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.
Along the A81 road between the Port of Menteith and Aberfoyle, ¾-mile (1.2km) west of the Port of Menteith you’ll see a small single-track road on the right—by a group of cottages—that takes you uphill. Go uphill for just over a half-mile and park-up on the rough grass on your left, ensuring there’s enough room for a tractor to get past (if some halfwit Englishman comes out and says “you can’t park there!”, remind him that this is Scotland!*). Just where you’ve parked-up there’s a dirt-track on your left; walk up it, go through the gate, and nearly 300 yards after this there’s a gate into the fields on your left. Go through here, and follow the straight line of fencing for 700 yards, passing one of the Netherglenny cairns, till you hit a wall. Go through the gate and, 60-70 yards south-west on a raised ridge of land is a long line of bedrock stone. You’ve arrived!
Archaeology & History
Cups & rings & solar sign?
In the early 1990s, rock art explorer Kaledon Naddair gave a talk at Kilmartin on the prehistoric rock art of Scotland. Amongst other carvings, he reported on a number of new finds that he and others had made at the Ballochraggan complex near Aberfoyle and, as I recall, it included this fascinating and almost unique design (Naddair and his team did hundreds of detailed drawings of many carvings, most of which are very hard to find nowadays). Some years later, in 2009, rock art student George Currie came across the same stone shortly before forestry plantation grew to obscure it entirely. It was described for the first time in Brouwer & van Veen’s (2009) fine survey of the Ballochraggan petroglyphs. My first visit here was in 2021 in the company of Prof Paul Hornby, when the forest was still standing and we had to cut our way through the trees to see a section of stone. A few years on, now that the forest has been cut down, all of the carving has come to light again—and it’s a bittova beauty!
Down the stone NE-SWBowls & troughs of water
Described erroneously by the Scottish Rock Art Project as being at Netherglenny, this impressive design is just north of Ballochraggan house and is a faded but impressive carving, possessing a rare ‘motif’ or symbol not usually found on Scottish petroglyphs. The line of rock on which the carving’s found runs in a northeast-to-southwest line, perhaps relating to the rising and setting of the solstice sun. Perhaps… Most of the carving is a scatter of cup-and-rings covering more than half the length of the rock surface, mainly on its more western section. But also, notably, there’s a series of geological bowls and troughs along the rock, primarily from the middle of the stone to the easternmost end where, perhaps significantly, there are few carved elements apart from a couple of cup-marks close to two of the deep bowls. The bowls and troughs are mainly along the central and northern edge of the stone. On my visit here recently, near the end of a lengthy heatwave, these natural ‘bowls’ were still filled with a lot of water! I was grateful—and used the water to highlight some parts of the carving.
First group of cup&rings
…And so…
First group of cup&rings
We approach the stone from its north-eastern end. Walking to the troughs and bowls of water, collecting some of it as we pass, it’s important to recognize that this water would have had some mythic relationship with the carving we are about to see. The water in these bowls may have been used to mix organic paints, or possessed some healing virtues relative to the spirit of the rock; it would certainly have had some relevance to the design, so it’s important to mention them even though they’re Nature’s handiwork. But as we get near the end of these watery cleavages, more of the cup-marks begin to appear.
The first suggestion of a cup-and-ring appears where a single cup has the beginnings of a ring, or an arc, on its eastern side; and there’s a single cup attached to the end of this arc. Just past this is another cup-mark which, when looked at from certain angles, seemed to have had a very faint ring round it—but I’m really not sure. A couple of other single cups are just past these two, roughly in line with them. They’re clearly visible in the photos. Continuing southwestwards we come across a small cluster of cup-and-rings—two of them touching each other gently, all but kissing each other! From these conjoined cup-and-rings, a step to the north brings us to another single cup-and-ring.
