Tag: heritage

Dun Dubh, Ford, Argyll

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Dun:  OS Grid Reference – NM 8640 0479

Getting Here

From Ford village, take the track that goes uphill (west) running near the edge of the forest-line. Keep going until you hit the top of the forest and the large rocky hill above you (on your right) is where you need to be heading.  The rise to your left is Dun Chonallaich.  Walk around the bottom of the hill until you get to the other side (you should be 100 yards or more above the tree-line) where you’ll notice a ‘pass’ running west, with a rocky knoll above you on your right.  That’s it!

Archaeology & History

Thought to date from the Iron Age, the remains here cover an area 15 yards by about 25 yards.  Remains of walling around the edge of the summit nearly a yard wide in places define quite clearly where the ‘fort’ was centred.  The entrance to the site was found on the northwestern side.  In more recent times however, animal pens have intruded on the remains here and the archaeological remnants are much denuded.

Folklore

Samhain fires were lit on the larger ridge above this ruined fort until recent years, as some old local folk will tell you. These Halloween fires (done to celebrate the old New Year) were stopped a short time after the new ‘owner’ of the Auchinellan Estate (on whose land Dun Dubh is found) took exception to them and, for all intent and purpose, deemed them a fire hazard! The lady in question who inherited the Estate was in fact a devout christian who took exception to the local “pagan” goings-on, contrary to the beliefs of the previous Estate owner, who not only allowed such old events, but played a part in them.  Local folk hereabouts, not surprisingly, aint too keen on their part-time dictatorial christian neighbour.

The fires up here were also related to the linear cemetery at Kilmartin. Here the giant tombs all line up & point to Dun Chonallaich, behind which hides the more flattened top of Dun Dubh. When the Halloween fires were lit on top of this, the glow from behind the great pyramid of Chonallaich all the way down to Valley of the Kings, was spectacular! One wonders just how long the local people had been doing this…

References:

  1. Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments, Scotland, Argyll – volume 6, HMSO: Edinburgh 1988.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Tobar na H-aoise, Iona, Argyll

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Holy Well: OS Grid Reference – NM 2839 2525

Also Known as:

  1. Canmore ID 21613
  2. Pool of Healing
  3. Well of Age
  4. Well of Healing

Folklore

Although ascribed as a holy or healing well, this site is actually a curious natural water-filled depression near the top of Dun I, on the northern side of the island.  It is one of three magickal wells to be found hereby.  F.M. McNeill (1954) described this Well of Eternal Youth as having a fame that had spread far and wide, saying,

“Here, through ages past, pilgrims of each generation have lingered at the enchanted hour of dawn, ‘to touch the healing water the moment the first sun-ray quickens it.'”

In doing so, devotees would recover the energies of youth once more and live a longer healthy life.

References:

  1. Hannan, Thomas, Iona and some Satellites, W. & R. Chambers: London 1928.
  2. McNeill, F. Marion, Iona, Blackie & Sons: Glasgow 1954.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Stonehenge Cursus, Wiltshire

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Cursus Monument:  OS Grid Reference – SU 1095 4292 to SU 1370 4319

Also Known as:

  1. The Cursus
  2. The Greater Cursus, Stonehenge

Archaeology & History

Stukeley’s Stonehenge Cursus

Not far south of the smaller Lesser Cursus monument, this huge linear earthwork was the very first cursus to be described, by William Stukeley no less, who thought it to be an old race-course for charioteers and the like!  He stumbled upon this: a curious gigantic linear earthwork feature, stretching for nearly two miles roughly east-west and as wide a football field, cut into the Wiltshire Earth, betraying all notions of ‘primitive’ histories as proclaimed by the ‘intellectuals’ of his day.  They were clearly wrong!  This immense enigmatic structure, still baffles the same creed of intellectuals to this day — but at least our old ancestors have been granted greater abilities than previously believed.  In his book on Stonehenge in 1740, Mr Stukeley described this,

“most noble work, contriv’ed to reach from the highest ground of two hills, extended the intermediate distance over a gentle valley; so that the whole cursus lies conveniently under the eye of the most numerous quantity of spectators. To render this more convenient for site, it is projected on the side of more rising ground, chiefly looking towards Stonehenge. A delightful prospect from the temple, when this vast plain was crowded with chariots, horsemen and foot, attending these solemnities with innumerable multitudes.”

