From the lovely village of Kinloch Rannoch, take the south road over the river that heads (eventually) to Aberfeldy. 3-400 yards along, another small road meets with the one you’re on, on your right. Stop here! Then look across at the field ahead of you, on your left, and you’ll see a small standing stone amidst the green. That’s it!
Archaeology & History
This is a small, squat but impressive standing stone, less than 4 feet tall, set amidst a beautiful landscape which catches the eye in every direction. Found close to the remains of several prehistoric cairns, it seems probable that funerary associations would have happened here, although direct evidence is lacking.
Folklore
Clach na Boile, looking south
Although I can find nothing specific to account for the Gaelic meaning (“stone of fury”) of the monolith, on the other side of the road in the trees is the old house of Innerhadden, where a curious ghost story told how an old inhabitant there was helped by the spirit of one who died in the Battle of Culloden. (Cunningham 1989)
References:
Cunningham, A.D., Tales of Rannoch, Perth & Kinross District Library 1989.
Follow the same directions to reach the Allt Leathan enclosure and hut circles. Walk along the eastern side of the hill on which the enclosure mainly sits, and as it slopes down the hill, you’ll note an odd-shaped stone leaning at an angle less than halfway down.
Archaeology & History
A truly curious and fascinating site, not previously recorded, but found by Paul Hornby on August 7, 2012, during a venture to explore the nearby settlement and hut circles around Meall Dubh. On the eastern slope over the edge of the Allt Leathan enclosure, with its hut circles and possible cairns, we see this upright worn stone, leaning at an angle, which would stand nearly 5 feet high if pushed properly upright. It is found in association with two other smaller stones, all of which stand and lean in the same direction.
Possible cairn remnants surrounds base of stone…and again
Around the base of the main stone is a scatter of small rocks, as if suggesting that a cairn was once next to the standing stone, perhaps inferring that the stone marked a tomb. There is also a very distinct line of walling running along the axis of the upright stones, meaning that we cannot discount the possibility that the monoliths here were connected with a walled enclosure in some capacity. And considering the excess of other prehistoric remains close by, this may be more likely than not!
‘Stone Circle’ (destroyed): OS Grid Reference – NS 86 95
Archaeology & History
In Alex Wilson’s (1901) rare work he gives the only reference of what may have been a stone circle once found in the township of Tullibody. On a talk given at the Alloa Archaeology Society in the 19th century, the site was mentioned by one of the speakers in his talk on the standing stones of Stirlingshire and district. Mr Wilson told us:
“…at a meeting in November 1871, Rev. Mr Bryson made one of his first speeches before the Society, and spoke of Boulders found in the district, and how these were gradually disappearing owing to the utilitarian spirit of the age. Mr Bryson related how that he had been informed that about 60 or 70 years ago there existed seven or eight boulders round about the Boulder at Tullibody, which Mr Duncan had spoken of.”
This is a brief but intriguing account! Whether we can ascribe the “seven or eight boulders” in the description as merely glacial erratics, or whether the ruins of a stone circle were here as the description seems to imply, we don’t know. If anyone has any additional information they can add to this account, please let us know.
References:
Wilson, Alex, Review of Proceedings since Inauguaration, Alloa Society of Natural Science and Archaeology, Buchan Bros: Alloa 1901.
Up the A9 past Blair Atholl, a few miles later there’s the turning for Struan. Scarcely a mile east of old Struan Church, head past the old farmhouse of Old Kindrochat and keep going eastwards along the edge of the trees for about 200 yards until you reach the sheepfold. There you’ll see a singular rock sitting alone by the fence. That’s it!
