community – Scottish Adventures

I’d heard about this magnificent stone so finally took the time to stop off to search for it while heading to the Cairngorms. Once you get into Pitlochry it’s actually quite well signposted however there isn’t really much parking nearby so I left the van in town and Millie and I enjoyed a stroll (for the most part) out past the caravan park and along the road to get there. It’s quite a narrow road without pavement and the drivers of a couple of Range Rovers that passed me seemed to think they were in a formula 1 race so Millie and I were forced into the ditch a couple of times. Do take care.

The Dunfallandy Stone is an elaborately carved Class II Pictish stone which is more than 1200 years old. To protect it from the elements, it has been enclosed in a shelter but disappointingly, reflections on the glass make it difficult to see and photograph. Non reflective glass would certainly have been a better option here.

Reminiscent of intricately decorated Pictish jewellery, this cross-slab once marked a place of prayer and is set in its original location, prominently on a mound known to have been topped by a chapel, where it would have been seen by all that passed by. The relief carvings show the sophistication of Pictish culture, mixing influences from across the British Isles and Europe with local traditions and belief. Typically, the body of the Cross is decorated with the familiar intricate Pictish knotwork.

It’s thought that stones such as this one were once coloured, using mineral pigments such as yellow ochre, red lead and green verdigris, emulating the style of metalwork and religious manuscripts of the time. The images on the front depict Pictish monsters (considered agents of God’s wrath), a stag, Jonah being swallowed by a whale and angels. On the reverse side, depictions are of enthroned bishops or saints facing each other, a rider representing perhaps the patron who commissioned the stone then at the bottom are Iron-working tools (tongs, hammer, crucible). There are also several distinctively Pictish symbols on the reverse here, the Pictish monster, double disk and the crescent with v-rod however their true meaning is now lost to us.

Dunfallandy Stone now shares the mound with burial enclosures surrounded by railings. One of these is the site of the impressive tomb of Lieutenant-General Archibald Fergusson of Dunfallandy who died in 1834. This, I assume would be why the location was referred to as Mausoleum Mound from the 1860’s.

It’s amazing the things you come across by chance. I was driving north to Aberdeen when I noticed the signpost for this place, so intrigued, I stopped by to check it out….and what a fantastic find!

This isn’t actually an ‘earth house’ but an Iron-Age souterrain, a subterranean passage that was originally roofed over with stone slabs. A small room at the end of the chamber here had been created by a pair of huge, up-right slabs. It was discovered in 1871 while a local farmer was ploughing the field here. Souterrains can be found around Scotland’s eastern coast and built around 2,500 years ago, they would have been part of farming settlements made up of clusters of timber roundhouses. Souterrains seem to have been accessed from within a roundhouse built above, providing a cool dark place, most probably used for storing food. They would, however, have been vulnerable to dampness and vermin. They could also have been used as places of refuge if the settlement was under attack. As you can see from the stone-walling, this was skilfully built and may have incorporated a symbolic function. Here at Tealing, pre-historic rock art is carved into one of the huge stones by its entrance. The cup and ring marked stone perhaps represents the sun, the portal to a spirit world, even life itself, or life beyond this realm – eternity.

Excavation at Tealing found animal bones, shards of pottery, broken grinding stones for wheat and fragments of Roman glassware, the latter, suggesting trade routes with distant places. It could also mean this souterrain might still have been in use when the Romans passed through here. Only a few miles East of Tealing a further two Souterrains can be found – Ardestie & Carlungie while another, Culsh Earth House can be found near Tarland in Aberdeenshire.

Tag: community

Dunfallandy Stone – Pitlochry, Perthshire

Tealing Earth House, Tealing – Angus