Tag: Stirling

Cuparlaw Wood, Bridge of Allan, Stirlingshire

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Cairn:  OS Grid Reference – NS 8046 9916

Also Known as:

  1. Canmore ID 47128
  2. Pendreich

Getting Here

The rise of Cuparlaw cairn
The rise of Cuparlaw cairn

From Bridge of Allan go down the main A9 road towards the University, but turn left up the Sheriffmuir road, 100 yards up turning right to keep you on track up the steep narrow dark lane, turning left at the next split in the road. Follow this for a mile or two all the way to the very end where the tell-tale signs of the unwelcoming english incomers of ‘Private’ now adorns the Pendreich farm buildings.  There’s a dirt-track veering uphill diagonally right from here. Go up here and as it bends slightly left, look into the open copse of trees to the highest point here less than 100 yards to you right. That’s it!

Archaeology & History

Lisa gives an idea of scale
Lisa gives an idea of scale

The remains of this prehistoric tomb sits right on the very crown of the hill round the back of Pendreich, covered on its western edges by old gorse bushes.  Its eye speaks with the nearby sites of the Fairy Knowe to the south, the fallen standing stone of Pendreich Muir to the northeast, the associated cairns to the east, and the Pictish fortress of Dumyat behind them.  When I came up here for the first time last week with local archaeologist Lisa Samson, we found that the land upon which the cairn now lives is fertile with a variety of edible (Boletus, Amanita, etc) and sacred mushrooms (Panaeolina, Psilocybes, etc).  And, despite being told by locals and the archaeology record as a place where very little can be seen, I have to beg to differ.

Fallen stone at the cairn edge
Fallen stone at the cairn edge

The crowning cairn is of course much overgrown and has been dug into in earlier years, but just beneath the grassy surface you can feel and see much of the stone that constitutes this buried site.  The cairn itself rises a couple of feet beneath the grass and is clearly visible as you walk towards it.  At its edges there seems to be the fallen remains of a surrounding ring of stones.  Inside of this ring we can see and feel the overgrown rocky mass and open cists sleeping quietly, awaiting a more modern analysis to tell us of its ancient past.  When the site was visited by the Royal Commission lads in the 1960s, they went on to tell us the following about the place:

“This cairn is situated on the summit of a low knoll within a felled wood, 170 yards ENE of Pendreich farmhouse at a height of 600ft OD. It consists of a low, grass-covered mound which measures 40ft in diameter and stands to a maximum height of 1ft 6in.  The surface is disfigured by pits caused in 1926 when the cairn was opened and three cists were uncovered. Two of these contained no relics; in the third there were fragments of bones and a broken beaker, some sherds of which are preserved in the Smith Institute, Stirling.”

Although we find the scattered remains of old farm equipment lying round the edge of this tomb, it’s still a good site to visit and, I’d say, worthy of further archaeological attention.

References:

  1. Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments Scotland, Stirling – 2 volumes, HMSO: Edinburgh 1963.
  2. Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland, Archaeological Sites and Monuments of Stirling District, Central Region, Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 1979.
  3. Watson, Angus, The Ochils – Placenames, History, Tradition, Perth & Kinross District Libraries 1995.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Tulloch, Doune, Perthshire

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Tumulus:  OS Grid Reference – NN 71782 01194

Also Known as:

  1. Canmore ID 24771

Getting Here

Tulloch Knowe from the road
Tulloch Knowe from the road

Head out of Doune village and take the A84 to Stirling. Just a few hundred yards along, over the old river bridge, take the first right along the B8032 (don’t head into Deanston).  Barely 500 yards along on the left-hand side, between the farmhouse and a small group of houses, note the large tree-lined mound in the middle, just over the fence.  It’s quite a big fella – you can’t really miss it.

Archaeology & History

The mound and its trees
The mound and its trees

This is an almost archetypal fairy mound of a monument—and a mighty one at that!—living quietly in the field with its olde trees for company.  Despite its size, it has brought little by way of archaeological attention and has, to my knowledge, never been excavated.  Probably a Bronze Age burial mound, the tomb stands more than 15 feet high and is some 30 yards across east-west and 35 yards north-south.  The Royal Commission (1979) listing of the mound says simply that “this large cairn measures 34m in diameter and up to 5m high.”

