nickbrand
Leave the A9 at Bankfoot, and turn east into the Tullybelton road. Follow this past the turning to Pitsundry farm, and you will see the stone up on the rise to your left. There is an area to park beside the gate into the field. Walk up the side of the field by the fence to reach the stone. One eroded cup mark is evident on the lower left area of the stone on its eastern face.
This stone stands on GlenIsla Golf Course, on the 3rd hole, which is called Standing Stone. It lies just outside the town of Alyth, where 2 golf courses lie next to one another – the Alyth course, which is the more southerly of the two, and the GlenIsla Course. You may park at the course in the public car park, and ask permission to view the stone at the Club House. This was readily granted when I visited, and it is easy enough to follow the first two holes keeping in the rough. The stone itself is fairly unspectacular, no cup or ring marks visible, and the south face has been vandalised at some point in the past by having white paint applied, though this is slowly weathering away.
Leave Perth on the A94 towards Scone, and take a right turn towards Murrayshall. Follow this road out into the country heading north east until you pass the golf course on your right – look to your left and you will see the stone in the centre of the field.
The circle looking north east. The cupmarked recumbent stone is lower left.
Balhomais lies on the B846 about 1km before the Dull turning, beside the farm road of the same name. There is a tumulus or cairn here, by the north side of the road, and the remains of what may have been a circle. Only the northern and western sides remain, along with a jumble of other stones by the cairn, one of which must have been pretty impressive when upright. Fallen, it is easily 2m in length. The stone in the most SW position has had an area chiselled out in the past, roughly the shape of a crescent.
Canmore suggests a diameter of 66’ feet for the circle, but also states that things have changed over the years – the barrow has been partially quarried away on the east side, and 5 stones were noted originally, one of which became incorporated into the wall by the roadside.
As well as some obvious cup marks on the north face, this stone is connected with the Hays of Errol, and the Hawk Stone at St Madoes. A Scottish peasant named Hay, and his two sons, assisted in the Scots victory over the Danes at the battle of Luncarty, c. 990 A.D. Following the battle, the peasant was awarded land for his assistance. From Bellenden’s ‘Boece’, in The Archaeology of Scotland:
“Sone efter ane counsel was set at Scone, in the quhilk Hay and his sonnis war maid nobil and dotad for their singular virtew provin in this feild, with sindry landis to sustene thair estait. It is said that he askit fra the king certane landis liand betwix Tay and Arole; and gat als mekil thairof as ane falcon flew of ane mannis hand or sho lichtit. The falcon flew to ane toun four miles fra Dunde, callit Rosse, and lichtit on ane stane, quhilk is yit callt the Falcon Stane; and sa he gat all the landis betwix Tay and Arole, six miles of lenth and four of breid; whilk landis ar yit inhabit be his posteritie.”
The falcon was allegedly flown from the Hawk Stone at St Madoes, and alighted here. Rossie Priory lies just to the west of the Falcon Stone, and the Hays (as the Earls of Errol) held the lands there until at least the 1700’s. The story is quoted in several sources, and must have some foundation in truth. Part of the Hay’s heraldry featured a falcon. Thomas the Rhymer saw the future for the Hay family:
‘While the mistletoe bats on Errol’s aik,
And that aik stands fast,
The Hays shall flourish, and their good gray hawk
Shall nocht flinch before the blast.
But when the root of the aik decays,
And the mistletoe dwines on its withered breast,
The grass shall grow on Errol’s hearthstane,
And the corbie roup in the falcon’s nest.”
The last quotation is from Pratt’s ‘Buchan’, printed 1858. The oak decayed, the mistletoe dwindled, and the crow did nest where once the falcon lived.
Turn off the A90 at Longforgan and take the road towards Knapp. Turn right onto the small road about a kilometre up the Knapp road, and park about 200 metres east on this road. The Falcon Stone lies out in the field to your south.
