Tag: prehistoric sites

Black Park (1), Callander, Perthshire

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Cairn:  OS Grid Reference – NN 66612 07349

Also Known as:

  1. Black Wood
  2. Sruth Geal

Getting Here

Black Park (1) cairn, looking south

Less than a mile east of Callander on the main A84 road, nearly 300 yards past the entrance to the Keltie Bridge caravan park, take the tiny road on your left (north) and barely 100 yards along turn right and go up here for excatly 1 mile (give or take a few yeards) where  track goes into the forest on your left and you can park-up here.  Walk up the track into the silence for just under a mile where, as the track splits and you kink to the right, a gate appears.  On the other side of the gate, turn immediately left, almost walking back on yourself, just above the curving waters of a burn, through boggy reeds, keeping to the fence-line until, less than 300 yards along, you’ll reach what you’re looking for.

Archaeology & History

Black Park (1), looking W

This reasonably large cairn and its neighbours (Black Park [2], [3], [4] and [5]) would appear to be relatively new discoveries as I can find nothing about it prior to the Royal Commission’s 1994 survey.  They are even absent from Moray MacKay’s (1953) excellent work on the area!  Hence, descriptions of it are scant and visitors to the place are few indeed (we did meet a local who knew about the old tomb, but said that nothing was known about it); but it is, nonetheless, a fine, albeit denuded and very overgrown cairn, living today amidst a quiet mass of reeds and surrounded by boggy ground—so make sure you’ve got your boots on!

Internal line of stonework
Black Park (1), looking SE

At its height, today, it stands less than four feet tall and measures roughly 16 yards across at its widest.  Through one section of the tomb there runs a raised line of stonework that almost looks like internal walling, which may have been where a chamber once existed.  It’s been hollowed out by someone in the not-too-distant past but, as I said, there are no records of such a thing, so whether or not that was a chamber or merely a fortuituous collapse of stone in a straight line, we can’t really say.  Along its more northern edges there seems to be a small raised wall of stone defining its edge, although once again it requires a more discerning examination to work out whether this is part of its original facade, or is a result of some of the stone mass falling to the edges.

Visit the old place and sit with its silence for a while…

References:

  1. Royal Commission Ancient & Historical Monuments, Scotland, Braes of Doune: An Archaeological Survey, RCAHMS: Edinburgh 1994.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian

Wilson Scar, Shap, Cumbria

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Stone Circle (destroyed):  OS Grid Reference – NY 549 182

Archaeology & History

This site has been completely destroyed by the huge eyesore of a quarry that we all see when we’re travelling up the M6 north, above Shap.  John Waterhouse (1985) told that “a rescue excavation” was carried out here with help from the kids at Penrith Queen Elizabeth School, shortly before its destruction in 1952, but now there is no trace left of it.  When it was first described by J.E. Spence (1935), the circle had already been damaged by a wall that cut right through its centre.  He told:

Spence’s 1935 plan

“The circle, which is 6o feet in diameter, is composed of 35 stones, 20 being on the west and 15 on the east side of the boundary wall running through the circle from north to south.  The stones of which the circle is composed are Borrowdale erratics, a large number of which are scattered over the adjoining ground on both sides of the wall but more thickly in Sweet Holme Pasture. The  stones, which vary up to 5 feet 9 inches by 3 feet, are larger and more numerous in the north-west quadrant where the tallest stands 1 foot 8 inches above the level of the turf.  The ground within the circle is level, but to the south and west it slopes gently down from the edge of the circle in such a manner as to suggest that the area within the circle has been levelled.”

1952 plan laid over Spence’s 1935 plan

Spence told that an ancient “sunken trackway” led outwards from the circle to the south-west in the direction of Rosgill, but when the 1952 excavation occurred, no remains of such a track were found; nor was the wall that had cut through it; and the north-easterly section of the circle had been cut into and re-laid, presumably by the quarrymen.  It was quite plain, wrote G.G. Sieveking (1984), “that this portion of the monument was encroached upon in the summer of 1952, and hastily reconstructed for the benefit of the archaeologists.”