References:

  1. Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland, Archaeological Sites and Monuments of Stirling District, Central Region, Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 1979.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Puidrac, Balquhidder, Perthshire

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Standing Stone:  OS Grid References – NN 54058 20794

Also Known as:

  1. Canmore ID 24141

Getting Here

Puidrac Stone, looking SE

From Balquhidder village, take the road east towards Auchtubh as if you’re gonna visit the Priest’s Stone, just past the house of Tom na Cruich on the right-hand side of the road. When you get to the house, if you ask the owners there how best to get to the stone, they are very friendly and very helpful in pointing you in the right direction.

Archaeology & History

This solitary standing stone first seems to be mentioned in J.W. Gow’s (1887) essay on the prehistoric antiquities of this part of Rob Roy’s country.  Found below the house and hillock where the old gallows used to be, he told:

“On the level ground below (Tom na Croich) …there is a prominent monolith, standing about 4½ feet above ground, quite flat, on the top. It is shaped like a wedge, with the edge to the east, and is famous in Balquhidder as the place where trials of strength took place.”

Note the stones in the next field
Note the stones in next field
Puidrac Stone, looking north
Puidrac Stone, looking N

Below the standing stone is a small rock, whose predecessor played an important part in some local traditions relating to this site. (see ‘Folklore’ below)  Also, due west of here in the next field, you will be able to see a couple of seemingly upright stones in the tall reeds 200 yards away, which early records say were part of a stone circle—now much in ruin—known as Clachan Aoraidh or the Worshipping Stones.  There is the possibility that this single stone was an outlier to the circle.  It’s astronomy might be worth checking….

Folklore

When we visited the stone last week, the owners of the house above asked if we’d managed “to lift the stone”—and I wondered what they meant at first, until they told us the folklore about the site.  They narrated the tale almost exactly as it had been described first of all in J.W. Gow’s (1887) essay, which said the following:

A new ‘lifting stone’ in front of Puidrac

“It is shaped like a wedge, with the edge to the east, and is famous in Balquhidder as the place where trials of strength took place.  A large round water-worn boulder, named after the district, ‘Puderag’, and weighing between two and three hundredweight, was the testing stone, which had to be lifted and placed on the top of the standing stone. There used to be a step about 18 inches from the top, on the east side of the stone, on which the lifting stone rested in its progress to the top. This step or ledge was broken off about thirty years ago, as told to me by the person who actually did it, and the breadth of the stone was thereby reduced about 8 inches. This particular mode of developing and testing the strength of the young men of the district has now fallen into disuse, and the lifting-stone game is a thing of the past.  A former minister of the parish pronounced it a dangerous pastime.  Many persons were permanently injured by their efforts to raise the stone, and it is said that he caused it to be thrown into the river, but others said it was built into the manse dyke, where it still remains.  There were similar stones at Monachyle, at Strathyre, and at Callander, and no doubt in every district round about, but the man who could lift ‘Puderag’ was a strong man and a champion.”

The present stone that is positioned on the ground below the standing stone was put here in much more recent times.

References:

  1. Gow, James M., “Notes in Balquhidder: Saint Angus, Curing Wells, Cup-Marked Stones, etc”, in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries Scotland, volume 21, 1887.

Acknowledgements:  To Kenny and Laura for their help and guidance here. Huge thanks!

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Basan an Sagairt, Balquhidder, Perthshire

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Cup-Marked Stone:  OS Grid Reference – NN 5419 2089

Also Known as:

  1. Canmore ID 24140
  2. Priest’s Basin

Getting Here

The carved bowl of Basan an Sagairt
The carved bowl of Basan an Sagairt

From Balquhidder village, take the road east towards Auchtubh as if you’re heading to the Clach nan Sul or Wester Auchleskine cup-marked stones. Before reaching either of these sites, a few hundred yards on the road as you pass Tom na Cruich on the right-side of the road, you need to look in the next field past this house.  About 40 yards past here in the field, and less than 10 yards from the wall, you can see the large rock from the roadside.  If not, you’re damn close! Ask the owners of the adjacent house, who are very friendly and helpful.

Archaeology & History

This curious, large, man-made cup-marking or bowl was first described in J.M. Gow’s (1887) essay on Balquhidder antiquities. He wrote:

“Regaining the high road, and still going east, about 40 yards from the cottage of Mr Macdiarmid, there lies just inside the road dyke a large five-sided stone, about 8 feet long by 5 feet broad at the broadest part, and about 2 feet above ground.  It is called “Basan an Sagairt” (the Priest’s Basin).  When the present road and dyke were made, its name must have saved it.  The hollow or basin is 18 inches in diameter and 6 inches deep, and is unmistakably artificial. The stone is the mica slate of the district, hard and granitic.”

