a precipitous front of rocks to the south and south-west. On the other side, although steep, it is covered with a vivid green sward, forming a remarkable contrast with the heath-clad hills of Sidlaw which adjoin it. An ancient toft, close by its side, still retains the name of "Pict's Mill." A recent digging was made round this monument without any result. PLATE LXXXIV. THIS Stone stands close to the Manse of Glammis, and, like the previous one, has been associated by tradition with the fate of King Malcolm II., it being called his gravestone. Gordon and Pennant describe the Stone as within the churchyard.a PLATE LXXXV. THE Stone of St. Orland, or St. Erland, stands on a rising ground in a field about a mile north-east from the Castle of Glammis. I had a digging recently made around this monument, which was superintended by my friend Mr. Jervise of Brechin. The result was, that five cists, or coffins of stone, were brought to light, at a depth of about fifteen inches below the surface, some of them close to the Pillar, and others at a distance of twelve feet, in a line running on the south side of the Pillar. They were formed of thin undressed slabs of red sandstone, varying in thickness from one to three inches, from nine inches to one foot in height, and one to two feet in length-two or more stones being used for each side and top, with the exception of the side of one cist, and the top of another, which were respectively formed of one stone. All the bodies lay with their heads towards the west, and they appeared to have been doubled up in the cists, which were about three feet long. The bones were generally in a state of great decay. They were laid on the soil, there being no flags in the bottom or end of the cists. St. Orland's Stone is set from eighteen to twentyfour inches into the ground, and has no pedestal. Mr. Jervise informs me, that, about fourteen years ago, several cists were found in the same neighbourhood, which also contained human bones. Mr. Gibb's drawing of this stone has preserved more of its beautiful details than that in "The Sculptured Monuments of Angus," especially a boat with several human figures in it. PLATE LXXXVI. THIS Stone was found in the Churchyard of Farnell, in the year 1849, by Mr. Jervise. No tradition is connected with it. At the Greenlaw, and Red Den, about a mile westward of the church, various stone coffins and urns have occasionally been found. PLATE LXXXVII. "THIS represents the Cross at Camuston, near Panmure, and is popularly supposed to mark the spot where Camus, said to have been the Commander of the Danes, fell, on his retreat from the Battle of Barry. This supposition has gained credit, from the circumstance of a stone coffin having been found near the place, about the beginning of the seventeenth century, containing a skeleton of large size, of which the skull seemed • Gordon's Itinerarium Sept. pp 162 3. Pennant's Tour in Scotland, 1772, vol. II, P 173. to have been cut away by the stroke of a sword. The following is Commissary Maule's description of it, as given in Gordon's "Itinerarium," the only authority in which any account of it is known to exist:"About eight miles from Brechin, at Karboddo, a place belonging to the Earl of Crawford, is to be seen the vestiges of a Danish Camp, fortified with a rampart and ditch, and vulgarly called Norway Dikes; near which is the village of Panbride, where was anciently a church, dedicated to St. Brigide, because, on that Saint's day, which preceded the battle, Camus, General of the Danes, pitched his camp there. Not far from whence is the Village of Barry, where a mighty battle was fought between the Danes and Scots, with great slaughter on both sides, near the mouth of a small rivulet called Loch-Tay. There, many little artificial mounts, or tumuli, are still to be seen, within which were buried the bodies of those slain in the fight; and because the soil thereabouts is sandy, the wind blowing away the sand, frequently discovers bones of a size much exceeding men of our age. Near this is Camus Town, a village belonging to the Barons of Panmure, and noted for the death of Camus, slain there, it being only a mile from the field of battle. There, to this day, is to be seen an obelisk, whereon little is engraven, to evince the truth thereof; for, upon the east side is the figure of Moses (if I mistake not) giving out the Law, engraven in three divisions; and on the side towards the west, upon the upper part, is the effigies of our Saviour on the Cross; below which is the