Archaeology & History
This little known healing stone was, at one time last century, of great repute in the Highlands. Today, very few people even know it exists. One of many rocks that were said to possess healing abilities, this one (obviously) was of great repute in the curing of whooping cough. But it wasn’t the rock alone that did the work here, for upon its edge was a small basin into which rainwater collected and this, when used correctly and in due accord with ancient ritual tradition, could enact the cure. Mr Duncan Fraser said of this fascinating healing stone:
“The grey water-worn stone is about 4ft 6in long, 2ft 6in broad and 2ft high, with a deep gash on top, where the water lingers even in long dry spells. When full it holds about half-a-gallon. People were still coming here with their sick children as late as 1860 — and bringing a spoon made from the horn of a living cow. There was no cure without that.”
The ritual “spoon made from the horn of a living cow” was an important ingredient at another site with the reputation for curing whooping cough about 50 miles south of here, near Balquhidder. (see Whooping Cough Well, Killin) What truly fascinates me is the origin of this stone and its medicinal virtues. When did the healing rites first start here – how long ago…?
References:
Fraser, Duncan, Highland Perthshire, Standard Press: Montrose 1969.
Balbirnie stone circle – with Marion checking it out!
Take the A92 road running north out of Glenrothes towards Freuchie and, after a couple of miles out of town, you’ll hit the B969 road on your left. Across from here on the other side of the road, you’ve just passed a small B-road that takes you to Markinch. That’s where you need to be! Go along there for less than 100 yards and turn first right, swerving along the tree-lined road for 200 yards or so. Watch out, just before the first house on your left, for a footpath which leads into the woods. Walk down it, barely 10 yards!
Archaeology & History
This is a lovely megalithic ring in a lovely setting – albeit a new one. The circle was originally positioned some 125 yards northwest of here and would have been destroyed, but was thankfully reconstructed by Fife Council before road-widening of the A92 was done. And the job’s a good one! But as Burl (2005) tells, this wasn’t the first time Balbirnie had been threatened with damage:
The southeastern stones & cistsBalbirnie from the roadside, looking southeast
“With some stones removed in the eighteenth century, dug into in 1883 when bones and sherds were found, damaged by trees, it was finally excavated and restored in 1970-71,” before the main road was built. Thankfully it’s still here – and an excellent stone circle it is! However, the reconstructed site here doesn’t show the circle in its entirety. Originally there were ten standing stones making up the ring, as opposed to the seven you can see today.
Royal Commission ground-plan, c.1933
The site was built amidst the scatter of other larger, and once more impressive, mythically important monuments than the circle – but it’s as likely that the circle added more to the sacred dimensions of the region as a whole when it first came to be built. For on the other side of the A92 we can still see the denuded remains of the Balfarg Riding School Henge, with imitations of its internal upright posts resurrected into position to give an idea of what once stood inside the sacred enclosure. And then about 200 yards west of that, the gigantic Balfarg Henge is impressively surrounded by a modern housing estate, built with the henge in mind, with its outlying megaliths and internal level surface area graciously intact. It’s a truly impressive prehistoric area all round, although the Balbirnie stone circle was built some considerable time after the two henges had been done, many centuries later…
Before the circle was moved, the consensus profile of the site was that given by the Royal Commission (1933) lads following their visit here in June 1925, when they told it looked like this:
“At the southern end of a small wood on the east side of the main road from Kirkcaldy to Falkland, about 180 yards south of Balbirnie Lodge, are the remains of a large circular cairn and of the setting of standing stones by which it was once surrounded… The circle, which has had a diameter of some 48 feet, has been composed of sandstone boulders. Four of these are still in place, but one other on the southeast has been slightly displaced, while against the stone on the northeast lie two large boulders, which apparently have been transferred to this position. Any other stones that may once have existed have been removed or destroyed. The greatest height above ground of any of those that survive is 5 feet 6 inches, while one, which rises no more than 2 feet, measures in circumference as much as 9 feet 9 inches at the base. The cairn itself seems to have been broken into at two points. No record of these excavations appears to be extant, but a number of fragments of cinerary urns from the site are preserved in the National Museum. These indicate that, as might have been inferred from its general character, the monument was sepulchral and dates from the Bronze Age.”