Their excavation found that some internal sections of this ring had been paved with thin limestone slabs and they also uncovered two small cairns, neither of which possessed anything.  However, they did find four funerary deposits within the monument: one at the northeastern section of the circle (no.1); another near the centre (no.4); and remains of a cremation west of centre (no.3); but the most complete find was at the western side of the ring, where a “disarticulated inhumation burial was lying immediately beneath the turf line in a shallow grave 1.35 m long, surrounded by a setting of small boulders.”  It was a near complete human skeleton.  This place was obviously, at times, used in ceremonies for the dead.

Shortly after the archaeological examination of the site, it was blasted away by quarrying.  Gone!

References:

  1. Barnatt, John, Stone Circles of Britain – volume 2, BAR: Oxford 1989.
  2. Burl, Aubrey, The Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany, Yale University Press 2000.
  3. Farrah, Robert W.E., A Guide to the Stone Circles of Cumbria, Hayloft: Kirkby Stephen 2008.
  4. Seton, Ray, The Reason for the Stone Circles in Cumbria, privately published: Morecambe 1995
  5. Sieveking, G.G., “Excavation of a Stone Circle at Wilson Scar, Shap North 1952,” in Transactions Cumberland & Westmorland Antiquarian & Archaeological Society, volume 84, 1984.
  6. Spence, J.E., “A Stone Circle in Shap Rural Parish,” in Transactions Cumberland & Westmorland Antiquarian & Archaeological Society, volume 35, 1935.
  7. Waterhouse, John, The Stone Circles of Cumbria, Phillimore: Chichester 1985.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian

Cleland Stone, Skipton, North Yorkshire

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Cup-and-Ring Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SE 00076 50540

Getting Here

Cleland Stone, Skipton

From near Skipton town centre, at the Cross Keys Inn along Otley Road, go up Short Bank Road all the way to the very top and then into the trees onto the Dales High Way footpath.  Walk up for literally ¼-mile (0.4km) and where the path bends and heads ENE, notice here a footpath that takes you over the wall.  Once on the other side, the path splits with one heading SE and the other roughly alongside the walling to the SW, which is where you need to go.  About 200 yard on, go through the gate into the field and then another 375 yards on you’re into another field (copse of trees in front of you).  Just as you’ve gone into this field, walk immediately left, uphill, by the walling for about 100 yards, over the marshy dip, then head into the field where, about 75 yards in, you’ll see some rocks scattered about…

Archaeology & History

Cleland Stone, looking S

In an area that’s had some considerable quarrying done to it, we’re lucky to find that this carving still exists.  It was rediscovered by Thomas Cleland (hence its name!) in the summer of 2024.  It consists of four distinct cups, with a possible fifth (and maybe more?) on its smooth elongated surface.  The cups, as we can see, are quite deep and unmistakable.  An incomplete ring seems to be around at least one of the cups; and there seems to be a carved straight line running between another two of them.  A simple but distinct design and in a lovely setting gazing cross the Airedale valley from here.

There are very few other carvings in this neck o’ the woods (the Great Laithe Wood carving aint too far away), but the fact that this has been found would suggest that others are probably hiding away in the undergrowth.  Check out the Iron Age Horse Close Hill enclosure while you’re up here too.

Acknowledgements:  A huge thanks to Thomas Cleland, not only for finding the carving, but also for allowing use of his photos in this site profile.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian

Lamancha, Newlands, Peeblesshire

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Cup-and-Ring Stone:  OS Grid Reference – NT 200 522

Also Known as:

  1. La Mancha

Archaeology & History

Simpson’s 1867 drawing

This is what I’ve come to term dyslexic cup-and-rings, due simply to the fact that it’s a cup-and-ring stone carving, but the cup in the centre hasn’t been carved out or pecked away.  They’re rare – but for some odd reason, a small cluster of them occurs in this part of lowland Scotland.  The Drumelzier carving 13 miles SSW is one; the Carnwath carving 14 miles west is another; 14 miles to the south, the multiple-ringed carving in the Woodend cairn had no defined pivotal cup; and in Childe & Taylor’s (1938) short piece on the Hawthornden petroglyphs near Roslyn (less than 10 miles northeast), they noted—like Simpson & Thawley (1972) years later—the peculiarity of “the complete absence of cups”, akin to Lamancha’s carved rings. (although we should be cautious about the archiac nature of the Hawthornden carvings)

