Dunadd Fort

Trip No.89  Entry No.2  Date Added: 4th Aug 2018
Site Type: Hillfort Country: Scotland (Argyll)
Visited: Yes on 19th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 5 Access 4

Log Text: Dunadd Fort, with well, footprint, boar carving and cup marked rock: I confess to seeing this site 'from a distance' as the path was too steep for me to feel comfortable. Whilst I say 'this is a short walk on a footpath', the climb is reasonably short, but steep.

Also, being on the tourist trail, this site was busy, busy, busy even at 10am. We bumped into the “Tour of Tor” minibus again (saw them at the Dunchraigaig Cairn last night), who pulled into the car park just after us.

After going some way up the track and seeing the reproduction of the boar carving in the cottage to the left of the track by the gate up to the fort, I decided it was too steep for me. Even Andrew, when he came back down, said he’d had to put his hands out several times to steady himself on the slope, so even he struggled a little.

As well as the fort, this site also has a well and a footprint and carved rock. Andrew said the guide for the Sacred Tour actually took his boot and shoe off, placed it in the footprint and enacted the old oath. Wish I’d seen that!

Andrew commented on finding what he thought was a ‘look out post’ – a small chamber with a lintel over; the well now has a stone slab over it. We’ve yet to sit down and map out where the photographs were taken, so I can tie them in with the plan above.

Dunadd Standing Stone

Trip No.89  Entry No.1  Date Added: 3rd Aug 2018
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: Scotland (Argyll)
Visited: Yes on 19th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Dunadd Standing Stone: This was an amusing visit to start off with. As we drew up in the car park, the “Tour of the Tor” minibus drew up behind us, along with the young couple we’d seen at Kirkmichael Glassary Rock Art yesterday. Other parties of walkers came along the path and marched off up the track to the fort. We later saw them standing on top of the fort waving down to those left below.

We set off towards the farmhouse and the river to see the standing stone, which at first sight looked like a garden feature. We were closely followed by an American lady with her walking poles, a large rucksack and camera. When my husband stopped just before the stone, she stopped next to him and watched me clicking away. “Why’s she taking photos?” she asked. “It’s a standing stone”, Andrew replied. “Oh. Oh!” and with that she got out her own camera and started taking snaps.

Whilst the stone was actually in the garden, a man was coming out to his car by the house and he waved me towards it as if telling me it was OK to take a closer look.

What a really beautiful spot in this valley. With the sun shining and blue skies, it would have been lovely to sit by the river and contemplate the world for a while.

It wasn't until I looked at Canmore later that evening, I discovered other standing stones nearby, which I could have investigated whilst Andrew was playing 'mountain goat' on the fort.

Achnabreac

Trip No.89  Entry No.5  Date Added: 3rd Aug 2018
Site Type: Standing Stones Country: Scotland (Argyll)
Visited: Yes on 19th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Stane Alane (Achnabreac), Lochgilphead Cemetery: The time was fast approaching when we needed to head back to Armadale, but there were still two more standing stones we wanted to see. Looking at the map, the quickest way appeared to be to drive to the cemetery, walk through the cemetery and walk a hundred metres or so along the track that ran from its northern wall. This was a large cemetery with a tall back wall. Eventually finding the gate to the north western side of the cemetery, we let ourselves onto a long, almost straight lane. This stone obviously hadn’t been visited in a while, as it was almost half covered in ferns to the front and back.

In taking a closer look at the back of the stone, we discovered it was on a slight mound. Canmore confirms it is incorporated into a turf and stone dyke.

Achnabreck Stone

Trip No.89  Entry No.6  Date Added: 3rd Aug 2018
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: Scotland (Argyll)
Visited: Yes on 18th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Achnabreck Standing Stone, Lochgilphhead: Continuing on down the track from the Stane Alane, we came across some new build houses, closely followed by some older ones, close to a road junction with a minor road leading from the A816 towards Auchoish Burn (so presumably the stone could also be driven to). This stone was in the house of a wooden ‘hut’ which fronted a pond, presumably created by enlarging a section of the burn. I looked in the houses opposite, and whilst their doors were open, could find no-one to ask, so nipped quickly in through the farm gate and took a few photos.

