Cup-and-Ring Stone: OS Grid Reference – NC 635 384
Archaeology & History
This small cup-marked stone came to light following the work of Mr Angus MacKay of Sutherland, more than 100 years ago. In his essay in the Scottish Antiquaries journal (1905), he wrote the following:
Grumbeg carving
“A cup-marked stone was found by me in the burial place of Grumbeg, Strathnaver, September 1905, standing upright at the head of a grave, and showing about 6 inches above the ground. It is evidently a fragment of a larger slab: its extreme length is 20 inches, and it is about 15 inches at its broadest part. The upper three circles are 2.5 inches in diameter and 1.5 inches deep, very symmetrically hollowed out, but the fourth and lower circle is shallow and indistinct. As the stones covering the other graves are for the most part what is called rough mountain slabs, it seems to me that this cup-marked fragment was found in its present condition elsewhere, and placed here to conveniently show a lair.”
If such was the case, a good contender might be the denuded chambered cairn close by.
Cup-and-Ring Stone: OS Grid Reference – NT 251 696
Archaeology & History
Braid Hills carving
This is a fine-looking old cup-and-ring stone! Although no longer in situ (one of those really important golf courses needed to be built, so it had to go!), the 3 or 4 cup-and-rings seen here, carved at the end of what look like some sort of ‘stalks’, emerging from a distinctive radial under-curve, gave me a somewhat anthropomorphic impression of chaps in a boat — perhaps sailing into the Firth o’ Forth a short distance away! The Scottish Royal Commission (1929) report said the following of the stone:
“In 1897 a boulder of white sandstone with cup-and-ring markings on its surface was discovered on the Braid Hills golf course, and it was later presented to the National Museum of Antiquities. The stone measures almost 3 feet by 1 foot 9 inches, by 1 foot thick and is roughly oblong. The markings comprise seven cups in all, and at least three of these are completely surrounded by a ring and cut by a radial channel.”
Although nothing was said in the RCAHMS account, the stone gives one the impression it was associated with a tomb. And I know it aint the same, but when I first saw this carving, it reminded me of the Ri Cruin carving in Kilmartin, Argyll. It’s the potential “boat” feature that did it for me!
References:
Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland, Inventory of Monuments and Constructions in the Counties of Midlothianand West Lothian, HMSO: Edinburgh 1929.
From Menstrie, walk up the path behind the post office and head up onto the hills, following the track that runs up alongside the Menstrie Burn. After about 500 yards, crossing a stream, the path has a sort of hairpin kink and, shortly past this a smaller path leads off up into the grasslands on your left. The standing stone can be seen up this path about 100 yards up.
Archaeology & History
The Lipney Stone
We came across this small standing stone, less than four feet high, after running and jumping down the steep eastern slope of Dumyat at some speed — or rather, Naomi came across the little thing and then told me about it after I’d run round and further down the slope towards the upper stretches of the Menstrie Burn (I was knackered!).
It’s a curious little thing inasmuch as it stands here alone, with no other companions close by; although there were a number of other stones scattering the grasslands hereabouts and other stones may await discovery. Little seems to have been said of the site. The Canmore record tells:
“It measures 1.1m in height, 0.7m in breadth and 0.4m in thickness, and is aligned with its long axis NE-SW. It rises with straight sides and leans to the SE.”
There are extensive remains of earthworks scattering the slopes hereby, though much of this seems medieval in nature. Any further information about this old stone would be much appreciated!
If you’re not into the walk, get the bus running NE between Dunblane and Greenloaning — the A9 — getting off at the Little Chef on the dual carriageway and cross the road, walking up the track to Upper Whiteston Farm (the owners here are very helpful). As you walk up the track you’ll notice the large upright in the edge of the field a coupla hundred yards to your right. That’s the one!