The carving here was first mentioned by one of the great petroglyphic pioneers James Simpson (1866; 1867):

“A broken slab, about two feet square, covered with very rude double rings and a spiral circle, was found by Mr Mackintosh, at La Mancha, in Peeblesshire, in digging in a bank of gravel.  There were some other large stones near it; none of them marked.  Possibly this stone, therefore, is sepulchral in its character.”

Lamancha carving (G. & A. Ritchie, 1972 )

Eoin MacWhite (1946) was somewhat sceptical of Simpson’s “sepulchral” association, simply due to there being no account of a burial here.  But in Simpson & Thawley’s (1972) survey of passage grave art, they thought the Lamancha carving was from “a possible cist slab.”  We might never know for sure one way or the other.

The carving ended up living in Edinburgh’s National Museum where it should, hopefully, still be on display.  As a result of this, it received the attention of the Royal Commission doods who gave a good description of the design in their Peeblesshire Inventory (1967).  They state that it

“is irregular in shape and has maximum dimensions of 2ft 6in by 1ft 10in; it averages 4in in thickness. The markings, which have all been formed by the pecking technique, occur mainly on one face, the most common symbol being single or double rings. There are four complete double-ring symbols, in which the outer rings measure from 5in to 7in in diameter, and the inner rings from 2in to 4in.  Round the margin of the face there are the broken arcs of five more double-ring symbols and of five single rings and one small V -shaped figure. As well as the ring markings there is a double-spiral, each lobe of which measures about 4in in diameter.  In one lobe the spiral has two and a half turns and in the other only one turn.  In addition, in a space which is otherwise free of  markings, there is an area, about 4in square, heavily pitted with punch-marks measuring one-eighth of an inch across and one-sixteenth of an inch in depth.  A remarkable feature of the stone is that three incomplete single ring symbols have been made on one edge. They have been formed by the same technique and measure 3in across; as in all the other symbols, the grooves themselves  measure about half an inch in width and about one-eighth of an inch in depth.”

References:

  1. Childe, V.G. & Taylor, John, “Rock Scribings at Hawthornden, Midlothian,” in Proceedings Society Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 73, 1938.
  2. McWhite, Eoin, 1946 “A New View on Irish Bronze Age Rock-Scriblings”, in Journal Royal Society Antiquaries, Ireland, vol. 76, 1946.
  3. Morris, Ronald W.B., “The Cup-and-Ring Marks and Similar Sculptures of South-West Scotland,” in Transactions of the Ancient Monuments Society, volume 14, 1967.
  4. Morris, Ronald W.B., “The Cup-and-Ring and Similar Early Sculptures of Scotland; Part 2 – The Rest of Scotland except Kintyre,” in Transactions of the Ancient Monuments Society, volume 16, 1969.
  5. Morris, Ronald W.B., The Prehistoric Rock Art of Southern Scotland, BAR: Oxford 1981.
  6. Ritchie, Graham & Anna, Edinburgh and South-East Scotland, Heinnemann: London 1972.
  7. Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments, Scotland, Peeblesshire – volume 1, Aberdeen University Press 1967.
  8. Simpson, D.D.A. & Thawley, J.E., “Single Grave Art in Britain,” in Scottish Archaeological Forum, no.4, 1972.
  9. Simpson, J.Y., “On Ancient Sculpturings of Cups and Concentric Rings,” in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 6, 1866.
  10. Simpson, James, Archaic Sculpturings of Cups, Circles, etc., Upon Stones and Rocks in Scotland, England and other Countries, Edmonston & Douglas: Edinburgh 1867.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian

Down Hill, Glendevon, Perthshire

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Hillfort:  OS Grid Reference – NO 0008 0365

Also Known as:

  1. Castle Hill
  2. Dun Hill

Getting Here

Looking up at Down Hill

Travelling north along the A823 Glendevon road (between Muckhart and Gleneagles), barely 2 miles after Muckhart, on your right you’ll see the large Castlehill reservoir.  Park here.  Across the waters is the large Down Hill—which the hillfort crowns.  So, just walk back the way you came along the road for nearly 600 yards and then turn left to walk onto the other side of the water, round to the very end of the track and then up the path into the trees.  Walk along this winding path for 300 yards until you reach the track that takes you (left) up to Downhill Farm.  One way or the other, past there, just stagger up to the top of the hill!

Archaeology & History

SW wall from rampart

My only visit here was a short one – when some pretty awesome freezing gales were nearly throwing me off the top once I’d got up there!  Twas incredible!  On my way  to the top, nearly there, on its western side, I stopped and looked each side of me as it looked as if a long overgrown line of embankments was running roughly north-south.  It seemed very vague and hillforts aren’t my subject, so with the help of the wind throwing me everywhere, I made my my final zoom to the summit, only to be intruded upon again, perhaps 50 feet from the top by another similar-looking embanked ridge—this time with some stones along it and which I was pretty sure were earthworks, or ramparts as they’re known.  And so it turned out to be.

Once on top, the views are superb!  But I couldn’t really take it in on my short visit here as the freezing wind was truly incredible and I could barely stand upright.  And so I briskly followed to the quite notable stone-walled edges of the main prehistoric “enclosure” and walked round the edges as best I could, hoping that at least one or two of the photos I was taking weren’t too blurred.

Views from above

SW wall & central structure

The interal “settlement” portion of the hillfort is quite large, obviously, allowing for a good number of people to live here (regardless of the wind!).  It’s roughly oblong in shape, aligning northwest to southeast, measuring in length a maximum of 78 yards from outer wall to outer wall, with a maximum width of 30 yards (SW to NE).  The collapsed walling is still quite extensive and visible above the long grasses almost all the way round the entire structure, averaging one or two yards across.  Near the centre of the fortress is a large pile of stones that seemed to have been a structure of some kind, but when i was here I didn’t hang around for too long to inspect it as I was, by now, bloody freezing!  It didn’t seem to be a walker’s cairn, but we need another gander to work out what it might have been.

Northern arc of walling

NW line of walling

Curiously this site has had little said about it in archaeo-tomes and to my knowledge, no excavations have happened here.  Incredibly, the place wasn’t even recognised as a prehistoric site in official records until the Royal Commission (1963) told of it being “discovered during the survey of marginal lands (1956-58)”!  Its very name derives from the word dun, or fort (Watson 1995) and as the place-name writer found out, it was first mentioned in 1542, as Donehill, and many times thereafter in various documents.

Anyhow—check the place out.  It’s mightily impressive and the views from the top are excellent.  Just avoiding going up there in a freezing gale!

References:

  1. Hogg, A.H.A., British Hill-Forts: An Index, BAR: Oxford 1979.
  2. Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments Scotland, Stirlingshire – volume 1, HMSO: Edinburgh 1963.
  3. Watson, Angus, The Ochils: Placenames, History, Tradition, PKDC: Perth 1995.

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. 

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian

Gowlane East (3), Dingle, County Kerry

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Cup-and-Ring Stone (lost):  OS Grid Reference – Q 53 03?

Archaeology & History

Gowlane East (3) stone (Graves 1877)

First discovered by Richard Hitchcock in 1848, this petroglyph (along with the Gowlane East (2) carving) was one of two missing stones in the area that James Graves (1877) thought were seemingly “fragments of a large monument,” although he said nothing more about it and, sadly, Mr Hitchcock’s sketch here is all that we have left to guide us.  The carving may have come from one of the nearby raths, souterrains, or have been part of a circle or cairn.  The stone looks to have been reasonably small in size and, hopefully, is residing in a wall somewhere or is just buried in a field.