Whilst this is a tall standing stone, which looks in great condition, I wonder if this is in its original location, or if it has been moved to become a garden feature. It is very close to the old trackway which runs parallel to the modern main road. Looking at the Canmore record, it sits within a landscape rich with cup and ring marked rocks, with the Stane Alane standing stone some 400m away. Studying the Canmore entry more, they say this stone had “already fallen by 1867”.

Ballymeanoch Stone Row

Trip No.88  Entry No.20  Date Added: 3rd Aug 2018
Site Type: Stone Row / Alignment Country: Scotland (Argyll)
Visited: Yes on 18th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 5 Access 4

Log Text: Ballymeanoch Stone Row: Continued from 88.19 visit report (“Who let the bullocks out?”). This was our last stop of the day. We had hoped to fit in DunnAd fort, but we were ‘all monumented out’ by this time of the evening. A truly wonderful spot, with some fantastic standing stones/stone row.

We didn’t get to see the henge due to the very large and very challenging bullocks in the field, but a really fantastic way to end our day.

Ballymeanoch Kerb Cairn

Trip No.18  Entry No.19  Date Added: 3rd Aug 2018
Site Type: Cairn Country: Scotland (Argyll)
Visited: Yes on 18th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Ballymeanoch Kerb Cairn: With a number of other cars pulling up in the car park with other people wanting to look at the cairn, we hastened down the marked path towards the stone row, wondering why there were large, fresh cowpats in the cordoned off pathway. We were shortly to be confronted by a large bullock who stood and stared at us, completely blocking the path. The wire fence between the field/woodland and the path had been knocked down and the cattle had invaded, some sitting by the gate. This bullock absolutely refused to move, and his other companions started to stir and look our way. Andrew tried to move it away, but it stood firm and looked as if it might charge. Even Andrew backed away at this point.

Fortunately, there was a gate into a field of pasture to our left hand side, so we let ourselves into that field of pasture and followed the fenced off path along on the wrong side of the fence. There was another gate, leading from a track from the road, into the standing stone field. This gate was next to a babbling stream with a stone bridge across. This field also had a large number of other large bullocks, but these continued grazing and took little notice of us until we got to the two standing stones at the far end, when they started to take a definite interest.

Having made sure we weren’t going to be under (immediate) danger of attack by the bullocks, we tiptoed carefully further into the field. Having read about the cairn in "In The Footsteps of Kings" booklet, I circled it and photographed it as best I could. The sun was intense, being low in the sky, and it was so hot I could have laid down on the ground and fallen asleep. However, time was pressing, so I gathered my courage and explored further.

Dunchraigaig Cairn

Trip No.88  Entry No.18  Date Added: 3rd Aug 2018
Site Type: Cairn Country: Scotland (Argyll)
Visited: Yes on 18th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: Dunchcraigaig Cairn: Parking in the small car park opposite the cairn, we crossed (ran over between the cars doing at least 60mph) the busy road to have a look at yet another large, stony cairn (special in its own right, but so many of them around here!). Just as we drew into the car park, a black mini-bus with the name “Tour of the Tor”; we kept coming across this bus and its people a number of times for the next few days. They do ‘sacred tours’ of a number of areas, including Glastonbury and the Celtic Lands. I don’t know where they went, but they didn’t arrive at the cairn until after we’d started on towards the standing stones.

On the way down to the standing stones/stone row at Ballymeanoch, I spotted a smaller cairn to its north eastern side, and another chamber, topped by a large lintel stone on its southern side (note: Canmore says so much material may have been moved from this side of the cairn, it may have been the primary burial).

This was an impressive location, despite its proximity to the busy road.

An Car, Leckuary

Trip No.88  Entry No.17  Date Added: 2nd Aug 2018
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: Scotland (Argyll)
Visited: Yes on 18th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 5 Access 4

Log Text: An Car Standing Stone, Leckuary: We found this stone on the OS map, and it is also featured on page 130 (walk 17) of the “In The Footsteps of Kings” book. We are advised by the book: “Please call at the farm if you wish to get closer to this stone”.