Archaeology & History
This is a mightily impressive site if you’re into yer megaliths! When it was visited and measured by Mr Hutchinson (1893) in the 19th century he found it to be 9ft 4 in tall; and although it seems quite isolated at first sight, we find that there is another large stone companion laid down not far to the north of here which may have had some relationship with it . But that aside… There are also as many as eight cup-markings on the stone’s eastern face: one large one and seven smaller ones, in no particular order as usual! It was these cup-marks that gave me the impression there was once a burial associated with the stone, but the archaeology records seem silent on such a matter; though folklore tradition tells another story…
Folklore
Mr Hutchinson (1893) told that the legend attached to this stone appears to be “of quite recent date.” He said how,
“In the district the stone is known as the MacGregor Stone, and the tradition accounting for the name is to the effect that here a countryman was sacrificed by the followers of Rob Roy, when forming for the engagement on Sheriffmuir, in order to satisfy the ancient Highland superstition that first-blood was an infallible omen of success… The tradition is precise enough to state that a man of the name Dawson was seized in the adjoining hamlet of Whiteheadston (for such is the orignal name) as a whig, and therefore a foeman and proper victim. Dawson, however, suspecting the intentions of the captors, vehemently professed himself a supporter of King James and was left off. But another inhabitant of the hamlet not so acute or not so hypocritical, was immolated at the stone.”
Hutchinson however, doubts the accuracy of the tale and suggests that the local name of the MacGregor’s Stone derives from the fact that the monolith stands upon land once owned by the MacGregors of Balhaldies, countenancing that the stone “is of much earlier date than the MacGregors of Balhaldie or any other sept of the Children of the Mist.” I think he’s got a point!
References:
Hutchinson, A.F., “The Standing Stones of Stirling District,” in The Stirling Antiquary, volume 1, 1893.
From the tourist-infested (but lovely) town of Callander, look west to the largest of the nearby mountains — that’s where you’re heading! You can keep along the A84 road out of the town for 4-5 miles (past the Falls and Pass of Leny) till you reach the parking spot on your left. Cross the river and go up into the signposted woodland. Keep walking up thru the trees until the rocky mass emerges above you. You can either keep to the path and follow the long walk round the mountain, or go straight up the crags above you. The top’s in sight!
Folklore
Getting up here is no easy task if you’re unfit — but it’s well worth the effort for the journey alone! And in bygone centuries it seems, local people made it a particular pilgrimage at specific times during the year. Even the name of this great hill has some supposed affinity with holy issues; though some modern english etymologists put a dampener on such things. In Charles Rogers’ (1853) excellent Victorian exposition, he told that,
“Benledi is an abbreviation of the Celtic Ben-le-dia, signifying the hill of God.”
But whether the old heathens who named most of these ancient mountains would echo his oft-repeated derivation is another thing altogether! However, there are other decidedly pre-christian events that used to be enacted here, for the summit of Ben Ledi was, tradition tells, where the sun god was worshipped. It would seem, however, that this tradition is a somewhat watered-down version of it as a site of cosmological and social renewal. (see Eliade 1974) For akin to the annual pilgrimage that happens upon Croagh Patrick in County Mayo, Ireland, here upon Ben Ledi,
“For three days and three nights…the inhabitants of the district in those primitive times convened, at the period of summer solstice, on the summit of the mountain, to join in the rites of heathen worship.”
More recent lore tells the date of such sacred gatherings was Beltane. Also a short distance to the north of the summit of Ben Ledi is a small loch known as Lochan-nan-corp. Mr Rogers again tells us that,
“Here two hundred persons, who were accompanying a funeral from Glenfinglas to the churchyard of St. Bride, suddenly perished; the ground had been covered with snow and the company were crossing the lake on the ice, when it at once gave way.”
It seems a most unusual event. But the tale itself implies that a corpse route passed by the way of this high summit, down to the heathen chapel of St. Bride at the bottom of its eastern face: a huge undertaking in itself with probably archaic origins. Does anyone know owt more about this?
