Tag: cists

Aithernie, Scoonie, Fife

megalithix

Tumulus (destroyed):  Grid Reference – NO 3769 0339

Also Known as:

  1. Canmore ID 31344

Archaeology & History

Aithernie tumulus on 1855 OS-map
Aithernie tumulus on 1855 OS-map

A mile or so WNW of the fantastic standing stones of Lundin, and just a coupla hundred yards above where the lesser standing stone of Balgrummo lives, we could once see an impressive prehistoric burial mound on the small hilltop of Aithernie.  Sadly, like oh too many prehistoric sites in our landscape, it was vandalised and destroyed in the 19th century by the prevailing stupidity of the period.  Thankfully we have a couple of accounts describing the place.

The site had already passed into memory when the Ordnance Survey fellas got up here in 1854, but an account of it was made in the ‘Object Name Book’ of the parish a decade earlier.  Thankfully the story of the site was known locally and, along with the New Statistical Account describing the olde mound, A.S. Cunningham (1906) told the story of when it was “opened” and then of its subsequent demise. He wrote how,

“…in 1821 a much more interesting relic of antiquity…was opened in a field on the estate of Aithernie.  When digging moulding sand for Leven Foundry, the workmen struck right into the heart of an ancient tumulus.  This cemetery of prehistoric times contained as many as twenty rude stone cists.  These cists were typical of the prehistoric burial places found throughout the country.  They were constructed of slabs placed on edge, with a covering stone, and cemented with clay puddling.  Above the coffins was a covering of stones, the stones having hundreds of years before been so firmly cemented together with clay and sand that the workmen required the aid of picks to enable them to “rifle the tombs.”  Small urns were found in two of the coffins, and five of them contained larger urns, 14 inches in diameter and 24 inches in depth, and in another cist quantities of charred wood beads were discovered. All the coffins, except the five in which were the large urns, contained human bones, and innumerable bones were found outwith the mouths of the cists.”

When the Royal Commission (1933) lads visited the place in 1925, they reported “no existing indication of a tumulus” remained.  Gone!

References:

  1. Cunningham, A.S., Rambles in the Parishes of Scoonie and Wemyss, Purves & Cuningham: Leven 1906.
  2. Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments, Scotland, Inventory of Monuments and Constructions in the Counties of Fife, Kinross and Clackmannan, HMSO: Edinburgh 1933.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Drizzlecombe 13, Ditsworthy Warren, Sheepstor, Devon

megalithix

Cairn:  OS Grid Reference – SX 592 675

Archaeology & History

Drizzlecombe Cairn 13 (after Butler 1994)
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

Spike Milligan in his tomb
Spike Milligan in his tomb

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:

  1. Butler, Jeremy, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities – volume 3, Devon Books: Tiverton 1994.
  2. Crossing, William, Tales of the Dartmoor Pixies, W.H. Hook: London 1890.
  3. Grinsell, Leslie V., The Ancient Burial Mounds of England, Methuen: London 1936.
  4. 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.

©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


Balbirnie Carving (01), Markinch, Fife

megalithix

Cup-and-Ring Stone: OS Grid Reference – NO 28587 02966

Also Known as:

  1. Balfarg
  2. Fif 1 (Morris 1981)

Getting Here

The cup-and-ring marked slab

Follow the same directions to find the Balfarg Stone Circle.  From the A92 going north from Glenrothes, turn E onto the country lane to Star and Kennoway. 100 yards on there’s a sign for Balbirnie; turn right here and about 200 yards on, where the road bends right, the circle’s just below you). This carving is perched on its side in one of the preserved grave cists within the circle, easily visible at ground level.

Archaeology & History

This carving (and its adjacent compatriot) was found inside the Balbirnie stone circle when it stood in its original position more than 100 yards northwest of the place it presently occupies (at NO 2850 0304). Thankfully, when the megalithic ring was moved and reconstructed, its original status was kept, including the repositioning of this impressive small cup-and-ring stone – despite it being a copy of the original.

Early photo of the carving

Like a good number of prehistoric tombs, this small carved stone was stood on edge, facing into the stone-lined tomb (cist), obviously representative of some important element in the Land of the Ancestors: perhaps a map of the landscape therein; perhaps a personal token; perhaps indicative of the spirits of the dead; perhaps a magickal amulet for safe guidance. There are a number of ritual possibilities here, and whichever it was, we can be sure the symbols were representative of the animistic cosmology of the neolithic people living hereby, linking the living with the dead.