We thought about letting ourselves in through the gates at the bottom of the farm track, next to the road, but there were four gates all tied together with twine. Putting my hand on one of them had the whole lot rocking; no way they’d bear my weight clambering over. We decided to walk up towards the farm to see if there was another way into the field, and ended up at the bottom of the hill where the track climbed up a slope towards the farmhouse. Being almost at the farm, I walked up the track, and heard voices coming from the garden right at the back of the farm. There the farmer, his wife and three friends were enjoying the afternoon sunshine.

After apologising for interrupting their afternoon, they were only too pleased to let us see the stone. I got into discussion with the farmer, who did a lot of archaeology with Historic Scotland and Kilmartin Museum. He, in his impressive yellow aviator shades, very kindly gave us directions to a rock art panel, found by him three years ago and currently unrecorded, but about to be included in a survey of rock art sites in the Glen, starting August 2018. The farmer did warn me to be careful when opening and closing the gates: “make sure they don’t fall over!” so he’s obviously aware of the problem with the gates at the bottom of the track.

We let ourselves in the field from the gate at the bottom of the hill up to the farmhouse (the farmhouse, looking back from the stone, appears to be on top of a large, flattened mound, which seemed a little like a motte).

The sun was low in the sky by now and trying to find the right angle to photograph this stone was interesting. The farmer had heaped a pile of stones around the base of this now leaning standing stone, whether field clearance or to keep it upright, or both; this gave the appearance of being a modern day cairn or grave. I wondered who was buried underneath. Canmore says no one, but I’d prefer to be more romantic about it!

Leckuary Dolmen

Trip No.88  Entry No.16  Date Added: 2nd Aug 2018
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: Scotland (Argyll)
Visited: Yes on 18th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 5 Access 3

Log Text: Leckuary Dolmen or just a quartz covered stone? This stone protruded from the surrounding pasture like a gleaming white, stubby standing stone. We walked over to it and photographed it. It appears to sit on a low, almost circular mound with this stone in the middle, which in turn sits on a bed of smaller stones. Having seen quartz on The Boat Stone and the Glenagles Symbol Stone, the importance of quartz in picking a rock for a monument seems both important and symbolic. Whilst not recorded on Canmore, will this site be included in the survey of Kilmichael Glen that is due to start in August 2018? I'd love to know more about this site, and have it confirmed as a burial mound or just a figment of my imagination.

Leckuary Rock Art

Trip No.88  Entry No.15  Date Added: 2nd Aug 2018
Site Type: Rock Art Country: Scotland (Argyll)
Visited: Yes on 18th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 5 Access 3

Log Text: Luckuary Rock Art Panel: A new find, some three years ago, and about to be included in a survey of Kilmichael Glen, which sounds similar to the England's Rock Art project. This was most definitely one of the highlights of our trip, thanks to the farmer who is very interested in archaeology and works very closely with Historic Scotland and Kilmartin Museum.

Torbhlaran Stone

Trip No.88  Entry No.13  Date Added: 2nd Aug 2018
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: Scotland (Argyll)
Visited: Yes on 18th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Torbhlaren Standing Stone: A farmer in a red tractor had been mowing the field here, but had left his tractor and mower sitting by the side of the gate with the light flashing. There was no sign of the farmer. We parked in the next layby down the road, where there was a passing space on both sides of the road.

We let ourselves in through the open gate and walked to the standing stone. I had hoped to say hello to the farmer who turned up in his pickup truck, left it by the gate, hopped in his tractor and started mowing again, simply ignoring us (he must see plenty of tourists doing what we were doing).

The standing stone had cup marks on both sides. The ones on its NW face were obvious and low down; the cups on its SE face I only saw when I looked at the photos, because this face was in deep, deep shade. According to Canmore, there was also a second stone (see ID 39544 below), which now acts as a bridge over the River Add to the SW of this stone.

Torbhlaran 2

Trip No.88  Entry No.14  Date Added: 2nd Aug 2018
Site Type: Rock Art Country: Scotland (Argyll)
Visited: Yes on 18th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Torbhlaran 2: A large portion of the rock was covered in turf, so there may have been plenty of motifs which were under a soil cover, but we were unable to identify anything at the time of our visit.