Sir Norman Lockyer propounded its function as astronomical, aligning with the Pleiades around 2000 BC — a date we now know to be inconsistent with its construction, although as John North said in his Stonehenge (1997):

“Lockyer’s chronology was certainly better than the general archaeological consensus at the time.”

But further archaeological alignments and leys have been suggested running eastwards from here.  And as Paul Devereux pointed out, “In the case of this cursus, archaeology got there first.”  J.F.S. Stone, who carried out some excavations at the cursus in 1947, noted that

“its axis, if projected 1500 yards east, strikes Woodhenge and passes the Cuckoo or Cuckold Stone by the way.”

This was endorsed in 1981 by archaeologists John Hedges and David Buckley:

“In addition to aligning upon Woodhenge, the Greater Stonehenge cursus also sights upon the Cuckoo or Cuckold Stone.”

Alignment to Beacon Hill

In Roy Loveday’s (2006) survey of cursus monuments he told how this alignment goes much further, telling how it aligns “on the lower, northernmost prominence of Beacon Hill 8km away”, crossing Woodhenge on its way.  Such suggestions used to bring outcries of derision from the archaeological fraternity, but it seems archaeologists themselves are making such claims more and more these days.  At the forefront of modern alignment research in previous decades was Paul Devereux — and it was he who first noted the line-up with the distant Beacon Hill from the Great Cursus, telling:

“The course of the alignment can be extended eastwards a few miles beyond Woodhenge to cross the barrow-dotted ridge of Beacon Hill — a perfect example of a Wakins-style ‘initial point.’ The ridge is highly visible from Woodhenge.  It disappears from view as one walks westwards down the cursus, but reappears clearly as the west end is approached.  Indeed, the west end is so placed that it is at about the furthest point from which the Beacon Hill ridge , and the intermediate on which the eastern end of the cursus fall, can be seen together.”

…to be continued…

References:

  1. Burl, Aubrey, A Brief History of Stonehenge, Robinson: London 2007.
  2. Hedges, John & Buckley, David G., The Springfield Cursus and the Cursus Problem, Essex County Council 1981.
  3. Loveday, Roy, Inscribed Across the Landscape, Tempus: Stroud 2006.
  4. North, John, Stonehenge, Harper-Collins: London 1997.
  5. Pennick, N. & Devereux, P., Lines on the Landscape: Leys and other Linear Enigmas, Hale: London 1989.
  6. Stone, J.F.S., ‘The Stonehenge Cursus and its Affinities,’ in Archaeological Journal, 104, 1947.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Rosette Stone, Ilkley Moor, West Yorkshire

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Cup-and-Ring Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SE 12822 46190

Also Known as:

  1. Carving no.128 (Hedges)
  2. Carving no.285 (Boughey & Vickerman)

Getting Here

Rosette Carving (after Hedges 1986)
Rosette Carving (after Hedges 1986)

Follow the directions to reach the giant Haystack Rock, then follow the footpath west along the moor-edge, round where it bends keeping along the edge of the stream (Backstone Beck) below.  A couple of hundred yards after the bend, right by the side of the path.  You’ll see it! (if you hit the clearly defined ‘enclosure’ walling, you’ve gone too far)

Archaeology & History

No — not the Rosetta Stone; but it is a lovely carved rock this one.  Best seen (as usual) when the rock’s wet and the sun’s heading for (or just emerged from) the horizon — but much of this image is visible even when She’s cloudy.

Close-up of 'rosette' and other CnRs
Close-up of ‘rosette’ design & and other CnRs
The Rosette Stone
The Rosette Stone carving

First mentioned in literary terms (surprisingly) by M.J. Walker (1956), in a short write-up following one of the Bradford Archaeology Group’s moorland walks up here.  Nearly six-feet along its longest axis, there are more than 30 cup-marks on this stone, at least three with rings; plus a variety of lines linking some cups to others.  At its northern tip is the lovely little ‘rosette’ design, as archaeologists have called it.  Others have seen this part of the design as a solar image; a flower; the Pleiades; a ring — take your pick!  It is a lovely carving though (if you’re a sad person like me, who’s into these sorta things!).  What relevance – if any – it may have had to the ‘enclosure’ within whose edges it sits, is anyone’s guess!

