circle (1) and also built into slightly sloping ground, its walls are a little more sturdy and slightly wider than its compatriot and were built around at least two earthfast boulders making it structurally much stronger. Measuring roughly 15 yards across from outer wall to outer wall, the entrance to this circle is at the southeast. Once again, this would have been perfect for a single family to live in.

The third of the hut circles found this day was the smallest of the group and suggests that it would have housed only one person. The stones making up this small circle are unusually large for such a small structure, which made me think at first that it may have been a cairn—but the more I looked, the more I realized that this wasn’t the case. Somewhat more oval in shape than the other two, unlike its compatriots some parts of the walls seem to have been disturbed and knocked down to the side. The poor little fella measures only 8 yards across, but its walls were still nice and sturdy being roughly a yard wide all round.

What seemed to be a fourth hut circle was covered in deep heather close to the cluster of three, but we need another visit here to work out whether this suspicion is correct or not. Much more certain is the existence, less then a hundred yards northwest of here, of a very distinct line of ancient walling, about a yard wide, suggesting that the hut circles were encircled by a much larger enclosed structure. I paced along this walling for 60 yards, whereafter it disappeared into the heather.

It’s extremely likely that other unrecorded prehistoric remains are still to be found in this area. So get y’ walking boots on and get that nose of yours a-twitching across these ‘ere ancient hills!

Acknowledgements: Huge thanks for Prof. Paul Hornby, for getting us up here and having another fine day on the hills…

Auchenchapel, Glenisla, Angus

08/06/202422/06/2024 megalithix

Hut Circle: OS Grid Reference – NO 19957 65342

Getting Here

From Alyth, take the B954 road north to Glen Isla, or from Kirriemiur northwest up the B951. Whichever route you take, goes for miles, then past the Kirkton of Glenisla for another mile make sure you DON’T cross the river bridge—instead take the tiny right-turn just before the bridge and go up here (past Folda) for just over 2 miles and park up where the signpost tells Cateran Trail (if you’ve crossed the next river bridge, you’ve gone 150 yards too far). Walk up the track for a mile where it just about levels-out, before swerving back downhill again and, shortly after crossing a burn, turn right and head downhill into the heathlands. About 350 yards down, right beside the track, this overgrown hut circle lives! Y’ can easily walk straight past it if you’re not careful.

Archaeology & History

In a beautiful setting, this good-sized Iron Age hut circle (possibly earlier), roughly fourteen yards across, sits within a wider archaeological environment of human settlements all round here from medieval and later periods, most of which has almost entirely disappeared beneath the vegetation on these gorgeous moorlands. It’s one of a number of remaining prehistoric circles that still live amidst the later remains and would have housed a good-sized family or two. The walls alone are roughly six-feet thick all round, making it a very solid building indeed! In all likelihood, other hut circles have been torn down for use in the construction of the later medieval buildings nearby. Thankfully, like the very well-preserved cluster up the slope above Golan Well, this one survived.

Craigpark, Ratho, Midlothian

29/05/202429/05/2025 megalithix

Cup-Marked Stone (removed): OS Grid Reference – NT 128 709

Archaeology & History

A simple cup-marked stone was located inside a prehistoric burial cist that was discovered by quarry workmen in November 1897. The cist was subsequently excavated by Fred Coles (1898) who found therein (amongst other things) a simple cup-marked stone whose present locale is a box somewhere in Edinburgh’s National Museum (could someone send us a photo please?). The carving comprises simply of two complete cups and portion of a third, all close to each other on a small stone that was located on the south-side of the cist (see ‘M’ in the attached diagram). Coles described the carving thus:

“During the removal of (some) small stones, one, when the damp soil was rubbed of, showed two cup-marks, about 1½ inch wide each and ½ inch apart. The stone itself measures 5 inches by 4¾, and appears to be but a fragment of a larger one, one edge showing part of a third cup. The cups all show the tool-marks usually noticed on these mysterious sculpturings.”