Sepulchral indeed. When the stone circle was excavated at the beginning of the 1970s by J.N.G. Ritchie (1974) and his mates, it was discovered this was a primary function of the site. As Burl (2000) wrote:
“At Balbirnie patches of cremated bone lay underneath some circle-stones. Whatever the ceremonies here they were interrupted when the site was converted into a cemetery. Four or five cists associated with a late beaker and a jet button were constructed within the ring. The date of about 1650 BC came from wood alongside the beaker. Stretches of low walling were put up between the stones forming a continuous barrier…analogous to the embanked stone circles elsewhere in Britain that seem generally to belong to a period in the mid-second millennium… But the first cists did not long remain undisturbed and were seemingly rifled when later cists were built that contained the cremations of women and children… One of these later cists held a food-vessel and a flint knife.
“The stone circle was further abused. A low cairn was piled over all the cists. Sherds of deliberately broken urns, one with barley impressions, were scattered amongst the boulders, intermingled with small coagulations of burnt human bone. This last phase at Balbirnie occurred late in the second millennium BC, for a C-14 determination of…1200 to 900 BC came from the land surface that had built up within the ring during the centuries while the stone circle remained open to the weather.”
Measuring 49 feet across at the widest, this flattened ellipse also possessed a curious rectangular section of laid stone, near the middle of this circle, almost ‘Roman-road’ like in appearance and covering about a quarter of the internal arena. It’s visible today at the reconstructed site and looks almost intrusive! Measuring some 11 feet by 9 feet, the flat stone surface has been suggested as a place where corpses were rested.
Also found within two of the tombs inside the circle were the cup-and-ring marked stones of Balbirnie 1 and Balbirnie 2, showing yet again the relationship that some of these carvings have with spirits of the dead.
…to be continued…
References:
Burl, Aubrey, “Intimations of Numeracy in the Neolithic and Bronze Age Societies of the British Isles (c.3200-1200 BC),” in Archaeological Journal, volume 133, 1976.
Burl, Aubrey, Rings of Stone, BCA: London 1979.
Burl, Aubrey, The Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany, Yale University Press 2000.
Burl, Aubrey, A Guide to the Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany, Yale University Press 2005.
Denston, C.B., “The Cremated Remains from Balbirnie, Fife,” in Archaeological Journal, volume 131, 1974.
Ritchie, J.N.G., “Excavation of the Stone Circle and Cairn at Balbirnie, Fife,” in Archaeological Journal, volume 131, 1974.
Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments, Scotland, Inventory of Monuments and Constructions in the Counties of Fife, Kinross and Clackmannan, HMSO: Edinburgh 1933.
Acknowledgements: Huge thanks to Marion Woolley for getting us out to see this and the related neolithic monuments. Cheers m’ dears!
From Blackford on the north side of the A9, cross over and take the small B-road which quietly runs up and over Sheriffmuir towards Dunblane. After a mile, keep your eyes keen for the approaching woodland on your right-hand side; for in the field just before the woods, you’ll see a patch of grass near the corner of the field with a long stone poking out of it. That’s it!
Archaeology & History
It seems that very little has been written about this monolith in any of the archaeology texts, but it’s ascribed locally to be a fallen standing stone. The site’s described in Finlayson’s (2010) fine local megalith guide where he points out how it’s in line with other nearby standing stones at Gleneagles and the White Stone – and the line is damn close!
…and from another angle…
With a quartz vein running through it, the stone lays some thirteen feet long and was, at some time in the not-too-distant past, readied to be quarried, as evidenced by the chisel-marks cut into it, prior to the usual destruction. But this time, for some reason, someone must have come to the rescue and prevented its demise…thankfully…
The farmer annually cuts around the fallen stone, shaped like a long boat (hence the name), near the top corner of the field. It would have looked damn good when stood upright, standing about ten feet in height and visible for a good distance. But today it’s quite forlorn laid here, seemingly alone, in this quiet part of the country, and is probably only one of interest to hardcore megalithomaniacs amongst you!
