cairns – Page 16

Cairnpark, Dollar, Clackmannanshire

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Cairn (destroyed): OS Grid Reference — NS 9618 9802

Also Known as:

Canmore ID 48240

Archaeology & History

The destruction of this site more than two hundred years ago almost beggars belief. It isn’t merely the fact that the self-righteous Industrialists did such things consistently, but that this particular tomb was more than just a few cartloads of stone being removed. The site would also have been completely lost to history were it not for the diligent research of local historian William Gibson (1883). In exploring the local place-names of the village, he asked the old locals as to “the origin of the name of Cairnpark in Dollar.” This is what he found:

“I have just learned, in the course of my present inquiries, that at the beginning of this century Dollar was possessed of an object of very great interest, but which unfortunately was entirely removed about the year 1806 or 1807. This was nothing less than a great pyramid (well, it was not quite so big as the famous one of Egypt, but still it was a great pile) which had evidently been erected to commemorate some great battle, or the death of some celebrated warrior; and it certainly is very much to be regretted that it should have been removed. This was an immense cairn of stones, some thirty feet high, and as many square at the base; and the park in which it stood took its name from it—Cairnpark; and the street leading up to the Academy also got its name—Cairnpark Street—from its being made through this park. It will scarcely be believed, yet it is nevertheless true, that this ancient and interesting cairn was removed for the ignoble purpose of being broken into road-metal for the new turnpike road that was then being constructed along the foot of the Ochils. By whose orders it was removed I cannot say; but the late Mr. William Blackwood, of the New Town, superintended its removal, and kept a correct note of the cart-loads that were in it, and found they amounted to the astonishing number of one thousand! (my emphasis, PB)

“When the bottom was reached, there were found in the centre of it a number of ancient clay urns, showing that this immense cairn was a thing of great antiquity, and connected with some important event, and, had it been allowed to remain, would have been an object of interest second only to Castle Campbell itself, and an additional attraction to the ancient town of Dollar. The Rev. Mr. Watson got possession of some of the urns, but what became of them is not now known.”

More than fifty years later, A.L. Drummond (1937) mentioned this old tomb, but could add no further details about it. Does anyone know what became of the burial remains? And how on earth could a giant tomb nearly 10 metres tall (Newgrange is 12m), consisting of 1000 cartloads of stone, be destroyed with barely any record of its existence? Astonishing!

Folklore

In a field south of the giant tomb, Gibson (1883) reported, “we used to have glorious ‘bonfires’ on the King’s birthday.” In Simpkins’ (1914) work, we read of an excess of witches nearby; and of a local giant responsible for creating parts of the landscape—akin to those we sometimes find attached to giant tombs—but nothing specifically relating to this tomb. Surely there must be remains of some traditions of this place, somewhere…?

References:

Drummond, A.L., “The Prehistory and Prehistoric Remains of the Hillfoots and Neighbouring District”, in Transactions Stirling Natural History & Antiquarian Society, volume 59, 1937.
Gibson, William, Reminiscences of Dollar, Tillicoultry and other Districts Adjoining the Ochils, Andrew Elliot 1883.
Royal Commission on Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland, The Archaeological Sites and Monuments of Clackmannan District and Falkirk District, Edinburgh 1978.
Simpkins, John Ewart, County Folklore – volume VII: Examples of Printed Folk-Lore Concerning Fife, with some Notes on Clackmannan and Kinross-Shires, Folk-Lore Society: London 1914.

Cuparlaw Wood, Bridge of Allan, Stirlingshire

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Cairn: OS Grid Reference – NS 8046 9916

Also Known as:

Canmore ID 47128
Pendreich

Getting Here

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

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.

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:

Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments Scotland, Stirling – 2 volumes, 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.
Watson, Angus, The Ochils – Placenames, History, Tradition, Perth & Kinross District Libraries 1995.