References:

Coles, Fred, “Notice of the Discovery of a Cist with a Double Burial at Ratho Quarry”, in Proceedings Society Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 32, 1898.
Morris, Ronald W.B., “The Cup-and-Ring Marks and Similar Sculptures of Scotland: A Survey of the Southern Counties – part 2,” in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 100, 1969.

Gog and Magog, Loch Ard, Aberfoyle, Perthshire

29/05/202429/10/2025 megalithix

Cup-Marked Stone (lost): OS Grid Reference – NN 4808 0140

Archaeology & History

On the south-side of Loch Ard, just a few yards from the entrance to Rob Roy’s Cave (one of several), right by the water’s edge are the natural upstanding pillars known locally as Gog and Magog. In Peter Joynson’s (1996) work on Aberfoyle, this site is listed as one in a number of unrecorded cup-and-ring stones in the area. Discovered by a local lady—”the late Mrs Maitland”—here we have,

“two huge stones about 30ft high known as Gog and Magog situated at the mouth of Blan Ross Bay. They have numerous cup marks, but sadly have disappeared from view as they have been covered by forestry planting.”

This is an increasingly annoying problem that many rock art students are having to contend with! When we visited the site, the tops of these huge stones were, indeed, covered in depths of mosses and pine needles and the carving is hidden from sight. When the trees are felled, let’s hope someone can find it!

Folklore

These natural rocks were said to have been two giants that were turned to stone, the story of which seems to have been forgotten…

References:

Joynson, Peter, Local Past, privately printed: Aberfoyle 1996.

Almscliffe Crag carving, North Rigton, North Yorkshire

28/05/202428/05/2024 megalithix

Cup-and-Ring Stone: OS Grid Reference – SE 26777 48952

Also Known as:

Ormscliffe Crags

Getting Here

This is an outstanding site visible for miles around in just about every direction – so getting here is easy! If you’re coming from Harrogate, south down the A658, turn right and go thru North Rigton. Ask a local. If you’re coming north up the A658 from the Leeds or Bradford area, do exactly the same! (either way, you’ll see the crags rising up from some distance away) As you walk to the main crags, instead of going to the huge central mass, you need to follow the line of walling down (south) to the extended cluster of much lower sloping rocks. Look around and you’ll find it!

Archaeology & History

On the evening of May 27, 2024, I received a phone call from a Mr James Elkington of Otley. He was up Almscliffe Crags and the wind was howling away in the background, taking his words away half the time, breaking the sentences into piecemeal fragments. But through it all came a simple clarity: as the sun was setting and the low light cut across the rocky surface, a previously unrecorded cup-and-ring design emerged from the stone and was brought to the attention of he and his compatriot Mackenzie Erichs. All previous explorations for rock art here over the last 150 years had proved fruitless—until now!

On the east-facing slope of the stone, just below the curvaceous wind-and-rain hewn shapes at the very top of the boulder, is a singular archetypal cup-and-ring. It’s faint, as the photos show, but it’s definitely there. What might be another cup-and-ring is visible slightly higher up the sloping face, but the site needs looking at again when lighting conditions are just right! (you can just about make it out in one of the photos) But, at long last, this giant legend-infested mass of Almscliffe has its prehistoric animistic fingerprint, bearing fruit and giving watch to the countless heathen activities going back centuries. Rombald’s wife Herself might have been the mythic artist of this very carving! (if you want to read about the many legends attached to the major Almscliffe rock outcrop, check out the main entry for Almscliffe Crags)

References:

Bennett, Paul, “Almscliffe Crags, North Rigton,” Northern Antiquarian 2010.