Looking down on the basin
Looking down on the basin

The large bowl here was also deemed to be artificial by members of Ordnance Survey and Royal Commission archaeologists who have inspected the site.  It is thought to have been a healing stone of some sort, or at least possessed some religious function, but we have no records stating this with any certainty.  In examples similar to this, the water which collects in the carved bowl is deemed to have curative properties.  It may have been a christian attempt to take locals away from magickal healing stone practices enacted at the Clach nan Sul, or Stone of the Eyes, just a couple of hundred yards along the road east of here.  Or it may have being a stone used by indigenous medicine men for other medicinal purposes.

Carved stone in one of the fields across the road
Carved stone in one of the fields across the road

On the other side of the road from here, in the field immediately past Wester Auchleskine farm, as you go through the gate just ahead of you is a rounded earthfast stone with a similar man-made circular impression like the Priest’s Basin carved upon it. (NN 5451 2089) However, this carving doesn’t appear to have been finished.  Whether it has any mythic relationship to the Priest’s stone or the cupmarked rocks at Wester Auchleskine in the same field, is not known.

References:

  1. Gow, James M., “Notes in Balquhidder: Saint Angus, Curing Wells, Cup-Marked Stones, etc”, in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries Scotland, volume 21, 1887.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Wester Auchleskine, Balquhidder, Perthshire

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Cup-Marked Stone:  OS Grid Reference – NN 54584 20876

Also Known as:

  1. Canmore ID 24154

Getting Here

Wester Auchleskine cup-marked stone
Wester Auchleskine cup-marked stone

From Balquhidder village, walk eastwards along the road for a few hundred yards until you reach Auchleskine Farm on your left.  A short distance past here there’s a gate taking you into the rough field on the left. Go through here and note a large clump of rocks diagonally up the slope about 100 yards away.  That’s your spot!

Archaeology & History

Very little has been said of this large cup-marked stone, just up from the road near Balquhidder.  It was first found and described in J.M. Gow’s (1887) fine essay on the local antiquities of the area, where he told:

“About 400 yards directly east from the farm-house there is a group of three large water-worn boulders of coarse mica-schist, with veins of quartz, the largest of which is about 15 feet long, 7 feet broad, and nearly 5 feet above ground. On the top of this stone there are seven cup-marks of various sizes. The largest are 5 inches in diameter and 2 inches deep; the smaller ones are shallower and from 1½ to 2½ inches in diameter. There may have been more marks on this stone, as a portion of the top near the marks has been broken off, and there are several other faint hollows, but, in my opinion, not sufficiently pronounced to indicate that they ever were cups.”

Cupmarks on top of the rock
Cupmarks on top of the rock
The carving from above
The carving from above

Although his caution on the number of cups on the stone is to be commended, it was obvious during our visit to the site a few days ago that there are at least 18 cup-marks on the surface of this large rock.  There may be more (the grey cloudy day and misty light wasn’t good in allowing us to see the carving clearly). The most pronounced of the cups are on the very top of the stone, whilst others were carved mainly on the eastern slope of the rock.

At least two other cup-marked stones occur at the farmhouse itself, whilst on the road immediately below was once the cup-marked healing stone known as Clach nan Sul. It’s likely that other carvings are hiding away in the hills hereby…

References:

  1. Gow, James M., “Notes in Balquhidder: Saint Angus, Curing Wells, Cup-Marked Stones, etc”, in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries Scotland, volume 21, 1887.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian 


Clach nan Sul, Balquhidder, Perthshire

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Cup-Marked Stone (destroyed):  OS Grid Reference – NN 5456 2084

Also Known as:

  1. Canmore ID 24150
  2. Stone of the Eyes

Archaeology & History

Looking down Balquhidder Glen from the Clach nan Sul's old home
Looking down Balquhidder Glen from Clach nan Sul’s old home

Apparently destroyed, although some remains of the stone were said to be seen in the walling by the roadside; but when visiting this spot a few days ago the summer vegetation had completely covered any potential finds here.  The stone fell foul of the usual self-righteous industrialists when the track alongside which it had sat for countless centuries was turned into a road and the stone was “blasted”.  It was found some 20 yards below the large cup-marked stone known as Wester Auchleskine, seen amidst the clump of rocks in the field above.

