Martin

Standingstone Farm, East Lothain
Friday 21/9/01 3:50pm
This is about plan C or D after a trip down to the Lammermuirs to check out some sites proved fruitless due to the continuing FMD restrictions. All the land, farm tracks, hill paths etc in this part of the land remain closed so I’ve compensated this disappointment by heading NW to the might of Traprain Law and the megaliths in its shadow. I was really hunting out Loths Stone, but have ended up here at the farm called Standingstone- no prizes for guessing where it gets its name from! I thought I’d better check the access around here and was directed to this amazing old farmhouse from a nearby cottage. The elderly woman owner was charm itself and invited me into her kitchen so we could have a look at the maps I had. She phoned round her neighbouring farms inquiring about access for me- turns out the public track up to Loths Stone still has sheep on it so the farmer would rather folk didn’t walk there just now. Anyway the woman gave me her number to phone at a later date to check out access and in the meantime was more than happy for me to have a look at the stone on the farm grounds. Back down the road from the main building and just behind a small cottage stands an orchard with this great monolith in the middle presiding over the trees. The orchard itself is waist high in stinging nettles and these buggers even managed to sting me through my combats! The stone’s over 2 metres high by about 60 cm thick and has been expertly shaped. The top of the stone slopes at about 45 degrees in a N to S direction and the whole monolith is covered in an amazing coat of khaki, yellow and white lichen. Even today after many years the stone still holds an almost perfect square cross section with sides almost in a N/S alignment (about 10 degrees) pointing towards Traprain Law. Time to head there and see if it’s open for business!

Directions
Take the A1 east from Edinburgh and head through Haddington on to East Linton. From here take the road south heading towards the might of Traprain Law. Pass Traprain and Sunnyside farms and pass the sign for the Law itself. Head straight on for a T junction and turn right passing Luggate farm. Traprain Law is on the right and at the SW base is a small group of cottages and farms. Standingstone is the last big building on the left of the road.

Traprain Law, East Lothian
Friday 21/9/01 4:35pm
This is East Lothians ‘Dunadd’- this hill dominates the East Lothian skyline as it rises out of the fertile farming plains all around. I can even see this mound from window in my work place in Edinburgh and it’s visible from many other points across the Capital and Mid Lothian. This must have been a great Mother of a central point for the megalith builders living around here- certainly- along its west base is a line of standing stones from Standingstone Farm, through Loths Stone, ending at another monolith just outside East Linton. The only other dominating feature of the land around here is the perfect cone of Berwick Law- another focal point for ancient civilisations. The climb up here is probably the most precarious I’ve done to any ancient site- my very limited climbing/scrambling skills certainly came in useful. I came up by the NE side of this ancient mound (not the easiest route I later found out!) which has been quarried in complete blinding disregard for this place. The presence of the quarry makes the climb up kinda scary and not for those like me trying to ignore the far-too-high drop to the right. This is the first time I’ve come up here though it’s been on my skyline all my life whenever I look towards the east. Driving here along the amazing country roads I rounded a small hill and it all of a sudden loomed over me filling the windscreen- ‘Fuck’ was my exact words! This place has been occupied/used from Neolithic, through Bronze (when it was used for burials), Iron ages up through Roman to about 5th century AD- jeez- that’s about 5000 years! It’s very size and position acts as a natural defence but there’s also man-made fortifications all around extending for over 100 m and up to 3.5 m thick. In more recent times this area has become the focus of paranormal/UFO research as the skies above my head have been filled with glowing orbs. Today it’s misty and I can’t even see as far as Edinburgh. There’s only one way back down from here and methinks it’s a sliding-down-on-yer-arse job!

Directions
Take the A1 east from Edinburgh and head through Haddington on to East Linton. From here take the road south heading towards the might of Traprain Law itself. Pass Traprain and Sunnyside farms and take the next right following the signs. There’s a couple of car parks- the second one from this direction has some Historic Scotland boards telling of history, folklore, natural history etc.