Boreland Mote, Parton, Kirkcudbrightshire

25/05/202426/05/2025 megalithix

Stone Circle (destroyed): OS Grid Reference – NX 693 709

Archaeology & History

In March 1844, Rev. W.G. Crosbie in his survey of the parish of Parton, mentioned the mediaeval earthworks, or motte, above the west side of the Borland Glen:

“At a short distance from this,” he wrote, “are the remains of a small Druidical circle.”

This “Druidical circle” was subsequently described in Fred Coles’ (1895) megalithic survey of Kirkcudbrightshire, where he added that the circle was “some two hundred yards distant” from the motte—but it had already been destroyed when he wrote about it and its exact location seems to have been forgotten. Logic suggests that the circle would have been on the lands immediately west of the motte, where the land is relatively level and possesses several small hillocks, which would be perfect for megalithic siting. (the grid-reference cited above is an approximation)

References:

Burl, Aubrey, The Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany, Yale University Press 2000.
Coles, Fred, “The Stone Circles of the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright”, in Proceedings Society Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 29, 1895.
Crosbie, W.G., “Parish of Parton,” in New Statistical Account of Scotland – volume 4, William Blackwood: Edinburgh 1845.

Salt Well, Allington, Lincolnshire

09/05/202410/05/2025 megalithix

Holy Well: Ordnance Grid Reference – SK 85662 39798

Getting Here

Nice ‘n easy: take the Sedgebrook Road south out of Allington village and, after a few hundred yards, just as you go past Peach Lane, keep your eyes peeled and look into the shrubs that are set back a few yards on the left-hand side of the road. Just there you’ll see a small circular stone structure with a small plague in front of it. That’s the Salt Well.

Archaeology & History

Highlighted on the early Ordnance Survey maps of the area, this chalybeate spring was known as both the Salt Well and Holy Well. Mentioned in Ian Thompson’s (1999) work, the waters here arise in a three-foot high pillbox-shaped structure, set into the grass verge just off the roadside between Allington and Sedgebrook. On the early OS-maps it is shown to have originally been on the opposite side of the road. The earliest reference to the well is from 1226 CE and, thereafter, a number of 16th Century wills are recorded making bequests for the maintenance of the well suggesting its considerable importance in bygone centuries—perhaps because it was the only local well that did not dry-up, no matter how severe the drought.

The small plaque at the side of the well states, “This spring has been a water source since the 13th Century and now remains a village landmark.” An analysis of the waters here in 1990 revealed very low levels of iron but noted a high concentration of sodium sulphate.

References:

Thompson, Ian, Lincolnshire Springs and Well, Bluestone: Scunthorpe 1999.

Acknowledgements: Huge thanks for use of the Ordnance Survey map in this site profile, reproduced with the kind permission of the National Library of Scotland.

Sunnybank Well, Hawksworth, West Yorkshire

02/05/202402/05/2025 megalithix

Healing Well: OS Grid Reference – SE 16228 40696

Getting Here

My walk up to this place took me off the main A6038 Hollins Hill road, across from the petrol station and up the scruffy disused road to the hamlet of Tong Park, bending round the houses to the right when they appear. Keep along this old track, then veer right, down the slope and along the footpath and into the trees under the railway arches, keeping on until you reach the lake on your left. At the end of the lake, cross the bridge and follow the footpath as it bends to the left and into the trees. You’ll go over a stile and then about 50 yards along, the stream that crosses the path emerges from a crack in the rocks on your right. You’re here!

Archaeology & History

All history and tradition of this site seems long gone. It was shown on the 1852 Ordnance Survey map of the region and doubtless receives its name from the location, as the spring of water emerges from beneath the sloping embankment which is a bit of a sun-trap in Spring and Summer. It makes sense. Although I can find no reference to any medicinal attributes, the waters of Sunnybank Well are cold, fresh and drinkable.

References:

Shepherd, Val, Historic Wells in and Around Bradford, HOAP: Wymeswold 1994.

Acknowledgements: Huge thanks for use of the Ordnance Survey map in this site profile, reproduced with the kind permission of the National Library of Scotland.