Cups & rings & thingsMore cups & rings & things
More intriguingly is what’s found a foot or so further west from the cup-and-rings that kiss! We come across a very faint double cup-and-ring that never seem to have been completed—instead, intruded upon by two or three cup-marks on its northern edge and, more curiously still, what looks to be straight lines intruding the outer ring at various angles, almost in the form of the letter ‘W’—or ‘M’ depending where you’re stood. It can be seen quite clearly in the photos here, both left and right. I couldn’t make my mind up about this particular ‘W’ ingredient, inasmuch as: which parts of it are natural, and which parts are man-made. As I walked round and round this element, crouching down, standing up and gazing at it from as many angles as I could, it never seemed to show itself fully one way or the other. There’s undoubtedly some man-made element about it, but its ambiguity should perhaps be left to the computer-tech rock art kids and give them something to do when they next get some grant money to line their pockets. 😉
Large isolated cup-markPhoto from 2021
Detached from this portion of the petroglyph, a yard south of the main line of rock, is a small, earthfast oval-shaped stone. On it is a large deep cup-marking, bigger than all the other cup-marks on the main stretch of carvings. But back onto the main length of the carving and continuing west, we next step over a notable (but not large) natural scar running roughly north-south across the stone. Stepping onto the other side of this scar, the petroglyphic symbolism gets more expansive and complex.
Spoked-wheels & moreThe first spoked-wheel
On the other side of the crack is another one of Nature’s carvings: a large, deep tear-shaped bowl. About twelve inches above this (north), albeit very faint and almost impossible to see in some lights, is a wide carved circle, at the centre of which is a small cup-mark and, emerging from this central cup and reaching to the outer edges of the ring are a series of at least nine straight carved lines, somewhat like spokes on a wheel (but in no precise geometrical order), giving the impression of what some folk like to call a ‘solar’ symbol. It may indeed have symbolized the sun—but we simply don’t know.
Next down the rock is a small scatter of single cup-marks and then we reach another spoked-wheel or solar symbol, about the same size as the first one and again made up of at least nine ‘spokes’ radiating from a central cup-mark. A couple of single cup-marks are outside or above the ring. Between the two solar wheels is another natural elongated hollow, albeit shallow compared to the others on this length of rock.
Multiple cup-and-ringFaint multiple rings
From here, a few steps further west brings us to two very faint multiple-rings. These intrigue me just as much as the spoked-wheels! Initial views of them seem to show them as double-rings around a central cup, but as I watered them and got views of them from different angles, it was obvious that there was more to them (as usual!), with one of the cups seemingly surrounded by four rings—although the outer ring is seemingly incomplete. I’m not 100% sure about it though and it would be good to get more views around sunrise and sunset when the light paints the stone with richer textures, bringing the spirit of the rock into greater life. The other multiple-ringed motif—three rings in all—is faint, but clearer in giving up its secrets: the outer ring of this looking somewhat deformed as it droops down in a more ovoid form.
As we walk now to the very end of this long stretch of rock, no more carved imagery greets the eye. If there was ever anymore to be seen, the elements and Time itself have faded them from view (the nearby Mask Stone exemplifying the difficulty we have in seeing eroded carvings). If, however we walk off the western end of this rock, down into the uneven mass of roots, branches and decaying trees and keep going westwards, a short distance away is another outcrop, albeit much smaller. It has a single cup-mark on its surface. And, quite obviously, other carvings will still be found beneath the mass of dead trees and vegetation across this piece of land. It was obviously a very important place indeed…
The entire carving is a pictorial narrative whose story has been lost. Its complexity fits into the scheme of other carvings in this locale, possessing a rich tapestry of complex symbols along one stony face. It reminded me somewhat of the equally impressive Blarnaboard (3) carving which, curiously enough, this Solar Stone points directly at four miles away to the southwest, and which also possesses a series of multiple complex symbols cut along a long thin stretch of bedrock stone.
Anyhow, to those of you who just need the simplistic shorthand of the archaeologists: this carving comprises of at least fifteen single cup-marks, five cup-and-rings, a cup-and-double-ring, two cup-and-triple-rings (one of which may actually be cup-and-four rings), and two spoked-wheels or solar symbols. It’s good—even by Ballochraggan standards!
Parish, Nick, “Perthshire: Nether Glenny Field Visit,” in Discovery & Excavation Scotland, 2023.
* Numerous people have reported encountering this dickhead, and a number of local folk as far as Aberfoyle also report him as a miserable angry little man. Please don’t be intimidated by his antics (he’s obviously an unhappy old control freak) as he has no legal basis in Scottish law for you to do what he commands. Just walk on by and leave him to stamp his little feet and rant.
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.
