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Fieldnotes
| -In memory of Dixie and Jeanette- This stone sits in a field just off the main Alloa to Kincardine road. Comely bank is the raised glacial beach between Alloa and Clackmannan, which overlooks the carselands of the Forth Valley to the south with a sweeping view of the [Ochil] Hillfoots to the north. The stone is a striking slab, which leans at a slight angle, and when you see it from the main road it's 9ft sits on the horizon. The only feature which gets mentioned is a cross which has been carved onto one side. If the intention of the christian carver[s] were to take mystery and power away from this stone, then it has worked in the sense that it is pretty much ignored nowadays (this of course, could also be a good thing in a way) as the carving makes the stone very unusual and difficult for the historians to fit it easily into any one culture - it just seems to throw everyone. The cross is pretty crude and certainly less intricate than the usual pictish/celtic stones (as has been the suggested origin of the stone) and looks pretty much like a paranoid and rushed christianisation of a previously revered and ancient thing. For these reasons, it seems, no-one wants to claim or talk about this stone. It doesn't even really have a name. I first visited this site 5 years ago at 2 in the morning with Norie (of the photos) and 2 other night travellers Dixie and the sober Jeanette. Dixie was enthusiastic about this site, had (proffesionally) photographed it several times and that night offered to be our guide while the ever patient and benevolent landlady, Jeannette taxied us there. The guys waded through, what we christened mad grass, a thick stalky crop which took forever to get through, while Jeannete waited with the engine running. We got there eventually (although it should be easier to visit now as the field is more accessable now and folk will of course be more responsible and clearer of mind than we were). Despite all the confusion, this stone is worth the visiting. This stone, like Hully Hill, now has it's own nearby MacDonalds for spiritual and bodily nourishment. |
Posted by winterjc 22nd December 2001ce |
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