References:
Finlayson, Andrew, The Stones of Strathearn, One Tree Island: Comrie 2010.
Go on the A91 through Alva, eastwards, and just before you go out of the town, note the small road on your left up to the graveyard. As you go into the graveyard, keep your eyes peeled on your left-hand side. You can’t really miss it!
Archaeology & History
Reported as “lost” or “destroyed” in many official reports, one of at least two standing stones that were reported in the Old Statistical Account of 1795 can still be found at the bottom of the graveyard, adjacent to the old holy well of St. Serf, at the edge of Alva town Very little has been written about it, and when it was mentioned in the OSA, the stones were only added in a foot note to the impressive stone cross on the outskirts of Alloa, saying:
“There are two stones resembling this one, in the neighbouring parish of Alva, at no great distance from the church, but not close to one another. They are both near the foot of the Ochils.”
A little person by its sideFrom the stone, looking NE
When some of the lads from the Scottish Royal Commission came here in July 1927, they could find no remains of any such standing stones and simply reported that they “no longer exist.” However, as visitors can plainly see, a tall upright standing stone still remains here, albeit repositioned by the good local people of Alva several decades ago. Standing more than seven-feet tall, the stone is very weather-worn on one side, with a plaque at the bottom.
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.
From Alloa head east along the A907 road and park up at Morrison’s supermarket a half-mile on. From here, keep walking along the same road, but make sure you go on the dirt-track running parallel with the main road, and which runs alongside the field in which this monument is clearly visible. Just make sure you only visit it when the crops aren’t growing (between September through to April is OK).
Archaeology & History
This is a highly impressive monument, but I for one doubt that it has a wholly christian origin… The fact that a stone circle was on the same ridge totally visible a couple of hundred yards away, and a cluster of Bronze Age cairns immediately west, adds to my doubt; along with the sheer size of this thing trying to grab attention to itself. You’ll have to visit it yourself and see what I mean.
The stone was first described in the Old Statistical Account of the area in 1795, and it told:
“About a mile east of the town, there is a large upright stone, 7 feet 4 inches above the surface of the ground. It is three feet broad, and thought to be very deep in the Earth. The old people used to speak of the figure of a man on horseback, which they had seen on it. If any thing of that kind, or letters (as it is said), have been formerly observed, they are now totally effaced.”
However, in a footnote to this entry, it was said that,
“when the adjacent farm was enclosing, upwards of 20 years ago, a ditch was made close to the stone, when many human bones were discovered; which proves that a battle or skirmish had some time or other taken place near that spot; and probably some man of eminence was buried hard by, as it was a common practice of the Picts on such occasions. There are two stones resembling this one, in the neighbouring parish of Alva, at no great distance from the church, but not close to one another. They are both near the foot of the Ochils.”
It seems most probable that this great cross-carved monolith had some relationship to our heathen mythic history—an idea which has been put forward by others historians in bygone times. In Daniel Wilson’s (1851) huge work, he told us:
“On ground about half a mile to the east of the town of Alloa, called the Hawkhill, is the large upright block of sandstone sculptured with a cross which is represented in the annexed engraving. It measures ten and a quarter feet in height, though little more than seven feet are now visible above ground. A similar cross is cut on both sides of the stone, as is not uncommon with such simple memorials. During the progress of agricultural operations in the immediate vicinity of this ancient cross, in the spring of 1829, Mr. Robert Bald, C.E., an intelligent Scottish antiquary, obtained permission from the Earl of Mar to make some excavations around when, at about nine feet north from the monumental stone, a rude cist was found, constructed of unhewn sandstone, measuring only three feet in length, and at each end of the cover, on the under side, a simple cross was cut. The lines which formed the crosses were not rudely executed, but straight and uniform, and evidently finished with care, though the slab itself was unusually rude and amorphous. The cist lay east and west and contained nothing but human bones greatly decayed. Drawings of the cross and a plan of the ground, executed by Mr. Bald, are in the possession of the Society of Antiquaries. Here we possess a singularly interesting example of the union of Christian and Pagan sepulchral rites: the cist laid east and west, according to the early christian custom, yet constructed of the old circumscribed dimensions, and of the rude but durable materials in use for ages before the had superseded the aboriginal Pagan creeds.”
