Scotland – Page 30

Well of the Mosses, Glen Almond, Perthshire

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Healing Well: OS Grid Reference – NN 82865 33096

Spring of the Mosses

Take the dirt-track up Glen Almond for 3½ miles until you reach the standing stone of Clach an Tiompan. The giant long cairn of the same name is just above the track on the other side. Walk past this and start walking uphill, diagonally, until a few hundred yards up, a ridge levels out with some unrecorded habitation sites upon it. The clear waters of this spring are on the eastern edge of this ridge.

Archaeology & History

A little-known spring of water found on the slopes immediately above the giant Clach an Tiompan long cairn. Beautifully clear water emerges from beneath a large rock that rests by an ancient pathway running across the mountain-slope, used by the local people who lived here before the genocide of The Clearances. When we visited the place recently, the waters were low, but still running, and the mosses which reach along the length of the burn were almost iridescent in the evening sunlight.

The living glows of moss & water

Looking upstream to its source

Upon drinking here, there was that subtle sweetness to the waters, typical of many moss-clad sites, indicating it to have that typical medicinal virtue as a place to renew or revitalise your low-sugar energies after you’ve finished your meditation and rest, gazing within the enchanting mountains in which you are being held. It’s a truly wonderful little site!

Tombreck (10), Kenmore, Perthshire

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Cup-Marked Stone: OS Grid Reference – NN 65042 37559

Getting Here

Tombreck’s cup-marked stone

Along the A827 north road around Loch Tay, between Killin and Kenmore, a few hundred yards east of Carie—and on the same side of the road—there’s a dirt-track down to the Tombreck community. Go into it and just past The Big Shed you’ll see the small caravan where the helpful and friendly Gabriela lives. The stone just in front of her caravan is the one you’re looking for!

Archaeology & History

Close-up of the cups

Although this cup-marked rock has been known about for sometime by local people, it is one of many that are not in the archaeological record. It’s nothing like as impressive as some of its petroglyphic neighbours on the slopes of Ben Lawers, as this simple carving comprises of two well-defined simple cup-marks, and another two that appear to have been worked slightly into natural cracks in the rock. These two remain incomplete. It’s nothing too special to look at and is, once again, only gonna be of interest to the petroglyphic purists amongst you.

Tombreck (08), Kenmore, Perthshire

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Cup-Marked Stone: OS Grid Reference – NN 64795 38648

Getting Here

Along the A827 road between Killin and Kenmore, park at the entrance to the Tombreck track and cross the road, walking up the track heading up Ben Lawers. Pass the sheep pens, through the gate and keep going for a few hundred yards until you hit the old straight line of walling which runs off east into the pine trees a few hundred yards away. Walk along here, keeping to the south side, for less than 100 yards, watching out for a small stone on a small rise on a small hillock – and make sure your eyes are in good condition!

Archaeology & History

This is a seemingly unrecorded cup-marked stone, with very faint petroglyphic evidences just visible on the surface. Set within the wider surrounds of more recent enclosure walling, this is a small slightly raised female (rounded, smooth) stone, roughly three feet in diameter, which has at least five cup-markings on its surface—mainly near the middle of the stone. The rock itself is next to the western edge of a raised man-made feature, reminiscent of a collapsed denuded cairn or hut circle, which itself has not been archaeologically assessed. It is one of a number of petroglyphs in relative proximity to each other on the geological ridge above Loch Tay (not visible from here).

As you can see in the photos left and right, the cups are only truly visible when the stone has been wet. Initially I thought that this carving may have been one that was mentioned briefly in George Currie’s (2009) notes—at NN 64736 38647, 62 (57m) yards to the east—but it doesn’t seem to be the case as the grid reference he cited differs from this. There are going to be a number of other unrecorded carvings scattered about beneath the great shadow of Ben Lawers…

References:

Currie, George, “Cup-and-Ring Marked Rocks,” in Discovery & Excavation, Scotland, volume 10, 2009.

Acknowledgements: Huge thanks to Paul Hornby for the use of his photos in this site profile; and to Lisa Samson, for her landscape detective work at the site.