Close by the village of Airlie, off the A926 from Alyth, a small road runs north. About 300m up, a gate blocks access to an old quarry. Enter here and walk heading due east, over fairly stony ground and a couple of old fences, until an old stone hut is encountered. Just past this you will see a telegraph pole, and the stones are located either side of this. There are many other smaller stones around, as there is an abandoned quarry just north of them. These stones are unremarkable, with no visible cup or ring marks. Interestingly, however, they lie on an ESE axis, at the eastern end of an almost perfect line between the Shanzie stone with the Bruceton stone almost exactly in between. The hillside where the Shanzie stone is located is clearly visible, but Bruceton is in a hollow and is hidden.
Revisited 9/2/03, two more images added.
Take the turning into Glencarse from the A90 between Perth and Dundee. Head NNW just after the hotel, and follow signs for Gouktoun. Take a right, then right again for Balthayock, and follow this road for about two miles. The stones lie within the farm lands of Commonbank Farm, lying to the west of the road. They are accessible via the farm road and through the fields, but permission should be sought from the farmer as stock are in the fields. I found the people on the farm to be very helpful. There is supposed to be a stone circle here at NO177247, but I could find no trace of it, and the farmer did not know of its existence, so it is presumably lost.
From Forfar head east on the A932 Friockeim road. Turn north onto the un-numbered Aberlemno road by Balgavies Loch, until a small crossroads is reached. Just north of this junction you will see the stone in a field on your left (west side of the road.) This at first appears an unassuming stone, standing about 1.2m high. Flat-faced, with the faces approximately due south-west/north-east. However, it repays closer examination. Along with 5 cup marks along the top ridge, on the SW face is (allegedly) a very faint outline of a man. I had a good look, and could make out some faint lines, but the stone is very eroded.
Blackgate cottage lies on the B9134 east from Forfar. Turn onto the track and Blackgate cottage is third on the left. Ask permission from the owners of the cottage, as the stones are within their yard.
From Brechin head north-west out of the town under the A94 and take the Careston / Noranside road. Just under 2 kilometres out of town, on the north side of the road, you will see the stone in the near corner of a field. There are some cottages just before where you may park carefully. The stone itself is relatively unremarkable, no cup or ring marks, but is of strangely striated stone. An old local rhyme (from a book dated 1854) says :
Between the Killievair and the Buckler Stane
There lies many a bluidy bane
This is alleged to refer to an ancient battle between Agricola, the Roman leader, and Calgacus, leader of the Picts. The Buckler Stane lay at Langhaugh, over 1 kilometer due north of the Killievair Stone, but is no longer visible. Five kilometers due north of the Killievair Stone lie the White and Brown Caterthuns, 285m high hills with the remains of ancient forts on their tops. It is alleged that this is where Calgacus had his forts.
Thanks to local farmer Mr J.Barron, at Findowrie, for this excellent contribution of local knowledge.
Take the B955 Cortachy road north out of Kirriemuir, Pass Caddam Wood on the left and take the road on the left leading to Kingoldrum. The stone lies 100m down this road in the field on the north side, and has been enclosed. It is a plain stone, with no visible cup or ring marks.
Kindallachan lies just to the east of the A9 a few miles north of Dunkeld. The stone lies in a field adjacent to the A9, and there is plenty space to park nearby. The stone itself is fairly unremarkable, standing approximately 1.5 m tall. It is known locally as the ‘Druid’s Stone’. The area itself is interesting, however. The Megaraks visited on 13/10/02, and on investigating the nearby area found traces of what we believe to have been a stone circle close by this standing stone – was it an outlier? Four stones remain (I have marked the 3 visible ones on the lowest photograph), and a local man we spoke to said that his neighbour had paced these stones out – they were precisely 14 of his paces apart. They lie in an eastern arc, at approximately NN995503. The area before them is flat, and although our cursory examination revealed no further stones, I intend to return and subject this one to a closer scrutiny! The putative circle remains lie within a natural amphitheatre, and is bounded by a stream to the east. An interesting site, and one which may repay further study. There is no information about this particular site in Canmore.
These are a bit awkward to get to. Follow the A94 through Scone towards Shianbank, take the small road on the southern side towards the house at the end of the track. The circles are in the small wooded area out in the fields. There are the remains of what appear to be old WW2 bunkers beside the site, and a very large rabbit warren! According to a friend (Scotty) there is evidence of wierd rituals being held on this site – he saw the usual candle debris, a large cow skull and a cat’s tail last time he visited, approximately September 02.