representation of a horseman shooting with a cross-bow. This is all I could observe at that time; but nine years after I wrote that treatise, a plough, turning up the ground near this obelisk, discovered a large sepulchre, believed to be that of Camus, inclosed with four great stones. Here, a huge skeleton was dug up, supposed to have been the body of Camus. It appeared to have received its death by a wound on the back part of the head, seeing a considerable part of the skull was cut away, and probably by the stroke of a sword.'" b . "There is nothing in the appearance of the Cross, or in the emblems on it, to lead to the conclusion that it was intended to commemorate a Danish leader who had fallen in action; indeed, a bare inspection of the Cross seems almost sufficient to confute the notion. But it has been doubted whether the Danes had any leader named Camus: it is not a Danish name, and is not found in the older chronicles. The name of the place, too, is spelled in old writs, and even to this day, Cambestowne, and is found in other parts of Scotland, as at Commestoune or Comiston, in Kincardineshire, where also Camus is said to have fallen; and in Castrum de Camys, Inverness-shire; Villa de Cambus and Cammis, Cambusbarclay, and Cammismore in Perthshire; Cambuskenneth, Cambusmichael, &c.; but it is useless to accumulate instances." To these, however, may be added the Camus Stone, which formerly stood near the Borough Muir of Edinburgh, and the Camus Stone of Kintore, Aberdeenshire. 66 Camuston, or Cambestowne, is situated within the Barony of Downie, now part of the Estate of Panmure, and doubtless was the site of the chief place of the barony. A considerable payment was made annually out of the Barony of Downie to the Prior and Canons of Rostinoth." a I am informed by Mr. Jervise that the Cross of Camus was removed about six feet southwards from its former position in the year 1853, by Lord Panmure's order. He adds, "the quantity of tumuli and rude stone coffins which have been found along the sands of Barry and Carnoustie is very great, particularly on the lands of Carlungie, about a mile south of Camuston. This part abounds in gravel hillocks, and in all those which have been opened one or more rude stone coffins have been found. None of these exceeded three or four feet in length, and they were uniformly constructed of rude red sandstone flags, with gravel in the bottom. Clay urns are sometimes found in the coffins." The site of Camus Cross is in the Parish of Monikie, which was dedicated to St. Marnoch. PLATE LXXXVIII. "THE Cross contained in this Plate is built into a window of the ruined Church of Invergowrie, so as to Bronze Celts have been repeatedly found there. Itinerarium Septentrionale, p. 151 • Wilson's Prehistorie Annals, p. 93. Notices of the Plates p 13. Scalp Stones of Angus. leave both faces visible. Invergowrie is about three miles from Dundee, and was suppressed as a Parish about the middle of the seventeenth century. The Church is now used as the private burying place of the Clayhills family. The original Church is supposed to have been founded by St. Boniface, Bishop of Ross, who seems to have been a Missionary from Italy; is said to have built many churches, and to have died about 630." Invergowrie was the residence of King Alexander I., who conferred the church and three carucates of land on the Monastery of Scone.b The three figures on this Cross are very curious. The ornaments which two of them wear on their necks are supposed to be discs of metal, which fit the neck, and are fastened to the dress by laces, passed through small holes, perforated in the disc. At the Lincoln Meeting of the Archæological Institute in 1848, was exhibited a disc of gold of this sort, found in Ireland. Whether they were insignia of rank, or of sacred dignity, seems to be unknown." e PLATE LXXXIX. No. 1. THE fragment of a Cross, on the upper part of this Plate, is built into the wall of the ruined Church of Invergowrie, before noticed. No. 2. THIS is one of several fragments found in the walls of the old Church of Kingoldrum, when it was pulled down in 1840. The Church was built before the Reformation, but its date is uncertain. Other fragments occur at Plates XLIX. and XCIII. PLATES XC. & XCI. THESE Plates represent both sides of a sculptured pillar, near the old Church of Eassie, in Strathmore. PLATE XCII. No. 1. THE first Stone in this Plate was dug up on one of the farms of the Dunnichen Estate, about the a Butler's Lives of the Saints, under 14th of March. Butler makes St. Boniface to have landed near the mouth of the Tees; but the names of the other places he mentions are mis-spelled, and the Tay is probably meant. Another account says, he landed near the mouth of a river which divides Angus and Mearns. This would be the Tina, now North Esk, near the mouth of which, on the Mearns coast, are more than one small creek or harbour, in which the Saint may have landed, and near to one of the principal churches said to be founded by him, viz., Ecclesgreig, year 1811. the Parish Church of which, dedicated to St. Cyr, was rebuilt in 1242. (Reg. Prior S. Andree, p. 348, Ban. Club.) There was also here a chapel, dedicated to St. Rule, and a religious house, (abbacia) probably of Culdees (Ibid, p. 229, 230, 234.) It is likely that it was suppressed by King David, at his reformation of the houses of that body. (Note by Mr. Chalmers.) b Liber de Scon, p. 2, Ban. Club, 1843. Monuments of Angus." Notice of the Plates, p. 15. Dunnichen is about three miles from Forfar. The name of the Parish is written Dun-Nechtan, in a Charter by William the Lion, and in other early Charters. This seems to have been the site of the battle between the Northumbrian Egfrid and Bridei, King of the Picts, (A.D. 685,) which resulted in the defeat of the former; and subsequently, near to the same place, Feredeth, the Scots King, and his army, shared the same fate at the hands of Alpin the Pictish Prince. At a little distance is the Hill of Dunberach, now Dunbarrow, which disputes with the Hill of Barry the honour of having been the prison of Guanora. There is on this hill a jutting rock, called Arthur's Seat. Pitmuies, the site of a Cross, now all but obliterated, is at a little distance. Several rude unhewn pillars may be seen within a mile or two. The Dunnichen Monument was dug up on one of the farms of the Dunnichen Estate about the year 1811, and, in early times, says Mr. Jervise, had been on the very margin, if not within Nechtan's Mere, where the defeat of Egfrid took place. By an account furnished to Dr. Hibbert, the Stone is said to have been brought from a place near to Restennot. The Church, near to which the Stone is now erected, was dedicated to St. Constantine. Throughout the whole farm of East Mains of Dunnichen, which has been reclaimed from the Swamp or Mere, great quantities of tumuli and primitive graves have been discovered. On the Lands of Lownie also, (the original property of the Auchterlonies) and in the King's Muir adjoining, various specimens of old interments have been got. These are supposed to mark the conflict between Feredeth and Alpin, before referred to. A piece of artificial ground, called "The Brugh," lies in this district. It is described by Dr. Jamieson, who says that an ancient stone coffin, of the Pictish kind, was found there some years before he wrote. It is supposed by Jamieson to have been the tomb of Feredeth, from the fact of its peculiar construction, and because the Chroniclers say that Alpin laid him in Christian burial, not far from Forfar. The place adjoining bears the name of Feredan field. More recently, about a mile north-east of the town of Forfar, and in a line with the reputed battle-field of Feredeth and Alpin, a cluster of graves was found in a gravel hillock. They were all built of rude flagstones; were about two feet below the surface, and about five feet in length. No. 2. THE second figure in this Plate represents a fragment, which formerly stood erect near the Church of Monifieth, afterwards served as a lintel to the Chancel door, and has since been built into the wall of the present Church, erected about 1812. Another small cross, with interlaced ornament, is built into the belfry on the west side of the Kirk. The Church was gifted to the Monastery of Arbroath by Gilchrist, Earl of Angus, (1201-7) and it is believed was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. In 1220, Earl Maicolm, grandson of Gilchrist, gave to Nicholas, son of the Priest of Kirriemuir, and his heirs, in fee and heritage, the Land of Abthein of Monifieth; and Matilda, daughter of Earl Malcolm, who, in her own right, became Countess of Angus, confirmed that, and a variety of other grants, which had been made to that establishment by her ancestors, and gave also, of her own will, to the same monks, a charter of "the land, to the south of the "Church of Monifod, which the Culdees held in my father's time." a Besides the Church of Monifieth, there were several other old ecclesiastical establishments in the parish. One of these stood at Broughty Ferry, another in the Forest of Kingenny, where, on a hill top, are remains of the so-called Druidical Circle of St. Bride. Ecclesmoinichty stood on a rising ground on the south side of the river Dichty, opposite Panmure Bleachfield; and a large tree, still called "The Lady Tree," in honor of the Patroness of the Church, marks the spot. No. 3. THE third Stone on this Plate is built into the churchyard wall of Menmuir, about five miles from Brechin. It is said to have been found in the foundation of the old Church when it was pulled down. The King had, in old times, a Castle at Menmuir. In the Chamberlain Rolls, anno 1264, the Sheriff of Forfar, takes credit for a payment of five marks to the Gardener of Menmoreth. Robert I. granted to Peter de Spalding, who betrayed Berwick to him, certain lands, and the Keepership of the Forest of Kilgery, (which a Hollinshed, i., p. 244. b Scottish Dict., sub. voce 4: Brugh," e Information from Mr. Jervise. 4 Registrum vetus de Aberbrothoc, pp. 29, 330, 334, 381, 382, Ban. Club edition. Edin. 1848. e Information from Mr. Jervise. Lands of the Lindsays, p. 261. Edin. 1853. were all in Menmuir) in excambion for certain tenements in Berwick-upon-Tweed. There was a hermitage in the Forest of Kilgery; and among the Southesk Charters at Kinnaird, are several relating to the hermitage and the office of hermit." The celebrated ancient fort of White Caterthun is within two miles of the Kirk of Menmuir; and a number of barrows, having an artificial look, are close to the Kirk. PLATE XCIII. THIS Plate contains fragments of Crosses built into the wall of the Church of Meigle. The Stones at Meigle have been already noticed. An additional fragment occurs in Plate CXXXII. PLATES XCIV. & XCV. THE Stone at Bressay, in Shetland, is said to have been found by a labourer residing at Culbinsgarth, on the east side of the island, while engaged in digging a piece of waste land near the ruinous Church of Culbinsgarth, which is surrounded by a very old burying-ground. It was then taken by Captain Cameron Mowat of Garth to his house of Gourdie, and from thence it was removed to the churchyard of Bressay by the Rev. Zachary Hamilton, Minister of Bressay. It was exhibited at a Meeting of the Archæological Institute of Great Britain, held at Newcastle in 1852, and has again been returned to Bressay, in the churchyard of which it now is. It is singular, that, while there is only one known Runic inscription in Shetland, there is no monument with Runes known in Orkney. The solitary inscription in Shetland occurs on a gravestone in Cross Kirk, in the Parish of Northmavine. It is referred to by Hibbert, in his "Description of the Shetland Islands," p. 531, and a drawing of it is given in Plate 6 of his work. The Stone, said to be built into the wall of the Church of Sandness, with a Runic inscription on it, (Ibid., p. 547) appears from the drawing of it (Plate CXXXIII.) to have characters resembling some of the symbols on the Stones in Aberdeenshire and elsewhere, while no literal inscription can be seen. The Rev. Charles Graves, D.D., of Trinity College, Dublin, at a Meeting of the Archæological Institute in May last, delivered a discourse on the Bressay Stone, the ornaments on which he considers to be thoroughly Irish. He proposed to read the inscriptions, which are in the ancient Ogham character, as follows,-BENRES MECCU DROI ANN,-" Benrhe, or the son of the Druid, lies here ;" and that on the other edge, thus,-CROSC NAHDFDADS DATR ANN-"The Cross of Nordred's daughter is here placed." Dr. Graves conceives the language of the inscriptions to be a mixture of the Irish and Icelandic.b This circumstance, and the reference to the son of a Druid in one of the inscriptions, are rather startling, and present difficulties which farther research may serve to clear up. Under-ground buildings and "Standing Stones" occur in the Parish of Bressay; and, of late years, several tumuli were discovered, within which were bones exhibiting marks of combustion, while other tumuli yet remain unopened. PLATE XCVI. THIS Stone, till lately, formed the sill of a window in St. Peter's Kirk, South Ronaldshay. It is now in the Museum of the Antiquaries of Scotland. In this island are found Picts' houses and tumuli, the latter containing burnt bones, ashes, and charcoal of wood.d a "Notices of the Plates." Mr. Chalmers. Gent. Mag., July, 1855, pp. 80-81. New Statistical Account of Shetland, p. 12. 4 New Statistical Account of Orkney, p. 230. Edin. 1842. |