This lovely little stone, tucked away in the corner of the gated burial ground is a bit of an unexpected delight. It's nice that the stone is still within the shadow of the yew tree. A lovely spot.
19/5/02
An opportunity for a re-visit. After only 17 years or so! Actually we've stopped in Fortingall more times than I care to remember, just never got round to the rear burial ground of Fortingall church to pay my respects to this stone. There's a new path to the Yew Tree which is beautifully carved from grey stone- I follow this path round the Yew Tree and through the gate behind- just next to the wall is the stone which was amazingly found buried at a depth of about 8 foot next to the tree in who's shadow it now stands. The uppermost flat top of the stone seems to bear about 14 cup marks, but obviously a great chunk of this stone is missing.
First visited this stone in 1982 after reading about it in a small guidebook to the church. My obsession with the nearby Fortingall stones brought me here on many occasions, but this stone seems to be forgotten about when mention is made of the Fortingall sites. I know this is sacrilege, but to all intents and purposes it looks like some sort of megalithic bird bath ;) This (along with two of the stones of the nearby Carse Farm I four-poster) is one of the few stones which I have seen that has cup markings on its flat-ish horizontal upper face. This got me thinking about sky maps. The stone is behind the famous yew tree in the corner of the Currie private burial ground. When visiting check out the yew tree, the Fortingall stones and the church with its ancient bells and Celtic carved stones- a veritable antiquarian feast!
This stone was only rediscovered in 1903 buried at a depth of 8 foot (!) a few feet from the main stem of the yew tree- it's now set up about 25 foot from its original site and has nine cup marks on its upper surface.
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Posted by fitzcoraldo
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