St John's Cross (Canongate)

Trip No.153  Entry No.1  Date Added: 9th Oct 2019
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: Scotland (Midlothian)
Visited: Yes on 1st Oct 2019. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: St John's Cross, Edinburgh (site of): The site of this cross was one of the clues (no. 6) on the 'Treasure Trail' map for the Old Town Trail. The markings for this cross were very faint indeed. I only recognised the spot by the circle of bricks in the road, as I’d seen similar features before. There is a plaque on the wall nearby.

From the funny, small brass plates in the road and pavement just to the west, at the junction of High Street and Canongate (W-E) and Jeffrey Street-Saint Mary's Street to the east, the cross would have been located just outside the old city walls.

Whilst I've been to Edinburgh on a number of occasions, I have never walked down Canongate before, and it was a great spot for discovering 'old things and old sites'.

Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery

Trip No.107  Entry No.4  Date Added: 15th Nov 2018
Site Type: Museum Country: Scotland (North Lanarkshire)
Visited: Yes on 29th Oct 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: Kelvingrove Museum, Glasgow: After Glasgow Cathedral and the Govan Stones, I found the exhibition of Scotland's Early People a little small and disappointing, but what they had on display was interesting. Best items on display for me were the beaker found when they excavated Temple Wood in Kilmartin and a wooden ladder from a crannog. And of course the rock art stone Andy B was photographed with!

St Mungo's Well (Glasgow Cathedral)

Trip No.107  Entry No.1  Date Added: 7th Nov 2018
Site Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring Country: Scotland (North Lanarkshire)
Visited: Yes on 29th Oct 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: St Mungo's/St Kentigern's Well, Glasgow Cathedral: This Cathedral is also known as Barony Kirk, High Church, Metropolitan Kirk & St Mongo’s. The holy well is in the south eastern corner of the crypt/undercroft, next to a collection of architectural fragments and part of the arcade of the original St Mungo’s tomb.

Whilst we were there, the Cathedral guide repeatedly brought people to the well, if only for a brief look. I had to chuckle (only a little) as the well cover made looked like an old fashioned toilet seat. I’m not sure how deep the well is, even with a light, but I couldn’t see any water in it – it was either very deep or dry.

The only mention of this well in the Church’s guide book is on page 16: “In the south east corner of the crypt is St Kentigern’s Well, from which water was drawn for liturgical use. Also in that chapel is a display of carved stones, including possible fragments from the base of St Kentigern’s Shrine, and a painted stone thought to have come from the cathedral of the 1100s.

Lady Well (Glasgow)

Trip No.107  Entry No.2  Date Added: 7th Nov 2018
Site Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring Country: Scotland (North Lanarkshire)
Visited: Yes on 29th Oct 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: Lady Well, Glasgow: To get to this well, we had to walk through the path to the south of the cathedral leading to the Necropolis, then use a gate at the junction of Wishart Street and Ladywell Street, walking east towards the dead end of this street. The well is to the northern side of Ladywell Street, opposite an entrance into Tennent’s Wellpark brewery. It is dry, and now somewhat delapidated, although people have left offerings of money.

As the Canmore entry reads, Lady Well was “anciently a holy well dedicated to the Virgin Mary, was probably one of the sixteen public wells in Glasgow in 1736. It used to flow from the E bank of the Merchants' Park, but when this was converted to the Necropolis, the well became polluted and was closed. The Merchants' House, in 1836, built a niche on the spot to mark the site of its exit from the brae. This was rebuilt in 1874.”

A small brass plaque reads: “The Lady Well. Restored by Tennent Caledonian Breweries Ltd. 1983.”

The Govan Stones

Trip No.107  Entry No.3  Date Added: 8th Nov 2018
Site Type: Museum Country: Scotland (North Lanarkshire)
Visited: Yes on 29th Oct 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 5 Access 5

Log Text: The Govan Stones, Govan Old Church: We only found out about this exhibition/display through a chance email to Glasgow Life, enquiring if St Mungo's Museum of Religious Life and Art next to Glasgow Cathedral had any early Christian stones we could see and photograph. They replied 'no' but told us about The Govan Stones. With only a few days to go before the exhibition closed for the winter on 31st October, we rushed to see it at the first opportunity, and were blown away!

We spent about 2 hours here, wandering around, looking at the stones, hogbacks and the sarcophagus. A guide joined us for part of our visit and put on special lights in which to view the sarcophagus.

I photographed most of the stones, and am still trying to find out more about each one. This exhibition deserves to be much, much wider known than it currently is. It is the best display of early Christian stones that we've seen to date, and I would go again in a heart-beat.

Very, very highly recommended indeed.