References:
Eliade, Mircea, The Myth of the Eternal Return, Princeton University Press 1974.
Eliade, Mircea, Patterns in Comparative Religion, Sheed & Ward: London 1958.
Roger, Charles, A Week at Bridge of Allan, Adam & Charles Black: Edinburgh 1853.
An intriguing site this, as it doesn’t appear to be in the Canmore archaeological register – unless it’s the Canmore site 34750. Yet Alexander MacGregor (1937) mentions the place in his folklore study as being a site where the little people lived. Shown on the first OS-map of the region as ‘Fairyfold Hillock’, Mr MacGregor (1937) said of it:
“Near the summit of Carmylie Hill is a large barrow or tumulus, which was believed at one time by the natives to be a favourite haunt of the fairies, where, with much splendour, they held their nightly revels. It still bears the name of ‘Fairy-Folk Hillock.'”
However it seems that quarrying operations may have destroyed the site. The tomb here was probably the same one described by Mr Andrew Jervise in the Journal of the Kilkenny and South East of Ireland Archaeological Society (1864-66), where he wrote:
“Many years ago I took note of another example of these ‘footmarks,’ which was found in the parish of Carmyllie… This was discovered in the course of making agricultural improvements some thirty-five years ago, on which occasion stone coffins or cists were got, and in one of these was a bronze (?) ring, of about three inches in diameter, now said to be lost. Apart from the cists there was a rude boulder of about two tons weight; and upon the lower side of it, as my informant told me, was scooped the representation of a human foot. This too was associated with the elves; for the hillock upon which these discoveries were made was called the ‘fairies’ knowe;’ and tradition says that, but for a spirit that warned the workmen to suspend operations when they began to prepare for the foundations of the parish church, the church would have been built upon that spot!”
An intriguing entry inasmuch as we don’t know the full history and nature of the site. Whether this site was the “druidical circle” mentioned in the 1791 Old Statistical Account of Scotland ” upon the heights of Sheriffmuir,”(vol.3, p.210), we cannot be sure. The site was certainly described by Mr Hutchinson (1893) more than a century ago as a “stone circle”, but earlier still in a short piece in the Stirling Journal of May 5, 1830. It read:
“About eight miles from Stirling by the Sheriffmuir Road, near a place called Harperstone, there is a remarkable circle of stones, supposed to have been a druidical place of worship of old. The site of this circle is rather uncommon in this country — being on the back summit of a high hill, one of the Ochils called the Black Hill, and exposed to every wind that blows. It is about two english miles south of the present roadway.”
The writer’s notes then told of some curious finds by this circle, giving the impression that it may have had another function: perhaps a cairn of sorts; perhaps an ancient building — we may never know. Nevertheless, his information is intriguing.
“Tradition records two remarkable circumstances connected with this druidical circle, which may perhaps be worthy of being preserved. About the middle of last century (c.1750) there were dug up at the foot of the larger stones three vessels of clay of antique shapes, containing coins of very ancient date, which were long preserved by Monteath of Park, but are now, we regret to say, lost. So late as 1770, these coins were, it is said, to be seen at Park House, all of gold. About the year 1715, some stones on which had been engraved inscriptions were dug up at the same place; and at a previous period specimens of ancient Pictish armour were dug up from the bowels of this hill, which had been carefully deposited of yore some feet below the surface in crypts of curious description.”
