Talla Linnfoots

Trip No.82  Entry No.1  Date Added: 23rd Jul 2018
Site Type: Cairn Country: Scotland (Scottish Borders)
Visited: Saw from a distance on 12th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Cairn & Enclosure at south eastern end of Talla Reservoir: Our first, proper, stop of the day, as I can’t count the visit to Tweedmuir Kirk, as the stone we saw from from the 1600s.

This is a remote, but very pretty spot, albeit with tall, brooding hills around, only tempered by the gentle trickling of the Coddleteth Burn, Games Hope Burn and Talla Water, which join up before entering the reservoir lake.

We were prevented from getting right up to this cairn and enclosure by a long, continuous deer fence. I think I’ve photographed the cairn, but we had difficulty in seeing the enclosure on the ground.

The enclosure can just be seen, very faintly, on UK Grid Reference Finder.

Megget Stone

Trip No.82  Entry No.2  Date Added: 23rd Jul 2018
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: Scotland (Scottish Borders)
Visited: Yes on 12th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: Megget Stone, east of Talla Reservoir: Continuing along the twisty, windy road that follows Talla Water, we passed an intrepid cyclist making his way slowly up the hills, and some motorcyclists who had stopped to photographs the waterfalls along the route.

When we got to the grid reference given for the Megget Stone, we couldn’t see it at first, as it was hidden by the gate. There was room for a car to park just past the cattle grid and gate. Hopping out to take photographs and examine this stone in more detail, the cyclist past us, and as he did, I realised that at this point, it was downhill all the way – the watershed.

This stone is definitely a boundary marker, not a true standing stone. It looks as if its eastern face has been broken. In a remote but lovely spot.

Patervan Settlement

Trip No.82  Entry No.3  Date Added: 23rd Jul 2018
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement Country: Scotland (Scottish Borders)
Visited: Saw from a distance on 12th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Patervan/Polmood Settlement, just west of Patervan Farm Cottage: After the Meggat Stone, we stopped off at Henderland Chapel (aka Chapel Knowe and Cockburn’s Tombstone) at NT 23112 23414, which was well worth a look, but too modern for the Portal!

This settlement is (almost!) easily reached. We parked at a layby on the western side of the A701, just north of the entrance to Patervan farm at NT 10850 28570. To think we’ve driven this way many, many times before over the years, but didn’t even consider exploring this area.

We crossed over the River Tweed (with its river monitoring station) via the robust bridge, and followed the track up to Patervan farm. We passed the cottage on our right hand side. then diverted on the footpath which led into the field just before the sign for ‘Patervan Steading’. The gate into the field on the other side of the track at this point was chained and padlocked, along with an electrified fence. We clambered over the wooden fence next to the gate, only to be confronted by another chained and locked gate. As we wanted to get on and climb up to the hillfort and another, larger settlement, we decided to hedge out bets and simply looked over the stone wall, deciding if there was time on the way back, to hop over and take a closer look (but we ran out of time).

I was really surprised to find so many ancient sites, almost an entire archaeological landscape, in a relatively small area. Worth investigating again, although not hugely, hugely exciting.

Patervan Cairn, Buildings & Mound

Trip No.82  Entry No.4  Date Added: 23rd Jul 2018
Site Type: Cairn Country: Scotland (Scottish Borders)
Visited: Yes on 12th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Patervan Cairn, Buildings & Prehistoric Mound, Scottish Borders: There is actually a rich archaeological landscape around here, although I’m pleased we’ve been out with an Archaeology Group, or I would have had trouble interpreting what we saw. We passed all of these features, all of which are within 100m of each other, on the way to the Laigh Hill settlement, just to the north east, so stopped with the GPS to make sure I was photographing the right thing!

They are perched on top of a river terrace above the alluvial (flood) plain of the River Tweed, which is 100m to the west. The surrounding hills provide an atmospheric backdrop (especially with black clouds (but no rain) looming above us).

Laigh Hill (Tweeddale)

Trip No.82  Entry No.5  Date Added: 24th Jul 2018
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement Country: Scotland (Scottish Borders)
Visited: Yes on 12th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 3

Log Text: Laigh Hill Settlement, below Norman's Castle, Scottish Borders: I was really looking forward to seeing this large settlement on the slopes of Laigh Hill, with the River Tweed to the south below.

The walk was easy, along a track, and only 400m past the Patervan Mound. Leaving the track and following the well-worn sheep tracks up the slope, through the low outer banks at the south west of the settlement, we arrived amongst a confusing array of circular flat areas, stony structures and boulders. Even though we'd seen a number of settlements, with our somewhat inexperienced eyes, we had difficulty trying to trace any particular structures to photograph. I called up the Canmore record on my phone, but there was no plan to orientate ourselves to, so we contented ourselves with trying our own interpretations, trying to match what we were seeing with the written description.

Norman's Castle was impressive, on the rocky knoll high above us. This really dominated the scene. Making our way over to the gate in the fence which led up to the rocks, I realised that I wouldn't be able to scramble up to the Dun, so left mountain-goat Andrew to climb up with the camera, hoping the camera would return in one piece!

Norman's Castle

Trip No.82  Entry No.6  Date Added: 24th Jul 2018
Site Type: Stone Fort or Dun Country: Scotland (Scottish Borders)
Visited: Yes on 12th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: Norman's Castle, Laigh Hill, Patervan: Strictly, I only saw this dun from a distance, as it was scramble to get to the top of the hill, and my fear of falling kept me on Laigh Hill settlement below. Husband, Andrew, with all the skills of a mountain goat, and no fear of heights, went tramping up with the camera. When he came back down he said: "Goodness knows why they live in such places - it's difficult to get into!" Presumably, raiders would have been deterred by the climb, so the settlers would have been well defended.

From Laigh Hill settlement below, a large rock protruding from the surrounding cliff face dominates, together with what looks like a cairn, but the scramble across the rocks to take a closer look was deemed a little tricky.

There are certainly 360 degree views all around this dun. Very little of the foundations could be seen, due to the high growth of bracken and overlying turf.

Dreva Hill West (Broughton)

Trip No.82  Entry No.8  Date Added: 24th Jul 2018
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement Country: Scotland (Scottish Borders)
Visited: Yes on 12th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Dreva Hill West, Broughton, Scottish Borders: To the east of the road, there is a gate leading to a farm track, which we followed for about 100m then headed up towards the mast. In typical Tate fashion, Andrew had muddled up the entries for Dreva Craig Fort and this settlement, so I spent ages photographing boulders around the site, thinking they were the ‘chevaux de frixes’.

It’s a great site for a mast, but it’s so close to this settlement, to me it feels invasive and insensitive. The tall grass made it difficult to see any of the outer banks, although I could feel the rise and fall of the low banks at various points as I walked across the settlement. Because I was able to pick out more features here, on a flatter land with fewer boulders, I was more interested in this site than Laigh Hill. It would be nice to be able to track down a plan, so I can really interpret what I saw.

Stobo Kirk standing stone

Trip No.82  Entry No.9  Date Added: 24th Jul 2018
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: Scotland (Scottish Borders)
Visited: Yes on 12th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 5 Access 4

Log Text: Stobo Kirk, Scottish Borders: This was the highlight of my visit. A church I’ve wanted to see for a long, long time, and I thought I’d better grab the chance whilst we were nearby. As we drew up outside the church, my heart sank, as it looked just like another austere Church of Scotland church. “This isn’t the church I saw on the Portal”, I said to Andrew, “their images are of a pebble built wall with standing stones in it.”

All was explained when we walked into the church and saw the north aisle chapel, from the inside first.

My photography skills were challenged trying to photograph the three large tombstones held by iron staples to the wall. This part of the church felt very old.

We looked at the long stone in the external west wall of the north aisle chapel carefully (due to the chairs in the chapel, we couldn’t really see much without removing several rows of tightly packed wooden chairs). At first glance, it looked as if it went from the south side of the window cill, southwards. Closer inspection made us realise it extended under the window as well.

We bought a guide book and a couple of the postcards of the stained glass windows, as by this time, it was getting quite late and it was at least another hour until we reached our bed for the night. Much too brief a visit - a return visit in bright sunshine is a must!