In Adam Welfare’s (2011) second volume to his grand megalithic inventory, he described there being, next to the cup-marked Loanhead of Daviot (1) stone, another, that “has two on its outer face”— i.e., the east-facing vertical surface of the standing stone. It looked as if there were three cup-marks when we visited here recently, but I may be wrong. The main one, visible in the attached photo, is about two-inches across and a half-inch deep; another is above this and the other one is below it (you can just about see them in the attached photo). The design is in no way impressive.
Cup-mark to centre
Aubrey Burl (1979) suggested that the cup-marks on the neighbouring Loanhead of Daviot (1) stone were symbolic of the Moon, whose movement across the sky was recorded in the architecture of the circle itself. When he wrote such words, this secondary cup-marked stone hadn’t been noticed and, as it faces the opposite directly looking eastwards, it makes you wonder what he might have thought this design represented. (Welfare [2011] also reported that on the standing stone flanking the east-side of the recumbent stone, there is “a single cupmark a little above the ground surface on its inner face”.)
References:
Burl, Aubrey, Rings of Stone, Frances Lincoln: London 1979.
Welfare, Adam, Great Crowns of Stone – 2 volumes, RCHAMS: Edinburgh 2011.
Acknowledgements: Massive appreciation to Michelle and Steve Allan of Montrose for taking us to this site. Huge thanks to you both.
As you walk through the gate towards the stone circle, veer to the long fallen recumbent stone and, past the large upright that flanks the recumbent on the right-hand side, walk to the next standing stone along from here. That’s the one you need to be looking at!
Archaeology & History
This is one of at least two petroglyphs within the Loanhead of Daviot circle. Difficult to see unless the light is good (oh how often that’s the case!), on our visit here—under the fine guidance of Michelle and Steve Allan—the cups were hard to see clearly, and they proved troublesome getting good photos of them (we’d forgot our standard water-enhancing bottles this day too!). But we could just about make them out, as our fingers fondled their depressions.
It seems that the carvings were first noticed (please correct me if I’m wrong) by the Aberdeenshire antiquarian James Ritchie (1918) who, in a lengthy essay on rock art and megalithic rings, described seeing “twelve plain cups” on the standing stone in question. They are situated on the north-facing side of the stone, or, as Ritchie wrote,
The carved stone
Ritchie’s early photo
“on the inner face of the stone, which points towards the centre of the circle…. Near the western edge of the stone five cups are placed, one above another, in an almost perpendicular line. Each of the three lower members of this group is 2 inches in diameter and ½ inch in depth, while the two upper members are ½ inch less in diameter and only ¼ inch deep. A little to the left, near the upper end of the group, there is a single cup, 1 inch in diameter and ¼ inch in depth. Near the centre of the stone there is another group of cups very similar in appearance to that already described. It also consists of five cups in an almost perpendicular line, with a sixth, a little to the left, nearly in the middle of the stone. All the cups in this second group are about 1 inch in diameter and very shallow.”
The second group of cup-marks that Ritchie described were the most difficult to see on our visit here, due to the bright daylight. Under the Moon, or early sunrise when the stone is wet, they should stand out nice n’ easy. Thankfully, most of them are visible in Mr Ritchie’s old photo of the stone (above), taken in 1917.
An interesting idea was posited by Mr Browne (1921) in his classic on the Aberdeenshire sites, where he thought that the cup-marks here are marks that denoted “the registers of the magician in charge” of rituals at the Loanhead circle. More recently, the great megalithic archaeologist Aubrey Burl (1979) suggested that the cup-marks on this stone were representative of the cyclical movement of the Moon, as observed from this stone circle.
The second cup-marked stone at this stone circle is on the next stone along, going anticlockwise (east): on ‘Stone 5’ (as designated in the Royal Commission survey).
References:
Beckensall, Stan, British Prehistoric Rock Art, Tempus: Stroud 1999.
Beckensall, Stan, Circles in Stone: A British Prehistoric Mystery, Tempus: Stroud 2006.
Browne, G.F., On Some Antiquities in the Neighbourhood of Dunecht House, Aberdeenshire, Cambridge University Press 1921.
Burl, Aubrey, Rings of Stone, Frances Lincoln: London 1979.
