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A stone circle once stood here on the knoll known as Cnoc Dubh (black hill). The stones were removed early in the 19th century to build Balnadrum farmhouse, and Cnoc Dubh was levelled to build a tennis court in what is now the grounds of the Pitlochry Hydro.
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Around 1823 this stone was dug up and moved about 20 feet. At a depth of 3 or 4 feet under it was found an urn containing ashes, a piece of tartan too decomposed to be identified or moved, and copper and silver coins dating from the reign of Mary Queen of Scots. The urn was reburied in situ.
Around 1951, the stone was moved again, the farmer dumping it by the side of the field at NJ 5184 3048, where it lay "largely obscured by a grass-grown pile of stones, and farm rubbish" when visited in 2002 by the RCAHMS.
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I visited here today after stopping at Clach a' Mharsainte nearby. I first spotted this stone on the 1867 OS map, and haven't found any reference to it anywhere else. I originally listed it as a standing stone, but it is in fact a earth-fast flat-ish boulder. It was covered in two inch-thick moss, and I tried to scrape some away, but the heavens opened and it would take a while to clear the whole stone, so I left it. I've changed this site to Natural Rock Feature until someone can investigate further, but I wouldn't be surprised if under all that moss there were some cup-marks.This post appears as part of the blog post " sunny Perthshire?" |
Visited here today during a perfectly-timed break in the rain. The stone stands just off the road in front of the timeshare complex - you can't miss it, it's right next to a huge blue sign! The stone is a fairly regular cuboid in shape, but the top has a point to it. Standing behind the stone (with the timeshare behind you) you'll notice something striking - the top of the stone appears to mirror the shape of Schiehallion's peak. Checking the compass shows that Schiehallion is exactly to the SE.
There is a plaque affixed to the stone which suggests the stone may have been moved in some way by builders many years ago, but it seems to imply that it was re-erected in it's original position, so it's alignment with Schiehallion may have been unaffected.This post appears as part of the blog post " sunny Perthshire?" |
Visited here on a cold winter's day today. The stone stands next to the shop and café of the Auchingarrich wildlife centre, on an obvious round mound which looks like it could be artificial, or at least an artificially-enhanced natural knoll. Some large stones, which may actually be bedrock, can be seen poking through the grass at the side.
The stone itself is huge at 8' 7" tall, and is certainly an impressive specimen, rising from the centre of the mound. It commands good views of the surrounding area, and stands at a height of 450 feet above sea level.This post appears as part of the blog post " a wallaby?! in Perthshire?! in winter?!" |
I visited here today, and met the horses that Mr Brand mention below. They behaved themselves with me though - I asked them to stand in the top corner of the field so that they wouldn't be in any of my photos, and they duly obliged. A lovely pair of horses!
But back to the stone. It stands on a very slight mound, and what appears to be a few packing stones can be seen at it's base poking through the grass. Fred Coles described this in 1910 as the last remaining stone of a stone circle, although he didn't offer any reasons as to why he thought there were more stones originally.This post appears as part of the blog post " a wallaby?! in Perthshire?! in winter?!" |
This was definitely a circle rather than a pair. Four stones were originally marked on the old OS map, and when Fred Coles visited in 1911, he was told that up until around 17 years previously, three stones had still been standing. The third then fell, and the farmer dragged it away.
The site now consists of the two remaining stones standing approximately 6m apart on the circumference of a circle that appears to have been cleared - the surrounding land is rough and overgrown with long yellow grass, while within this circle is smooth ground, with short green grass.This post appears as part of the blog post " a wallaby?! in Perthshire?! in winter?!" |
Visited here today on a bitterly cold day. The Roman Stone - the big one, as Mr Brand mentions below - leans at an alarming angle over it's smaller neighbours. The cup-marks on the flat stone are quite shallow, but very obvious nonetheless.
The name Roman Stone presumably comes from the fact that in the field nearby was a Roman camp.
Historic Scotland lists this as the remains of a stone circle, but as Fred Coles pointed out in 1911, there is a lack of any evidence to suggest that these stones ever formed part of a circle.This post appears as part of the blog post " a wallaby?! in Perthshire?! in winter?!" |
This is a very, very sad site. As if a stone circle being reduced to a single remaining standing stone wasn't bad enough, a tip and quarry have sprung up beside it.
The site originally consisted of a large natural mound o sand and gravel, on top of which, at the western edge (ie closest to the road), was a circle of stones. When the mound was excavated for gravel, several cists containing human remains were found, and also a stone hammer which is now in the National Museum. This quarrying has left little of the mound, the remains of which stand at the top of the bank which rises beside the main road.
CANMORE describes the standing stone as surmounting the summit of the ridge, which should make it just visible from the road, or at the very least from halfway up the bank. CANMORE also mentions that the ridge had been quarried away to within 2m of the stone - that was in 1975. The stone has now fallen, and is half-buried by sand and mud. The remains of the mound seem to be even smaller than described by CANMORE, and it's surely only a matter of time before the mound is destroyed altogether, and the stone thrown to one side. I will be contacting the RCAHMS about this site, in a bid to stop any further damage to the site.This post appears as part of the blog post " what's windproof?!" |
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as Mr Brand says below, the photies aren't too clear, but "in the flesh" it's much easier to make out. it looks as though it's one central cup-mark surrounded by a ring of others (similar to photies I've seen of ones in Argyll) or perhaps an unfinished rough ring
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This seems to be a high round cairn with a long barrow protruding from it, according to the professional opinion (thanks Irene!). It sits in a field by the farm of Kilmorich, quite near to an old well, but isn't marked on any maps, or noted anywhere that I've seen.
