
Well it’s still here in February 2025.
Well it’s still here in February 2025.
From the Aberdeenshire Ordnance Survey Name Books(1865-71).
This name is given to a standing stone 7 chains south west of Roddentree. There seems to have been a stone circle as other stones are beside this one, but are deeply imbedded in the earth. Many years ago the word ‘Cummer’ was applied to the Mistress of the house, latterly the meaning changed to ‘a worthless woman’. There are traces of a house near this stone which was inhabited by an old woman, many years ago. Hence the name.
I had a look in the Oxford English Dictionary and it has various versions of this Scottish word: a godmother, a female companion, a gossip, or a familiarly-applied word for a woman “with various local specific applications, e.g. young woman, lass, girl, witch, wise-woman, midwife, etc.” (Nothing particularly derogatory unless you mean it that way I suppose).
From the Ordnance Survey Name Books, which you can look at courtesy of the Scotlands Places website. This is from the Forfarshire book, recorded 1857-1861.
Hare Cairn. A prominent knoll forming the highest point of the ‘Hill of Stracathro’. There is a large remarkable stone on the top of it, which is said to have been the spot where the standard of either of the leaders was planted in the battle which took place here in 1452 [...]
After the murder of Douglas, by James 2nd, in 1452, the Earl of Crawford summoned his vassals throughout Angus, with the intention of joining the army of Douglas’ brother, who had risen to revenge his death – to march against the King’s forces. The King, desirous to cut off the communication between the armies of Douglas and Crawford, commanded the Earl of Huntly, whom he had appointed Lieutenant General, to march southwards, while he himself led a powerful army to the north, for the purpose of joining him. Crawford, equally anxious to check Huntly’s progress, met him about 10 miles from his (Crawford’s) own castle, at the ‘Hare Cairn’, about two miles northeast of the city of Brechin, on the 1st of May 1452, when a battle took place in which the valour displayed by Crawford’s party was so great that the battle had in all probability been decided in their favour, had not Collace, the laird of Balnamoon – who was offended at Crawford for refusing to comply with some demands made by him on the field – left his side, with three hundred followers, and joined the ranks of Huntly, which before long decided the battle in favour of the royalists.
The farm on which the battle was fought is still called ‘Huntlyhill’. If ever (as Mr Jarvise states) the names of Earl Beardie’s or Huntly’s stone were known to the stone on the ‘Hare Cairn’ they are now entirely forgotten.
Sir James Campbell, the proprietor, and his park keeper Alexander Howie, a very old man (who remembers it) informs me that there was a large artificial cairn of stones at this place, and that the present large monolith has been tumbled from the top of the beacon which it surmounted. The stones had become scattered in Sir James’ time and hence were removed.
J.B. Lt. Col.
You’ve got to be pretty pissed off (or just like fighting and not care who you’re fighting for) to switch sides so easily?
There is a cute little sketch of the stone on the first page.
From Mary Bagnall-Oakeley’s ‘An Account of Some of the Rude Stone Monuments and Ancient Burial Mounds in Monmouthshire’ (1889).
From Mary Bagnall-Oakeley’s ‘An Account of Some of the Rude Stone Monuments and Ancient Burial Mounds in Monmouthshire’ (1889).
From Mary Bagnall-Oakeley’s ‘An Account of Some of the Rude Stone Monuments and Ancient Burial Mounds in Monmouthshire’ (1889).
From Mary Bagnall-Oakeley’s ‘An Account of Some of the Rude Stone Monuments and Ancient Burial Mounds in Monmouthshire’ (1889).
From Mary Bagnall-Oakeley’s ‘An Account of Some of the Rude Stone Monuments and Ancient Burial Mounds in Monmouthshire’ (1889).
From Mary Bagnall-Oakeley’s ‘An Account of Some of the Rude Stone Monuments and Ancient Burial Mounds in Monmouthshire’ (1889).
From Mary Bagnall-Oakeley’s ‘An Account of Some of the Rude Stone Monuments and Ancient Burial Mounds in Monmouthshire’ (1889).
Facing the Bristol Channel, with a glorious expanse of hill and vale stretching out for many miles beyond it, the situation of this burial place is grand in the extreme [...]
The field adjoining the one in which the Cromlech stands, is called Maes Arthur (Arthur’s field) and it was so much the custom in Medieval times to connect ancient megalithic monuments with the name of this valiant prince, that it is probable at some period this Cromlech was looked upon as his grave; a circumstance which we find in many parts of England and Wales.
From Mary Bagnall-Oakeley’s ‘An Account of Some of the Rude Stone Monuments and Ancient Burial Mounds in Monmouthshire’ (1889).
From Mary Bagnall-Oakeley’s ‘An Account of Some of the Rude Stone Monuments and Ancient Burial Mounds in Monmouthshire’ (1889).
From Mary Bagnall-Oakeley’s ‘An Account of Some of the Rude Stone Monuments and Ancient Burial Mounds in Monmouthshire’ (1889).
From Mary Bagnall-Oakeley’s ‘An Account of Some of the Rude Stone Monuments and Ancient Burial Mounds in Monmouthshire’ (1889).
From Mary E Bagnall-Oakeley’s ‘Account of some of the rude stone monuments and ancient burial mounds in Monmouthshire’ (1889).
From ‘Cromlechs in North Wales’ by E.L. Barnwell, Archaeologia Cambrensis, April 1869.
From ‘Cromlechs in North Wales’ by E.L. Barnwell, Archaeologia Cambrensis, April 1869.
From ‘Cromlechs in North Wales’ by E.L. Barnwell, Archaeologia Cambrensis, April 1869.
Video showing the amazing chalk drum from Burton Agnes. The archaeologist who discovered it is interviewed, and you see the drum on display next to its cousins the Folkton Drums. It was found in the grave of three children (the three drums were in the grave of one child). Carbon dating of the site has enabled a more accurate date for the Folkton Drums too.
Dig into the Story in Amplify Archaeology Podcast Episode 44 with Christine Baker
Underneath the quiet fields on the headland of Drumanagh in North County Dublin, lies a truly exciting story. This headland is home to one of the most important promontory forts in Ireland, where an innovative community archaeology programme is uncovering connections between Iron Age Ireland and the Roman World. Lead archaeologist Christine Baker tells us all about it in this episode of Amplify Archaeology Podcast.
Visited the dolmen on the frosty night of February 7th, not long after Imbolc and on a waxing moon. First time we have been there since Storm Darragh blew in. Unfortunately this has turned the route that most people use, the public footpath off the minor road to the south of Llanglydwen that goes past Pen-pontbren, into a Grade A assault course. Fallen pines and firs have come down like dominos all over the path, and as with many places, there has been no attempt to clear up. We had to go through the fields south of the path, and it looked like we had not been the first to do so. The path badly needs the council to get in there with chainsaws.
We were worried that the beech grove around the dolmen was going to be similarly battered, but storm damage has been thankfully minimal. A couple of split or uprooted trees nearby but the sylvan feel of this unique spot remains intact. There was a nice round chunk of quartz on the floor of the chamber that wasn’t there last time. The white water river section in the gorge below rumbling to itself, and easy to imagine the spirits of the woodland and the ancestors tickling the edges of perception.
I dive deep into the lives of the neolithic farmers who built the the Callanish stone circles complex
This is the footage I took and used for 3 projects, so feel free to enjoy or use in your own videos [with a credit]
I have been frustrated that I often needed a short clip but none were available – the good thing is I did make the trip but if you can’t it save carbon miles. This sister channel of mine features stock copyright footage
Moon from underneath the capstone edge