Brahan House

Also known as:
Bakerhill
Nearest town:
Dingwall (5km NE)
OS reference:
NH511547
OS sheet:
26
Latitude:
57° 33' 28.42 N
Longitude:
4° 29' 20.56 W
Added to TMA by

Images

Image of Brahan House (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by 12pointer

These rock artifacts were found near to the ‘cup and ring’ marked stone on Brahan Estate. They can be found resting against the farm house wall.

Image credit: Rock artifacts found on Brahan Estate
12pointer
12pointer Mar 18, 2008
Image of Brahan House (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) by 12pointer

Cup and ring marked rock lies directly opposite the front gate to Brahan House on the wall by the road.

Image credit: Brahan Cup and Ring
12pointer
12pointer Mar 18, 2008

Articles

Folklore

Brahan House
Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art
Rhiannon
Rhiannon May 2, 2007

Two pieces of stoney folklore from the vicinity. I doubt they’re connected to the rock art (they rarely are) but there various natural rocks and even a ruined chambered tomb in the Brahan Woods.

[..]Mr. W. Mackenzie, Procurator Fiscal of Cromarty, writes me from Dingwall (10th September, 1917) as follows:

“We are not without some traces and traditions of phallic worship here. There is a stone in the Brahan Wood which is said to be a ‘knocking stone.’ Barren women sat in close contact upon it for the purpose of becoming fertile. It serves the purpose of the mandrake in the East. I have seen the stone. It lies in the Brahan Wood about three miles from Dingwall.”

J.G. Frazer.

‘In close contact’ – what a polite way of putting it.
And another, also fowarded by Sir James Frazer:

In the Brahan Wood there are a number of conglomerate boulders, some of considerable size. Two of these boulders lean against each other, meeting near the top. A few years ago an old woman aged 84 died near this town. When she was a child she had a fit – perhaps a convulsion – which her parents supposed to be epileptic. They lighted a fire at the top of the leaning stones, and passed the child through the opening below. This reminds one of the Biblical account of passing through the fire to Moloch.”
W Mackenzie, Dingwall.

From:
Women Fertilized by Stones
J. G. Frazer
Folklore, Vol. 29, No. 3. (Sep. 30, 1918), p. 254.
and
Scotch Cures for Epilepsy
W. MacKenzie
Folklore, Vol. 29, No. 1. (Mar. 30, 1918), p. 86.

Topics

Calling 12pointer 3
rockartuk
rockartuk
Mar 2008

Sites within 20km of Brahan House

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