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).

The Chesters

Trip No.52  Entry No.8  Date Added: 10th Oct 2017
Site Type: Hillfort Country: Scotland (East Lothian)
Visited: Yes on 27th Sep 2017. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: The Chesters Hillfort, East Lothian: Most places we drove past today had signposts to The Chesters, so reluctant to go back to the house before dark, we decided to stop off and look at this hillfort, which I thought must have been visited by many other Portal users/members, but only uisdean has submitted photographs – I was very surprised.

There is a small car park near Dalvreck Farm House, with a signposted walk through (at this time of the evening) a dark wood. This opens out into a meadow, which has tall wire fences all around it, “to prevent rabbit damage”, and to my horror, a very tall stile leading over another fence into the fort itself.

Actually, this stile was one of the easiest I’ve ever used to get over, as it had supports at the top to let me stand upright and feel balanced and secure, before clambering down the other side.

This is certainly a complex site. I was fascinated by a large boulder to the east of the site, and there is also an unknown part of the meadow to the north.

We tramped around, enjoying the quiet and the complexity of the site, until dusk fell really heavily and we decided it was time to go back and have something to eat.

White Castle Fort

Trip No.52  Entry No.7  Date Added: 10th Oct 2017
Site Type: Hillfort Country: Scotland (East Lothian)
Visited: Yes on 27th Sep 2017. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: White Castle Hillfort, East Lothian: This is in a wild and lonely spot. As we approached the hillfort, the mist started to roll in over the Thorter Burn Valley, the wind got up and whipped spots of rain across our faces.

I was amazed to be able to park right by the gate, where there were interpretation boards. Mind you, someone had left a pile of rubbish just inside the gate, which was horrible.

The ramparts to the south/west side of the fort are so crisp and clear, they could have been dug yesterday. The views down Thorter Burn valley were great, and to some extent the fort was protected by the hillside to the south.

We did see some evidence of disturbance on the top of the hillfort, together with what looked like an not-very defined house/structure to the northern side of the oval top of the fort. After being almost blown off the top of the hill, we decided on one last stop before heading back to Armadale for the night.

Standingstone (East Lothian)

Trip No.52  Entry No.5  Date Added: 10th Oct 2017
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: Scotland (East Lothian)
Visited: Yes on 27th Sep 2017. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: Standingstone Standing Stone, East Lothian: As we pulled up outside the Standingstone farm house, a lady and her black pug came out of the farmyard. I apologised for turning up out of the blue, but did she know about the standing stone, and she said ‘yes’, asked if I knew where it was, and walked us to it. It was in a little orchard, behind the adjacent cottage. There were glacial striations on the stone, now vertical as the stone had been stood upright.

When talking about the hillfort above us (Tarprain Law) she said “the chieftain was supposed to have thrown his daughter off the top, for falling in love with someone she shouldn’t have. She was supposed to have turned into a robin. The strange thing about here is that we have hundreds and hundreds of robins, and they are here all year. Weird.” She gave a shiver. She told me we were supposed to hug the standing stones.

Loth Stone

Trip No.52  Entry No.6  Date Added: 10th Oct 2017
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: Scotland (East Lothian)
Visited: Yes on 27th Sep 2017. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: The Loth Stone, west of Traprain Law hillfort: Just up the hill from Standingstone Farm, up a lovely grassy lane just to the west of Traprain Law hillfort. The stone has now been moved against a hedge. There is a small gate into the field, where the wheat had just been harvested, letting us walk right up to the stone and photograph it.

We did peer around the field hoping to see some sign of the cairn at NT 5781 7409, some 53 metres to the south of its current location but could see nothing.

With Traprain Law hillfort rising up to the east, this was a quiet, pleasant and atmospheric spot, although the standing stone did seem a little abandoned. Next stop was to be a hill fort in an even more remote location.

Traprain Law

Trip No.52  Entry No.4  Date Added: 10th Oct 2017
Site Type: Hillfort Country: Scotland (East Lothian)
Visited: Saw from a distance on 27th Sep 2017. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 5 Access 3

Log Text: Traprain Law Hillfort, East Lothian: We only saw this from afar. It would have taken too long to climb up and get back down and see the rest of the sites we wanted to see this afternoon. Brilliant view. The farmer’s wife from Standingstone Farm told us there were wild Exmoor ponies living on top (we could see them moving around on the top of the slopes), but their water was at the bottom of the hill.

Kirklandhill

Trip No.52  Entry No.3  Date Added: 10th Oct 2017
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: Scotland (East Lothian)
Visited: Saw from a distance on 27th Sep 2017. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: Kirklandhill Standing Stone, East Lothian: From Pencraig Hill Standing Stone, we drove 3.6 kilometres east along the A199 (which runs parallel to the A1) turning left (north) up the A198. The Kirklandhill Standing Stone is in the middle of the field immediately to the right hand side of the A198.

Whilst the Pencraig Hill Stone was in a field of mature cabbages, this field was planted in well established brussel sprout plants, with no room between them, so we could only view it from the road. We tried looking for a gate into the field off the A198 and the A199, but the entrance must be near to the Kirklandhill Farm building.

I had to content myself with photographing this stone from the edge of the field next to the A198, which was very busy with traffic. Next stop on the list were some standing stones near Traprain Law hillfort.

Boar Stone (Drem)

Trip No.52  Entry No.1  Date Added: 9th Oct 2017
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: Scotland (East Lothian)
Visited: Yes on 27th Sep 2017. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: The Boar Stone, East of Drem Village: This stone is located to the north side of the B1377, in the garden of Prora Farm, some 1.4 km east of Drem station. It has been relocated from the edge of a field at NT 5280 7924, some 640 metres south south east of its current location.

The right to roam in Scotland does not cover people’s gardens, so I had to be content with walking up and down the width of the garden alongside the B1377, which was very busy, and has the train line running immediately to the south, so not the best spot.

There is no real information on Canmore, apart from the describe it as a cross. There is a link through to the East Lothian Council records, which describes this as “a broken sandstone cross-shaft with chamfered edges, 5ft 11ins high, 1ft 2ins broad and 11 1/2ins thick at the lower end, but tapering to 7 1/4ins in thickness at the upper end”, which comes from the name book of 1853.

Pencraig Brae

Trip No.52  Entry No.2  Date Added: 9th Oct 2017
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: Scotland (East Lothian)
Visited: Yes on 27th Sep 2017. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Pencraig Hill Standing Stone, East Lothian: Standing just north of the A199, Pencraig Brae Road. There was room to pull the car onto the grass verge next to the tumble-down gate into the field, which we managed to squeeze our way round the edge, as it hadn’t been opened in many a year.

The field was planted with mature cabbages, with the farmer and a small team harvesting a couple of hundred yards to the west. There was sufficient space between the rows of cabbages to pick our way very carefully up to the stone and photograph it. The workers didn’t seem to mind us, as they could see us taking care in picking our route.

A tall, fine standing stone, and one I’m glad to have seen. Despite the cabbages, this was a lovely location and an atmospheric stone.