Excavations done close by (focusing mainly on the prehistoric ‘enclosure’ within whose domain this and other carvings occur) uncovered remains of old grooved ware pottery and the remains of flints. (Edwards & Bradley 1999)

The one thing we realise from looking at this design is the difference seen between the ‘accurate’ illustration drawn by archaeologists, and the flesh and blood of the stone itself, in situ.  The living rock has much greater form and expression than anything which our desire for accuracy possesses.  This aint knocking any attempt to portray the cups, rings and lines on paper correctly to show what the design originally looked like; merely that there’s a world of difference between the experiential vision of the carving and that done with graphic accuracy.  But we all know that anyway – so please forgive my little sojourn into speaking the bleedin’ obvious!

References:

  1. Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS 2003.
  2. Edwards, Gavin & Bradley, Richard, ‘Rock Carvings and Neolithic Artefacts on Ilkley Moor, West Yorkshire,’ in Grooved Ware in Britain and Ireland (edited by Cleal, R. & MacSween, A.), Oxbow: Oxford 1999.
  3. Hedges, John (ed.), The Carved Rocks on Rombald’s Moor, WYMCC: Wakefield 1986.
  4. Walker, M.J., ‘Ilkley Boulders Tour,’ in Bradford’s Cartwright Hall Archaeology Group Bulletin, 2, 1956.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Dane’s Stone, Moulin, Pitlochry, Perthshire

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Standing Stone:  OS Grid Reference – NN 9425 5942

Also Known as:

  1. Pitfourie Stone

Getting Here

Dane's Stone under a brilliant sky
Dane’s Stone under a brilliant sky

Going thru Pitlochry town, turn up the A924 road for about a mile till you hit the Moulin Inn on your left-hand side.  Just past here, take the road left and continue for 2-300 yards until the stone in the field stands out on your right-hands side.  Y’ can’t really miss it!

Archaeology & History

I should mebbe have this site entered as a ‘stone circle’ and not just an old monolith, as numerous other standing stones were in close attendant not too long ago and it was said to have been a circle.   Certainly when the great Fred Coles (1908) talked about this place, he

“was informed by the tenant, Mr Reid…that many years ago, in his grandfather’s time, “there were several more stones standing”, all smaller than this monolith and that, upon the orders given by Mrs Grant Ferguson of Baledmund, some of these were saved from total demolition, and are supposed to be lying half-buried in the field to this day.”

...and here's the big man close-up
…and here’s the big man close-up

Though I imagine these remnants have now been removed.  Aerial images, when conditions are just right, might prove fruitful here.

But the solitary stone still standing here is quite a big fella.  Heavily encrusted with quartz and more than 7 feet tall, it’s a nice fat chunky thing, with its lower half being somewhat slimmer than the top.  Well worth having a look at!

Folklore

Once an old moot site, folklore also tells that an old market was once held here (there was some other folklore I had of this place, but can’t for the life of me find it at the moment!).

References:

  1. Coles, Fred R., ‘Report on Stone Circles Surveyed in Perthshire,’ in PSAS 42, 1908.
  2. Liddell, Colin, Pitlochry: Heritage of a Highland District, PKPL: Perth 1993.
  3. Reid, A., ‘Monumental Remains in Pitlochry District,’ in PSAS 46, 1912.

Links:

  1. Stravaiging Round Scotland

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Balnakeilly Stone, Moulin, Pitlochry, Perthshire

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Standing Stone:  OS Grid Reference – NN 9463 5943

Getting Here

As you go through Pitlochry’s main street, watch out for the right-turn up the A924 road.  Go up here for perhaps a mile.  You’ll know you’re getting close as you pass the Moulin pub and the seeming avenue of trees opens on either side of the road.  A coupla hundred yards up into the trees, there’s the left-turn up the Balnakeilly driveway.  Stop! It’s on your left.

Archaeology & History

The Balnakeilly Monolith
The Balnakeilly Monolith

Knocking on for nine-feet tall, there’s some debate as to the archaic authenticity on this standing stone.  Ian Armit and his mate (1998) certainly wondered whether this was an ancient stone or not and, gotta say, when I came up here a coupla weeks back, I got the same impression.  It doesn’t have that feel about it which comes from the real olde ones; but this could be due to it having been moved in the not-too-distant past.  Though when Alan Reid wrote about it in 1911 he told us that,

“it bears marks of having been…worked slightly into shape by some pointed tool whose traces are plainly seen on several of its angles.”