There are several Gowlane place-names in the area, but Judith Cuppage (1986) told that the great 19th century artist and antiquarian George du Noyer “identified the townland as Gowlane East”, although the closest “neighbouring townland” would be Gowlin (Gualainn).  If any local folk know where this might be hiding, please let us know. (the grid reference cited here is a very vague guess!)

References:

  1. Cuppage, Judith, Archaeological Survey of the Dingle Peninsula, Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne: Ballyferriter 1986.
  2. Graves, James, “On Cup and Circle Sculptures as Occurring in Ireland,” in Journal Royal Society Antiquaries, Ireland, volume 4 (4th series), April 1877.

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. 

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian

Gowlane East (2), Dingle, County Kerry

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Cup-and-Ring Stone (lost):  OS Grid Reference – Q 53 03?

Archaeology & History

Gowlane (2) carving (in Graves 1877)

When James Graves (1877) described the gorgeous Aghacarrible petroglyph, he told that “in the neighbouring townland of Gowlane” were three other carvings—with this fine multi-ringed design being one of them.  It was first discovered and drawn by Richard Hitchcock in 1848 and was thought by Graves to have been broken from “a larger monument.” (like the Gowlane East [3] carving)  Whether it was from a cairn, a souterrain or a stone circle, we can but guess.  And we must also guess as to where it might be now, for no account of it has appeared since Mr Graves’ description.  With any luck it will be in a wall somewhere, or simply buried in a field.

There are several Gowlane place-names in the area, but Judith Cuppage (1986) told that the great 19th century artist and antiquarian George du Noyer “identified the townland as Gowlane East”, although the closest “neighbouring townland” would be Gowlin (Gualainn).  If any local folk know where this might be hiding, please let us know. (the grid reference cited here is a very vague guess!)

References:

  1. Cuppage, Judith, Archaeological Survey of the Dingle Peninsula, Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne: Ballyferriter 1986.
  2. Graves, James, “On Cup and Circle Sculptures as Occurring in Ireland,” in Journal Royal Society Antiquaries, Ireland, volume 4 (4th series), April 1877.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian

One Barrow, St. Austell, Cornwall

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Tumulus (destroyed):  OS Grid Reference – SX 0309 5227

Archaeology & History

More than two hundred years ago, an impressive prehistoric burial mound lived in an area that used to be known as Gwallon Down, not far from the impressive Long Stone monolith, about half-a-mile west of Charlestown on the southern edges of St. Austell, but it was completely destroyed in 1801.  Thankfully there was a lengthy account made of the site in John Whitaker’s (1804) huge work, but there seems to be little else known of it.  He told us:

“In the middle of that extended waste, the downs of St. Austle, was, what was called One Barrow.  This waste, in 1801, was resolved to be enclosed, and the barrow was obliged to be levelled.  In this operation, the single workman came near the centre, and there found a variety of stones, all slates, ranged erect in an enclosure nearly square.  The stones were about one foot-and-a-half in height, apparently fixed in the ground before the formation of the barrow.  The stones were all undressed, but had little stones carefully placed in the crevices at the joints of the large, in order to preclude all communication between the rubbish without and the contents within.  On the even heads of these stones was laid a square freestone, which had evidently been hewn into this form, which seemed to rest with its extremities on the edges of the others, and was about eighteen or twenty inches in diameter.  The summit of the barrow rose about eight or ten feet above all.  In the enclosure, the leveller found a dust, remarkably fine, and seemingly inclining to clay.  On the surface it was brown, about the middle downwards it took a dark chestnut colour, and at the bottom it approached towards a black.  On stirring it up, a multitude of bones appeared, different in the sizes, but none exceeding six or seven inches in length.  Among them were some pieces about the largeness of a half-crown, which, from their concave form, convinced him they were parts of a skull.  The whole mass of bones and ashes might (he thought) be about one gallon in quantity.  On touching the bones, they instantly crumbled into dust, and took the same colour with the same fineness as the dust in which they were found.  They were exceedingly white when they were first discovered, but remarkably brittle; the effect assuredly of their calcination in a fire, antecedent to their burial.  Much in fineness and in colour with these ashes, appeared several veins of irregular earth on the outside of the enclosure; which, from their position without, yet adjoining, and from the space occupied by them there, he conjectured to have been bodies laid promiscuously upon the funeral pile, but which I conjecture to have been only the ashes adhering to the ground, and not possible to be separated from it, for a burial with the rest within the enclosure.  They had nothing of sand in them, but seemed inclining to clay, and even more so (from the adhering soil probably) than the dust of the enclosure.  And, as the workman was fully convinced of what every one else must acknowledge, that the ashes and the bones of the enclosure had once belonged to a human body, he very properly took up the whole with care, placed the stones nearly in their original posture within an hedge contiguous, then in building, placed also the bones with the ashes within their original enclosure there, and even placed the covering-stone over both.”