Old drawing of the site (after Wilson 1851)Hawk Hill Cross, looking north
A few years later there was another account of this cross published in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, Scotland (1889), echoing much of what Wilson described, telling of the discoveries of many human remains found hereby. And when the Royal Commission (1933) account of the place was written after their inspection team visited the site in 1925, they told:
“This slab…is set up on a knoll about 200 yards south of the main roadway between Alloa and Clackmannan and about midway between the site of the (Hawk Hill) cairn…and that of the (Hawk Hill) stone circle… It is packed round the base with fairly large stones and stands with its broad faces east and west. A cross of Celtic form is incised on both sides, the incisions being about half an inch in depth. On the east face the shaft is made to spring directly from a base, without the intervention of a basic line. The design on the west face is similar, but the shaft here has been almost entirely obliterated by weathering. The slab is 8 feet in height, 2 feet 7½ inches in width at the base, and 9 inches in thickness.”
Notice that the more recent accounts don’t mention the horse carving: an intriguing element which was however mentioned in some early local history works of the place. Indeed, some postulate that this may have Pictish origins. They may be right. As local historian T.C. Gordon (1937), told,
“that the old people of the parish could remember seeing on the soft surface of the stone the figure of a man on horseback.”
Cross on the east faceCross on the west face
On the day I visited this stone I couldn’t make out any carved horse, but it seemed that something may once have been carved near the bottom the western face…perhaps… One writer also suggested that the nearby place-name of Gaberston may have related to this stone cross, with the word literally meaning ‘The Pillar Stone of Brath (Brude),’ which as Mr Gordon said, thus provides “the link between the stone and (the Pictish leader) Brude, and this link is strengthened when we remember that the burn that runs through Alloa is called ‘the Brathy Burn.’”
The possible Pictish motifs of a horseman were mentioned again in a letter from the local County Planning Officer to the Alloa County Clerk in 1971, along with a recommendation that the cross be removed and placed into a museum to prevent further weathering and erosion. Thankfully this suggestion was not followed through and the cross remains where it belongs: in its position in the landscape to beguile and intrigue us over its hidden commemorative past. Long may it remain upon its hill.
A very impressive site indeed…
Folklore
Thought locally to have played a part on an alignment or ley line with a little-known Druid Stone by the roadside in Alloa, the Hawk Hill cairn, and Hawk Hill stone circle to its east. The historian T.C. Gordon (1937) told that the cross marked the site where the Picts fought against the Saxons, saying:
“We know that Finguine, son of Deleroith, died in that battle in 711 AD, and maybe Brude too. A stone cross still marks the place at Hawkhill.”
References:
Gordon, T. Crouther, A Short History of Alloa, Alloa Advertiser 1937.
Lothian, James, Alloa and its Environs, Alloa Advertiser 1861.
Miller, Peter, “Notices of the Standing Stones of Alloa and Clackmanan,” in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 23, 1889.
Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments, Scotland, Inventory of Monuments and Constructions in the Counties of Fife, Kinross and Clackmannan, HMSO: Edinburgh 1933.
Wilson, Daniel, The Archaeology and Prehistoric Annals of Scotland, Sutherland & Knox: Edinburgh 1861.
Easier to locate if you approach from the Pool of Muckhart side: just off the A91, along a small lane that tells you it’s “Walking & Cycle Friendly”! A half-mile along, up the hill, watch out in the fields to your right, where a clump of trees are enclosed 100 yards off the roadside, before you reach the track to Castleton Farm. There’s a gate allowing access up the field, but you;re just as well asking at the farm, where the folks there are most helpful.