When Mr Hutchinson came to explore this region in search of the stone circle, his nose took him to a site a few hundred yards north of nearby Harperstone Farm, where he found a large stone:
“It is 9 feet long by 6 feet across on the top, is 3 feet thick and measures 26 feet round. This appears to have been a centre stone, and a surrounding circle is traceable more or less distinctly — moreso to the west and north, less so to the east and south. The radius of the circle is about 15 yard, and a similar distance separates each of the larger stones yet traceable in the circle. The ground beside the great central stone appears to have been excavated…”
Black Hill, Sheriffmuir, looking eastArc of 3 stones in large ellipse
But it would seem that Hutchinson’s site and the one described in the Stirling Journal of 1830 are two distinctly separate items if their relative topographical descriptions are to be accepted. No doubt — like many a-local who’s found these same written accounts — when we visited and wandered back and forth over the Black Hill site in Autumn 2010, we were as puzzled as others before us in finding nothing on the named Black Hill. Nothing that could remotely be viewed as the circle described was anywhere in evidence. The only thing that we found of any potential was on the flat below the southern ridge of the hill, heading towards the small copse of trees, where is a possible ring of seven stones, albeit a low one, in an ellipse formation. The ground was much overgrown and a spring of water emerged from the edge of where might have been an eighth stone. The photo shown here was the best we could get of the site. It’s unlikely to be the place which Messrs Hutchinson and company wrote about.
A more detailed examination of the landscape around this ‘Harperstone Circle’ is needed.
References:
Hutchinson, A.F., “The Standing Stones of Stirling District,” in The Stirling Antiquary, volume 1, 1893.
From Dunblane Cathedral walk straight down town along High Street, but where the road bends to cross the river, keep to your left and onto the dual carriageway. Walk straight across and along the “private” drive that leads to Kippencross House. The first 100 yards is wooded either side of you, but when you come out into the grassy open, walk on for another 100 yards or so, keeping your eyes peeled for the rise in the grassland on your right, topped with a clump of trees. This is the cairn!
Archaeology & History
This is a lovely site, perched near the crown of a small hillock, surmounted with a crown of pinus trees that would have delighted Alfred Watkins and his ley-hunters. It is a veritable faerie mound, seemingly alone amidst this modernised but well-kept gardenscape. The large tomb sits upon a small rise in the land here, where the grasslands fall to its west and northern sides with some obvious deliberation.
Kerbstones on south side
The cairn doesn’t appear to have been excavated (but I don’t have my library to hand, so could be wrong – I’ll check when I get back home) and though there’s a distinct impression of cup-marked stones close by, we couldn’t find owt in our brief bimble here. The tomb measures about 20 yards across, and rises perhaps six feet or more above the ground level. Although a little overgrown with summer herbage (mainly Urtica and friends), quite a few small stones were visible close to the surface on different parts of the mound, looking like typical cairn material; though around its mainly southern edge is a line of larger kerb stones showing the outline of what would seem to be the edge of the monument.
The cairn is definitely worth having a look at if you’re in the area. It’s certainly a beautiful little spot to sit for a while…
References:
Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments Scotland, Stirling – volume 1, HMSO: Edinburgh 1963.
Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland, Archaeological Sites and Monuments of Stirling District, Central Region, Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 1979.
Although this great and legendary cathedral is today a christian centre, it seems that the site had been deemed as sacred by a much earlier, indigenous culture — though on a scale much more humbling than the grand edifice we see standing here today! For in the northwest corner of the church grounds in 1928, a small burial cist was located. Years later, on October 2, 1975, following work here by the North of Scotland Hydro-electric Board to uncover the main supply “in an area adjacent to the north wall of the Lady Chapel,” they found a slab of stone which, when they lifted it up, covered what appeared to be a burial cist. Messrs Gordon & Gourlay (1976) narrated:
“The stone slab which the workmen had removed proved to be the western section of a larger slab which at some period had been fractured and the eastern section lost. As the interior of the cist was filled with soil similar to that surrounding it and containing a considerable quantity of dispersed human bone fragments, it was suggested that the eastern section of the covering slab had been lost when the drainage and/or electricity services were being installed. The upper surface of the slabs western section was c.35cms below ground surface. The dispersed bones in the cist were at first considered intrusive — possibly from old burials when the public services were installed — and an undisturbed deposition of bones at the base of the cist seemed to confirm this. However, an examination of the bones by Dr A. Young…and Dr D. Lunt…showed that the deposit contained remains of two adults and one child and that many of the dispersed bones could be matched with those in the undisturbed group. In fact, the deposition suggested a re-use of the cist.