As you can see from the original photograph, a number of cup-marks along the edges of the stone are accompanied by two or three cup-and-rings, one of which is very faint. Some carved lines run between some facets of the carving, linking one mythic element to another. Ron Morris (1981) described the carving, simplistically, as,

“Under a cairn, within a ring of stones, one of 5 cists had, carved on the inside of a side-slab (sandstone), ¾m by ½m by ¼m (2¾ft x 1¾ft x ¾ft): 2 cups-and-one-ring—one faint and incomplete—and also 8 cups, 2 with ‘tails’. Greatest diameter of ring 12cm (5in), and carving depths up to 2cm (1in).”

References:

  1. Burl, Aubrey, Rings of Stone, BCA: London 1979.
  2. Morris, Ronald W.B., The Prehistoric Rock Art of Southern Scotland, BAR: Oxford 1981.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Balbirnie Carving (02), Markinch, Fife

megalithix

Cup-and-Ring Stone: OS Grid Reference – NO 2850 0304

Also Known as:

  1. Balfarg
  2. Fif 1b (Morris 1981)

Getting Here

Old photo of the Balbirnie 2 carving

This carved stone is now held in one of the museums. To get a better idea of its original locale, take the directions to reach the Balfarg Stone Circle (from the A92 going north from Glenrothes, turn E onto the country lane to Star and Kennoway. 100 yards on there’s a sign for Balbirnie; turn right here and about 200 yards on, where the road bends right, the circle’s just below you) and look at the small stone-lined tombs (cists), within which this carving was first found.

Archaeology & History

This carving (and its adjacent compatriot) was first found within the Balfarg stone circle that originally stood more than 100 yards northwest of the site it now occupies (at NO 2850 0304). Found inside the edge of another prehistoric stone-lined tomb (cist) within the stone circle, the small elongated stone possessed at least 16 singular cup-marks along one flat face of the rock. Two adjacent cup-marks may be linked by a small line running between them. As you can see in the old photograph here, most of the cups run in two parallel lines, similar to the primary feature found on the more famous Idol Stone on Ilkley Moor.

Described in association with the Balbirnie 1 carving by Ronald Morris (1981) as simply, “a slab in another cist (with) cup-marks,” like its partner just a few yards away this carving was again representative of some important mythic element in the Land of the Dead to the person whose body was laid here.

References:

  1. Morris, Ronald W.B., The Prehistoric Rock Art of Southern Scotland, BAR: Oxford 1981.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Boatbridge Quarry, Thankerton, Lanarkshire

cartomancer

Cists (destroyed):  OS Grid Reference – NS 981 376

Also Known as:

  1. Tinto Quarry

Archaeology & History

The sites that were once here have long since been destroyed as a result of quarrying operations.  But thankfully this place was given a quick appraisal by those renowned Scottish archaeologists, Anna Ritchie and D.V. Clarke, before final destruction.  They recorded the site in an early edition of Discovery & Excavation in Scotland:

“Two short cists were discovered in November, 1970, during the removal of a long low gravel ridge protruding into the flood plain of the River Clyde.  The two cists were both aligned NE-SW and were 14m apart.  Both employed identical construction techniques.  The side slabs overlapped both end slabs and the N end slab was shorter than the other three slabs, necessitating a building-up of the floor by some 30cm.  Both appear to have had a double layer of capstones although this is uncertain in one case.  The cists contained and adult and child without grave goods on a gravel floor in one, and an adult with a beaker on a ‘crazy-paving’ floor in the other.”

Crazy-paving in prehistoric times sounds good!  The Scots got there first!

References:

  1. Clarke, D.V. & Ritchie, Anna, “Boatbridge Quarry: Short Cists,” in Discovery & Excavation in Scotland, 1971.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian 


Mount Zion, Illingworth, Halifax, West Yorkshire

megalithix

Cist (destroyed):  OS Grid Reference – SE 068 297

Archaeology & History

Mount Zion’s prehistoric urn

As with a number of prehistoric burials in the Halifax district, there is no longer any trace of the original site here.  It was a place that I wrongly attributed as being a dolmen in my early survey on West Yorkshire’s megalithic remains (Bennett 1994) — but at least I got the prehistoric tomb part of it right!  It was first found, quite accidentally, in February of 1877, when a grave-digger working in the grounds of the Mount Zion Chapel at Ovenden (as it was known in them days) hit upon a large stone beneath the earth he was digging.  Thankfully the grave-digger was a conscientious chap and, instead of just digging up the obstruction, decided to inform others of his discovery.  A temporary halt was made on his grave-digging and thereafter a careful dig was organized to explore what he’d found.  Some years later an account of the discovery was reported in H. Ling Roth’s (1906) work on the history of Halifax, where he told:

“On digging about 2ft (61cm) below the surface of the ground, a slab of stone impeded the work, and on its removal, a square cavity, formed of four upright stones, was discovered, in which the urn had been placed bottom upwards (see old photo, PB), and the mausoleum filled with gravel… The urn had not been disturbed since its removal from its present site, but still remains on its original base: a rude stone which formed the floor of its ancient sepulchre.  The urn measured when first discovered 19in (48cm) in height by 13in (32.5cm) in diameter at its orifice, but only 4in (10.2cm) at its base.  Below its rim it has the usual curved division which is here ornamented with dots made with a pointed instrument when the clay was in a soft state.”

