Ornate cup-and-ring in Queens Wood (after RCAHMS 2004)
From Kenmore, take the road towards Acharn on the south-side of Loch Tay for about a mile. Just as you go out of Acharn, watch for the small road of Queens Drive on your left going uphill. Go up here, following the tree-lined burn (stream) towards the superb Falls of Acharn, crossing the track over it and winding uphill still, until the track veers left across open fields towards the large woodland 400 yards east. Just before the track meets the trees, notice the small burn running into the woods. Follow this for some 200 yards – and where it bends more sharply to go uphill, keep going for another 75 yards upstream until you meet with another opening going east. The rocky outcrop here is where this carved stone is found. Look around!
Archaeology & History
Hidden deep within the woods where wet feet and good ankles come together, is this fine example of a cup-and-ring stone, perhaps having something in times of olde to do with the meeting of the waters. A cluster of urisks and prehistoric remains scatter this lovely rolling section of southern Loch Tay, but I’ve found nothing specific to this bitta woodland that might give added mythos to the site. The carving was described in Mr Stark’s (2005) fine little work on the local rock art, saying:
“A rock outcrop, situated in woodland between Acharn Burn and the burn running down to Remony House, bears at least thirty-six cupmarkings. There are twenty-four plain cups, three cups each with a single ring, three cups each with double rings, and a cup surrounded by three faint rings, which has a gutter leading to the NW. The cups range from 40mm to 75mm in diameter and from 60mm to 120mm in depth.”
The next time we visit the place, I’ll make sure I get some good photos – and visit the stone circle and settlement a few hundred yards further up the hill…
References:
Stark, Gordon (ed.), Cupmarked Stones in Strathtay, Breadalbane Heritage Centre 2005.
Pretty easy to find. At the eastern end of Loch Tay, go through the old village of Kenmore along the A827, towards Aberfeldy, for about a mile. At least a mile past Kenmore, keep your eyes peeled for a small left turn which takes you back into the grounds of Taymouth Castle. Go on this small road, pass the ornate walling, and you’ll see these two standing stones in front of you, before the trees, on the left. If you reach the Croftmoraig Stone Circle, you’ve gone a few hundred yards past the turning.
Archaeology & History
Fred Coles’ drawing & lay-out
These fine-looking standing stones a mile northeast of Kenmore village, on the edge of the grounds of the superb Taymouth Castle, are worthy old monoliths, encrusted by the lichens of many centuries, resting within the long grass beside the track that runs to the castle. But they have received little attention in archaeological terms. When Fred Coles (1910) described them, he thought them to be the remains of a stone circle — an impression echoed by Margaret Stewart (1966) many years later (I got the same impression aswell), but no other stones have been found to substantiate this (although Mr Gillies’ folklore remnant is intriguing). There is a notable rounded hillock immediately behind the two stones which may, or may not, have had other uprights surrounding it; though I can find no further data anywhere to substantiate such a thing.
In William Gillies’ (1938) historical survey of the area he related Mr Coles’ earlier findings of the two stones, telling us:
“There are two great standing stones just within the Principal Gate leading to Taymouth Castle. The stone A (see plan) stands at a distance of 54 feet to the NNW of B — a somewhat greater diameter than is common among the Perthshire Circles. These stones are almost equal in height — A is 4ft 9in, B is 4ft 7in — and they are both rugged blocks of a rough species of diorite. Stone A measures round the base 10ft 8in, and stone B 14ft.”
The western stoneThe eastern stone
But it seems that little else has been found about the place. It’s in a gorgeous setting (but, round here, everything’s in a gorgeous setting!) and must have related to other sites in the area, but it’s hard to contextualize the place on a single visit. If you stand behind the two stones, the shape of their ‘heads’ fits very nicely onto the rounded hillock on the northwestern skyline — which seems to have later been used as a hillfort. Whether this has any astronomical potential, I aint checked. (though Thom says nothing about them)
In geomantic terms both of these stones possess a distinct female flavour to them; the easternmost thinner of the two, particularly so. But then I could just be talking bullshit! I’d have loved to have spent more time with these two stones — bimbling, sitting, focussing, dreaming — as people of olde naturally did; but we were on the move and had other places to see. Tis a delightful spot indeed…
(NOTE – This site was first given a grid reference of NN 801 477 in Margaret Stewart’s (1967) fine essay on the standing stones at nearby Lundin; and the grid-ref has since been reproduced in texts by Burl (1993), Thom (1990) and others. Please note that this grid-ref is incorrect and is nearly a mile away from the actual position of the stones.)
Easternmost stone from another angle
Folklore
There is the possibility that this site once played a part in an important megalithic stone row. Mr Gillies (1938) once again notes an old tradition told by local people which “says that at one time there was a paved way connecting the circle, of which these stones are the remains, with the great Croftmoraig circle.” Very intriguing indeed…
References:
Burl, Aubrey, From Carnac to Callanish, Yale University Press 1993.
