Ancient Alba

The Ulbster Pictish stone www.canmore.org.uk In the far north of Scotland, there’s a fascinating Pictish stone. The stone was found at a place called Ulbster on the east coast of Caithness. It’s a Class II stone, which dates to around the 8 th /9 th centuries. There’s a Christian cross on one side, with animals, and another Christian cross on the other side, with four symbol pairs. This is the most symbols on any Pictish stone in Scotland. There’s a crescent moon and V rod and an animal below, at the top of the stone. The crescent moon and V rod is a common symbol in the far north of Scotland. There’s a Pictish beastie and a salmon to the left. These two symbols are found on the Craw stone at Rhynie in Aberdeenshire. There are other symbols like a sea horse and a double disc. The Pictish stone may have been located close to a church or monastery. There are also a number of brochs, cairns and hillforts in the area. The four symbol pairs may represent individuals. They may be the trib

There’s a reference to a battle in Pictland at a place called Luith Feirnn in the Irish annals for the year 664AD. This is around 20 years before the famous battle of Dunnichen, where the Picts defeated the Northumbrian Saxons. The Picts were led by Bridei Mac Beli, a prince of Strathclyde who claimed the Pictish high kingship. The battle of Luith Feirnn took place in Fortrenn, which was another name for Pictland. The entry in the Irish annals simply states; “The battle of Luith Feirnn, i.e. in Fortrenn.” This battle is interesting as it’s the first time Fortrenn is mentioned in the Irish annals. Fortrenn was also the name of a Pictish province, which gave its name to the whole of Pictland. The location of Fortrenn is unknown. The traditional idea is that Fortrenn was located in Strathearn and Menteith in southern Pictland. However, historians have recently suggested that Fortrenn was located in Moray in northern Pictland. The location of Luith Feirnn is also unknown. Feirnn is th

One of the proposed locations for the battle of Mons Graupius is a place called Duncrub in Strathearn. This is one of the most southern locations. Duncrub is close to a small town called Dunning, just to the north of the Ochil hills. Strathearn is a valley which runs from Loch Earn to the west all the way to the Firth of Tay to the east. The main reason why some historians believe Duncrub is the location is the name. The word ‘crub’ is Gaelic for a ridge. The name Graupius is supposedly derived from ‘crub’. Duncrub means the ‘fort of the ridge’ and Mons Graupius means the ‘hill of the ridge’. However, there are other places in Scotland with the word crub. For example, there’s a Cruban Beg and   Cruban Mor in the highlands, to the north of Atholl, which means the ‘little ridge’ and the ‘big ridge’. The name Grampians is also derived from Graupius. There’s a Roman marching camp at Dunning of around 115 acres, which may date to the campaigns of Agricola around 80AD. However, the marchin

The other day, I walked up to Skirley Craig hillfort on the boundary of the Scottish highlands, to the north of Crieff. Crieff is a small town in Strathearn, located on a hill overlooking the valley. Just to the north of the town is the Knock of Crieff, which is Gaelic for the hill of Crieff. The name Crieff is derived from the Gaelic, Craoibh, which means ‘tree’ or perhaps ‘sacred tree’. To the north of the hill or knock, is Monzie estate. I walked through the estate on my way to Skirley Craig hillfort, and came across a stone circle or burial cairn. There was a large stone lying flat on the ground, which had ‘cup and ring mark’ carvings. The carvings are thought to date to the Neolithic, around 5,000 years ago. The meaning and purpose of the carvings is unknown. However, I would like to think that they were trying to map the heavens. Most of the cup and ring mark carvings in Scotland are found to the west, with good examples in Kilmartin glen in Argyll. They’re found in Scotland, Wal

A while ago, I was able to attend the open day of St Vigeans Pictish stones museum. St Vigeans is a small village close to the town of Arbroath on the north east coast. At St Vigeans, there’s a church on a large mound overlooking the Brothock water, which runs down to Arbroath. Dozens of Pictish stones and stone fragments were found at the church. St Vigeans was probably the site of a Pictish monastery dating to the 8 th century. There were a couple of Pictish stones I wanted to see, one of them being the Drostan stone with the inscription ‘Drostan in the time of Uurad and Fergus’. However, I came across a couple of stone fragments, which I found quite interesting. On one of the fragments, there’s a figure with a hood and two symbols, a monk or abbot’s staff and a double disc. The other fragment has the head of the horse, which the figure is probably riding. At the back of the two fragments, there’s a Celtic cross. These stone fragments probably date to the 8 th /9 th centuries. As f