Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 45

In Sutherland hut circles exist for the most part by the sides of the straths forming the natural highways into the interior, by the shores of the lochs, and on the slopes of the hills, often at an elevation of some 500 to 600 feet. In several instances, an earth house, or underground gallery, forms a part of the plan. The hut circle at Kinbrace is oval in plan. Excavation revealed a stone paved floor, a facing of large stones on the inner face of the bank and the entrance to an earth house which was too dangerous to investigate. A few sherds of pottery and part of a shale armlet were found. At Askaig there is a group of features consisting of one or two hut circles and about a dozen mounds. The feature examined comprised two circles approximately concentric, the one some 5 feet within the other, but connected for a distance of about 15 feet on either side of the entrance passage by a stony bank or rubble wall. The entrance was entirely blocked by stones. No artefacts were recovered

The stone circles are described in a sequence from west to east in six groups: Comrie, Durnchan, Crieff, Fowlis Wester, Glen Almond and west of Perth. A total of forty seven sites, six of which are newly discovered, are presented in the gazetteer. All the circles are small.

A broken pottery vessels found at Culbin Sands contained grains of carbonised wheat with a hammer-stone or grain pounder a short distance away. The artefacts lay on an old ground surface which had largely blown away. A flint scraper, some charred wood and two small fragments of burnt bone were also recovered. The grain had been threshed, as no ears of grain were seen. The sherds from a second vessel were embedded in a sandy matrix along with oyster, cockle, and periwinkle shells, and the bones of animals and birds, some of the animal bones being calcined. The date of the vessels is uncertain and they could be Bronze Age or Iron Age. A brief survey of earlier discoveries is presented.

The only surviving part of the old church is known as the mortuary chapel. The original church was demolished in 1792 when the new church was built. Surviving documentary references are presented and the new church is described. Relics belonging to the kirk of Glamis include four communion cups of silver, a pulpit bible, a carved oak box, a mort cloth of black velvet and a fragment of a Celtic cross.

The manuscript volume has 172 surviving leaves and is bound in leather. The names of several owners occur in different parts of the book. By far the greater part of the volume is filled with copies of covenanting sermons, letters, and dying testimonies. It is argued that they were copied in the first half of the eighteenth century or earlier. Three previously unpublished testimonies and two letters are reproduced in full.

The Gilmerton Cave was traditionally believed to be created in 1725 by a blacksmith, George Paterson. It consists of many chambers and passageways with a table and chairs, also hewn out of the rock. The cave is described in detail and there are many illustrations. The Gorton Cave, popularly called Wallace's Cave, is less elaborate with three chambers and an entranceway. At Hawthornden there is an upper and lower cave, both hewn out of the steep rock face. Dovecots are housed in the lower cave. The cave at Newbattle has four distinct spaces and two passageways. Four other caves are briefly described and a list of all known caves appears as an appendix.

The oldest stone at Glenconvinth shows a rider on horseback, sculptured in low relief\r\nwithin a rectangular border. A rare slab of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and a third ornnate recumbent slab with a central cross, having a circular head at either end of the shaft, the space on one side of the shaft being filled by a scrollwork pattern, and on the other by a sword, a comb and shears, and a number of small circular rosettes are also described along with two cup-marked stones. At Kirkhill a recumbent slab has a cross sculptured in low relief, with a wheel-head ornamented with a geometric pattern of incuse triangles, the shaft rising from a calvary base of four steps. In the space on one side of the shaft, about a third of its length from the top, is a symbol resembling a pair of shears, and on the other side a book. Three seventeenth century stones are also described.

In some of the old churchyards in Aberdeenshire there are to be seen stones of small size on which are inscribed crosses of somewhat unusual shape and archaic design. They are few in number and generally seen as insignificant. Four examples from Dyce, four from St Medan's churchyard, two of the latter being recumbent, two from Inverurie, two from Monymusk, one from Tullich and one from Logie coldstone are described.

There are some fifteenth-century documents in the Vatican archives which show that the hospital was connected with the see of Bethlehem, and that it was served by an order of canons regular whose presence in Scotland has hitherto escaped notice. The see of Bethlehem had considerable possessions but these were mostly in Europe. In a bull of 1266 under Scotland there are two entries, '” the church of St Germains in the diocese of St Andrews, and the oratory of New Bethlehem in London. St Germains was not a parish and it is argued that the reference should be to hospital rather than church. In the middle of the thirteenth century the Bethlehemite hospitallers were established in London and at St Germains. The order was one of canons regular of St Augustine.

A slab at Edderton has an incised, equal-armed cross with trefoil ends, and, below it, a long sword with recurved guards, pointed trefoil pommel, and blunt point. In the fourth quadrant of the cross there is a lion rampant, langued. The stone has evidently been a palimpsest, used and lettered more than once, for initials of later occupants of the grave have been cut through part of the cross and the lion. The stone is probably originally of the thirteenth or fourteenth century. A lintel now in the billiard-room of Balnagown Castle, but formerly in the mansion-house of Daan, in the Parish of Edderton has three circles, each 16 inches in diameter, and at each end of the stone is a bearded human face carved inside a semicircle enclosed within a moulding. Between the middle circle and the others are the initials A and M and M and F. Just above the latter, and beginning after the crescent, is the motto " SOLI DEO GLO-RIA," with the date 1680. The first and third circular panels have coats of arms with mottoes. In the middle panel is a man in what appears to be a Geneva\r\ncloak, and with a small skull-cap on his head. He holds in his hands a book, whereon is written, " Fear God in hairt as ye may be bad." Surrounding the figure is the motto " SEEVIRE DEO EST REGNAEE," and the initials M H M E R. The third stone is a lintel in Edderton House, inscribed with initials at different dates and a text from Scripture. A standing stone with an incised cross on one face survives at Tombreck.

A monumental slab in memory of Ingram of Kettins, built into one of the interior walls, believed to furnish the earliest stone inscription in the Scottish vernacular and a fragment of a Celtic cross slab which had been utilised as a building stone in the outside of the south wall of the church are reported on. Both stones have been moved during church repairs. The cross slab is now found to have been sculptured on both sides. The reverse shows a fragment of the well-known figure of the beast with the long jaws and scroll feet'”the " elephant " of these sculptures. The panel enclosing this figure is bordered by a double enrichment of fret pattern, the outer one in rectangular order. This particular fret is rare in Scotland. A third stone which was part of an aumbry is also now displayed. It has much in common with the style of Ingram's monument.

A cinerary urn containing cremated human bone was found on the west side of the cairn. Two stone-built cists were also revealed. One contained cremated human bone and the second was empty.

The accounts are amongst the earliest, if not the earliest, detailed tradesmen's accounts which survive. They are for clothing materials supplied to the Earl of Angus and his family during the years 1618, 1627, and 1628. The accounts are reproduced in full.

Nothing seems to be known of the early history of the church, and the dedication is at\r\npresent unknown. The church is of considerable historic interest for its association with the victory over the English at Otterburn in the summer of 1388. A summary account of the structural and other remains is presented with plans, elevations and architectural details. This includes a font without a drain and a feature known as a super-altar of a type which is rare in Scotland. Two cross slabs were also recovered.