Tulloch, Doune, Perthshire

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Tumulus: OS Grid Reference – NN 71782 01194

Also Known as:

Canmore ID 24771

Getting Here

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

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:

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

Bartlow Hills, Bartlow, Cambridgeshire

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Tumuli: OS Grid Reference – TL 586 449

Also Known as:

The Three Hills

Getting Here

The best way to get here (when we went anyway, quite a few years back now), was via the old church . At the entrance to the church there was a signpost to the tumuli. Take the footpath to the left of the building and walk about 200 yards. Once you go under the railway bridge and into the trees, walk left and the overgrown mounds appear in front of you!

Archaeology & History

Thought to the largest Romano-British barrows in England, this was an incredible clump of giant burial mounds which, in more recent years, have been allowed to fall into neglect. Although a railway was built through this clump, it bypassed the main tumuli—and in doing so uncovered another cemetery! Four large barrows still remain and access, though alleged by some of those southern-types to be on private land, didn’t stop our foray here. The usual “private” signs showing just how unwelcoming some of them are, just made us Northerners more determined to find ’em! But that aside…

Although nowadays classed as being in Cambridgeshire, when the Royal Commission lads visited the site and described it in their Inventory (1916), the mounds were in the parish of Ashdon on the northern edge of Essex. But now it comes under the parish of Bartlow in Cambridgeshire—which seem sensible, as the word ‘bartlow’ itself stems from these very monuments. As the regional place-name expert P.H. Reaney (1943) told, Bartlow means,

“‘(At) the mounds of the birch trees,’ OE (æt) beorca-hlãwum, (from the verb) beorc, hlaw, i.e., the great Bartlow Hills tumuli which dominate the church and village.”

Described as early as 1232 CE as Berkelawe, these hills were opened in the middle of the 19th century and found to possess a mass of Roman remains. A number of articles in the journals of the period gave extensive descriptions of what was uncovered, but they are summed up nicely in the Essex Royal Commission (1916) report, which told:

“The principal monuments are the Bartlow Hills, which lie…at the extreme N.E. of the parish. They form (or formed) two parallel rows, running nearly N. and S. The eastern row consists of four large steep-sided mounds, in shape truncated cones, the largest 40 ft. high and 145 ft. in diameter; since 1760 three of the mounds have been planted with trees. The western row is now less clear: originally, it consisted of at least three small mounds, as was proved by digging in 1832; only two can now be faintly traced. Excavations, chiefly in 1832-40, have shown that all seven mounds contained at the centre regularly walled graves, within which was very costly grave-furniture of glass, decorated bronze, and enamel; almost all these ornaments were destroyed in a fire at Easton Lodge in 1847. The graves seem to belong to the end of the first and beginning of the second century and were doubtless built for Romanized British nobles of the district. The particular method of burial occurs especially in eastern England and in Belgium, and is native, not Roman, by origin.

“…Other burials have been noticed near the Hills — one with a flint axe and knife, presumably prehistoric. A small dwelling-house was found in 1852 about 100 yards E. of the Hills — mainly, if not wholly, within the Cambridgeshire border — but nothing of it is now visible on the surface.”

The sites are very impressive indeed, though as we can see from the old images, when they were clear of trees they stood out much clearer.

Folklore

Old fairs used to be held at the Bartlow Hills, whose origin goes way back. There is also a curious custom which probably originated in some way from traditional beating of the bounds of the local township boundaries, narrated by folklorist Enid Porter. (1969) Throughout the region she reported how “skipping was performed on Good Friday”. It commenced at 10am and would continue into the evening. Porter wrote:

“An eighty year old woman of Linton recalled in the 1930s that in her youth the villagers of Linton and Hadstock used to skip on Good Friday to Bartlow Hills to join in the fun of the fair held there.”

An early legend uncovered from archives by Leslie Grinsell told that here could be found a “treasure chest said to have been concealed by Oliver Cromwell in the barrows known as the Three Hills, or in pits near them.”

…to be continued…

References:

Porter, Enid, Cambridgeshire Customs and Folklore, RKP: London 1969.
Reaney, P.H., The Place-Names of Cambridgeshire and the Isle of Ely, Cambridge University Press 1943.
Royal Commission on Historical Monuments, England, An Inventory into the Historical Monuments in Essex – volume 1, HMSO: London 1916.