Tombreck (07), Ben Lawers, Kenmore, Perthshire

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Cup-Marked Stone: OS Grid Reference – NN 65022 38285

Also Known as:

Canmore ID 238573

Getting Here

Tombreck 7 carving, beneath Ben Lawers

Take the A827 road that runs alongside Loch Tay between Killin and Kenmore, and about 6 miles from Killin watch out for the signposts for The Big Shed. Stop and walk NW up the track across the road from there, up toward Ben Lawers. Several hundred yards up, past the sheep-fold on the left-side of the track, a line of ruinous walling runs straight over the grasslands. Walk along here until it meets with the next walling that runs uphill. Look down into where the wall has collapsed. It’s under your nose!

Archaeology & History

This is a fascinating and pretty impressive example of a simple cup-marked stone. It’s the design that does it I suppose – similar in some ways to the well-known Idol Stone carving on my old playground of Ilkley Moor (that’s what this one reminded me of when I first clapped eyes on it)—but much better!

Lines of cups from above

The carving from the east

Its similarity lies in the series of parallel rows of cup-marks running very close together along the line of the low-lying rock, found at the base of some ancient walling that runs up the mountain for several hundred yards. Not only that, but the line of walling itself also has a parallel line of walling running adjacent for the same distance up the mountainside — more than half-a-mile from start to finish. This “parallel” feature of walling and cup-markings is a curious coincidence, perhaps. But certainly the linearity of the cup-marks was itself a very deliberate feature by the person who carved it, representing something ‘structural’, in whatever mythic form that may have been!

The carving in its walling

Of the rows of cups constituting this petroglyph, four of them run completely from one side of the stone to the other, rough north to south; with four other shorter rows running only halfway across the rock surface. Altogether there are perhaps seventy cups etched onto the rock. No rings or semi-circles of any form were visible in our visit here—although the skies were grey and overcast, making any decent visual analysis more difficult.

A damn good carving and well worth checking out by anyone into prehistoric rock art!

Shealwalls Enclosure, Alyth, Perthshire

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Enclosure: OS Grid reference – NO 23922 51484 — NEW FIND

Getting Here

Aerial view of the oval, at centre

Take the B954 north out of the Alyth, up through the hills. After just over 2 miles (3km), take the left turn up to Bamff. Go along here and past the copse of trees on your right for literally three-quarters of a mile (1.2km), where a gate takes you into the overgrown meadows on your right. Walk back on yourself for about 100 yards or more, across the boggy stream and up the slope. The embankments of this enclosure are right under nose!

Archaeology & History

Some 70 yards west of the little four-poster ‘stone circle’ of Shealwalls, is this previously unrecorded enclosure. Oval in shape and well-defined at ground level, the great majority of the inside of this enclosure is relatively even and flat. Around its perimeter there are, at intervals, a number of small stones defining its edges along its internal embankment, but these are intermittent and seem to have no deliberate architectural regularity: they may simply be elements of an internal raised platform that have become visible due to erosion processes.

Northwest section of ditch

At its greatest width from the edges of the outer ditch to outer ditch, the enclosure measures more than 22 yards (20.3m) east-west, and at its longest it is 30 yards (27.3m) north-south. The circumference of the enclosure is between 88-89 yards (80m). The average width of the surrounding or enclosing ‘ditch’ is between 2 and 2½ yards (2m) and it has a depth of no more than 2 feet all round. All along the southern side, very little remains of the ditch and in sections it has been eaten into by foraging rabbits and cattle. The most conspicuous section of the surrounding ditch and embankment is along the eastern length (where it gives the impression of being hengi-form in nature); the more rounded northern section of the ditch is very distinct, but is overgrown in Juncus reeds; whilst the western section of the ditch is clear until reaching its southernmost part, where its outer edges become less visible.

SW edge of enclosure

NE arc of ditch, looking west

There seemed to be no visible structures within the enclosure itself, which added to my thoughts that the site was hengi-form in nature, as defined in the surveys by A.F. Harding (1987) and Jan Harding (2006). However, it is best to maintain a simple description regarding the nature of the site until archaeological evaluation can give us a more accurate assessment. Without excavation it is obviously impossible to give an accurate idea of its age, but its architectural form and similarity with other enclosures would seem to place its construction in the late Bronze Age to early Iron Age period.

The monument proved very difficult to photograph with any success as it is much overgrown and the bright sun was in the wrong place! (serious) So, another visit is needed in the hope that we can get better images. A fascinating little site!

References:

Harding, A.F., Henge Monuments and Related Sites of Great Britain, BAR 175: Oxford 1987.
Harding, Jan, The Henge Monuments of the British Isles, Tempus: Stroud 2006.

St. Euchan’s Well, Collace, Perthshire

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Holy Well (destroyed): OS Grid Reference – NO 1997 3297

Also Known as :

Canmore ID 28605
St Deuchan’s Well
St Teuchan’s Well
St Ukan’s Well

Getting Here

The site of the well is on the north side of the road between Saucher and Collace, just past the small stand of trees.

Archaeology and History

The site shown on the 1867 OS 25″ map

Nothing now remains of the well, but across the road on the strip of grass leading to the burn there is patchy Cotton Grass growth, evidence of the vestigial flow of the spring. A nearby water pumping station on the same side of the road as the former well is probably responsible for the spring well’s demise.

The site of the Well

There may have been a nearby chapel dedicated to the Saint, of which no trace remains, and in the 1860s, the Ordnance Survey recorded “A few yards from the site of the chapel there is an excellent spring well by the name of ‘St Teuchan’s Well.’” The Ordnance Survey further recorded “Mr James Stewart, Kinrossie,… supposes [the Saint’s name] to be a corruption from St Vigean’s. Ukans appears to be the common pronunciation, and the T or D of the authorities being silent the spelling Euchans will…answer either of them.”

Across the road from the Well, Cotton Grass provides evidence of the vestigial flow of the spring.

Saint Euchan was made the titular or patron Saint of Collace by Bishop de Bernham in 1242. The exact identity of the Saint is unclear but he is believed to be the Irish Saint Eoghan, the son of Caennach of Leinster who was ‘carried off in his early youth by pirates to Britain’ later spending some years at Whithorn, before returning to Ireland, where he became the master of St Kevin at Kilnamanach, the monastery he founded in County Wicklow, and Bishop of Ardstraw, County Tyrone. His saint’s day is August 23rd. As there seems to be some doubt as to the Saint’s true identity it is perhaps worth mentioning that Euken is a Basque man’s first name, but this is almost certainly coincidence.

Folklore

The well was at one time believed to have had healing properties.

References:

Forbes, Alexander Penrose, Kalendars of Scottish Saints, Edmonston and Douglas: Edinburgh 1872.
Collace Parish Millenium Committee, Off The Main Road, Kinrossie District Recreation Club, 2010
Scotland’s Place Names
Gizonezkoen ponte-izenak (Basque Men’s Names) – Euskaltzaindia, Bilbao 2015.

Samson’s Stone, Crieff, Perthshire

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Legendary Rock: OS Grid Reference – NN 82519 22021

Also Known as:

Canmore ID 96866

Getting Here

Samson Stone on 1866 map

Tale the A85 road between Comrie and Crieff and, roughly halfway between the two towns, take the minor road south to Strowan (it’s easily missed, so be aware!). A few hundred yards along, stop where the trees begin and walk into the fields immediately east. Keep walking, below the line of the trees, and you’ll get to it within five minutes.

Archaeology & History

Samson’s Stone, looking east

Mistakenly cited by some as a standing stone, the large boulder which rests here on the hillside just below the woodland is a glacial erratic. Highlighted on the 1866 OS-map of the region, I hoped that we might find some rock art on the stone, but cup-and-rings there were none. However, there is a curious ‘footprint’ on top of it, similar to the ones found at Dunnad, at Murlaganmore and other places (see Bord 2004); but I can find no previous reference to this carved footprint.

‘Footprint’ on top of stone

In 1863 the site was described in the local Name Book, where it was reported to be “a large oblong shaped stone lying on the surface, eight feet long, four wide, and three thick”; but, much like today, it was also reported that “There is no tradition respecting it in the neighbourhood. Supposed to have received the name in consequence of its great size.”

Most peculiar…..

References:

Bord, Janet, Footprints in Stone, Heart of Albion Press 2004.

Nether Glenny (42), Port of Menteith, Perthshire

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Cup-Marked Stone: OS Grid Reference – NN 5643 0229

Also Known as:

Canmore ID 87397

Getting Here

Archaeology & History

The easiest way to see this is to reach the Nether Glenny 2 Cairn, looking north to the slope a coupla hundred yards away, where you can see a long rock halfway up. If you can’t see it from here, walk to the impressive Nether Glenny 35 Carving, where the large long slab is much more obvious on the hillside. Walk through the gates to the Nether Glenny 37 carving and then diagonally up to the rock itself. You can’t really miss it.

