nickbrand
This stone’s alternative name is “Claverhouse’s Stone” from a tale that this is where John Graham of Claverhouse, Viscount of Dundee (“Bonnie Dundee” in the old songs) fell following the Battle of Killiecrankie in 1689, where Highland forces who fought for King James prevailed over the army of William of Orange. It was also the last time that the famed ‘Highland Charge’ worked in battle. Dundee was shot and mortally wounded, and a legend grew up that he died beside the stone. Seton Gordon’s ‘Highways and Byways in the Central Highlands’ tells us:
As he fell heavily from his noble dun-coloured horse and lay upon the ground, his life ebbing fast, he asked “How fares the fight?” He was told “The day goes well for the King, but I am sorry for your Lordship.” Dundee then whispered his last words, “It matters less for me, seeing that the day goes well for my master.”
This 5’ tall stone, with no significant markings, stands in a field just to the north of the B8079 between Blair Atholl and Killiecrankie.
I can’t believe I’ve never spotted this one before.... Situated right beside Bruar, just off the A9 – my wife and I often call in here as the wee food hall has a terrific selection of cheeses and other goodies! The stone sits proud on a little ridge just beside the Calvine road at the Bruar turning. It’s about 1.5m tall, a metre wide and less than half that deep, with no significant markings except one small area where a clown in the past has carved their initials on it. Not a very spectacular stone, but a pretty nice setting.
The solitary stone is surrounded by a pile of field clearance boulders, which were not part of the original siting – none are earth-fast. The pair in the adjacent field are slightly mis-matched size-wise! The smaller of the two has a couple of cup-marks low down on the side facing the larger stone.
Looking WNW. You can just about make out the cup-marks low down on the inner face of the smaller stone.
There are a total of six stones in this group, quite widely scattered but worth the effort. There’s more of a description of them in my weblog entry.
The main stone, a large block which leans markedly east, is the Roman Stone itself. Beside it is a small block, and six feet east a larger flat rock with over 20 cup-marks on its surface.
Looking east. There is a large tree stump in between the two more distant stones.
According to CANMORE, the alternative name for this site, Dunmoid, means ‘Hill of Judgement’. This is unconfirmed. Around 1876, a stone kist was found in front of one of the slabs, and also an urn filled with ashes. Only one stone is now upright, and it appears to have two cup-marks on the upper surface – take a look at the photograph and see what you think. It was covered in moss, but the indentations felt fairly regular on tentative exploration!
No sign of any other stones which may have formed a circle, I think this is just a pair myself. The western stone has four distinct cup-marks on it which show up quite well in one of the photographs.