Kinpurnie, Newtyle, Angus

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Cairn: OS Grid Reference – NO 2808 4069

Also Known as:

Canmore ID 30914

Getting Here

From the large village of Newtyle, take the straight road west as if heading to Kettins. About half-a-mile along, 100 yards or so past the turn-off to Kinpurnie Castle on your left – stop! In the second field after the turn-off, halfway up the slope you’ll see a large circular rise in the land with a crown of large trees sitting thereon. That’s the cairn!

Archaeology & History

Not far from the impressive Keillor standing stone is this huge prehistoric tomb. Measuring about 90 feet across and more than 7 feet high in places, the mass of rocks making up the site is now crowned by a healthy ring of trees. Near the middle of it you can see a collapsed tomb or cist, but there may be more than one inside this giant fella. Its size implies that it was a tomb or burial centre for tribal elders, leaders or shamans. When we visited the site last week, the field was still in full crop, so we couldn’t take a close look at it and must return again at a later date. Apart from a brief note of the site in the Royal Commission (1983) archaeology listing for the county, no details have been made of this huge cairn—which is incredible in itself!

References:

Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, The Archaeological Sites & Monuments of Central Angus, Angus District, Tayside Region, HMSO: Edinburgh 1983.

Fairy Knowe, Gairneybank, Kinross, Kinross-shire

31/08/201331/08/2023 megalithix

Tumulus (destroyed): OS Grid Reference – NT 1230 9874

Also Known as:

Canmore ID 51067

1856 OS-map, showing "site of" the old tumulus — 1856 OS-map, showing “site of” the old tumulus

Archaeology & History

This is one of two sites in the county of Kinross-shire that were known as the ‘Fairy Knowe’, both of which have been destroyed through uncaring agriculture practices. Very little is known about it. The place was described in a lengthy footnote in the Old Statistical Account of Scotland (volume 6), which told us that,

“a tumulus or mound, composed mostly of earth, with some stones intermixed, on the east of Annofreuch, was opened a few years ago and a coffin found therein formed of rough flat stones, set on edge at the sides and ends, and a large one above; within which were some bones and many pieces of burnt wood interspersed. In the memory of some old people, it was called the Elf-hillock, but is now known by the name of the Fairyknow.”

The site was listed in the Royal Commission (1933) archaeological county survey, but with no further details.

Folklore

Although the site was a resort of the little people, or faerie-folk, we have no extant tales telling us anything more.

References:

Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments, Scotland, Inventory of Monuments and Constructions in the Counties of Fife, Kinross and Clackmannan, HMSO: Edinburgh 1933.

MacRee’s Cairn, Glen Meurain, Fortingall, Perthshire

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Cairn: OS Grid Reference – NN 3959 4375

Also Known as:

Canmore ID 23899
Gleann Meran

Getting Here

MacRee's Cairn, looking south — MacRee’s Cairn, looking south

Get to Pubil at the top of Glen Lyon, then walk on the track on the north side of Loch Lyon. Several miles along you turn up Glen Meurain. When you reach the crossing of the stream, follow the waters up Allt Meurain for about 3-400 yards until you find a small flat section of marshland right by the streamside. You’ll notice rocky undulations of human remains here, and a distinct small cairn of rocks near the top of this section. Have a good rest here (and I’d advise avoiding the place in the summer months).

Archaeology & History

Remote indeed is this small cairn—less than 3 feet high and 4 feet across—sitting by the burn-side in a place many miles from any human habitation. It is found amidst a small cluster of other archaeological remains close to each other, as if indicating a settlement of sorts, abandoned probably around the time of the Highland Clearances. Although it is highlighted on modern OS-maps in antiquated lettering, the cairn here looks like it is only a few centuries old. A larger mass of rubble stone is found adjacent to the small pile of rocks, from which it may originally have been taken. Without archaeological analysis we will not know for certain the real age of this old tomb.

MacRee's Cairn & adjacent rubble — MacRee’s Cairn & adjacent rubble

Folklore

The small grassy hillside immediately across the trout stream here is known as Sith Trom’aidh – the Sad Fairy mound, whose history appears to have been lost. Alexander Stewart (1928) told that this cairn was the burial place of one of Colin Campbell’s dairymaids, found and slain here during a skirmish with cattle raiders in the 16th century.