This 15-foot long stone halfway up the slope was said by the Royal Commission lads to have “four possible cup-marks” on it, whereas there are at least nine of them and maybe as many as eleven! Most of them are dead certs as prehistoric etchings, not just ‘possibles’.

The more visible cup-marks here are found on the more western end of the stone, just below the grass-line. The cups here are quite distinct, measuring some two-inches across and nearly half-an-inch deep in two of them. The others in this section are a little smaller and further down the slope of the rock. Seemingly not noticed for a long long time however is a small cluster of very faded cups, gathered like a very faint 4-star Pleiades cluster more than halfway along out in the photo here (I hope!).

This entire area is covered with cup-and-ring stones, possessing one of the greatest densities of carvings anywhere in Scotland.When we visited the place last week, Nature was pouring with rain, so we weren’t able to sketch the design. Something that we’ll hopefully amend in the near future!

References:

Brouwer, Jan & van Veen, Gus, Rock Art in the Menteith Hills, BRAC 2009.

Nether Glenny (37), Port of Menteith, Perthshire

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Cup-and-Ring Stone: OS Grid Reference – NN 56322 02162

Getting Here

About 1 mile west of where the B8034 meets the A81, between the Port of Menteith and Aberfoyle, a small road on the right (north) at Portend takes you up the single-track road to Upper Glenny. Go 2-300 yards up past Mondowie Farm and take the next track, left. Walk up through the gate for nearly 300 yards, going through the gate on your left and onto the fields. Follow the fence for 300 yards then go through the gate into the next field—past one of the Nether Glenny cairns—and walk across it until you reach an open gate at the far side, just where the hillside goes up. It’s nearly under your feet!

Archaeology & History

This single cup-and-ring carving, found amidst the massive cluster of both simple and highly complex petroglyphs between Ballochraggan and Upper Glenny, doesn’t seem to have been included in any previous surveys. It was located during the incredible rains yesterday on Sunday 7 February, wetting this and other rocks, enabling better visibility of otherwise invisible symbols faintly remaining here and on other stones. The carving appears to have been etched into naturally occurring notches and fissures. Certainly worth looking at when exploring the other incredible carvings on this hillside.

References:

Brouwer, Jan & van Veen, Gus, Rock Art in the Menteith Hills, BRAC 2009.

Nether Glenny (35), Port of Menteith, Perthshire

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Cup-and-Ring Stone: OS Grid Reference – NN 56425 02099

Also Known as:

Canmore ID 24041
Menteith 26
Nether Glenny 19

Getting Here

Archaeology & History

Take the same directions as if you’re visiting the nearby Nether Glenny 2 cairn. Once here, walk less than 100 yards further down into the same field, north, roughly parallel with the fencing. You’ll reach several large rocks, and the elongated one on the slight rise closer to the fence is the one you’re after. You’ll find it!

This is one in a number of impressive cup-and-ring stones scattered along this grassy ridge overlooking the Lake of Menteith and the Gargunnock Hills to the south. Petroglyph lovers amongst you will love it! And it seems that with each and every analysis, the carvings gives up more and more of its ancient symbolism. When it was first described (in a literary sense) by Maarten van Hoek (1989) he told it to be:

“Irregular outcrop with at least 72 single cups; 3 cups with 2 rings; 6 cups with 1 ring and 2 possible horse-shoe rings only.”

But when Kaledon Naddair (1992) visited the site a few years later he amended this initial description, telling us how,

“Further temporary turf removal extended the total to 124 solo cups, and 9 cups with 1 ring, and 5 cups with 2 rings.”

Naddair’s description is closer to our own inspection, although I think that a small number of the ‘cups’ are natural. Other features that we’ve found occur on the more western side of the rock. A faint partial-double-ringed cup is accompanied a few inches away by a carved element that seems to have been unfinished. An initially indistinct circle, faintly pecked, has internal lines at the quadrants, akin to an early cross form. A line emerges from this symbol which also seems to have been slightly worked.

Subsequent investigations of this carving has uncovered much more which, to be honest, requires almost an entire re-write of this profile……

…to be continued…

References:

Brouwer, Jan & van Veen, Gus, Rock Art in the Menteith Hills, BRAC 2009.
Naddair, Kaledon, “Menteith (Port of Menteith parish): rock carvings”, in Discovery & Excavation Scotland, 1992.
van Hoek, Maarten, “Menteith (Port of Menteith parish) rock art sites”, in Discovery & Excavation Scotland, 1989.