Archaeology & History
This, to me, is a gorgeous standing stone in a truly beautiful setting, living amidst a richly coloured landscape breathing life all around you. I get one helluva good feeling when I visit this place—but it’s the cradle of the landscape itself with Law Hill, Gloom Hill and the Ochils stretching around here that adds the genius loci. But that aside…
The northern cup-marked sideCastleton standing stone, looking south
Originally standing to the west of Castleton farmhouse a couple of hundred yards away, this large three-sided stone was moved and resurrected sometime in the 1920s to its present position. It stands some eight feet tall, with a couple of its upright faces covered in what looks like curious cup-markings, but these are not man-made and are due entirely to Nature’s handiwork (despite what some archaeologists have said). Immediately east is a small copse of trees within the remains of an unrecorded walled enclosure; although it is certainly of a later date than our standing stone.
Stone shown on 1866 map
The monolith was first described in the 1859 Name Book as, “a large standing stone about 8 feet high in the angle of the garden wall close to the W side of the farm steading, which gave name to the farm.” It was shown on the first OS-map of the area by the farm-side when the building was known as Standingstone.
Folklore
In the 1859 Name Book it was told that the stone was “considered a…memorial of some event”, but we know not what.
References:
Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments, Scotland, The Archaeological Sites and Monuments of Clackmannan District and Falkirk District, Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 1979.
Follow the directions to reach the standing stone of Dunruchan D, and there on the moor immediately to your south, 100 yards or so away, it stands before you!
Archaeology & History
Dunruchan E stone, with Dunruchan D to rear
This is the southernmost of the impressive standing stones on the plain below Dunruchan Hill. Notably more ’rounded’ at the top than most of its associates—giving a more distinct ‘female’ nature to the stone than its companions—we find again, scattered around the base of this 7-foot tall monolith, a number of smaller rocks that gives the impression an old cairn was once here. Certainly there are a scatter of several other cairns nearby and we get the distinct impression with all of the Dunruchan stones, that a prehistoric cemetery was once in evidence here.
Ground-plan of stone & cairnCole’s drawing of Dunruchan E
Although this is the last of the known standing stones in this area, there is every probability of other prehistoric remains hidden amidst the heathlands—perhaps even more large standing stones that have fallen and are overgrown with vegetation. When Fred Cole came here one time with the great rock art writer, Sir James Simpson, one such fallen standing stone was reported a short distance tot he east, but it has yet to be recovered. There may be more.
In Fred Cole’s (1911) report of this particular “south stone”, or Dunruchan E, he wrote:
“This monolith, in respect of position, somewhat resembles the last, because it stands on the west arc of a rudely circular setting of small stones, which, however, are not placed on a mound (as in the case of Stone D), but merely lie on the flat of the moor. Five of these blocks are large enough to be noticeable, and they occupy the positions shown by the outlined stones in the ground-plan (fig. 21), the farthest to the east being 15 feet distant from the inner face of the standing monolith A. The dimensions of this Stone are: height 6 feet 9 inches, basal girth 16 feet 1 inch. In the illustration (fig. 22) I show this Stone with the other great one near set on its platform, and to the right two of the numerous small, low cairns which are scattered about this part of the moor. ”
Folklore
According to an account in the Ordnance Survey Name Book of 1860, “these stones are believed to mark the graves or commemorate the death of Roman soldiers who fell in a battle fought here between the Romans and the Caledonians.”
References:
Burl, Aubrey, From Carnac to Callanish, Yale University Press 1993.
Cole, Fred, “Report on Stone Circles in Perthshire, Principally Strathearn,” in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 45, 1911.
Finlayson, Andrew, The Stones of Strathearn, One Tree Island: Comrie 2010.
Hunter, John, Chronicles of Strathearn, David Phillips: Crieff 1896.
Thom, A., Thom, A.S. & Burl, Aubrey, Stone Rows and Standing Stones – 2 volumes, BAR: Oxford 1990.