Cup-Marked Stone (missing): OS Grid Reference – NJ 747 289
Archaeology & History
When James Ritchie’s (1918) wrote his lengthy essay on the cup-and-ring designs on the megaliths of Aberdeenshire, he mentioned one of the two known carvings that are in Loanhead of Daviot stone circle, but also mentioned one “in the wood, a short distance to the northwest of the circle.” It’s not been seen since he wrote about it. Ritchie described there being several rocks in the trees and, “on the upper surface of one of these, two plain cups are to be seen.” He told them to be “similar in size and appearance to those on the standing-stone” in the Loanhead stone circle a short distance below, but he thought there was no connection between the two sites. The carving is likely to be still there, beneath the undergrowth. It would be worthwhile seeking it out during the Winter and Spring months, before the vegetation returns.
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.
In the fields immediately above the northernmost of the Castleton petroglyphs, there was, in bygone times, a prehistoric settlement, forgotten and cast even from folk memory until very recently, when aerial photography revealed the ghostly outline of its former existence. Similar in design, but somewhat smaller than the prehistoric Gallamuir enclosure a half-mile southwest of the Castleton carvings, this double-ringed oval enclosure—thought by archaeologists to have been defined all round with large wooden stakes, or palisaded—measures, from outer edge to outer edge, 65 yards (SE to NW) across its longer axis, by 55 yards (SW to NE). The gap between the trenches that define the inner and outer wooden ‘walls’ is between five and six yards apart all round it. The entrance to the enclosure seems to have been on its southeastern side—although an excavation is needed to be sure about this. Sadly, almost nothing can be seen of the site at ground level. An archaeo-dig would be a good idea. 🙂
Rough sketch of site-plan
‘Palisade enclosures’ tend to be neolithic in origin and were in use for many centuries, sweeping into the Bronze Age. I highlight this long period in time due to the proximity of the extensive and very ornate cup-and-ring carvings that start just 300 yards southwest of the settlement on the first rock outcrop that you meet. It’s a good one too! Petroglyphs were also created mainly during the neolithic and Bronze Age periods; and as the enclosure here is on the slight rise in the land overlooking the various small rocky ridges below, many of which are decorated in ornate cup-and-rings, it’s likely that some of the people who lived here were probably the people who did them…
Just over a half-mile (1km) south-west of the major rock art complex at Castleton, in the fields just east of Gallamuir Farm on the north side of the B9124 road, could once be seen a decent double-ringed enclosure, prehistoric in nature. At ground level today there is nothing to be seen as agricultural practices have ever so slowly eroded it away. It wasn’t in a good state when the dudes from Royal Commission (1963) had a look at it in October, 1951—although they did tell us that some faint remnants were discernible, but it was fading fast! They wrote:
“No traces of this structure can normally be seen on the surface, but at the date of visit, when the site was covered with wheat stubble, stretches of both ditches were clearly visible, as shown on the plan (below), by reason of the stronger growth of the stubble overlying them. The ditches are from 20ft to 30ft apart, and the enclosed area measures 300ft from ESE to WNW, by about 240ft transversely. Two narrow gaps in the inner ditch on the north and east arcs respectively, may represent original entrances.”
Outline sketch of the enclosure
Royal Commission plan
Nothing remains of it today apart from the shadow-marks of its former existence when looked down from above. The double embankment that constituted the enclosure initially suggested it to be Iron Age in nature, akin to the larger hillforts up and down the country, but the outline is more consistent of a standard settlement enclosure. As far as I’m aware, no excavations have taken place here, so we’re at a loss to know whether the people living here had anything to do with the rock art just across the fields at Castleton. If we found that it had a Bronze Age or neolithic date, a connection could be likely. But we may have to look at the enclosure immediately north of the Castleton complex to be more sure of our petroglyphic culprits….
References:
Lock, Gary & Ralston, Ian, An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland, Edinburgh University Press 2022.
Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments Scotland, Stirling – volume 2, HMSO: Edinburgh 1963.
Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland, Archaeological Sites and Monuments of Stirling District, Central Region, Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 1979.
From the red phone-box at the road junction in Strathtay village, walk aling the road, east (slightly downhill) for less than 50 yards then turn left and walk up the track. After 70-80 yards, keep your eyes peeled for the footpath that runs up the slope into the tgrees (don’t head to the house in front of you). After a half-mile you reach the gorgeous old Tullypowrie farmhouse on your left; keep walking uphill for another 300 yards until your reach a large tree on your left, above which, sat on some very low walling, you’ll see a small upright stone.