References:

Stewart, Alexander, A Highland Parish; or, The History of Fortingall, Alex MacLaren & Sons: Glasgow 1928.

Drizzlecombe 13, Ditsworthy Warren, Sheepstor, Devon

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Cairn: OS Grid Reference – SX 592 675

Archaeology & History

Drizzlecombe Cairn 13 (after Butler 1994)

A very well-preserved prehistoric cist and cairn (grave), sat amidst a valuable prehistoric landscape full of megaliths and other important prehistoric remains. Megalith enthusiast and antiquarian, Nik Megalithic, told that:

“The cairn is about 12 m diameter and 1 metre high, and has a large Kist in the middle. The cist has side slabs about 2 metres long and spaced 1 metre apart, and it is about 0.7m deep. The large capstone is tipped off to the west, and can be seen protruding above the cairn from quite some distance away.”

Described in association with the rich mass of other tombs and megalithic stone rows here, author Jeremy Butler told that,

“Cairn 13 is also in line with (cairns) 1-4, but just out of sight around the hillside 150m to the northwest. The mound contains a well-preserved cist, “a very fine example”, according to Worth, who cleared it out about 1900 but with “no result from excavation.” The displaced cover and massive side-slabs project well beyond its ends.”

Both Butler and Worth mention how cairn 13 is part of an alignment with two other cairns very close by.

Folklore

Although legends of giants and pixy folk are well known round here, there is nothing specific I can find to this one site. One of the most important finds in recent years—as the photo above shows quite clearly—was the fact that before joining The Goons, the British comedian Spike Milligan used to live in this prehistoric tomb. When asked why he didn’t live in a house like other normal people, he invited us in for a cup of tea. Some historians believe that the person in the photo is in fact Mr R.H. Worth—author of Worth’s Dartmoor—but Mr Milligan insisted that Worth was an imposter!

References:

Butler, Jeremy, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities – volume 3, Devon Books: Tiverton 1994.
Crossing, William, Tales of the Dartmoor Pixies, W.H. Hook: London 1890.
Grinsell, Leslie V., The Ancient Burial Mounds of England, Methuen: London 1936.
Worth, R. Hansford, Worth’s Dartmoor, David & Charles: Newton Abbot 1988.

Acknowledgements: – Huge thanks to Nik Megalithic for the info and old photo of ‘Spike Milligan’ in his tomb.

Aberdour, Fife

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Cairn (destroyed): OS Grid Reference – NT 19 85

Also Known as:

Canmore ID 50809

Archaeology & History

Nothing seems to known of the whereabouts of an old prehistoric cairn, positioned on one of the hills in Aberdour parish. It was described in the Old Statistical Account of the region around 1791, and may have been on the place known as White Law on the northern edge of the town, now built over. The account told:

“Not far from the village of Aberdour, on a flat on the top of a hill, there is one of those cairns or tumuli so frequently met with in Scotland. The farmer on whose farm it is situated, when carrying away stones some years ago, discovered a stone coffin in which were found the skeleton of a man, the head of a spear made of copper, with the copper nails by which it had been fixed to the shaft, and a piece of clear substance, like amber, supposed to have been an amulet. The coffin, with a great part of the cairn still remain. The tumulus has been conical, the coffin being exactly in the centre of the base, from which to the circumference, it measures 20 paces. The height cannot now be ascertained. There have been found in the same cairn several earthen vessels containing human bones. The vessels were flat, narrower at the bottom than top, and without any covering. The farmer digging in the same field, in another place, found such a quantity of human bones that he was obliged to desist.”

The finding of ‘copper’ spearheads in the tomb indicates either a Bronze Age or Iron Age period. The brilliant Audrey Henshall (1965) thought the metal remains were more probably bronze. An exploration of the field-names of the area might prove useful in helping to locate the whereabouts of this cairn.

