Tag: Dunruchan stones

Giant’s Knowe, Culloch, Muthill, Perthshire

megalithix

Cairn (destroyed):  OS Grid Reference – NN 7848 1762

Also Known as:

  1. Canmore ID 24797
  2. Crock-nafion
  3. Fingalian’s Knowe

Archaeology & History

Landscape of the Giant's Knowe (image credit, Marion Woolley)
Landscape of Giants Knowe (photo by Marion Woolley)

Amidst the colourful and nurturing landscape close to the gigantic Dunruchan standing stones and just along the road from the solitary Craigneich stone, in the field across the road above Straid farmhouse could once be seen a fascinating-sounding prehistoric site that has sadly been destroyed.  Some of the remains of this old monument can be found in the field-clearance of stones just over the fence, above the top of the field (many fields round here have scatterings of large stone clearings at the field edges), but we have no detailed accounts of the site.  It was mentioned in early notes by the Ordnance Survey to have been,

“A large circular heap of small stone and gravel entirely removed in 1831. An urn filled with ashes and several stone coffins were found under it.”

The local historian John Shearer (1883) later told us that,

“A small mound of earth on the farm of Strayd, called Crock-nafion or the Giant’s Knowe, or the Fingalian’s Knowe, was cleared away several years ago.  An urn containing burnt bones was discovered.”

Any additional information about this site and its folklore, would be greatly appreciated.

Folklore

To the west along Glen Artney whence our view takes us from here, old legend told that the valley was once the abode of a great giant who lived in a cave in one of the mountains thereby.  In mythic lore, giants were the creation deities of hills, mountains and other geological forms, whose narratives were overturned and demonized by the incoming christian cult many centuries ago.  It is likely that this once great tomb was deemed as the burial-place of our local giant – which would make this prehistoric site neolithic in age.  But — logical though it is — this idea is pure speculation…

References:

  1. Hunter, John, Chronicles of Strathearn, David Philips: Crieff 1896.
  2. Shearer, John, Antiquities of Strathearn, David Philips: Crieff, 1883.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Dunruchan (B), Muthill, Perthshire

megalithix

Standing Stone: OS Grid Reference – NN 79164 17375

Also Known as:

  1. Aodann Mhor
  2. Canmore ID 24790
  3. Cornoch
  4. Shillinghill

Getting Here

The smallest of Dunruchan’s stones

Take the same directions as if you’re visiting the Dunruchan A standing stone, taking the small track up across the other side of the road from the Craigneich standing stone. As you walk up the field from the roadside, don’t go through the gate, but just walk straight uphill, following the fence through boggy & overgrown vegetation. When you get to where the hill starts to level out and the fence cuts across in front of you, notice the small standing stone on the other side of the fence, about one hundred yards up. That’s it!

Archaeology & History

Fred Coles’ 1911 drawing

This, the smallest of the six Dunruchan standing stones, is what Fred Coles (1911) described as “the North-West Stone,” or Dunruchan B.  In size alone it has a very different character to the others on the hillside immediately above and almost seems out of character when compared to the rest.  Standing amidst typical moorland vegetation, this pointed upright is more than five feet tall, and from here its huge companions can be seen rising from the Earth to both east and south.  Coles’ description of this monolith was as follows:

“This block of conglomerate, not half the height of (Dunruchan A)…occupies a rather lower position 385 yards to the west. Its basal girth is 8 feet 10 inches and its height 5 feet 1 inch, the south being the smoothest of its four sides. It is not now quite vertical, having a lean to the south. Like the great North-east Stone, this one tapers to a rather fine point… From this Stone the other four in the group as well as that at Craigneich are visible. ”

Dunruchan B, looking NW
Dunruchan B, looking S

However, we couldn’t make out all the standing stones in this complex like Coles reported. The huge leaning monolith of Dunruchan C is the closest of the others from here and, perhaps, would be the reason the cluster have been added to the lists of megalithic stone rows by Burl (1993) and Thom (1990), as a spacious curved row geometrically links them together – but I’ve gotta say, I’m sceptical about this as a deliberate megalithic alignment. However, I’ve no doubt that Alfred Watkins and his fellow ley hunters would add this to their inventory of Perthshire ley lines.

Folklore

According to an account in the Ordnance Survey Name Book of 1860, “these stones are believed to mark the graves or commemorate the death of Roman soldiers who fell in a battle fought here between the Romans and the Caledonians.”

References:

  1. Burl, Aubrey, From Carnac to Callanish, Yale University Press 1993.
  2. Cole, Fred, “Report on Stone Circles in Perthshire, Principally Strathearn,” in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 45, 1911.
  3. Finlayson, Andrew, The Stones of Strathearn, One Tree Island: Comrie 2010.
  4. Hunter, John, Chronicles of Strathearn, David Phillips: Crieff 1896.
  5. Thom, A., Thom, A.S. & Burl, Aubrey, Stone Rows and Standing Stones – 2 volumes, BAR: Oxford 1990.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian