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Arnbathie (Cairn(s)) — Fieldnotes

The Arnbathie cairn is situated on the highest point of Law Hill, which is also the highest point of the hillfort. Some stonework remains on the North East and along with, perhaps, a very earthfast sunken kerb.

At just over 7.0m wide and 0.5m tall the cairn is grass covered, superb views as the winter's sun begins to fade.

Visited 29/12/2023.
drewbhoy Posted by drewbhoy
17th February 2024ce

Julliberrie's Grave (Long Barrow) — Links

Julliberrie's Grave


It's up there somewhere - honest.
GLADMAN Posted by GLADMAN
17th February 2024ce

Friar's Kirk NW (Cairn(s)) — Images (click to view fullsize)

<b>Friar's Kirk NW</b>Posted by markj99<b>Friar's Kirk NW</b>Posted by markj99<b>Friar's Kirk NW</b>Posted by markj99<b>Friar's Kirk NW</b>Posted by markj99<b>Friar's Kirk NW</b>Posted by markj99<b>Friar's Kirk NW</b>Posted by markj99<b>Friar's Kirk NW</b>Posted by markj99<b>Friar's Kirk NW</b>Posted by markj99<b>Friar's Kirk NW</b>Posted by markj99<b>Friar's Kirk NW</b>Posted by markj99<b>Friar's Kirk NW</b>Posted by markj99 Posted by markj99
15th February 2024ce

Friar's Kirk NW (Cairn(s)) — Fieldnotes

Visited 11.02.24

Friar's Kirk NW Cairn is located on open moorland c. 3 miles NNW of Penwhirn Reservoir in Dumfries and Galloway. The round grassy mound has small stones studded on the surface. The N half of the cairn has a hollow up to 1 foot deep. Conversely, there is a loose mound of stones c. 6 feet wide by 1.5 feet high on the S arc. A large slab measuring c. 3x2x0.33 feet lies on the mound, towards the centre of the cairn. The slab could be a remnant of a cist. The overall dimensions of the cairn are c. 36 feet across by 3 feet high.

Friar's Kirk SE Cairn lies c. 270 yards SE of Friar's Kirk NW Cairn. Further details of Friar's Kirk NW Cairn are available in Canmore ID 61882.
Posted by markj99
15th February 2024ce

Friar's Kirk SE (Cairn(s)) — Images

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15th February 2024ce

Friar's Kirk SE (Cairn(s)) — Fieldnotes

Visited 11.02.24

Friar's Kirk SE Cairn is located on open moorland c. 3 miles NNW of Penwhirn Reservoir in Dumfries and Galloway. The round grassy mound has small stones scattered on the surface, concentrated on a round stone structure built around a hollow in the E arc. The ruined structure has an internal diameter of c. 3 feet with a wall c. 1 feet wide. The overall dimensions of the cairn are c. 40 feet across by 2 feet high.

Friar's Kirk NW Cairn lies c. 270 yards NW of Friar's Kirk SE Cairn. According to Canmore ID 61924, Friar's Kirk SE Cairn is c. 120m NW of Friar's Kirk Enclosure, a ruined sheepfold.
Posted by markj99
15th February 2024ce

Claywarnies (Cairn(s)) — Images

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14th February 2024ce

Claywarnies (Cairn(s)) — Fieldnotes

Visited 10.02.24

Claywarnies Cairn is located in a forest clearing c. 2 miles NW of Penwhirn Reservoir in Dumfries and Galloway. The large sub-circular mound has been extensively modified by man over time. Several enclosures have been constructed on and around the cairn, presumably using original cairn stones. There is a rectangular enclosure outside the N perimeter, a cluster of stones on the S arc and a ruined enclosure in the W half. The cairn, which measures c. 66 feet in diameter and 3 feet high, is covered in rushes obscuring any surface stones.

Canmore ID 61891 has details of Claywarnies Cairn, including a survey carried out in 1985.
Posted by markj99
14th February 2024ce

Green Cairn (Hillfort) — Folklore

The large Iron Age ring fort of Green Castle, otherwise known as Queen's Castle or Finella's Castle, is said to have been the site of an early medieval fortress, seat of the maomor or 'great officer' of the Mearns. Here, it was said, Kenneth III was assassinated towards the end of the tenth century. The antiquarian Robert Chambers, writing in 1827, gives an account of the murder drawn from the fourteenth- and fifteenth-century chronicles:

Having excited the implacable hatred of a powerful lady, named Fenella, by killing her son in a rebellion, she put on a courteous face, and invited him to her castle, where she had prepared a singular engine, for the purpose of putting him to death. Under pretence of amusing him with the architectural elegance of her mansion, she conducted him to the upper apartment of a tall tower, where, in the midst of splendid drapery and curious sculptures, she had planted a statue of brass, holding a golden apple. This apple, she told him, was designed as a present for his majesty, and she courteously invited him to take it from the hand of the image. No sooner had the king done this, then some machinery was set in motion, which, acting upon an ambuscade of crossbows behind the arras, caused a number of arrows to traverse the apartment, by one of which killed the king.

Fenella left the castle before the murder was discovered by the king's attendants, who broke down the door and found their master weltering in his blood.

It was said that Fenella made for another castle of hers at a wild place on the coast called, Den-Fenella. Being pursued, she concealed herself amongst the branches of the trees, and as thick forest stretched all the way from one castle to the other, she was able to swing herself along for a distance of about ten miles, and pass over the very heads of her bewildered pursuers. Different accounts can be found of what happened to her after that: some say she was captured and burned, some that she was at last brought to bay near Lauriston Castle, where she chose death over captivity and threw herself from the crags onto the rocks beneath, while a third version holds that she escaped to Ireland.

The Lore Of Scotland - A Guide To Scottish Legends

Westwood & Kingshill
drewbhoy Posted by drewbhoy
14th February 2024ce

Shien Hill (Cairn(s)) — Fieldnotes

Just north of Easthill Farm there is a track that heads east. Follow the track, sometimes mud bath, as it heads east and look for the tree covered hill to the north. Not all of the hill is tree covered, jump the fence and head north through the trees, the north side clear. Glorious views of snow covered mountains to the north. After weeks of rain and flood it's nice to see the sun.

The cairn is huge, being 34m wide and 6m high. Something is disturbed on top, a marker or walker's cairn. Some stones do poke through the grass / turf covered site. Canmore says it hasn't been disturbed, long may that continue to be the case.

Lovely place, very quiet.

Visited 29/12/2023.
drewbhoy Posted by drewbhoy
14th February 2024ce

Stone of Morphie (Standing Stone / Menhir) — Folklore

The Stone Of Morphie or Morphy is said to mark the grave of a Danish king, Camus, defeated in battle by Malcolm 2 (1005-1034). During a hurricane in the mid nineteenth century the stone fell down, and while it was being re-erected a skeleton was found beneath it, 'of large dimensions.'

J. C. Watt writing in 1914, surmises that the monolith once formed part of a circle, adducing the 'immense number' of stone circles and tombs found in the neighbourhood, and adds that 'some years ago' he sent a friend to photograph the stone, 'but it was doing some duty at the core of a corn stack at the farm of Stone o' Morphy'.

The stone is associated not only with the Danes but with the menacing Kelpie, said to have carried it. Archibald Watt notes in 1985 that 'you can still see his fingerprint on the stone where he grasped it', a motif more commonly associated with the Devil or a giant rather than the Kelpie, which usually appeared as a horse, although it could mainfest in human form. This Kelpie haunted the Ponage (or Poundage, or Pontage) Pool in the Esk, and was celebrated in a poem of 1826 by George Beattie

When ye hear the Kelpie howl,
Hie ye to the Pontage-pool;
There you'll see the Deil himsel'
Leadin' on the hounds o' Hell.


Here the Kelpie is described as a 'stalwart monster, huge in size';

Behind, a dragon's tail he wore,
Twa bullock's horns stack out before;
His legs were horn, wi joints o' steel,
His body like a crocodile.


'It is a well-authenticated fact' note Beattie, 'that, upon one occasion, when the Kelpie had appeared in the shape of a horse, he was laid hold of, and had a bridle, or halter, of a particular description, fastened on to his head. He was kept in thraldom for a considerable time, and drove the greater part of the stones for the building of the house of Morphie. Some sage person, acquainted with the particular disposition of the animal, or fiend, or whatever he maybe called, gave orders that at no time should the halter be removed, otherwise he would never more be seen.' A maid-servant, however, happened to go into the stable and took pity on the beast, taking off the bridle and giving it some food. The Kelpie then laughed and immediately went through the back of the stable, but leaving no mark whatever on the wall. As he went he proclaimed:

O sairs my back, and sair my banes,
Leadin' the Laird o' Morphie's stanes;
The Laird o' Morphie canna thrive
As lang's the Kelpie is alive.


The curse had its effect: no trace of Morphie Castle now survives.

The Lore Of Scotland - A Guide To Scottish Legends

Westwood & Kingshill
drewbhoy Posted by drewbhoy
14th February 2024ce

Drumanwherran N (Cairn(s)) — Images

<b>Drumanwherran N</b>Posted by markj99<b>Drumanwherran N</b>Posted by markj99<b>Drumanwherran N</b>Posted by markj99<b>Drumanwherran N</b>Posted by markj99<b>Drumanwherran N</b>Posted by markj99<b>Drumanwherran N</b>Posted by markj99 Posted by markj99
14th February 2024ce

Drumanwherran N (Cairn(s)) — Fieldnotes

Visited 11.02.24

Drumanwherran N Cairn lies c. 700 yards NNW of Drumanwherran S Cairn Cemetery, c. 2 miles NNW of Penwhirn Reservoir in Dumfries and Galloway. It is located on the W slope of Drummanwherran.

The round cairn measures c. 18 feet in diameter and 1 foot high. The rough surface of the mound is covered in green rushes, making it stand out from the brown moorland. There are no stones visible on the cairn except for a cluster of small stones embedded on the E perimeter.

Further details are available in Canmore ID 61895.
Posted by markj99
14th February 2024ce

Drumanwherran S (Barrow / Cairn Cemetery) — Images

<b>Drumanwherran S</b>Posted by markj99<b>Drumanwherran S</b>Posted by markj99 Posted by markj99
14th February 2024ce
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