The stone was described in MacKinlay’s (1893) fine survey on Scottish holy wells due to the healing properties of the waters that collected into the rock basin here.  The earliest record of the site that I’ve found comes from the hallowed papers of the Scottish Society of Antiquaries, where—in J.M. Gow’s (1887) rambles just east of Balquidder—he told us the following:

“Going still further east to the first turning of the road beyond the farmhouse of Wester Auchleskine, and on the left-hand side, there used to be a large boulder with a natural cavity in its side, famous as a curing well for sore eyes.  This stone was called “Clach nan sul” (the Stone of the Eyes).  In 1878 the road trustees caused it to be blasted, as it was supposed to be a danger in the dark to passing vehicles.  Its fragments were broken up, and used as road metal.”

Whether or not the site known as the Priest’s Basin, or Basan an Sagairt—a couple of hundred yards west by the roadside—was of a similar nature, or an attempt by christians to draw people away from the old healing Clach nan Sul and use this other one instead, we do not know.  There are numerous accounts of other stones in this mountainous region of Scotland where rocks-with-hollows filled with water were attributed with healing properties, like the Whooping Cough Stone at Struan, the Measles Stone at Fearnan, and many others.

Folklore

The folklore described by Mr Gow was reiterated in MacKinlay’s (1893) survey. He also told how,

“The hollow in the Clach-nan-Sul at Balquhidder…contained small coins placed there by those who sought a cure for their sore eyes. Mr J. Macintosh Gow was told by some one in the district that ‘people, when going to church, having forgotten their small change, used in passing to put their hands in the well and find a coin.’  Mr Gow’s informant mentioned that he had done so himself.”

References:

  1. Gow, James M., “Notes in Balquhidder: Saint Angus, Curing Wells, Cup-Marked Stones, etc”, in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries Scotland, volume 21, 1887.
  2. MacKinlay, James M., Folklore of Scottish Lochs and Springs, William Hodge: Glasgow 1893.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Lentran, Bridge of Allan, Stirlingshire

megalithix

Cist (destroyed):  OS Grid Reference – NS 798 973

Also Known as:

  1. Annfield
  2. Canmore ID 47129

Archaeology & History

On the level ground a half-mile south of the large Fairy Knowe prehistoric tomb, Bridge of Allan had a site of its own up until being destroyed sometime in the 19th century.  Nothing much is known about the tomb – or “cist containing a skeleton”, as the Royal Commission (1963) lads called it – apart from the notes given in J.E. Alexander’s (1868) essay on the Fairy Knowe, where he told:

“It is right, however, to mention, that a few years ago, in digging the foundations of the house of Annfield, Bridge of Allan, at nine feet from the surface, there was found in the sand, and apparently undisturbed, a fine cist, containing the skeleton of a young female; and under the right arm was a small clay urn, corroborating the opinion of Professor Innes, that in many cases the so-called urn was simply a domestic jar to contain food for the deceased.”

A Mr R. Swift from Bridge of Allan told that the cist was located at the newly-named Lentran, along Kenilworth Road.  Does anyone know anything more about it?

References:

  1. Alexander, J.E., “Opening of the Fairy Knowe of Pendreich, Bridge of Allan,” in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 7, 1868.
  2. Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments Scotland, Stirlingshire: An Inventory of the Ancient Monuments – volume 1, HMSO: Edinburgh 1963.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Corrycharmaig East (4), Glen Lochay, Perthshire

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Cup-Marked Stone:  OS Grid Reference – NN 5311 3582  —  NEW FIND

Getting Here

Cup-markings to top & bottom of stone
Cup-markings to top & bottom of stone

Follow the same directions as if you’re going to the Corrycharmaig East 3 carving.  Walk off the rocky outcrop here, below the tree, and head diagonally across the boggy grasses back towards the River Lochay.  After about 50 yards you’ll see a rocky promontory ahead of you that overlooks the very edge of the river, with trees around it.  That’s the spot – right on the edge above the river!