Pitcur Souterrain, Perthshire
Sunday 16/9/01, 11:30am
I’m sitting here at the end of the only remaining roofed section of this massive souterrain writing by the light of my caving helmet. The stillness in here is breathtaking. It’s not really as cold as other sites I’ve been to- I’m sitting in my T-shirt and waterproof trousers. This whole site is, unfortunately, in a bad state. I’ve read in “The Souterrains of Southern Pictland” by F.T. Wainwright (1963) that there were two botched excavations (i.e.- treasure hunts) and that all of the finds have been lost. The whole place is in need of some clearing- along the unroofed sections I found it impossible to walk due to trees growing in the structure, weeds up to my neck and precariously balanced roof lintels still in place at certain parts. Even back in 1963 in the aforementioned book it was described as “site is most depressing, waist deep in nettles, and with trees and bushes growing in the souterrain”. However, this roofed part that I’m in just now is pretty well preserved- and big- about 17 m long and high enough to stand in at sections. At this end the earth floor rises up to meet the roof lintels, but I’m sure this is a recent feature- other souterrains I’ve been in have all ended with solid stone. I’ve carefully placed some candles along the length of the chamber, but it’s not really too dark in here. There are also many remains of some not too carefully placed candles! Time to go back outsideÉBack at the entrance to the remaining roofed section- it looks as if there was a gate or even iron bars barring the entrance at one time. Whoa! I’ve just noticed an amazing cup marked stone on the left of the roofed section. There are also two small side chambers off to the right, one just before the roofed section which is blocked with earth and the other just inside- stone lined and v. small. Back up on ground level and to the right of the roof there is a 1 by 1.5 m approx. cup and ring marked rock lying horizontally with about 30 cup marks, many with associated rings. This is a really huge and complex site, but the condition and overgrowth make it doubly difficult to get an idea of- a case of not seeing the souterrain for the trees!
Note- another souterrain- more cup (and ring) marked stones. Most of these sites I’ve visited have rock carvings, yet, I’ve read that these were places of storage. Why go to the effort of carving (probably magickal) symbols in a cellar? Doesn’t ring quite true with me.

Directions
From Coupar Angus (North of Perth on the A94), take the A923 towards Dundee. Just after the second crossroads (signed Collace and Newtyle) look out for Pitcur farm and cottages on the right hand side. Stop off here and ask permission- I spoke to a manny in the second cottage who said the farmer was quite happy for folk to visit- “aye they get school kids and even folk from as far awa as Fife visitin”! He also said he’s always meant to have a look at the ‘caves’, but never gone up with his torch. Back out of the farm road turn back left again and just down the road on the right hand side there’s a line of fence/wall/bushes/telegraph poles separating two fields. Walk up this and the souterrain in is the fenced off area- you can’t miss the weeds n trees!

Colen Wood Stone Circle, Perthshire
Monday 17/9/01 3:55pm
Number three in a series of three- well sort of! This circle is the third and final site in a line of three circles starting east at Blackfaulds, through Druids Seat and ending here. It’s an absolutely roasting day and after the battle through the gorse and trees to get here I’m a tad hot to say the least. I thought it would be easier getting up here (it’s signed), and maybe once the crop has been harvested it will be. However, just now there’s not much room between the edge of the crop and the barbed wire fence so I came up through the strip of trees where the gorse bushes are also chest high in places and boysoboys does that stuff scratch! The view from here though is just amazing- Perth, the hills of Fife, over to Callander, Ben More etc- wow. There’s not much left standing of this circle- in fact only one stone about 75 cm high of about 13 stones. It’s hard to tell as there are many small stones that might have been placed on this uncultivated piece of ground from the surrounding field. On the remaining upright it looks like there might be the remains of two small cupmarks on the upper surface. However, on a now recumbent stone to the immediate west of this one there are about 30 cup marks showing on its upright surface. So maybe this site is ruinous, but the view has got to be one of the best of any site I’ve visited and it’s an amazing place to spend a quiet mo on a glorious late summer afternoon.

Directions
Travelling south from Blairgowrie on the A93 take the last turn off right just before Guildtown (signed for Stormontfield). Drive past the large farm called Cambusmichael and look out for woods ahead. About halfway through the woods there’s a small layby on the left next to a large gate and fence. Walk further down down the road and there’s a large style over the fence. Look up to the line of trees and you should see the green and white ‘Stone Circle’ sign. Walk up by the trees and the circle is at the top of the hill.