One wonders where precisely the hedgerow happened to be where the stones were placed “nearly in their original posture”, and if this reconstruction was ever recovered.

The site was subsequently mentioned in Polwhele’s (1816) massive survey, reiterating Whitaker’s description, simply telling how:

“With respect to the monumental remains in the neighbourhood of St Austel, a very ingenious correspondent says in one of the mounds of earth on our downs which was lately levelled a kind of urn was discovered which evidently contained human ashes many of the bones were entire but appear to have been calcined I am well acquainted with the man who dug this up.”

References:

  1. Borlase, William Copeland, Nænia Cornubiæ, Longmans Green Reader: Truro 1872.
  2. Hammond, Joseph, A Cornish Parish: Being an Account of St. Austell, Skeffington & Sons: London 1897.
  3. Polwhele, Richard, The History of Cornwall – volume 2, Law & Whittaker: Truro 1816.
  4. Whitaker, John, The Ancient Cathedral of Cornwall – volume 2, John Stockdale: London 1804.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian

Witch’s Stone, Bankfoot, Perthshire

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Standing Stone:  OS Grid Reference – NO 04236 37526

Getting Here

Witch’s Stone, looking NW

Travel along the B867 road from Bankfoot to Dunkeld (running roughly parallel with the A9) and you’ll reach the hamlet of Waterloo about one mile north of Bankfoot.  As you approach the far end of the village, keep your eyes peeled for the small turning on your left and head up there for just over a mile.  The road runs to a dead end at Meikle Obney farm, but shortly before reaching there you’ll pass this large standing stone on the right-side of the road, just along the fence-line.  It’s almost impossible to miss!

Archaeology & History

This is one of “the large rude upright stones found in the parish” that William Marshall (1880) mentioned briefly, amidst his quick sojourn into the Druidic history of Perthshire.  It’s an impressive standing stone on the southern edges of the Obney Hills that doesn’t seem to be in its original position.  And it’s another one that was lucky to survive, as solid metal staples were hammered into it more than a hundred years ago when it was incorporated into the fencing, much like the massive Kor Stone 6½ miles south-west of here.

Site shown on 1867 map
Witch’s Stone at roadside

Shown on the first Ordnance Survey map of the area in 1867, its bulky 6½-foot-tall body stands all alone on this relatively flat plain, with open views to the east, south and west.  It gave me the distinct impression that it was once part of a larger megalithic complex, but I can find no additional evidence to substantiate this.  Call it a gut-feeling if you will.  Intriguingly, the closest site to this are two standing stones just out of view literally ⅔-mile (1.07km) to the northeast, aligned perfectly to the Witch’s Stone!  Most odd…

Folklore

The story behind this old stone is a creation myth that we find all over the country, but usually relating to prehistoric tombs more than monoliths.  The great Fred Coles (1908) wrote:

“the common legend is told of a witch who, when flying through the air on some Satanic behest, let the Stone fall out of her apron.”

