Along the main A924 Atholl Road in Pitlochry, head west towards the Perth Road, under the railway bridge and, another 200 yards along, take the right-turn and walk over the river bridge. Once on the other side of the River Tummel, about 150 yards on turn left and walk along the minor road for 400 yards where, just past some houses, a path takes you on the left into the fields. You’ll be able to see a large tree-topped mound in the next field ahead of you. Follow the line of fencing and you’ll reach the site.
Archaeology & History
Dunfallandy, looking N
This is a gorgeous site in a beautiful setting, close to where the River Tummel meets with the River Tay. It has that archetypal fairy mound look to it and, if the folklore is right, the association would seem to be a real one! The old school ley-hunters that follow Alfie Watkin’s original notions of straight tracks would also be intrigued by this notable tomb.
An early description of it by the local writer Hugh Mitchell (1921) told that, around the middle of the 19th century, this large mound of rock and earth, “was surrounded by upright stones, but these were carted away about eighty years ago to repair a breach in the embankment of the River Tummel.” In Mitchell’s (1923) later work on the antiquities of the Pitlochry district he expanded on his earlier notes, pointing out, again, the notable clump of trees on the grassland plain where it lives:
The fairy mound in 1925Top of the mound
“The trees are growing on a Neolithic burial mound,” he wrote, “which is composed of small stones and earth, and is circular, having a height of about 8 feet and a diameter of about 50 feet. It is surrounded by a shallow ditch about 6 feet wide and 18 inches deep and having a raised margin round it. There was a row of standing stones round the mound which were carted away about 80 years ago… This mound has been partially excavated and any graves near the surface have been destroyed, but some of the old people say they remember seeing small stone cists, which appear to have been of the usual Neolithic type. The surrounding ditch is unusual, and in that respect the mound differs from any other in the district.”
When John Dixon (1925) came to describe the site a few years later, he merely echoed what Mitchell had written, although said that the “row of standing stones” Mitchell described was a “circle of standing stones.” Without a modern excavation, we may never know which is the more accurate. The closest it seems we’ve got to archaeologists looking at the site is when the old-school dudes Childe & Graham (1943) came here, but they just told us what we already knew, saying how it,
“is constructed of large rounded stones and earth and measures 60 feet by 48 feet on plan; its sides rise steeply to a flattened top the surface of which, though disturbed, shows no trace of any cist.”
Dunfallandy, looking SW
The cists, of course, had been shifted a century earlier. And when Colin Lidell (1994) included the site in his recent history of Pitlochry, he too could add no more than what the old antiquarians had given us…
It’s not changed much over the last century. The mound has got slightly smaller, in both height and width, and the ditch that surrounded the tomb wasn’t apparent on my recent visit—although the crops were high. My own personal thought is that we’re looking at a Bronze Age tomb, not a neolithic one—but I’d love to be wrong! The older the better in my opinion! It’s worth checking out when you’re in the area. I loved the place!
Folklore
On the east-side of the River Tummel, a few hundred yards from the tomb, there are several place-names of Dalshian, meaning “the flat or field of the peaceful folk, or fairies”, which the local writer Hugh Mitchell (1921) thought also related to the ground on which our tomb resides:
“There seems little doubt,” he wrote, “that this burial mound is the Sithean (Shian) which at one time gave its name to the whole flat.”
Traditions of the sith (fairies) and similar creatures are rampant in this neck o’ the woods.
References:
Childe, V.G. & Graham, Angus, “Some Notable Prehistoric and Medieval Monuments”, in Proceedings Society Antiquaries Scotland, volume 77, 1943.
Dixon, John H., Pitlochry, Past and Present, L. Mackay: Pitlochry 1925.
Feacham, Richard, Guide to Prehistoric Scotland, Batsford: London 1977.
Lidell, Colin, Pitlochry — Heritage of a Highland District, Perth & Kinross District Library 1994.
Mitchell, Hugh, “The Picts in Athol”, in Transactions Inverness Scientific Society Field Club, volume 8, 1921.
Mitchell, Hugh, Pitlochry District: Its Topography, Archaeology and History, L. Mackay: Pitlochry 1923.
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.
Holy Well (destroyed): OS Grid Reference – NN 9397 5770
Archaeology & History
It was more than a hundred years ago that the waters of this sacred well fell back to Earth. They emerged above the eastern side of the River Tummel, close to the bridge where previous there had been a local ferry at the site known as Port-na-Craig. The mythic history of the ferry and the holy well went hand-in-hand, according to local tradition. Its lore was was spelled out by the local author and historian Hugh Mitchell in a speech he gave when a new bridge was opened here in 1913. He said:
The Well was on the far side of the bridge
“The ferry at Port-na-Craig, though not as old as many ferries in Scotland, bears the respectable antiquity of something like eight hundred years. It was established by the monks of Coupar Angus when they got a gift of the lands of Fonab, and as Coupar Angus lay on the north side of the river Tummel, they established the ferry in order to have communication. In those days the ferry boat was made of skins stretched on branches or twigs, so it was somewhat dangerous to cross in, and the monks thought that they would improve the occasion by dedicating the well near the old ferry to St. Bride, so that people, when they ventured across the ferry, might propitiate the saint. It was customary for people to drop either a small coin or a brass pin into the well. He was afraid that brass pins rather prevailed, and no doubt, St. Bride, being a lady, would find them more useful. The well remained until recent times, when it had, unfortunately, to be filled up, on account of being contaminated by neighbouring fields.”
For “fields”, read sewage—for that was the actual reason it was closed. Mr Mitchell (1923) told as much in his subsequent history of Pitlochry, saying that “sewage was percolating into it.” John Dixon (1925) echoed the same thing a few years later.
The curative and magickal properties of St Bride’s Well had considerable renown for local people. Mitchell told that:
“It had a great reputation at one time for cases of lung disease… Pins and coins were dropped into the well as votive offerings, and the bushes above it were hung with rags to call the attention of the saint to the sufferer.”
A few miles north from here, at the back of Blair Castle, an old church is dedicated to St. Bride, whose celebration date is February 1. “The day was known as Candlemas in the Highlands,” wrote Mrs Banks, saying, in commemoration of the Celtic Brigit, “Feill Bride, the festival of Bride, displaced the festival of Mary.”
References:
Dixon, John H., Pitlochry, Past and Present, L. Mackay: Pitlochry 1925.
MacKay, L., Atholl Illustrated, L. MacKay: Pitlochry 1912.
Mitchell, Hugh, Pitlochry District: Its Topography, Archaeology and History, L. Mackay: Pitlochry 1923.