References:

Henshall, A.S. & Wallace, J.C., “A Bronze Age cist burial at Masterton, Pitreavie, Fife”, in Proceedings of the Society Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 96, 1965.
Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland, Inventory of Monuments and Constructions in the Counties of Fife, Kinross, and Clackmannan, HMSO: Edinburgh 1933.

Winterborne Came 18b, Bincombe, Dorset

24/06/201328/07/2019 megalithix

Tumulus (destroyed): OS Grid Reference – SY 6800 8600

Also Known as:

Monument No.1300126 (Pastscape)

Archaeology & History

Charles Warne's 1848 drawing of the old tumulus — Charles Warne’s 1848 drawing of the old tumulus

A number of very large prehistoric burial mounds, or tumuli, were destroyed in this part of Dorset in the 19th century, including “three on the Came estate, near Dorchester, the property of the Hon Col. Damer.” This one—listed as a “bowl barrow” and known today as the Winterborne Came 18b tumulus in Grinsell’s (1959:148) brilliant survey—was found to house examples of petroglyphs, which are very rare in this part of Britain. Thankfully before its destruction, the local antiquarian Charles Warne (1848) was present and has left us with a good description of its structure and contents. After first telling of the demise of two other large tumuli close by, the biggest of them drew his attention:

“The last of these mighty mounds (and well do they merit the appellation from their vastness), measured rather more than ninety feet in diameter, and sixteen feet in height; this from the peculiarity of its contents was the most interesting of the three. The annexed rough sketch (above), shewing a central section of the tumulus, may serve to give some idea of the singularity of its composition. About the centre, at a depth of some three feet from the surface, was found lying flat a rough unhewn stone, with a series of concentric circles incised; this, on being removed, was seen to have covered a mass of flints from six to seven feet in thickness, which being also removed we came to another unhewn irregular stone, with similar circles inscribed, and as in the preceding case, covering another cairn of flints, in quantity about the same as beneath the first stone. It was in this lower mass that the deposits were found, consisting of all the fragments of an urn of coarse fabric, and apparently as if placed in its situation without either care or attention, no arrangement of the flints being made (as we have elsewhere seen) for its protection; the want of which observance had completed its destruction. Under the flints, lying at the base, were the remains of six skeletons, and some few bones of the ox. The skeletons had apparently been placed without order or regularity: with the exception of a few bits of charcoal with the urn, there was no evidence of cremation.”

Nearly twenty years later, Sir James Simpson (1867) also described the tumulus and its carved rocks in his 19th century magnum opus, repeating much of Warne’s earlier description, saying:

“In his antiquarian researches in this county (Dorset), Mr Warne opened , at Came Down on the Ridgeway, a tumulus of rather unusual form. At its base…were found the remains of six unburnt human skeletons…and some few bones of the ox. Above them, and in the centre of the tumulus, was built up a cairn or heap of flints around a coarse and broken urn, which contained calcined bones. This mass of flints was surrounded and covered by a horizontal rough slab. Above and upon this slab was built another large heap of flints, six or seven feet in thickness. This second heap was capped with another rough slab, lying two or three feet below the surface of the tumulus. Both these flat unhewn covering slabs had a group of concentric circles cut upon them.”

We don’t know for sure the exact whereabouts of the tumulus, nor the age of the tomb and its remains. But the size of it may indicate an early Bronze Age and perhaps even neolithic status. The finding of the rock art in the tomb is also an indicator that could push the date back into late neolithic period—but we may never know for sure…

References:

Grinsell, Leslie V., Dorset Barrows, Dorset Natural History & Archaeological Society 1959.
Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset – Volume 2: South-East, HMSO: London 1970.
Simpson, James, Archaic Sculpturings of Cups, Circles, etc., Upon Stones and Rocks in Scotland, England and other Countries, Edmonston & Douglas: Edinburgh 1867.
Warne, Charles, “Removal of Three of the Large Tumuli on the Came Estate, near Dorchester,” in Journal of the British Archaeological Association, volume 3, 1848.
Warne, Charles, The Celtic tumuli of Dorset: An Account of Personal and other Researches in the Sepulchral Mounds of the Durotriges, J.R. Smith: London 1866.