Go west out of Perth city centre, along Longcauseway which runs straight into Jeanfield Road, then (keep your eyes peeled) turn left and go along Burghmuir Road to the end where, at the roundabout, go straight across. 100 yards along, a dead straight path starts on the left-side of the road. Walk 400 yards along here, cross the road, keep straight on the path (called Old Gallows Road) into the trees and a half-mile on you reach a large pylon on your right; but walk to your immediate left here and after 25 yards go through the gate on your left. In this field, 100 yards to the south you’ll see a tree inside a large low stone enclosure. You need to find the stone that’s the most northerly one in this enclosure walling.
Archaeology & History
It’s debatable as to whether or not this carving is in its original position as it’s located within the outer walling of an enclosure, deemed by Fred Coles (1903) to have been a large garden, yet which has all the hallmarks of being much earlier structure, possibly even Iron Age. Either way, the cup-and-ring that we see today on the northernmost edge of this old walling, would seem to have been moved into the position it presently occupies.
Close-up of the carvingPosition in line of walling
There’s another oddity about it too, as one (or more) of the cup-markings have been incised and worked upon in much more recent centuries, as evidenced by a small thin almost pencil-like cut into the centre of one of them, perhaps with the intention of smashing the stone to pieces. A geologist or stonemason could perhaps look at this and let us know what they think. Thankfully the stone and the carved design remains intact!
It was described by the great Fred Coles (1903) in a summary essay of numerous antiquities both here and further afield. He told us:
Coles (1903) sketchClose-up of the design
“The cup-and ring-marked stone here was first brought to my notice by Mr David Smith in the summer of 1900. He then reported that the stone appeared to be one of a large number forming a rough circle in a plantation on the west of this farm. On reaching the house, I was fortunate in meeting Mr Douglas the tenant, who at once conducted me to the westmost field and showed me the stone. It is a squarish and not very thick block of ‘bastard whinstone,’ uneven, weathered, and moss-grown. It measures 2 feet 10 inches by 2 feet 8 inches. As far as examination in the gloom of the clump of trees allowed, I believe I am correct in recording…the seven single cups and the two surrounded by rings as all the definitely artificial marks now visible on this stone. The stone at present lies prone upon the curved alignment of many stones which have been set on edge, enclosing an area roughly oval, and measuring in round numbers about 210 feet nearly east and west by 90 or 100 feet north and south.”
There are in fact a few more cups with rings than what Coles described, but they’re difficult to make out. At least five have rings, possibly six of them. If you happen to visit this carving when the daylight is being nice, see if you can catch us a good photo or two and stick ’em on our Facebook group.
References:
Coles, Fred, “Notices of…some Hitherto Undescribed Cup-and-ring-marked Stones,” in Proceedings Society Antiquaries Scotland, volume 37, 1903.
Acknowledgements:Many thanks for use of the Ordnance Survey map in this site profile, reproduced with the kind permission of the National Library of Scotland.
Cup-and-Ring Stone (lost): OS Grid Reference – NO 0654 2296
Archaeology & History
All trace of this carving seems to have gone. It was first recorded by the great Fred Coles (1903) who found it within a small group of stones, but no one has seen it since. Unless it’s been shifted into one of the nearby walls, it may have been destroyed. Coles told us it could be found,
Cole’s 1903 sketch of the carvingStone ‘A’ is the culprit
“at a point 333 yards east of the farm-steadings, where two hedges meet at right angles. Four stones…lie close together. They appear to be all of bastard whinstone. The middle stone, B, has its longer axis ESE and WNW. It is only 3in inches thick. The stones D and C are each 6 inches thick. No marks are to be seen on any of these. But on A is the very distinct sculpturing shown in the illustration…unfortunately not complete, owing to the flaking off of large strips of the weathered lower portion of the slab. There is a strong suggestion of a cist-cover in the shape and size of this stone, which the close proximity of the two other squarer and thinner stones helps to enforce. Though these stones have been known to the tenant for over thirty years, this is, I believe, the first record made of their position and features.”