Mr Roth went on to tell how a Dr Dolan of Halifax examined the broken bones and contents within the urn and found them to be human.  Intriguingly it seems there was some evidence of prehistoric dental practice from the remains!  Dr Dolan told:

“There is unmistakable evidence on this point from some of the bones of the skull, particularly from the preserved portions of the petrous part of the temporal bone showing meatus auditorius, from the right malar bone, and from fragments of the flat bones of the cranium.  The teeth offer confirmatory evidence.  I have found several which had evidently been subjected to great heat, as they were completely calcined.  But there was one which had been only partially burnt, the burnt part being quite black; and another, unburnt, which seems to have dropped from the jaw before the fire had reached it.  One of the teeth seems to me to have been ‘stopped’, and this opens out a question  whether the art of dentistry was known to the inhabitants before the Roman invasion.  From the size and structure of the bones, I believe the majority of them to have belonged to a female of adult age.  There are certain bones, particularly some phalanges, which seem to me to be those of a child.  As we do not however possess the whole of the original contents of the urn — much having been extracted from it on its discovery — there may probably have been, when first interred, the relics of others than those we at present possess.”

The remains of the urn were eventually presented to the care of the Bankfield Museum by the Halifax antiquary, F.A. Leyland.

A definitive account of this little-known site was recently published by Raymond Varley (2021), and all interested readers can refer to his work here.

References:

  1. Bennett, Paul, Circles, Standing Stones and Legendary Rocks of West Yorkshire, Heart of Albion Press: Loughborough 1994.
  2. Leyland, F.A., The History and Antiquities of the Parish of Halifax, by the Reverend John Watson, M.A., R.Leyland: Halifax n.d. (c.1867)
  3. Roth, H. Ling, The Yorkshire Coiners, 1767-1783; and Notes on Old and Prehistoric Halifax, F.King: Halifax 1906.
  4. Varley, Raymond, “A Large Bronze Age Collared Urn found at Mount Zion Chapel, Ovenden, near Halifax, West Yorkshire,” Academia 2021.
  5. Watson, Geoffrey G., Early Man in the Halifax District, HSS: Halifax 1952.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Keighley Train Station, West Yorkshire

megalithix

Cist:  OS Grid Reference – SE 0656 4131

Archaeology & History

This little known site, long since destroyed during the construction of Keighley Railway Station, was found in a curious spot, close to the bottom of the Aire Valley.  Most (known) prehistoric burials occur on the higher grounds in this area.  And though we don’t appear to have the exact location of the find, it was pretty close to either side of Keighley’s old railway station (which is shown as 100 yards to the other side of the road of the present station on the 1852 OS map).  This may position the site as being on the grounds opposite and below St. Anne’s Church; otherwise it was getting closer to where the River Worth runs by.  In Keighley & Holmes’ early (1858) work they told that,

“Whilst excavating for the Railway within about a hundred yards of the Keighley station, one of the labourers discovered three urns containing a quantity of human bones.  Two of them were unluckily broken, one being large enough to hold eight or nine quarts.  The one brought away whole, and seen by the present writer, may hold about a quart; it is somewhat distastefully designed, moulded by hand out of the common clay, without glaze, and rudely ornamented on the outside by some sharp implement.  The once animated contents of each urn were covered by a square flat stone.”

This final remark seems to indicate the urns were located in a cist (a small stone grave), but we don’t know whether this was found within the remains of a denuded tumulus or stone cairn.  However, considering the lack of any remarks about a large pile of stones (which would have been very noticeable) covering this burial site, it would seem more probable that this site was originally an earth-covered tumulus, whose visibility and knowledge had long since diminished in this part of Airedale.