Looking West
Fred Coles’ 1908 sketch
Looking East

References:

  1. Coles, Fred, “Report on Stone Circles Surveyed in Perthshire – North-eastern Section,” in Proceedings Society Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 42, 1908.
  2. Marshall, William, Historic Scenes in Perthshire, William Oliphant: Edinburgh 1880.
  3. Stewart, Elizabeth, Dunkeld – An Ancient City, Munro Press: Perth 1926.

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. 

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian

Kor Stone, Logiealmond, Perthshire

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Standing Stone:  OS Grid Reference – NN 9733 3004

Also Known as:

  1. Car Stone
  2. Carse Stone

Getting Here

The huge Kor Stone

Take the tiny long winding B8063 road that runs west off the A9 at Luncarty, meandering eventually to the entry of the Sma’ Glen.  If you’re coming via Luncarty, after going west for 8 miles (12.9km) you pass the hamlet of Harrietfield and just a few hundred yards further a dirt-track on your right goes uphill to Milton.  If you’re coming via Crieff/Sma’ Glen direction, along the B8063 road, cross the Bridge of Buchanty and after nearly 3 miles (4.7km) just past a bit of a hairpin, you’ll see the track up to Milton on your left.  Walk up, past all the newly modernised houses and go through the gate, bearing right where, in the field on your right (thru another gate) you’ll see this big fella standing alone 200 yards to the east along the fence-line.

Archaeology & History

Looking N to Crochan Hill

This is a bit of a hidden beauty!  Standing nearly ten feet tall on the crest of an elongated ridge with the land ever so gently declining either side of its proud stand, it beckons the impression of partners long since gone (or something truly olde)… and so it proved to be.  Very little has been written about the place, despite its impressive stature.  It seems to have been described firstly in J.W. Thomson’s essay on the local parish in April 1837 (subsequently published in the NSA in 1845) where, ascribing it as usual to the druids of olde, he told that,

“at the western extremity of Logiealmond, there is one remarkable block about 12 feet high and 18 feet in circumference, standing upon its narrow end, with three other stones in its immediate vicinity.  It is commonly called the Kor Stone.”

Kor Stone, looking SE

Fred Coles’ 1911 sketch

William Marshall (1880) also mentioned these three additional standing stones, saying that they were “apparently part of a row.”  But they are long gone and we know not what became of them.  They were probably uprooted and included in some of the nearby walling or buildings (quite a lot of suspicious-looking stones scatter the edges of many fields around Logiealmond).  If we look closely at the surface of our Kor Stone, in earlier times someone has fixed metal loops into the monolith to make it part of an early fence or gate.

The stone was highlighted on the 1867 OS-map of the area and described in the accompanying Name Book,

“Carse” Stone on 1867 map

“A stone about ten feet high, supposed by some people to be the remains of a Druidical Circle, by others to be a mark on a division of lands: in support of the latter supposition they bring forward the fact of a large stone at Dunkeld and one near Fowlis – both similar to this one – and The Carse Stane being in the same straight line.”

The great Fred Coles (1911) also gave the place his attention, but apart from a brief description of its size and position, he found no additional lore about the other three stones, telling us simply:

“It is an imposingly large and erect block of rugged whinstone, 9 feet 9 inches in height, with a basal girth of 15 feet 10 inches, but at about midway of its height the girth increases to fully 17 feet. The view…shows the Stone as seen from the east.”

In truth, the location of this giant stone on the ridge strongly suggests it was once part of a much greater megalithic neolithic monument.  But whatever that might have looked like, we may never know.  It’s an awesome site though.  Well worth checking out if you’re in the area.

References:

  1. Coles, Fred, “Report on Stone Circles Surveyed in Perthshire, Principally Strathearn” in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 45, 1911.
  2. Finlayson, Andrew, The Stones of Strathearn, One Tree Island: Comrie 2010.
  3. Marshall, William, Historic Scenes in Perthshire, William Oliphant: Edinburgh 1880.
  4. Thomson, J.W., “Parish of Moneydie,” in New Statistical Account of Scotland – volume X: Perth, William Blackwood: Edinburgh 1845.

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. 

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian