fife-kinross-clackmannan-1933/03-538

Transcription

TILLICOULTRY.] HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION. [TILLICOULTRY.


SKI / NNER AND / BURGIS OF / EDINBURGH / WHO
DEPAIR / TED THIS LYF / THE 28 OF A / PRYL 1651
AND / OF HIS AGE HE / VAS 81. Below the inscrip-
tion is a shield bearing the representation of a
hand or glove, and beneath the shield are the
words : PORTIONER OF ELISTOUN.
(2) Close beside the above stone is a fine
hog-backed monument (Fig. 29), probably
of about 12th-century date. It shows three
rows of a scalloped scale-ornament on each
of its sloping sides and has a plain dividing
ridge, 4 inches wide, along the top. It is
6 1/4 feet in length, while the two extremities
are 18 by 15 inches and 16 by 11 inches,
respectively. The monument is slightly arched
in the middle.
(3) Another stone is dated 1522. Below the
date are the initials I.M. and I.D. in large letters,
and at the foot is a broad spade. The slab
measures 6 feet 2 inches long by 2 feet 2 inches
wide and is 7 inches thick.
(4) Another recumbent slab of the coped
type has been considerably re-chiselled. It
measures 6 1/4 feet in length and is inscribed on
the top with the initials H.D. and I.P. These
initials are probably no part of the original
monument. On one of the sloping sides - that
to the north - there is a broad-bladed sword
with pointed pommel and straight quillons
beneath what has apparently been a three-
stepped cross, while on the sloping face to the
south are two similar crosses, of which only the
bases and shafts are now visible. These two
crosses have been set base to base, so that the
shafts extend in opposite directions towards
the two ends of the stone. A cavity, 12 inches
in length, 10 in width, and 8 inches deep, is cut
on the upper face of the stone, at its west end.

cxxxiv S.W. 26 July 1927.

617. Cist Cover, Tillicoultry House. - This
stone formed the cover of a cist discovered
in the sand quarry which now occupies the site
of the stone circle referred to in No. 618. It
was removed many years ago to its present
position at the edge of a footpath near Tilli-
coultry House. At that time the surface
showed distinct traces of a number of sculp-
turings, including rings and spirals, but these
designs have become so much weather-worn
that they cannot now be discerned. The stone,
which is of grey diorite, measures 7 feet 2 inches
in length by 4 feet 4 inches in width and about
2 feet in greatest thickness. A food-vessel, a
cinerary urn, and a number of white pebbles
were recovered from the grave of which the
slab formed the cover, and which was "exactly
where the centre of the circle must have been."
The joints of the cist had been "carefully
packed with clay." Other urns of cinerary
type have, from time to time, been discovered
on the same site, one of them "alongside of
where one of the standing stones seems to
have been." Cf. Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., xxix
(1894-5), pp. 190-3.

cxxxiv N.W. 26 July 1927.

618. Enclosure and Ditch, Castle Craig. -
The Castle Craig, a rocky bluff of the Ochil
Hills, rises abruptly to an elevation of 500
feet above sea-level on the right bank of a
burn at the foot of the Mill Glen near Tillicoultry
On all sides, except at the north-west, it
provides a situation of great natural strength.
The Statistical Account (1795), vol. xv,
p. 214, states : "On the Castle Craig, the
foundations of a round circular building are
still visible." A note to the passage reads:
"Between these and the hills, there has been
a ditch by way of defence. The vulgar tradi-
tion is , that the Peychts had a strong fortifica-
tion in this place."
Unfortunately the constructions have been
much destroyed and their precise character can-
not now be settled. Local information is to the
effect that some parts of a detached building,
which formerly stood at the south-eastern edge
of the cliff overlooking the burn, have been re-
moved in recent years by quarrying operations.
This information offers a possible explanation
of the denuded remains that survive at a some-
what higher level. These consist of the lower
courses of a strongly built semi-circular wall,
which nowhere reaches a height of more than
4 feet above inside level and is flush with the
natural ground-level on the outside. The wall
is 12 feet thick at the central segment but
becomes thinner towards the extremities. These
at some later time have been linked together by
a modern dike to form a D-shaped enclosure,
which has its major axis north-north-east and
south-south-west and measures roughly 95 feet
by 65 feet. Within are traces of dividing
walls and other later constructions. About

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