Falls of Acharn, Perthshire
Aug 95 (and 94?)
We’ve been up here on a couple of occasions- it’ a great (signposted) walk up the Falls of Acharn which are pretty spectacular. The day we ventured up here in August 95 was rather overcast and grey. Stopped off at the folly which is marked as ‘caves’ on the OS map, but clearly man-made. There are a few places round here that have similar structures- at the Hermitage near Dunkeld, above Dunkeld itself (at NO019439) and down by Taymouth Castle. Once at the top of the walk a gate leads out onto the hills and passes Queens Wood on the right. Previously we have come up here in search of the cup and ring marked rock in this wood at 764429. We spent ages trying to find it, but to no avail. This time, all of the woods have been felled so we vowed to have a look for the rock on the way back down from the circle. The circle itself is quite ruined and has a dry stane dyke running through it, but these facts don’t detract from the outstanding position this site has overlooking Loch Tay. Many of the stones have fallen, but four of them remain upright. Whilst we were exploring the site a Landrover came up the track and a couple of men came over- turns out one was the landowner and the other a photographer from ‘Country Life’! We got speaking to the landowner who was a nice enough chap and he explained ‘Country Life’ were doing an article on him and his estate- so we had our pics taken for the magazine in the middle of the stones whilst studying a map! I never did check out the mag to see if those shots made it in! They bade us farewell and left us with the stones and view. On the way back down we hunted for about an hour or so for the cup and ring marked rock, but the tree felling meant the land was in a terrible state and once again this site eluded us. Oh well- maybe one day.

Kilmichael Glassary Cup and Ring Marked Rock, Argyll
August 98
On our way back to the tent from Achnabreck, we stopped of here for another dose of cup n ring markings! It was a fine August evening- just perfect weather for taking pics of cup n ring marked rocks. This rock is next to some houses with lots of kiddies out playing so I got the twenty questions from them which was rather amusing. I also made some light and careful wax rubbings onto a piece of cloth which I managed to trail through a very stagnant pool of water on the rocks- yuck. Some of the cups were really quite deep and there was unusual ‘key-hole’ type patterns round a few of em. Another couple appeared when I was in contemplation of the patterns and we got talking about spirals and how they are a universal pattern throughout the world.

Directions
Travelling south from Kilmartin on the A816 to Lochgilphead, turn off left at Bridgend just past Dunadd. Go through Bridgend and the next place just a bit up the road is Kilmichael Glassary. The rock is just to the west of the church with the usual Historic Scotland green fencing!

Clach an Trushal Standing Stone, Lewis
22/7/94
We stopped off here on our way up to the Butt of Lewis on a rather blustery and overcast day- nothing like an enormous standing stone to cheer ya up! This monster is one of the tallest in Scotland and is approx 6 metres tall and covered in a fine array of lichen.

Grey Cairns of Camster, Caithness
Saturday 17/8/96
On a beautiful Saturday morning we stopped off here, well, made a detour really, on our drive from Orkney to Killin. The long cairn of these two is real huge- apparently about 60 metres long. It’s unusual to see cairns that have been denuded of their coverings like this, but they look great nonetheless. There’s wooden walkways from the car parking area across the soggy marsh- which is just as well cos all I’ve got on my feet are my Vans! There are two entrances in the long cairn, both of which are a bit of a stoop. Not as much of a stoop as the round cairn entrance though which was another mucky knees job.

Taversoe Tuick, Rousay
Wednesday 14/8/96
This is an intriguing tomb- three parts to it and all were separate at one point til a slab was moved from the floor of the top chamber and ladders placed in to the lower chamber (the first and probably only time I’ve seen ladders in a cairn!). Climbing down the ladders a passage leads you ending in a metal grill to look back into the outside world. Don’t miss the third part of this place- a small ‘mini-tomb’ built into the mound and accessed through a big wooden door. It’s not big (!) and has four large upright stones supporting the structure. The original roof on the main chamber has gone, so no need for torches etc.