Kilmichael Glassary 1

Trip No.88  Entry No.12  Date Added: 2nd Aug 2018
Site Type: Rock Art Country: Scotland (Argyll)
Visited: Yes on 18th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Kilmichael Glassary 1, Rock Art: This was a real treat. From the small car park by the play park opposite the kirk, we followed the road up the slight hill, past the houses. The rocks are railed off, but to my surprise, walking to the top of the railings, there is a step to allow you to climb in to the compound.

The markings were really clear in the strong sunlight. There must have been rain here recently, as some of the deeper bowls contained pools of water.

There was also another smaller rock behind the ‘compound’ for the main rock, which someone had recently de-turfed the edges of. There were fewer markings on this, with plenty more of the outcrop under turf, so we wondered what else might lie under the grass covering.

We used the interpretation board to help us pick out key motifs, such as the oval cup and the keyhole motifs.

A young couple came and looked at the stone, and we were really respectful of each other taking photographs, which was nice. We would come across this young couple again at another couple of rock art sites and at Dunnad fort

Kilmichael Glassary Kirk

Trip No.88  Entry No.11  Date Added: 2nd Aug 2018
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: Scotland (Argyll)
Visited: Yes on 18th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: Kilmichael Glassary Kirk, Cross Slab: [note: visit 88:10 was to Kilmartin Museum. Am still awaiting permission to publish some photos.] We parked in the small car park opposite the church and next to the small, very busy, playground. At first glance, this church is very intimidating and Scottish, but on closer inspection parts of it appear very old, particularly the churchyard. There were banners across the gate of the church announcing a “Book Swap” today, and as we approached the church, there were the noises of a large group of people inside laughing and talking. We decided to just explore the churchyard and not disturb them.

I picked this cross slab up from the “In the Footsteps of Kings” book (page 128) that “Look out for the early Christian stone to the right of the gate, which bears a Latin ring headed cross”. We didn’t find the wheel-headed cross, but another, one of three, shaped like a cross, which was referenced in Canmore. The way the sun was shining left part of it in very heavy shade. Even shining a torch on it didn’t eliminate the shadows.

This stone was heavily encrusted in moss, which we did not disturb. The graveyard was full of other interesting gravestones, some from the 14th to 15th century. The church was still busy after we’d finished looking at the rock art, up the hill, so we drove to our next venue. Wish we’d gone back, but then there was so much else to see, and our time here was drawing to a rapid close.

Creagantairbh Beag

Trip No.88  Entry No.5  Date Added: 1st Aug 2018
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: Scotland (Argyll)
Visited: Yes on 18th Aug 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Creagantairbh Beag Standing Stone: I hadn’t spotted these on the OS map as we were driving along, but saw the still standing stone through the fence line. Quickly stopping by the side of the road to take a photograph, I noticed there was also a fallen stone. We decided to stop and investigate further on the way back down the road from Ford village.

On way back from Ford, we turnedthe car onto a track signposted to ‘Kilmichael Glen 7’ we were immediately into the same field as the standing stones(s), only on the right side of the fence. Getting closer we realised that the cracks on both sides of the stone matched almost precisely, so the fallen part must have been the top of the stump. This would have been amazingly tall!

In the field of the house opposite were some brown and black alpacas, and I took a photo to remind me.

Loch Ederline

Date Added: 1st Aug 2018
Site Type: Crannog Country: Scotland (Argyll)
Visited: Saw from a distance on 18th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3

Log Text: Loch Ederline Crannog: We saw this from a distance only, as the view was impeded by a line of trees and shrubs. We needed to stop on the side of the road, going downhill from Ford, where there was only a short length of fence between us and the loch. A great tanker needed to get past us, so Andrew had to move the car right into the side of the road; even so, he only just scraped by. I hurriedly took some photographs, steadying the camera on a fence post to try and get a decent shot.

It was hot and humid, so we decided to beat a retreat to Kilmartin to get refreshments. Only 2pm and already 9 sites under our belt!