Not something you’d find on monoliths that are a few thousand years old!  But if this stone was moved when the entrance to Balnakeilly drive was done, or the road widened, this could account for such markings.  We could do with digging into any archives that may exist about Balnakeilly or the Pitlochry roads to see if there’s any record of this stone to end the debate once and for all.  Tis a good site to visit though – check it out!

References:

  1. Armit, I. & Johnson, M., ‘Balnakeilly (Moulin parish), ‘modern standing stone’,’ in Discovery and Excavation in Scotland, 1998.
  2. Reid, Alan, ‘Monumental Remains in Pitlochry District,’ in PSAS 46, 1911-12.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Cunninghar, Tillicoultry, Clackmannanshire

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Stone Circle (destroyed):  OS Grid Reference – NS 9256 9709

Also Known as:

  1. Druidical Temple

Archaeology & History

A stone circle was once to be found on the elevated piece of ground above the north-side of the main road between Tillicoultry and Dollar, but it was sadly destroyed sometime in the 19th century.  Listed in Aubrey Burl’s (2000) magnum opus, we have very little information about the place; though an account of the site was described in the Scottish Royal Commission report (1933) which told us that a —

“Stone circle, measuring about 60 feet in diameter, once stood here but was completely removed many years ago, when the stones, which are said to have been 5½ feet in average height, were taken to cover a built drain at Tillicoultry House”!

Site shown on 1866 OS-map
Stone at the destroyed site

Unbelievable!  Any decent local folk nearby wanna find out where this drain is, see if the stones are visible (though I doubt they are), so we can plan to uproot it and move the stones back somewhere nearby. There are a few decent spots on the slopes above where it would look good!

When visited by researchers in the 1890s, parts of an embankment which surrounded the destroyed circle were still visible.  Also, indicating there was some ritual funerary nature to the site, a local teacher called Mr Christie found the remains of an ornamented urn protruding through the ground next to where one of the monoliths had stood.  Unfortunately in his attempts to remove the urn, much of it crumbled away.

Further examinations thereafter found that a burial was (seemingly) beneath the centre of the circle; and excavations here found that a covering stone of the tomb was covered in intricate cup-and-ring designs (see the Tillicoultry House Carving for further details).  Other prehistoric remains were found a little further up the hill from here.

References:

  1. Burl, Aubrey, The Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany, Yale University Press 2000.
  2. Morris, Ronald W.B., The Prehistoric Rock Art of Southern Scotland, BAR 86: Oxford 1981.
  3. Robertson, R., ‘Notice of the Discovery of a Stone Cist and Urns at the Cuninghar, Tillicoultry…’, in PSAS 29, 1895.
  4. Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland, Fife, Kinross and Clackmannan, HMSO: Edinburgh 1933.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Peggy Well, Silsden, West Yorkshire

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Healing Well:  OS Grid Reference – SE 0655 4413

Also Known as:

  1. Peggy Mawson’s Well
  2. Peggy’s Well

Getting Here

Peggy Mawson’s Well on 1853 map

From Riddlesden, take the road up to the moorland and Rivock Edge.  When you reach the top (Silsden Road), turn left.  Go on for about 600 yards till you reach the lovely tree-hidden old cottages of Holden Gate, on your right.  Stop — and walk down the footpath opposite from here.  As the wall goes down, you’ll notice a stream in the next field to your left, emerging from a clump of large rocks.  That’s it! (there’s a footpath in the next field from the roadside)

Archaeology & History

Shown on the first OS-map as ‘Peggy Mawson’s Well,’ little else seems to known of this place; though it obviously got its name after the local lady, Peggy Mawson.  I can find no further information about this lady, nor why the site was named after her.  Any help here would be hugely appreciated!

Peggy Mawson’s Well – now drained-off through pipes

Sadly the waters from beneath the rocks have been channeled into a couple of pipes and the well no longer runs.  All that’s left is a small boggy region just in front of the boulders.  You have to walk about 100 yards further down the field where the water emerges from a modern pipe.  It doesn’t taste as nice as it originally did when coming straight from the ground, but it’s still quite drinkable (certainly beats any of the chlorinated stuff* that customers are forced to pay for, whether we want it or not – and most people don’t want it).