Archaeology & History
Faint cross on western face
This little-known early christian carved stone, sitting on the vague remains of an old Roman Catholic church, located on what local folks used to call “the route to the stones” (meaning to the Clachan an Diridh, much to the minister’s considerable disdain), has had less said of it than the more ancient stone circle a little further up the footpath. But then, not much is known of either the carving or the church itself, whose remains can barely be seen amongst the grasses. But the upright ‘cross’ at least proclaims itself to the eye.
On our recent visit here, the crosses (on both side of the stone) were somewhat faint, as my photos show. But it wasn’t always this way. During a visit to nearby Aberfeldy in September 1900, the antiquarian Dave Landsborough (1901) found himself ambling about “among the ruins of a small hamlet” that was the olde settlement of Tullypowrie and came upon this little-known monument. He subsequently wrote an excellent description of the stone, which cannot be equalled. “The cross,” he told,
Landsborough’s sketch
“is of the rudest character, consisting of a schistose slab 30 inches in length, 11⅜ inches in width at the top, about half an inch wider at the bottom, and about 4½ inches in thickness. It is roughly squared at the top and sides, but at the bottom the base is unsquared, one side being longer than the other. On both faces of the slab a cross is formed by a shallow incised sinking, a little more than an inch in breadth, with circular sinkings slightly deeper than the rest of the outline at each corner of the shaft and summit of the cross, and at the intersections of the arms with the shaft and summit. The cross on the east face of the stone has its top almost level with the top of the slab, but the shaft does not reach nearly to the bottom. The top part of the cross above the arms is 4½ inches high by 4½ inches in width. The arms reach across the whole width of the slab, and the shaft is little more than the length of the part above the arms, the base being somewhat rounded. Below the termination of the shaft are two slight circular sinkings almost in line with the perpendicular outlines of the sides, but at unequal distances from their terminations, the one being 1½ inches and the other 2½ inches below the similar sinkings which mark the corners of the shaft. The cross on the west face of the slab is in every way similar, except that the shaft is longer, reaching to a length of 10½ inches below the arms, and the circular sinkings at the top are nearly effaced. It has, however, the curious feature of a slight cut-off at about the same length as the shaft of the other cross, but the circular sinkings occur at the top and bottom, and at the intersections as in the case of the other cross.
“The slab is not fastened in a socket, but is kept nearly erect leaning against a large stone, while smaller stones keep it firm at the back. I have since been told by the Rev. Mr McLean of Grandtully that the place where it stands is the site of an old and very little chapel, the south wall of which may still be recognised by its remaining foundations.”
Tullypowrie cross looking S
Dixon’s old photo
On the other side of the burn from here was the great Whooping Cough Well, with the heathen Clach na Buidseach against the wall of Tullypowrie Farm just below (subsequently moved to the field west of the cross). These sites (and others nearby) and the animistic traditions associated with them, probably had something to do with the positioning of the church here, and the cross would be the attempt to give a Christian veneer to usurp the more archaic natural practices. We don’t know that for sure, but it’s more than likely. The old Logierait schoolmaster James Kennedy (1927) makes constant references to the animistic lore of the region, which was legion until quite recently.
No additional lore, sadly, is known of this old cross, which is deemed to be medieval in origin. Both Mitchell (1923) and Dixon (1925) make mention of the monument in their respective guidebooks, but add no further information.
References:
Dixon, John H., Pitlochry, Past and Present, L. Mackay: Pitlochry 1925.
Kennedy, James, Folklore and Reminiscences of Strathtay and Grandtully, Munro Press: Perth 1927.
Landsborough, David, “Rubbings of both Faces of an Erect Incised Cross-slab, at Tullypowrie, near Grandtully, Perthshire,” in Proceedings Society of Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 35, 1901.
Mitchell, Hugh, Pitlochry District: Its Topography, Archaeology and History, L. Mackay: Pitlochry 1923.
Park up at the red phone-box in Strathtay village (by the road junction) and walk east along the road (slightly downhill) for less than 50 yards, then turn left and walk up the track. 70-80 yards up, keep your eyes peeled for the distinct footpath on your right (don’t head up to the house) that runs into the trees and keep walking uphill for literally ½-mile where you’ll reach the gorgeous overgrown scented orchard of Tullypowrie farmhouse on the left. Keep walking along the path past the farm and, if you fancy, cross the burn (stream) anywhere hereby. The well is on the other side of the burn, somewhere…..