“The cist measured internally 1.20m by 0.44m by 0.28m. It lay 8.4m east of the door of the Lady Chapel and 1.44m from the wall of the same. The cist was constructed from ten irregularly-shaped sandstone slabs, with one fractured slab forming the floor. On the south side, two smaller slabs had been placed on the inside of the wall to support the covering slab which only just fitted the cist, and to give extra strength to the wall since they overlapped the vertical joins of the three slabs of the south wall. The north wall slanted to meet the west-end slab 12cm from its edge, giving the cist a coffin-like appearance. The north wall was still vertical; the narrowing was probably intentional as the covering slab was only 33cm wide at that point and the bones lay apparently undisturbed, parallel to the north and south walls. It proved impossible to examine the old ground surface because of the public installations, but it did appear that the ground sloped to the west as the cist certainly did.”
Although the remains found here were not dated, it was initially thought that the cist may have been made around the period when the Lady Chapel was erected around 1250 AD.
“However, Mr J. Stevenson of the Royal Commission for Ancient and Historical Monuments pointed out that the dimensions and construction of the cist accord well with cists of known prehistoric dates in the area; the cist (therefore) would seem to be placed early in the sequences of cist development, assuming it to be prehistoric.”
References:
Cockburn, James H., The Celtic Church in Dunblane, Society of Friends of Dunblane Cathedral: Dunblane 1954.
Gordon, Alistair R. & Gourlay, Robert B., “A Cist Burial, Dunblane Cathedral, Perthshire,” in Glasgow Archaeological Society Bulletin, No.2, 1976.
Following excavation work on this denuded megalithic ring in 1974 and 1975 under the joint auspices of the Islay Historical Works Group (IHWG) and the Hunterian Museum of the University of Glasgow, under the direction of archaeologist Dr Euan MacKie (1976), with the intent of actually restoring the site to what they thought was its former glory by resurrecting the fallen monoliths in this ring of stones, some intriguing facts came to light. Dr MacKie wrote:
“This site stands on a low, shallow knoll about a mile from the sea and with an extensive peat bog to the west. Before excavation the stone ring consisted of a rough oval of two standing stones and ten fallen ones, the latter being partly or nearly completely buried under the turf. The dimensions of the ring were about 45 by 40 yards. The excavations were based on a 6m grid and the ain was to explore as much as possible the perimeter of the ring and part of the interior. In this way it was hoped to identify the sockets from which the prone monoliths were assumed to have fallen and thus to discover the exact positions at which they were to be re-erected…
“It soon became clear that the prone monoliths had not in fact fallen out of their sockets. All of them lay on the old ground surface under the peat which had evidently begun to grow — in the 8th century BC according to one C-14 date — after the site had reached its present condition. Some stones had no socket next to them and a number of sockets were found without adjacent stones. Several stones lay next to sockets in such a position as to make it clear that they had never been set up. The site had evidently been abandoned in the middle of construction and those sockets already dug were allowed to fill slowly with rubble and silt. One socket was discovered which had been deliberately filled up, confirming that some change of plan had occurred before the final abandonment. Cultoon is the only stone circle apart from two phases of Stonehenge to have revealed evidence of never having been completed. (my italics, Megalithix)
“The finds were few and consisted of mesolithic flint microliths and some larger, presumably neolithic flints. The former were all on and in the buried topsoil — the circle builders’ ground surface — while the latter were on the land surface and in the lower part of the peat; these last included scrapers and are hollow-based points of Bronze Age type. Of particular interest was the discovery of caches of flint flakes in the peat next to the two standing stones. They appear to be deliberate offerings and suggest that the site retained its sanctity for some centuries after its abandonment.”
…to be continued…
References:
MacKie, Euan, “Cultoon, Islay,” in Glasgow Archaeological Society Bulletin, No.2, 1976.