References:

  1. Keighley, William & Homes, Robert, Keighley, Past and Present, R. Aked: Keighley 1858.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Bàrr a’ Chuirn, Kilmartin, Argyll

megalithix

Cairn:  OS Grid References – NR 8122 9782

Also Known as:

  1. Canmore ID 39465
  2. Lady’s Seat Cairn

Getting Here

Many ways to get here, but you’ve gotta amble off-path through the woods to eventually find it — but it’s not difficult. From Kilmartin village head to Slockavullin and walk up the winding track which takes you towards the Ballygowan cup-and-ring stones, but follow it into the woods instead. The OS-map’s gonna be your best guide here. I first visited this spot from the south and ambled about, aimlessly at times for several hours, after I’d first been to the great ruined mansion of Poltalloch. Well worth checking out if you enjoy finding allsorts!

Archaeology & History

The old tomb is actually a few hundred yards beneath the small rocky summit of Barr a’ Chuirn, with the overgrowth of the woods imposing itself upon it. The Scottish Royal Commission report (1988) told that there was a large seat built here in the 19th century called the Lady’s Seat, and actually set up on the cairn itself so giving groovy views all round to those who came here. The Seat was made from large slabs of stone, which may originally have come from the old tomb.  An excavation here in the mid-19th century,

“found the remains of two cists and some burnt bones, with a ‘skeleton of later date, between the two cists, but probably put there by the men who destroyed the cairn.’ In 1929 Craw re-examined the site and found that the central cist had chambered and grooved slabs. This cist is aligned ENE and WSW, and the E end-slab is now missing; the cist measured about 1m by 0.5m and about 0.3m in depth internally. The northern side-slab is grooved at the west end.”

References:

  1. Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland, Argyll: volume 6 – Mid-Argyll and Cowal, HMSO: Edinburgh 1988.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Dunblane Cathedral, Stirlingshire

megalithix

Cists: OS Grid Reference – NN 7811 0141

Archaeology & History

Dunblane Cathedral

Although this great and legendary cathedral is today a christian centre, it seems that the site had been deemed as sacred by a much earlier, indigenous culture — though on a scale much more humbling than the grand edifice we see standing here today!  For in the northwest corner of the church grounds in 1928, a small burial cist was located.  Years later, on October 2, 1975, following work here by the North of Scotland Hydro-electric Board to uncover the main supply “in an area adjacent to the north wall of the Lady Chapel,” they found a slab of stone which, when they lifted it up, covered what appeared to be a burial cist.  Messrs Gordon & Gourlay (1976) narrated:

“The stone slab which the workmen had removed proved to be the western section of a larger slab which at some period had been fractured and the eastern section lost.  As the interior of the cist was filled with soil similar to that surrounding it and containing a considerable quantity of dispersed human bone fragments, it was suggested that the eastern section of the covering slab had been lost when the drainage and/or electricity services were being installed.  The upper surface of the slabs western section was c.35cms below ground surface.  The dispersed bones in the cist were at first considered intrusive — possibly from old burials when the public services were installed — and an undisturbed deposition of bones at the base of the cist seemed to confirm this.  However, an examination of the bones by Dr A. Young…and Dr D. Lunt…showed that the deposit contained remains of two adults and one child and that many of the dispersed bones could be matched with those in the undisturbed group.  In fact, the deposition suggested a re-use of the cist.

“The cist measured internally 1.20m by 0.44m by 0.28m.  It lay 8.4m east of the door of the Lady Chapel and 1.44m from the wall of the same.  The cist was constructed from ten irregularly-shaped sandstone slabs, with one fractured slab forming the floor.  On the south side, two smaller slabs had been placed on the inside of the wall to support the covering slab which only just fitted the cist, and to give extra strength to the wall since they overlapped the vertical joins of the three slabs of the south wall.  The north wall slanted to meet the west-end slab 12cm from its edge, giving the cist a coffin-like appearance.  The north wall was still vertical; the narrowing was probably intentional as the covering slab was only 33cm wide at that point and the bones lay apparently undisturbed, parallel to the north and south walls.  It proved impossible to examine the old ground surface because of the public installations, but it did appear that the ground sloped to the west as the cist certainly did.”

Although the remains found here were not dated, it was initially thought that the cist may have been made around the period when the Lady Chapel was erected around 1250 AD.

“However, Mr J. Stevenson of the Royal Commission for Ancient and Historical Monuments pointed out that the dimensions and construction of the cist accord well with cists of known prehistoric dates in the area; the cist (therefore) would seem to be placed early in the sequences of cist development, assuming it to be prehistoric.”

References:

  1. Cockburn, James H., The Celtic Church in Dunblane, Society of Friends of Dunblane Cathedral: Dunblane 1954.
  2. Gordon, Alistair R. & Gourlay, Robert B., “A Cist Burial, Dunblane Cathedral, Perthshire,” in Glasgow Archaeological Society Bulletin, No.2, 1976.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian