Minnigaff Old Church

Trip No.139  Entry No.2  Date Added: 23rd Jun 2019
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: Scotland (Dumfries and Galloway)
Visited: Visited (still working on) on 17th Jun 2019

Log Text: Cross Slabs, Minnigaff Old Church: The Canmore record says clearly that these two cross slabs are within the ruins of the old church at Minnigaff. We found these enigmatic ruins easily, within the burial ground of the modern-day church. However, the stones have been moved inside the modern church, and there is an information board just to the north of the west door into the church. I was very disappointed. I have sent Canmore a message, which they've acknowledged, so they can update their webpage for future visitors.

Bladnoch

Trip No.139  Entry No.4  Date Added: 24th Jun 2019
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: Scotland (Dumfries and Galloway)
Visited: Yes on 17th Jun 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: Bladnoch Standing Stone: We found this stone very hard to spot, eventually parking outside the cottages opposite the dry stone wall the stone was in and walked up and down the road with our GPS. We eventually spotted it by looking along the drystone wall and seeing where the tallest stone poking out of the wall was.

The stone was almost completely covered by wild roses, nettles and brambles, but we managed to push them gently to one side to take a photograph.

We did look for an entrance into the field by the river to look at the other side, but did not see one.

Glenquicken Circle

Trip No.139  Entry No.1  Date Added: 22nd Jun 2019
Site Type: Stone Circle Country: Scotland (Dumfries and Galloway)
Visited: Yes on 17th Jun 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Glenquicken Stone Circle:
Our first stop of the day, and in a delightfully rural location. There was a small layby just to the east of a bridge over Englishman’s Burn at NX 50847 58492 which was large enough for one car. Walking to the gate into the field at NX 50904 58456, the gate had been tied up with the Gordian Knott, but was eventually undone. There was an easy enough walk of a couple of hundred meters across a lush field of knee deep pasture and wild flowers.

The stone circle was indeed over a fence topped with barbed wire, but a gate to its east at NX 51057 58211 (opposite a modern cairn) let us in to the field, and we followed the small trails through the grass where other people had walked.

This was the first stone circle I’ve seen with a large central stone – can’t recall seeing any like this in Northumberland.

St. Kennera's Cross

Trip No.139  Entry No.3  Date Added: 24th Jun 2019
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: Scotland (Dumfries and Galloway)
Visited: Yes on 17th Jun 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: St Kennera's Cross, Kirkinner: It took a little bit of doing to contact the vicar at Kirkinner – numerous phone calls, but no answer, then an email to which there was initially no reply, so I'd crossed this cross slab off our visit list.

An email eventually came through whilst we were near Castle Douglas, travelling down the A75, giving the name and phone number of the church officer. On phoning the number, I was very kindly told the church was open today until 5pm, although it could be arranged to opened it Tuesday if necessary.

We eventually arrived at the church mid-afternoon. The church felt cold, lonely and neglected, the cross slab a mere by-thought in the north eastern corner, by the kettles and cups. We did try and get a photograph from the gallery, but a notice told us the stairs were too dangerous to use.

We later saw similar cross slabs at Whithorn Museum, and were told that the stone these slabs were made of was very difficult to carve as the stone flaked away at an angle from the carving, and they often broke.

It took a little while of looking at it to see the 'armpits' of the cross (carved running into the circular holes of the cross) and to see the shape of the cross itself.

The guide at Whithorn was surprised we managed to get into the church.

Torhousekie stone circle

Trip No.139  Entry No.5  Date Added: 25th Jun 2019
Site Type: Stone Circle Country: Scotland (Dumfries and Galloway)
Visited: Yes on 17th Jun 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Torhouskie Stone Circle: Our second stone circle of the day, and right next to the road. Contained by a fence to protect it from the huge cattle in the next field, this is a lovely little stone circle. We were at this site for what must have been an hour. Just after we arrived, a large ‘white van’ pulled up right behind us and sat there for almost half an hour before leaving; I had to be careful not to get it in my photographs. This stone circle was very popular with visitors, most of whom let themselves in through the kissing gate, walked to the information sign, then left within about five minutes.

This was the first time I used my wide angled lens, and I wasn’t sure how the focus on the photos was turning out, so I took some photos with my normal zoom to stitch together. Whilst we were there, the heavens opened for a short while, with needle-like shards of rain coming straight at my face thanks to the wind gusting across this fairly open piece of land.

I was struck how near the stone circle was to the River Bladnoch to the south of the stone circle, which glinted in the strong sunlight, in between rain showers.

Torhousekie Stones East

Trip No.139  Entry No.6  Date Added: 25th Jun 2019
Site Type: Standing Stones Country: Scotland (Dumfries and Galloway)
Visited: Yes on 17th Jun 2019. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Torhouseskie Stones East: To be found in the field immediately to the east of the Torhousekie Stone Circles, one of these stones was most certainly the size of the boulders used in the stone circle, although because of the sheer number of cattle (and The Huge Bull) around these stones (and the deep puddles around them and in the adjacent field) we didn't go and investigate further. I then got chatting to another gentleman with his camera who was also keen to investigate the stones, but taking one look at the cattle and The Huge Bull, we looked at each other and said 'No'.

I confess that even having printed off all the Canmore and Stone Rows of Great Britain records for this immediate area, I'd misread the grid reference and thought these stones were the ones to the south west of the circle (see Torhousekie South West Stones) and only realised my mistake when looking at the photographs and Canmore site together at home later. Although there appears to be a stone marked just to the east of the stone circle on Sandy G's plan of alignments at Torhousekie, which still confuses me - I need to check with Sandy.

Even to my untrained eye, it looked like large field clearance boulders had been dumped next to the large boulder. I have since read Sandy G's visit report, which confirms his thinking that these are field clearance stones, but their proximity to the stone circle has influenced thinking as to what they are interpreted as.