Archaeology & History
We ventured up here recently to look at several sites, but when we came to find this long lost well we were hindered severely by the mass of vegetation that was teeming with ticks—so thought it most sensible to come back here again at the end of winter when we’d have a clean slate of landscape to look at. (the ticks have got fucking awful in this neck o’ the woods in recent years!) It has almost fallen out of history, with no one writing about the place for more than a hundred years, yet it was a place of considerable importance in the folk traditions of Strathtay.
In some previously unpublished notes written by the historian Charles Robertson sometime at the beginning of the 20th century, he told of a lady from Pitlochry called Mrs Anderson who informed him of an important water source known locally as Sput na-fruith-chasd which,
“comes spouting out of a high rock on the east side of the Tullypowrie Burn opposite Tullypowrie farm, and was resorted to of old for the cure of whooping cough. The sufferer who came here and drank of the water always got better too.”
It was described by the Logierait schoolmaster James Kennedy (1927) as one of “the three most important (wells) in the Tay Valley”—and there are a lot of wells in the Tay Valley!
There’s a slight discrepancy regarding the exact location of the well: whilst Mr Robertson’s notes told that it was found “opposite Tullypowrie farm”, in Hugh Mitchell’s (1923) survey of local antiquities he told that,
“On the oppsite side of the burn from the mill there is a drip well, the water from which was for long regarded as a certain cure for whooping cough”—
which would place the well a hundred yards or so further upstream. (the very low-lying walls of the mill can just be discerned a short distance above the farmhouse) I’m sure that a good search of the area after Winter has laid the vegetation to rest will tell us one way or the other precisely where this curative well is hiding.
Across the burn from the well is the barely visible ruins of an old church: Roman Catholic according to tradition, with a singular short carved cross standing on the low remains of its eastern wall. Close to this, but now in the field a few hundred yards west, was the curious bullaun stone known as Clach na Buidseach, or Witchcraft Stone. This bullaun would seem to have been used in rites related to the Whooping Cough Well, but the precise nature of these rites has been lost.
References:
Dixon, John H., Pitlochry, Past and Present, L. Mackay: Pitlochry 1925.
Kennedy, James, Folklore and Reminiscences of Strathtay and Grandtully, Munro Press: Perth 1927.
Mitchell, Hugh, Pitlochry District: Its Topography, Archaeology and History, L. Mackay: Pitlochry 1923.
To find this carving, follow the same directions as if you’re visiting the carving I’ve simply labelled Netherglenny. From here, walk up the slope (north) barely twenty yards and you’ll see the folds of another elongated piece of rock, similar in form to the one you’ve just been to.
I found this stone when rushing near the end of a red hot day and needed to get back under some shelter, so I didn’t get chance to highlight it as I usually do. Hence, the info and the photos of the carving aren’t impressive. But then, the design on the stone isn’t impressive either. I could discern just two distinct cup-marks: one above the deep elongated slit (vulva-esque) and the other below it. The cup-mark above it comes out clearly in the photos; but the other one is just about hidden in the shadows. There may be a third possible cupmark close to the less visible one. I’ll get some better photos when I’m next up there (he sez, hopefully…)
Shallow cup, top-middle
This carving lies very close indeed to an official site entry known simply as a ‘Nether Glenny’ carving (grid-ref NN 56130 01969), which became lost when forestation took effect here more than 30 years ago. However, the description given to that stone, of “at least six cups on the upper surface of the boulder” isn’t consistent with the marks on this rock. There are several other marks on this stone that may give the impression of them being cup-marks, but they’re entirely natural. Hopefully we can recover the lost ‘official’ stone on our next visit.
(The entry title of this site needs amending, as the entire Menteith rock art complex (more than a hundred carvings in little over a square mile) needs re-assessing and assembled under a singular umbrella. The scattering of place-names, sometimes erroneously, relating to the many so-called ‘Nether Glenny’ carvings [dozens of them], is confusing unless you know the area intimately—and most people don’t! So forgive the title I’ve given this minimalist cup-marked stone. It will be adjusted when we’ve been back and correctly mapped the others in this locale. If anyone wants to help out in this project, please get in touch.)