Knowe of Yarso Chambered Cairn
Wednesday 14/8/96
A heavy metal door greets the visitor to this cairn- no crawls on hands and knees here. It’s got one of those horrible domed concrete roofs, but the upright stones of the cairn that subdivide the space make up for it. Apparently this place was used almost 5000 years ago with 29 human remains found. 15 skulls were found in a line facing the wall of the innermost compartment. Today someone has left rabbit skulls and flowers down one endÉ.

Hill o’ Many Stanes, Caithness
Saturday 17/8/96
Jeez- yer not joking- there’s loads of ‘em! This place (and the weather today) is just fab! We’ve made a detour here (and to the Grey Cairns) on our way down to Killin from Orkney where we had to get up at 6:30 am to catch the ferry! “Scotland Before History” (Stuart Piggot) says there’s over 200 stones here in a fan shaped pattern of rows from approx N to S. I brought my dowsing rods up here too and did a spot- there’s shit happening all over the place. The stones are real small too- the tallest can only be a couple of foot or so and some are flat with the earth. Great place.

Grain Souterrain, Kirkwall
Tuesday 13/8/96
In an industrial estate on the outskirts of Kirkwall stands a rectangular fenced-off piece of grassland with a couple of strange looking mounds in it- Grain Souterrain. A set of small stone steps takes you down into the earth (mind yer head on the lintel!) and there’s a passage leads off to the right. It’s only about 5 m or so, then opens up to reveal a larger oval chamber. There are four stone pillars holding up the roof (along with some help from a couple of twentieth century iron bars), some of which have been vandalised with modern-ish day carving. Don’t forget yer torch/lantern- this place is lucky enough still to have the original roof intact. I’m always amazed when I get photos back from souterrains, chambered cairns, caves etc as there’s bugger all to see through the viewfinder and it’s a bit hit or miss!

Broch of Midhowe, Rousay
Wednesday 14/8/96
Had an exploration of this broch after we had visited Midhowe Cairn. However, I wouldn’t be too inquisitive as some of this place looks like it has seen better days and might collapse at any minute (there’s lots of iron bars and bolts holding bits together). I got tutted at by a group of American tourist for (carefully) daring to stand on a low section of wall in order to get a better view inside- well, excuse me! Inside, the broch is divided into two by a very thin stone wall (supported by those iron bars!) and has a hearth, water tank, cupboard-type affairs- much like some of the Skara Brae fittings. A grand place to have lunch and watch the scary wave power in Eynhallow Sound.

Blackhammer Chambered Cairn, Rousay
Wednesday 14/8/96
Of all the sites we visited on the tour de Rousay today, I have to say that this one was the most disappointing. Of the original cairn there’s not much left and what is left is only about 4 foot high or so, then it’s concrete time! If you ignore the cairn remains you could be in some dreadful public lavatory. Not nice or sympathetic restoration.

Broch of Gurness, Orkney Mainland
Tuesday 13/8/96
Tuesday- up early and headed first down to the Broch of Gurness. A great broch with lots of small dwelling houses around it. The entrance to the broch was impressive- solidly built structure- there’s no messing with this place! There was one part that totally fascinated me though, and that was the so-called well in the middle of the broch itself. Unfortunately there’s a Historic Scotland green railing all the way round it making it almost impossible to climb into- well- to stop over-inquisitive idiots like myself from falling in and causing much injury to themselves. Still- didn’t stop me lying on the floor of the broch and hanging over the edge and into the hole of the so-called well itself. See- the thing is- half way down the steps in the well is an alcove to sit in and I just got the feeling that this structure was used as more than a means of getting waterÉ..
After going round the broch with our guide book we walked along Aikerness beach for a bit and the first thing I saw on the beach was a rather nice cowrie shell. However further hunting proved fruitless and it appeared to be the only one!

Maes Howe, Orkney Mainland
Monday 12/8/96
We got up early this morning for a day of exploring megaliths. First stop however was the stores in Finstown called Binkies to stock up on their rather excellent butteries! Next stop- Maes Howe. After landing on Orkney and on our way to the van we’re staying in we passed Maes Howe and many other megalithic sites and I got very excited at the prospect of seeing them all at long last. Parked next to the exhibition house/gift shoppie type place, paid our money and waited to be escorted over the road and on to the tomb. It was like being back at a school trip! The tomb has a fantastic entrance chamber and once inside it’s most impressive- there’s some huge slabs of stone went into the building of that place. Okay- so you get herded about by the (very good) guide and not much time to sit and ponder, but this really pales into insignificance in such a powerful place. Imagine being in there watching the sun set at the Winter SolsticeÉ.

Skara Brae, Orkney Mainland
Monday 12/8/96
The next stop after the Ring of Brodgar was Skara Brae. Of all the places we explored today this was Kats fav. I thought it was v good too- nice wee hooses! I wondered why the Ring of Brodgar was so quiet today- that’s cos all the folk were here- busy busy busy! Still- didn’t spoil it at all. The interior of the houses are amazing- stone dressers, stone cupboards, stone boxes, stone beds- it doesn’t seem like they slummed it here! What was also cool was being able to walk through the houses and through the low corridors connecting the various living quarters. There’s also a small hut with an exhibition in it displaying many of the finds from the site which is cool- better than being stuck in some dusty old museum hundreds of miles away.

Ring of Brodgar,
Monday 12/8/96
This was the next stop after the Stones of Stenness and before Skara Brae. The setting of these stones is truly awe-inspiring. The site is between two lochs and has an amazing banked ditch all round the circle. Okay- so the stones weren’t as massive as Stenness, but the actual ring itself is huge. Not that many folk around which was cool- so went a bit trigger happy with the camera! Many of the stones have the same great sloping tops to ‘em- like the Stenness stones.

The Caiy Stane (AKA Kel, Cat or Camus Stane), Caiystane View, Edinburgh
Tuesday 4/9/01, 12:50pm
Ah- a megalithic lunchtime! It’s not often I get a chance to do much during my lunch-break, but this is one of those rare occasions and I took the opportunity to (re) visit this splendid monolith. It’s funny- every journey I make to sites such as this feels like some sort of pilgrimage. Even the journey up here through the Oxgangs housing schemes on an LRT No. 17 bus felt special. Here I am in a quiet South Edinburgh suburb in the shadow of the Pentlands next to an almost 10 ft. high red sandstone monolith. As well as being tall it’s also a wide beast- about 5 ft. or so with curious large grooves out of either side at the base. The NTS wall plaque says this stone is over 5000 years old and the immediate vicinity was populated with cairns, cists and urns suggesting that this hilltop was used for burial/ritual in the Bronze Age. Nothing remains apart from the Caiy Stane- everything else has disappeared under driveways and gardens. I also read somewhere that legend says this stone marked a battle between the Picts and the Romans. Jeez- the last time I visited this place I was still at school! Unfortunately the reverse side of this stone is heavily vandalised- loads of spraypaint, carvings out of the stone, chewing gum stuck in the cupmarks- how clever. The reverse side is also the most interesting as it has many small cupmarks including six in a straight line which I don’t think I’ve seen before. The founders of our great city saw fit to name not one, not two, but seven streets after this standing stone. Unfortunately its’ obviously not regarded with such high esteem these days. C’mon NTS- get someone round here to clean this fab stone up.

Directions
Catch a No.17 bus from Princes Street heading south (towards Hunters Tryst). Travel up Lothain Road, down Morningside Road and through Oxgangs. Get off the bus next to the Safeways at Hunters Tryst. Walk back down to the roundabout and turn right along Oxgangs Road. Continue and cross at the first traffic lights next to Caiystane Drive. Continue up Oxgangs Road and turn off at the next left which is Caiystane View- the Caiy Stane is on the right of this road- you can’t miss it!

Stones of Stenness, Orkney Mainland
Monday 12/8/96
Today we visited loads of sites including Maes Howe, Ring of Brodgar, Skara Brae etc, but of all the places we ventured today the Stones of Stenness were the most impressive- they were just daunting! They were absolutely enormous and so beautifully shaped with their amazing sloping tops. Apart from the three huge monoliths there is also a fabulous setting of two smaller stones set next to each other only about 20 or 30 cm apart that just demand getting down to look through em. Directly in front of these two is a horizontal slab that just feels like some sort of ‘altar’ stone. Two other stones next to these complete the setting that just blew me away. It was quite quiet when we visited so I went back to the car and got me dowsing rods out and did a spot- unsurprisingly there was a lot of powerful energies around this amazing place.

Port na Con Souterrain, Sutherland
NC428613 (9) Thursday 8/8/96
Today we had a lazy morning but eventually set off from Durness camp site and went to Smoo Cave once more- good fun and we found lots of hag stones on the beach. Then we headed for the souterrain by Loch Eriboll- we stopped off at the Tourist Information on the way through Durness for directions to the site- the woman was v. good and knew exactly where it was. Out of the car and over the road in amongst a load of bracken we found it- the entrance was quite a deep one with small stones steps, it was pitch black and creepy as hell! On the way down into them I keep telling myself that they are no more than iron-age food stores. However, once out of them your mind can really start to wonder what they were used for and I really don’t think so many man-hours would have been spent building big stone lined tunnels just so they could keep their sliced loaf in there! Kat actually came down into this one for a look, but we couldn’t go very far as most of the floor was submerged and I wouldn’t have gone much further if my life had depended on it as we had no way of knowing how deep the very black water was, or how long the souterrain was. Photos were taken and Kat managed to smack her head of one of the roof lintels and her knee on one of the steps-ow! All in all a very satisfying (if somewhat scary) souterrain.

Directions
From Durness follow the A838 round to a sea loch called Loch Eriboll. Just before the few houses and pier that go by the name Portnancon, there is a small grassy siding off the main road on the right, you’ll find the site hidden in bracken bushes on the side of the road nearest the loch.

Barns of Airlie Souterrain
Visited twice in Oct 92 and May 94.
This has got to be my fav souterrain (or fogou if yer Cornish!) that I have visited so far- I think cos it’s ‘wild’- i.e.- it hasn’t been restored in any way- no plexiglass roof or nice safe ladders or doorway in. This is another one of these sites that I read about in “Scotland Before History” by Stuart Piggott long before I actually visited the place. The farmer has been totally fine about me tramping around his fields to go see this- be prepared though- in wet weather the side of the field you have to walk through to get to the souterrain can be real muddy and wet. At the end of the second field just to the west of Barns of Airlie farm there is a dry stane dyke, follow this along until you see a black hole in the field then drop down into this! It’s not the biggest of entrances! Along with my souterrain/cairn exploration stuff (powerful torch, candle lanterns, waterproof matches) I’ve also found it useful to take my caving helmet- I’ve smacked my napper off too many roof lintels! The passage is really wide- almost two metres in places and it’s apparently 24 metres long. There are a couple of cup markings on one of the roof lintels and what looks like some sort of snake pattern too. The thing that always gets me about this site is the temperature inside- I mean it’s cold, but in a strange way it’s really comforting- I could easily spend many hours in here in quiet meditation.

Directions
Follow the A93 north of Perth to Blairgowrie. Through the town, crossing the River Ericht and take the A926 towards Alyth. Past Alyth til you reach Airlie-there’s a road up to the left just past the school towards Kirkton of Airlie. Barns of Airlie is just after here on the left- ask permission (and directions to the site) at the farm.

Midhowe Chambered Cairn, Rousay
Wednesday 14/8/96.
Went to Rousay today- the wee ferry from Tingwall (’Eynhallow’) was cool- just really a dirty great noisy bus-on-the-sea! We hired bikes from a woman called Helga near the pier and started cycling (my backside is still killing me- it’s been a while since I’ve been on a bike and it shows!). We decided to cycle to the North of the island past all the sites and up to Midhowe chambered cairn and broch- then we’d visit all the sites on a leisurely cycle back down again- at least that was the plan! Of all the sites we visited on Rousay the most impressive was the Midhowe Cairn- it’s housed in a massive stone n metal hanger and it’s the biggest tomb I have ever seen- huge so it is! There are white metal girder walkways suspended from the roof that run the whole length of the cairn- it’s cool cos it means you can wander about above it and get a real good look, but not very hands on. Went out and had lunch below the broch and were amazed at the wave power in Eynhallow Sound- scary stuff.