The records at Canmore have suggested that this lost carving and the missing petroglyph of West Lamberkine (1) nearby are one and the same. This is unlikely. West Lamberkine (1) was described simply as a cup-marked stone, whereas this stone possessed clear identifiable cups and rings. It would be difficult to make such an elementary mistake.
Cup-Marked Stone (lost): OS Grid Reference – NO 0617 2328
Archaeology & History
Site shown on 1933 map
First highlighted on the 1933 OS-map of the area, it was located alongside the old fence-line hereby, but no subsequent description of the carving has been made since then. A small boulder and a number of other stones can be found along the line of fencing, but none seem to be possessed of petroglyphs and apart from it being shown on the old maps, I can find no reference or description of it. It may have been destroyed. Some researchers have wondered if the carving was mistakenly marked at this spot by surveyors who confused it with another one more than 500 yards to the southeast (and described by Fred Coles in 1903), but this would seem an unlikely error to have been made. Whilst this was described as a simple “cup-marked stone”, its neighbour at West Lamberkine (2) was a distinct and more complex cup-and-ring design.
References:
Coles, Fred, “Notices of …(4) of Some Hitherto Undescribed Cup-and-ring-marked Stones…” in Proceedings Society Antiquaries Scotland, volume 37, 1903.
Acknowledgements:Many thanks for use of the Ordnance Survey map in this site profile, reproduced with the kind permission of the National Library of Scotland.
Approaching Tibbermore from Huntingtower, turn left in the village and the site of the Lady Well is visible in fields on the left, just to the north of a bush growing on the north-south boundary fence on the east side of the roadside paddock before you get to the church.
Archaeology & History
On the day of my site visit I wasn’t able to get close to the site, owing to the subdivision of the roadside paddock by wire fences and the presence of horses. Growing crops barred access from the east. But it appears that all physical traces of the well have been destroyed, and the actual site of the well as shown on old OS maps now shows no evidence of it, but a large bush a few yards south may indicate the present site of any vestigial spring.
The site of the Well to the left of the bush
Hew Scott, in Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae wrote that the church at Tibbermore was dedicated to St Mary, and that there was a Well of St Mary. Tibbermore was a mensal parish of the Bishop of Dunkeld – i.e., its parish revenues etc, were accrued to the Bishop, who maintained a residence in the parish prior to the Reformation. Pennant wrote in 1772 that the church of Tibbir-moor took its name from a holy well dedicated to the Virgin Mary.
John Inglis in the Old Statistical Account wrote that the name Tibbermore was understood to be compounded of two Gaelic words, tuber and more, which signify a large well—referring probably to a plentiful spring of water immediately adjoining to the church-yard.
Watson, in his Celtic Place Names writes:
‘Tibbermore or -muir near Perth is supposed to mean ‘big well’ from a fine spring near the churchyard, but as this used to be called “the lady well”, the meaning may be ‘Mary’s well’, tiobar Moire, like Tobar Mhoire, Tobermory in Mull.‘
Can it be inferred from this that the spring was historically of great importance; firstly to have given its name to the parish and village and secondly to have been named after the Virgin Mary rather than a ‘lesser’ saint, and to have been a pre-Christian place of veneration and pilgrimage? Adding to this speculation is the presence of several cup marked stones within a mile or so of the holy well, which may possibly indicate a very ancient sacred landscape.
References:
Pennant, Thomas, A Tour In Scotland 1772, London, Benjamin White, 1776.
Inglis, John, Old Statistical Account for Tibbermore, Perthshire, 1791-99.
Scott, Hew, Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae, Vol. IV, Edinburgh, Oliver & Boyd, 1923.
Watson, W.J., The Celtic Place-Names Of Scotland, Revised Edition, Edinburgh, Birlinn, 2004. (originally published 1926).