Since my visit, I've been in touch with Govan Heritage Trust to find out more information about the stones. They have been immensely helpful and even provided some of the photographs for submission here.

Hunterian Museum

Trip No.145  Entry No.1  Date Added: 29th Aug 2019
Site Type: Museum Country: Scotland (North Lanarkshire)
Visited: Yes on 21st Aug 2019. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Hunterian Museum: A (very) rainy day in Glasgow stopped us from going out on my 'well hunt', so we found our way to the Hunterian Museum, which I've always wanted to visit. The displays were nicely done, although the museum as a whole was a lot smaller than I anticipated.

I found the display on the Antonine Wall fascinating, along with some of the medical and scientific items on the first floor. At the time of our visit, the Royal College of Surgeon's building was closed (the website said until 2021, for redevelopment).

Unlike most museums, where you need to seek approval to post photographs, the Hunterian says: Photograph Policy: Our visitors are welcome to take photographs and video for personal, non-commercial use. We hope you will share them on your social networks! #hunterian (note: see their copyright statement on the line re works of art).

Note: the stone balls were not on display at the time of our visit.

Gleneagles A

Trip No.83  Entry No.9  Date Added: 25th Jul 2018
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: Scotland (Perth and Kinross)
Visited: Yes on 13th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: Peterhead Farm Standing Stone, Gleneagles: Our last stop of the day. Driving (it was too hot, and we were too lazy to walk) further along the single track road towards the mast and the entrance to Peterhead Farm, we parked near the mast and walked across the road. The nearest gate into the field appeared to be near the farm buildings, so we clambered over the wooden fence at the corner of the road with the farm track.

This standing stone looks as if it sits just below the top of a natural mound. There were quite a few packing stones around the base of the stone, with others scattered around the ground nearby.

St Andrew's Church (Forteviot)

Trip No.84  Entry No.3  Date Added: 25th Jul 2018
Site Type: Class III Pictish Cross Slab Country: Scotland (Perth and Kinross)
Visited: Visited (still working on) on 14th Jul 2018. My rating: Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: St. Andrew's, Forteviot: We drove up to this church to find a lovely local lady garden by the gate into the churchyard. She told us the church would be locked, "but it'll be open on 29th (July)." We explained we were only here for the day, so this was too late. She told us about the recently erected modern cross, just down the road from the church, next to the bus stop. We thanked her kindly and walked down to take a look.

Carleith (Crook of Devon)

Trip No.109  Entry No.3  Date Added: 11th Nov 2018
Site Type: Cairn Country: Scotland (Perth and Kinross)
Visited: Saw from a distance on 31st Oct 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Carleith Cairn (Crook of Devon): We didn’t go into the field as there were two very boisterous young bullocks who crowded the gate, along with their protective mothers, so I photographed it mainly from the gate into the field. From the edge of the field, this looked almost completely round, and I would have loved to have walked over it. The view to the distant hills was lovely.

Coney Hill (Comrie)

Trip No.53  Entry No.1  Date Added: 10th Oct 2017
Site Type: Misc. Earthwork Country: Scotland (Perth and Kinross)
Visited: Yes on 28th Sep 2017. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 2 Access 4

Log Text: Coney Hill, Comrie: Again, to escape the dreary weather in Armadale, we found ourselves heading a fair way north today, up to Comrie, where there promised to be quite a few sites – standing stones and stone circles in a relatively small area.

Comrie is a really lovely little village, and we stopped for tea and a sandwich at one of the café’s. The menu didn’t appeal to me, so I got a hot Scotch Pie from the next door bakers – one of the best I’d ever tasted.

We didn’t plan on going to this motte, but having walked up the high street and over the bridges, carried on onto the walks which were signposted. There was a large car park next to the golf course.. It had rained here heavily and the paths up to the motte were muddy and slipperty, with a steep drop down to the River Lednock below. The motte was so heavily surrounded by trees that it was difficult to make out by eye, and even more difficult to photograph.

West Cowden

Trip No.52  Entry No.2  Date Added: 10th Oct 2017
Site Type: Stone Row / Alignment Country: Scotland (Perth and Kinross)
Visited: Yes on 28th Sep 2017. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: The Roman Stone, Comrie: Approaching Comrie from the south along the B827, we’d passed these stones at the eastern side of the road before we’d realised it, so ended up stopping for lunch and visiting the motte first. We retraced our steps and managed to park in the entrance to another (gated) track opposite.

These stones are also known as the Dalginross; Penfillan and West Cowden Farm stones, although they are called the Roman Stones on the OS map. Not in the greatest location, but the track alongside the stones made it easy to walk round the stones and photograph them, although I got a few stares from passing drivers as I did so!

The cup marks were pretty easy to spot, once the sunlight changed a little, although I thought I saw these on the top of the Roman Stone itself; the 1911 entry talks about an 18 inch high stone with 22 cups. I photographed all three stones and the only cup marks we both thought we saw were five on the southern face of the Roman stone itself (the largest stone).

Dalginross

Trip No.53  Entry No.3  Date Added: 10th Oct 2017
Site Type: Stone Circle Country: Scotland (Perth and Kinross)
Visited: Yes on 28th Sep 2017. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: Dalginross Four Poster, Near Comrie: From the Roman Stone and its companions, we headed north towards Comrie. Where the B827 takes a sharp left hand turn through Dalginross and Comrie, take the South Crieff Road towards Easter Dalginross and Muirhead Cemetery, where there is ample parking.

From the layby by the cemetery, we walked back to the road junction with South Crieff Road and the trck to Dalginross Muir Farm; the stone circle is nestled under the trees, with moss covered tree stumps around it.

Quite an enigmatic little stone circle, but I confess that it seemed a little like it had been recently put in here, perhaps as a landscaping feature. I had a bit of a hard time convincing myself it was Bronze Age, but Canmore confirms it is indeed.

Tullybannocher

Trip No.53  Entry No.4  Date Added: 11th Oct 2017
Site Type: Stone Circle Country: Scotland (Perth and Kinross)
Visited: Yes on 28th Sep 2017. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Wester Tullybannocher Stone Circle, Comrie: From the Dalginross/Dunmoid Four Poster Stone Circle, we made our way north through Comrie, heading west on the A85, over Dalginross Bridge then turning left. The road goes through a zig-zag then a bend, passing a caravan park on the right hand side at Twenty Shilling Wood. Just after the road turns a right hand bend there is a farm track to your right hand side, with room for a car to pull in before the gate (on opening the gate there is a small area of hard-standing for a couple of cars). We parked just in front of the gate and walked along the farm track to the stones, which were peeping out of knee high grass in the un cultivated part of the field to our left hand side.

We couldn’t spot any cup marks on the western stone, despite walking round the stones several times. Sited on flat pastureland with low hills rising around, and lying just north of the River Earn, this is a lovely spot, although a little spoiled by the heavy traffic on the A85 just to the south of the stones.

Lawers

Trip No.53  Entry No.6  Date Added: 11th Oct 2017
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: Scotland (Perth and Kinross)
Visited: Saw from a distance on 28th Sep 2017. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Lawers Standing Stone, East of Comrie: From St Fillan’s Chapel, we headed back towards Comrie, this time continuing east along the A85 until we reached the gatehouse at the northern side of the road, just before Comrie Croft Caravan Park.

The landowner had padlocked all the gates, but being within site of the stone, we ended up scrambling over the low stone wall by the small stream running parallel with the eastern side of the field, and separated from the field by a tree lined footpath/track.

On getting level with the stone, I tried (very hard) to photograph it, but was constantly head-butted by a very friendly ginger horse! He was to friendly to contemplate climbing the wooden fence into the field without a bag of apples or pony nuts, so I had to content myself with having my sleeves chewed whilst I tried to photograph the standing stone.

We walked back along the footpath and along the northern side of the field, but the stone was too far away to get a good image of, even with maximum zoom on the camera lens. Having reached the western side of the field, the gates were padlocked. Andrew could squeeze between the wooden rails of the fence, but I was a bit too plump, so clambered unceremoniously over the somewhat higher stone wall at this end of the field.

St Fillan's Chapel (Comrie)

Trip No.53  Entry No.5  Date Added: 11th Oct 2017
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: Scotland (Perth and Kinross)
Visited: Yes on 28th Sep 2017. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: St. Fillan's Chapel, west of Comrie: From Wester Tullybannocher Stone Circle, we carried on west along the A85, turning left into a road leading down to St. Fillan’s Golf Club and Western Dundurn Farm. Just before the farm buildings, the track splits. The eastern most track is gated off, and the road was very narrow, so we squeezed the car in by the gate intending to run back and move it if it got in the way. There was a herd of cattle in the field, although the churchyard has a dry stone wall around it.

Walking along the track, watched curiously by the golfers on the adjacent course, until I was level with the church ruins (very like Logie Old Kirk), then squidged my way through the wet turf to the far side, where the iron gate to the churchyard was locked, but there was a stone stile into the graveyard.

This is a very, very pretty spot. It is a very old site. Typically, there was no phone signal here so I couldn’t call up the Canmore record. I went round photographing lots of different things. I managed to miss the recumbent cross slab (most of them were overgrown with grass), although there were a couple of other interesting stones and features. Lovely site but disappointing not to have found the cross slab, even though I must have looked at it.

Also known as St Fillian's; Dundurn Burial-ground; Stewarts Of Ardvoirlich Burial-place.

Craigneich Farm

Trip No.53  Entry No.7  Date Added: 11th Oct 2017
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: Scotland (Perth and Kinross)
Visited: Yes on 11th Oct 2017. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: Craigneich Farm Standing Stone, south of Comrie: From the Lawers Standing Stone, we drove south back through Comrie on the B827, to the junction of a minor road at Coilcambus with a phone box on the corner. Turning right (travelling south), we followed the road along to where Machany Water ran close to the road, just before Craigneich Farm. There was a track leading up to the moors on the opposite side of the road, and on this single track road, we needed to pull the car into this entrance for a few minutes while we looked for the stone. We had to climb over wall into field, but the stone wall was low and the wiring broken, so it was easy to access the field.

A somewhat neglected stone, separated from those on the moorland to the south by the road and hedges, it was oddly shaped. By now it was dusk, and I had to use the flash on the camera to get a decent photograph. Worth stopping to have a look.

There were other standing stones which we could see up on the moor to the south, but it was too late in the day to walk up to these and back as it would have been dark by the time we reached the first one.

Wester Biggs (Dunblane)

Trip No.83  Entry No.5  Date Added: 24th Jul 2018
Site Type: Stone Circle Country: Scotland (Perth and Kinross)
Visited: Couldn't find on 13th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition -1 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: Wester Biggs Stone Circle, Near Dunblane: Returning from tea and cakes in Dunblane, we resumed our search for megalithic sites. Next stop, hopefully, a not-before-photographed stone circle, right by the side of the road.

Finding the telephone mast and driving a couple of hundred yards further on, we parked at NN 86368 06240 and walked back south along the road, armed with the Canmore listing on my phone and the GPS.

Despite an intensive search of the land east of the road around this point, we were unable to locate any stones amongst the tall heather. However, there was a circle of gras/vergetation which was different from any heather at almost exactly the grid reference given by Canmore, so I photographed ‘the spot’. Andrew thinks the stones may have been removed. Always possible, but I think we need to return when the shrubbery has died back.

The Boat Stone

Trip No.83  Entry No.6  Date Added: 24th Jul 2018
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: Scotland (Perth and Kinross)
Visited: Yes on 13th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: The Boat Stone, Sheriffmuir to Dunblane lane: Marked on the OS map, but not on Canmore, this fallen standing stone is featured on the Portal and The Northern Antiquarian. The road is single track at this point, with not many passing places. The farmer had left the gate into the field wide open, and it was dry, bare soil. We dared to pull the car just inside the gate.

The farmer had heaped a beautifully large pile of maturing manure between the gate and the stone, so I took a slightly wider berth round this than I might have, with the heat and the flies!

This large stone is impressive. It sites on a mound (I walked around it to photograph it and had to step up the mound to get to the top of the stone) and has some lovely quartz inclusions.

Gleneagles B

Trip No.83  Entry No.8  Date Added: 25th Jul 2018
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: Scotland (Perth and Kinross)
Visited: Yes on 13th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Peterhead Farm Pictish Symbol Stone: Right next to the A9, so the atmosphere wasn’t brilliant, but ignoring the traffic, looking east, this was a glorious setting.

There was a gate into this field full of sheep, so we let ourselves in and walked over to the stone, which now sits within 30m of a slip road leading to the A9. The Gleneagles roundabout with its golf club ‘sculpture’ provide a strange backdrop.

The views to the east are somewhat different, and facing this way, you could almost believe you were in the country. Whilst the black clouds were gathering to the north and east, there was no rain.

I was fascinated by the two quartz inclusions underneath the symbols.

Dupplin Cross

Trip No.84  Entry No.1  Date Added: 25th Jul 2018
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: Scotland (Perth and Kinross)
Visited: Yes on 14th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: Dupplin Cross, St Serf's, Dunning: Our first stop of the day, and a very old, popular, tourist village. We first saw a drinking fountain outside the churchyard, almost at the cross roads.

By the southern door to the church were two hogbacks.

Inside was the Duppline Cross and a smaller cross slab to its north west. There was a guide, already talking to a gentleman about the cross, but when she saw us, she interrupted her talk and came up to us to ask us to join in. Not usually one for ‘tours’ we reluctantly joined her, as I really wanted space and time to drink in this cross on my own, then photograph it; this was not to be, as there was a steady stream of visitors coming into the church. As we went out, another family came in, followed later by a large walking group.

I photographed most of the individual panels around the Dupplin cross and need to sort these out using the diagrams in the 'Official Souvenir Guide' (£1). I was particularly fascinated by the base, which appeared to have carved lines across one corner, and cups (or very worn interlacing) on its base.