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I'd spotted this from the road a couple of years ago, and wondered about it ever since. It certainly looked suspicious from a distance, but whenever I've passed since, a combination of rain, foot-deep mud and cows have prevented further exploration. It's not marked on any of the current (or the 1867) OS maps, and I've not seen a reference to it anywhere.
I finally got in in September - there are three stones on the corners of a rectangle. The place where the fourth should be appears to have suffered soil erosion, so the stone has maybe toppled down the hill. There are a few likely candidates in the vicinity of what is definitely a ruined four-poster.
The stones stand on a small mound on top of a big spur of land, which looks like it might have been accentuated artificially, although I think it's too big to be entirely man-made.
It reminds me of the "igloo" at Kilmorich on a larger scale, but only in shape - the majority of this one is almost certainly natural.
There are 2 larger stones, and one smaller. The 2 large ones are aligned N-S, while the smaller one is aligned with one of the larger ones E-W. The size of the rectangle is approximately 3m N-S by 1.5m E-W
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This barrow, topped with tall thin conifers, is very visible from the road. The barrow was excavated in 1964, and found to be the final stage in a series of monuments. At its heart were four cremations (dated to c.2860 BCE) in a rectangular stone enclosure, and two ramped stone or wooden post holes. The cremations and holes were inside a penannular ring-cairn, over which the turf and stone barrow were built. On top of the barrow is a standing stone, under which a fifth cremation was found (dated to c.2270 BCE).
The perimeter of the barrow was originally bounded by a dry-stone kerb, but this has now been confused by ploughing and field clearance. On the south side of the barrow is a large square recumbent stone which isn't mentioned in the CANMORE report, and so may also be field clearance.This post appears as part of the blog post " What time do you call this?!" |
I tried again to locate this circle today, and once again failed - perhaps! There's a stone standing in the centre of Kenmore golf course which looks suspiciously like one of the stones drawn by Fred Coles in 1910, and it's in the right general area to fit his description. The golfers I spoke to didn't know anything about the stone, and the clubhouse was shut, so I'm planning to write to the owners and ask if the stone has always been there, and if anyone knows anything about it.This post appears as part of the blog post " What time do you call this?!" |
This is a cracking wee stone which sits close to the old railway embankment, at the bottom of a field on the haugh of Grandtully. The stone is 1.4m tall, and approximately 1.0m wide and 0.5m thick at the base, rising to a point. It has thick veins of sparkly white quartz running through it.This post appears as part of the blog post " What time do you call this?!" |
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A standing stone used to stand in front of the farmhouse at Kinaldie (reported in 1890). It was 3 feet 3 ins tall, 2 feet 10 ins wide and 1 foot thick, and "may at some time have been one of a circle".
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According to the OS Name Book of 1858, local residents said there used to be a stone circle here around a central stone, possibly cup-marked. Nothing now remains in situ, but there are apparently about a dozen large boulders in a ditch running parallel to the fence, to the SE of the grid ref.
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A standing stone used to stand near here, but it was buried close to its original position in the 1930s. The grid reference given above is where it is now buried. In 2002, archaeologists working on behalf of Historic Scotland excavated and recorded it, then re-buried it. Coles reported in 1911 that the stone was carved with a "'crescent symbol' of axe-like shape", but no trace was found of this in 2002. It may be that he was confusing this stone to the nearby King's Stone (still above ground) also at Denmarkfield, which has an axe-shaped carving on it.
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As anyone who's familiar with the Glen Lyon road through Coille Dhubh will know, there are a lot of lumps of rock beside the road. One of them may well be the "tall upright Clach Taghairm nan Cat" described by Archie McKerracher, but I couldn't be sure. I will try to find out his source for the story, and see if the present road was always the route into Glen Lyon, and then return for another look.This post appears as part of the blog post " Where's the stones?!" |
I tried (and failed!) to find these stones today. My mistake was to only read the CANMORE entry, and not download the PSAS report by Fred Coles. CANMORE only quotes a footnote by Coles in which he describes information given to him about four "'great stones' close to Comrie Bridge" - he dismisses these as just boulders. But it wasn't these that he was describing as a circle of 5 stones - the circle is apparently a mile and a furlong south of Comrie Castle (which is next to Comrie Bridge). So I was looking in the wrong area today (as presumably were the RCAHMS, given the bit they quote), but I shall return with the PSAS description soon and see what I can find.This post appears as part of the blog post " Where's the stones?!" |
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Hi!
I'm a freelance eyewear designer in Edinburgh, exiled from my beloved Perthshire. I also run a website which includes a section on Scotland's many standing stones, stone circles and other old things:
Stravaiging around Scotland
Some things I like:
cake
ale
music
Perthshire
Moscow
You can read more of my ramblings here: http://www.stravaiging.com
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