Folklore

This site has acquired modern folklore, but sadly no early traditions have been found.  Whelan & Taylor (1989) thought that Peggy Well’s “dedication suggests a connection with St. Margaret,” which unfortunately isn’t the case.  Several years later another writer, Val Shepherd (1994), spun the speculation even further, not checking the historical background to the site, and thought that “the well’s name may be derived from the water spirit, ‘Peg,’ who gave her name to other wells.”  Sadly neither idea holds any sway.

References:

  1. Shepherd, Val, Historic Wells in and Around Bradford, HOAP: Loughborough 1994.
  2. Whelan, Edna & Taylor, Ian, Yorkshire Holy Wells and Sacred Springs, Northern Lights: Pocklington 1989.

* Anyone know about this: surely because the water companies chlorinate and add other undesirable toxins into our tap water, what we’re actually drinking is a very weak solution and not actually water.  Isn’t that a trading standards violation?

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Smoo Cave, Durness, Sutherland

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Cave:  OS Grid Reference – NC 419 672

Getting Here

From Durness take the road east for a couple of miles till you see the signpost which takes you on the left-hand side of the road, down to the coast.  You can’t miss it!

Archaeology & History

Findings here allege to take the history of the place into the mesolithic period, but we don’t know this for sure.  An excavation here by a Mr Donald Macdonald of Sangobeg in 1904 uncovered the presence of several small bone pins, which seem consistent with Mesolithic finds elsewhere.  When archaeo-excavations were done here in 1982, human remains going back to at least Iron Age were found in the simple deposit of many shells.  A further analysis by the Glasgow Archaeology Unit in 1996 was prevented of some excavation by (get this!) those screwy Health & Safety regulations.  Here’s a definite case for an independent group to undertake work here, as we could ignore such preventative measures (and if we drown it’s our fault!).  Smoo Cave’s primary function is pretty obvious: it would have been used for both shelter and ritual. 

Folklore

The folklore here tells of magick and occultism and possible remnants of rites of passage lore. For herein, many centuries ago, a powerful land-owner called Lord Reay — reputed as a master in the black arts — battled with the devil in the Smoo Cave.

The devil was keeping watch on Lord Reay following a previous dispute between the two of them, and espied him as he entered the cave. As Alexander Polson told it, the cave

“consists of three caverns, one within the other. Lord Reay had got as far as the second, and his dog, which had gone on in advance, returned howling and hairless. By this, Lord Reay knew that Satan was there before him, and bravely waited the attack, which was soon made, and his lordship fought lustily. Happily at the opportune moment a cock crew. This frightened the devil and his attendant witches, but Lord Reay stood between them and the exit. In their fright they blew holes through the roof of the cave, and this is the origin of the two openings through which the Smoo burns fall.”

Pitch black cave; protective spirit animal; encountering one’s psychological nemesis; unconscious battles with Underworld forces; rebirth of the sun at cock-crowing time; the conquering of the dark forces and renewal of Lord Reay.  These are typical hallmarks probably signifying folk-remnants of shamanism and rites of passage, for which this cave may once have been used.

References:

  1. Polson, Alexander, Scottish Witchcraft Lore, W. Alexander: Inverness 1932.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian 

Barnhill, Jura, Argyll

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Cairn:  OS Grid Reference – NR 7057 9700

Archaeology & History

Very close to being at the top of the island.  If you do manage to get here take a gander at the legendary Gulf of Corryvreckan: one of the largest whirlpools on Earth, where the cailleach swirled her stuff when angry! This is the ‘hill where sorrel grows,’ and where George Orwell wrote 1984 – but more important for us is where the Royal Commission for Historic & Ancient Monuments of Scotland (Argyll, vol.5) designated that,

“a stony mound about 5.5m in diameter and 0.5m high, situated on the crest of the ridge east of Barnhill, appears to be a prehistoric burial cairn.”

Sadly I never managed to check this out when I was last up here as I didn’t know it was here!

References:

  1. Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland, Argyll: volume 5 – Islay, Jura, Colonsay and Oronsay, HMSO: Edinburgh 1984.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian