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Sites Anne T has logged on trip number: 127 (View all trips)
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Hoddom Parish Church
Trip No.127 Entry No.1 Date Added: 6th May 2019
Site Type: Sculptured Stone
Country: Scotland (Dumfries and Galloway)
Visited: Yes on 2nd May 2019. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 2 Access 4
Hoddom Parish Church submitted by Anne T on 6th May 2019. A close up of the stone, taken with my zoom lens. I'm still trying to find out more details about where it came from and its age. The Canmore record mentions this church replaced an earlier one built in 1610, "of which fragments remain", but nothing more. Other fragments have been lost, and a Roman altar has been built into the porch of the new parish church at Hoddom.
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Log Text: Sculptured Stone at Hoddom Old Parish Church: Our first stop of the day, and a strange place. A church in ruins, boarded up, although with parts of the churchyard really nicely tended – presumably because of the war graves.
Sitting on the southern side of the B725 to the south west of Ecclefechan, we parked in the layby outside the main gates into the churchyard, immediately next to the ruins. It took us ages to find the location of the sculptured stone, and trying to describe its location is a little tricky as the church is built in the shape of a square cross, orientate N-S, E-W. The stone is built into the outside corner of the eastern wall of the southern 'arm' and the south wall of the eastern 'arm'. We were unable to get right up to it because of the proximity of the railed family grave enclosure, although we succeeded in knocking some brambles down from the front of the stone so we could view it.
Fair Helen's Tombstone
Trip No.127 Entry No.2 Date Added: 7th May 2019
Site Type: Marker Stone
Country: Scotland (Dumfries and Galloway)
Visited: Yes on 2nd May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 3
Fair Helen's Tombstone submitted by Anne T on 7th May 2019. Fair Helen's tombstone (foreground), with Adam Fleming's behind. The large metal signpost gives details of the tragedy, now immortalised by Sir Walter Scott in his epic poem.
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Log Text: Fair Helen's Tombstone: This ‘monument’ is in two parts, the first of which came as a complete surprise, to our west, just off the path in a clearing, just above Kirtle Water.
For the legend of Fair Helen of Kirkconnel see: Fair Helen's Legend and Sir Walter Scott's epic poem.
This was a simple gravestone with a plaque on it, which reads: “In memory of fair Helen of Kirkconnel as well as Richard Bell and Adam Fleming who were involved in the tragedy which took place here. Erected by Clan Bell descendants. Irving Bell. Founder”.
Walking into this small, overgrown but very atmospheric, graveyard, with its tumbled ruins, I struggled to find Fair Helen’s Tombstone, but Andrew pointed it out – right behind a large metal sign announcing this is “Kirkconnel Churchyard”. The sign reads: “In the ballad “Fair Helen of Kirkonnel”, Adam Fleming’s Lover Helen was shot by mistake by a rival in Kirkconnel churchyard. The bullet was meant for Adam, who promptly killed him. Adam was later buried beside Helan and this is his tombstone: Hic Jacet Adam Flemeng. The adjacent uninscribed stone is Helen’s; and the nearby late-medieval cross is called “Fair Helen’s Cross”, marking the site of her death. / The romantic story of the ballad might be an 18th century invention, and the association of the monuments in the churchyard with the ballad’s characters is questionable”.
Mossknowe 2
Trip No.127 Entry No.3 Date Added: 7th May 2019
Site Type: Cairn
Country: Scotland (Dumfries and Galloway)
Visited: Saw from a distance on 2nd May 2019. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 4
Mossknowe 2 submitted by Anne T on 7th May 2019. The location of this cairn is marked by the red oval. We could really only spot the location of the cairn by the tall grass left around it by the farmer. We were unable to open the gate into the field, and with the rain pelting down and light rapidly fading, we contented ourselves with photographing it from over the hedge.
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Log Text: Mossknowe Cairn: the cairn nearest to the bend in the road, south east of the cottage which has Mossknowe Tumulus in its garden. Nothing special, but another site ticked off the list.
Fair Helen's Cross (Kirkconnel)
Trip No.127 Entry No.4 Date Added: 5th May 2019
Site Type: Ancient Cross
Country: Scotland (Dumfries and Galloway)
Visited: Yes on 2nd May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 3
Fair Helen's Cross (Kirkconnel) submitted by Anne T on 5th May 2019. First view of Fair Helen's Cross (not to be confused with the nearby Fair Helen's tombstone), hidden deep in the shrubbery, to the east of Kirtle Water, and north west of the Old Parish Church of Kirkconnel and its atmospheric graveyard.
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Log Text: Fair Helen's Cross, Kirkconnel Old Church: It was a beautiful walk from the small parking area provided at about NY 25239 74833. We let ourselves through the kissing gate and followed the footpath which ran just to the east of Kirtle Water, and a pasture field with sheep and young lambs to our right. The very dark storm clouds gathering to the north east made a fantastic backdrop to the mature trees in the field.
Along the footpath, we were distracted by a modern tombstone about half way along our route to Old Kirconnel Church. We also stopped to admire the wonderful trees, with all their different colours, from a soft pink of a newly emerging copper beech tree, flowering cherries, silver birches and horse chestnuts. Eventually stumbling upon a very large marble tombstone at the entrance to the old churchyard, we let ourselves in and started exploring.
Having missed, at first, Fair Helen's Tombstone, and having to have it pointed out to me (well, it was hidden by a large metal signpost immediately in front of it), I walked round the ruins of the old church whilst Andrew went to search for the cross. "You'll need a machete", were his words on his return.
Walking through the kissing gate in the far north western corner of the churchyard, we walked 20-30m north along the path until the vague outline of the cross appeared behind the shrubbery. It didn't help that the largest tree next to the cross was a holly - very prickly!
As we arrived at the cross, the rain started to pelt down. Fortunately, the shower didn't last very long, and after taking photographs of this old village cross, we went back to admire and photograph the unusual grave markers in the churchyard.
Mossknowe 3
Trip No.127 Entry No.5 Date Added: 7th May 2019
Site Type: Cairn
Country: Scotland (Dumfries and Galloway)
Visited: Saw from a distance on 2nd May 2019. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3
Mossknowe 3 submitted by Anne T on 7th May 2019. The third of the three cairns in close proximity. We only saw this from a distance, as the light was fading rapidly, the rain was heavy and we were unable to open the gate into the first field. Of the three cairns, this looked the most interesting to see, so I'd like to do a 'repeat visit' to all three at some time in the near future, if we pass through this area again.
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Log Text: Mossknowe Cairn 3: Saw this from a distance only, as the light was fading rapidly, the rain was pelting down and we couldn’t open the gate into the first field. Couldn’t get too excited about this, although it looked the most interesting of the three cairns.
Mossknowe Tumulus
Trip No.127 Entry No.6 Date Added: 7th May 2019
Site Type: Cairn
Country: Scotland (Dumfries and Galloway)
Visited: Saw from a distance on 2nd May 2019. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 4
Mossknowe Tumulus submitted by graemefield on 27th Jun 2012. The cairn before excavation
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Log Text: Mossknowe Cairn 1/ Belten Mound: We stopped outside the cottage to the west of the minor road at NY 27846 69513, but could not see much. Carrying on to where the road bends at NY 28117 69281, the only gate into the field from the road here is at NY 28067 69222 and hadn't been opened in such a long time, the hawthorn hedge had grown round the edges. With the rain starting to pelt down, and with evening rapidly falling, we decided to cut our loses, quickly photograph the cairns from a distance and go home.