Ford Stone (Kilmartin)

Trip No.88  Entry No.8  Date Added: 1st Aug 2018
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: Scotland (Argyll)
Visited: Yes on 18th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: The Ford Stone, near Torran: We spotted this stone to the west of the road as we drove towards Ford village to see the cairn marked on the OS map and the Torran Cross Incised Stone, but the road was narrow and we could find nowhere to stop, so we decided to look on the way back.

This time, we managed to pull into the side of the road by a gate into a field on the opposite side of the road. Andrew stayed in the car in case it needed to be moved. A man on his ride quad bike and grass mower trailer was mowing up and down near the gate into the field with the standing stone. He stopped when he saw me hovering and I asked if it was OK if I went to take a look at the standing stone. He replied jovially: “This is Scotland, you can go where you want! ….. There’s another gate up there; go in through the right hand one.The horses are friendly.” I walked up the hill, avoiding him whizzing up and down on his mower. High up above the road, on a flat plain, it has lovely views to the east.

As I approached the standing stone, I realised a heap of stones nearby might possibly be a cairn, so photographed this as well.

Torran Standing Stone

Trip No.88  Entry No.7  Date Added: 1st Aug 2018
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: Scotland (Argyll)
Visited: Yes on 18th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Torran Cross Incised Standing Stone: This was to be the first time we’d seen a cross-inscribed standing stone, so we were pretty keen to locate it. From Ford, we continued up the minor road towards Torran, passing An Lodan Loch to our right hand side. We parked at the wide stony entrance to a small housing estate at NM 87884 04817 and walked up the slight slope. We could see the top of the stone poking up at the front of some tall gorse bushes to our right hand side.

Having a good mobile phone signal here, I brought up the Canmore image to try and find out where the crosses on the stone were, and discovered the stone was originally behind the back fence of one of the gardens. These fences have now been removed. It felt a bit like trespassing, walking into the gardens, but none of the houses were occupied, and there was evidence of building work going on in most of them, so we took a chance. The only person who saw us was the postwoman who was working her way up the estate in her van and she gave us a wave.

On the front of the stone (facing the houses) there were four horizontal lines, which are the remains of the cross on the back face.

To see the back of the stone, we had to clamber up behind another smaller stone to the ‘back’ of the main standing stone (away from the houses) and look down hill. The photography was a bit difficult as this part of the stone was in deep, deep shade. Andrew went and got the flash gun from the car, which I slaved to the camera flash, but it didn’t go off as the light was too bright by the stone. I kept trying at different angles, complete with torch from our mobile phone, and ended up with some good photographs.

I was curious as to the location of the stone, and where it was in relation to the valley. Walking back onto the main road, the stone could clearly be seen from the road, and eastwards looked along a small (what appears to be a) valley, which from the map, leading into An Lodan. The stone, slightly up the hill, would have been in a commanding position for anyone walking by. I had though the stone would be at the top of the hill, but the stone seems to be located near a bend in the current road leading up to Inverliever.

Ford Cist

Trip No.88  Entry No.6  Date Added: 1st Aug 2018
Site Type: Cist Country: Scotland (Argyll)
Visited: Yes on 18th Aug 2018. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 2 Access 5

Log Text: Ford Cist: Not having access to the internet, we thought this was just a cairn which had been marked on the OS map. This monument is in an odd location, just inside the village boundary, tucked between the junction of the road through to Torran and the B840 running along the south shore of Loch Awe, opposite the Crown Hotel and next to a bus stop. Tis mound was fenced off, with no means of accessing the area (apart from climbing the fence) and no information board.

We took some photographs of the mound, but didn’t climb the slope, as we were keen to see the cross-inscribed standing stone at Torran and didn’t know if we’d find it, plus we’d seen another standing stone is a field to the west of the road just before we entered the village and wanted to make time to explore that. The cist was just to the south of a babbling River Ford and a small road bridge over the river.

Creagantairbh Beag Cairns

Trip No.88  Entry No.4  Date Added: 1st Aug 2018
Site Type: Cairn Country: Scotland (Argyll)
Visited: Yes on 18th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Creagantaribh Beag Cairns (near gate to the track leading to the Glennan Standing Stones: see report for Glennan Standing Stones. We spotted the larger cairn on the way to the standing stone; these smaller two (nearest the gate) we spotted on the way back to the car.