Archaeology & History

Cup-markings on the Corrycharmaig East 4 stone
Cup-markings on the Corrycharmaig East 4 stone

For me, this was the most intriguing of the newly-found Corrycharmaig East carvings.  Intriguing because this is on the same geological ridge as that on which the brilliant Stag Cottage carvings are found, right across on the other side of the river.  That singular rise of rock emerging from the field, heading to the river, continues on this side — though is much less conspicuous here, and is much smaller and covered with olde trees and Nature’s marshy greenery.  It was this fact which led me to look at these rocks in the first place…wondering if our neolithic ancestors had continued etching their mythographies on the other side of the living waters.  And so it turned out.

But don’t expect anything like as impressive as the Stag Cottage carvings.  Here instead, as the photos show, are just five distinct cup-markings: three running along one line near the SE side of the stone, with another two on its NW side.  The cups are all roughly the same size, being a couple of inches across; one is an inch deep.  There may be more beneath the excess of mosses along this and the adjacent rocks, but I didn’t look.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Corrycharmaig East (2), Glen Lochay, Perthshire

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Cup-&-Ring Stone:  OS Grid Reference – NN 5294 3588

Getting Here

Faint cup-and-ring of Corrycharmaig East 2
Faint cup-and-ring

Follow the directions as if you’re visiting the other Corrycharmaig carvings, but as you cross the bridge over the River Lochay, turn immediately left and follow the edge of the river down the field till you reach the fence.  Go over here, but then head up the slope away from the river, over another fence up the small grassy hill ahead of you.  As you near the very top of the hill, you’ll find the stone in question.

Archaeology & History

Small overgrown cairn 10 yards away
Small overgrown cairn 10 yards away

Found near to the famous Stag Cottage and Duncroisk carvings, this previously unknown example is found on a small rounded female stone, barely 2 feet by 2 feet across.  The most notable feature is the large cup-marking, 2-3 inches wide and half-and-inch deep.  When I first found the stone, twas a cloudy grey day and I wasn’t sure whether a small carved arc along one edge of the cup continued into a semi-circle — but as the photo here shows, the cup-mark seems to have a large faint ring going about three-quarters of the way round it.  Hopefully I’ll get some better images of the stone when I visit again in the coming weeks.

The stone gave the impression that it belonged in a cairn of sorts, but a brief rummage in the grasses immediately around the rock showed nothing.  However, barely 10 yards down the grassy slope there was a small overgrown cairn — though it didn’t seem to have that prehistoric pedigree about it.  This carving is one in a group of at least four others—including Corrycharmaig East 3—not previously catalogued.  It’s likely that more remain undiscovered on the many other rocks nearby.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Corrycharmaig East 03, Glen Lochay, Perthshire

megalithix

Cup-Marked Stone:  OS Grid Reference – NN 53056 35877 — NEW FIND

Getting Here

Cup-marked rocks of E.Corrycharmaig 3 (with the green hill of CE02 behind)
Cup-marked rocks of E.Corrycharmaig 3 (with the green hill of CE02 behind)

Follow the directions from Killin, down Glen Lochay, as if you’re going to the other Corrycharmaig carvings; but as you cross the bridge over the River Lochay, turn immediately left and follow the edge of the river along the field, crossing the first fence, keeping close to the riverside and over and over another fence.  Head across the boggy grassland and you’ll see a small green outcrop of rocks just above the tree-line above the river.  That’s the spot!

Archaeology & History

Two of at least 6 cup-markings on these mossy rocks
Two of at least 6 cup-markings on these mossy rocks

Another carving that’s a short distance from the famous Stag Cottage carvings on the opposite side of the river.  This lovely moss-covered rocky mass has two sections of cup-markings on it – both of which have proved difficult to photograph because of the vivid green primal cover.  It’s found less than 100 yards from the CE04 carving and below the hillock of the CE02 cup-and-ring (as you can see in the photo above).

The rock itself has two carved sections: an upper and lower section, with at least three cup-markings on the lower section and three on the upper portion as well.  Some natural geological marks on the lower part of the rock may have been added to, but this is by no means clear.  There may well be other elements to this ancient carving, but I wasn’t about to strip all the lovely moss from the stone just to find out.  It’s a truly beautiful stone in a gorgeous setting and, despite the day being grey and overcast, I wasn’t about to defile the greenery here.  It’s one of a group of at least four carvings east of Corrycharmaig that have not previously been catalogued.  Other carvings likely remain to be found close by.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian