Back in the 17th and 18th
centuries many of the monuments of the past were referred to as
Pictish - it was used a kind of general term for “the ancestors”.
This meant that constructions as far apart as Stone Age barrows and
medieval Deer Dykes were given the label of being Pictish. Today
some people still think that anything old is Pictish but scholars
nowadays would tend to put the “ Pictish Period” from around 80 AD
to the mid 9th century. 80 AD Was the date of the battle
of Mons Graupius between the Romans and the Caledonians who were
called Picts by later Roman writers,. The only record we have of
this battle, and argument still rages as to where it was fought, is
a Roman one - and it will come as no surprise that it claims a total
Roman victory. The fact that the Romans retreated from Scotland
north of the Forth soon after and only ever came back on temporary
raids suggests a different interpretation. To misquote an even
earlier Roman, Julius Caesar ven, vidi, vanished! In the middle of
the ninth century the Picts amalgamated with the Scots of Dalriada -
they had had several joint monarchs before this - and the country
became known in time as Scotland. The Pictish language, probably
like an early form of Welsh, disappeared, which has led many people
to speculate on the disappearance of the Picts themselves. Language
and culture changed, leadership too but there is no reason to
suppose the people were either eradicated or emigrated. In short the
Picts are our ancestors, as are the Scots, the Norse and the Angles.
However the notion of the Picts as the ancestor
people was widespread and survived in many parts of Scotland. One
version of this idea, from Fife is particularly striking. According
to this tale the Pechs, or Peghts, as they were generally called in
the oral tradition were wee short folk with red hair, long arms,
broad feet and were tremendously strong. They were the builders of
all the old castles and forts in the land and would stand in a line
from the quarry to the building site passing the stones from hand to
hand until the building was finished. One version of the story says
their feet were so broad that when it rained they could stand on
their hands and use their feet as umbrellas!
Although the Picts left few written records, and
their domestic and military architecture blends in with that of
other tribal peoples of Scotland they have left one unique set of
artefacts. These are the Pictish Symbol Stones, scattered in the
landscape from Fife to Farr in Sutherland from the Hebrides to
Buchan and beyond into the Northern Isles. These beautiful stones,
whose art strongly influenced such works as the illuminated
manuscripts of the Books of Kells and Durrow are truly magnificent
with life-like animals and intricate geometric shapes that tell of a
great artistic tradition among the Picts. Nowadays suggestions are
being made about some of the meanings to be found in the symbols but
a handful of the stones have stories attached to them which tell us
something of Dark Age times and later.
The Maiden Stone
Nestled in the shade of Bennachie in
Aberdeenshire is the Maiden Stone. This magnificent granite Pictish
Symbol Stone is, like so many others, fading under the onslaught of
20th century pollution but the symbols can still be
discerned . The story of the Maiden Stone seems to be later than
Pictish times.
A young lass in the area was known far and wide
for her beauty and was generally called the Maid of Drumdorno, which
was the name of her father’s farm. She had been wooed by many local
lads and had at last agreed to marry one of her suitors. The
afternoon before the wedding she was alone in the farmhouse, busy
baking bannocks and cakes for the following day - and all the while
day-dreaming about her wedding. Suddenly she became aware that she
was being watched. She looked up and there at the open window was a
tall, dark and good-looking stranger. She gave a little cry and the
stranger spoke. He told her she was doing her work well and looked
good with it but maybe she was just a bit slow. She retorted that
she was as quick as any one else but, flattered by the attentions of
the handsome stranger exchanged a few words with him. She was quite
clear about letting him know she was getting married the next day.
He just laughed and said that was all very well but she would have
to be a bit quicker at the baking to make a good wife. She took
objection to this and told him so. Again he laughed and said he bet
that he could build a road to the very top of Bennachie before she
could finish her baking. He added that if she took the bet and he
won, she would have to marry him instead of her intended. This was
such a silly bet, she jokingly agreed and told the stranger to be on
his way. Tipping his hat to her with a smile, he moved off.
She returned to her labours and soon all thought
off the stranger had flown from her head. However a few hours later,
just as the daylight was beginning to fade she had just got the last
batch of bannocks ready to bake when she looked out of the window.
There in the fading light she could clearly see a brand new road,
leading all the way to the very top of Bennachie. She gasped and at
that moment the stranger came into view. She now realised what she
had done. She had entered a pact with the Devil! Panicking, she ran
from the farm towards the Pitroddie woods. Non one was about and she
could hear running footsteps behind her. She struggled to say a
prayer but no words would come. The footsteps got louder and still
she could not say the Lord’s name. Just as the fiend caught up with
her and grasped her waist, the prayer she had been unable to utter
was answered, after a fashion. The Devil instead of clutching a warm
and vibrant lass was holding onto stone! In his hand was a piece of
that stone which had broken off as he grabbed. He had been thwarted
in his desires at the very last minute.
Although the lass had lost her life by being
turned into stone she had been spared the fires of hell and a great
deal else besides! The abstract symbols on the stone, which has a
small piece missing at the side of it - were said to represent the
baking implements of the Maid of Drumdurno.
This tale ties together the Pictish Symbol Stone
with the earlier causeway on Bennachie and was probably inspired by
an attempt to decipher the meanings of the Pictish carvings.
Martin’s Stane
Another Pictish Symbol Stone whose carvings might
have inspired the local story is Martin’s Stane on the back road
from Dundee to the village of Tealing. Like many other such stones
it has a serpent and Z-rod carved on it as well as a mounted figure
and the Pictish beast, a truly enigmatic figure, a little like a
dolphin. The local tale has survived in a short poem which tells of
a great Dragon.
“It was tempit at Pittempton,
Draggelt at Badragon,
Stricken at Strikemartin,
An killt at Martin’s Stane.”
One hot summer’s day the farmer at Pittempton,
now on the northern edge of Dundee was working hard in his fields.
He grew thirsty and called for his eldest daughter to go to the well
and fetch him a drink of water. Off she went and when after a few
minutes there was no sign of her coming with the water, he sent his
next eldest daughter to hurry her up. Now the farmer at Pittempton
had been blessed by having nine daughters, all of whom he loved
dearly and the eldest had recently become betrothed to a local man
called Martin. When the second daughter also did not return, he
called for his third eldest daughter to go and see what was
happening. And again she did not return. So one by one the farmer
sent his lovely daughters to the well. When even the youngest had
not returned he was sure they were playing a trick on him and went
to the well himself.
There he saw a terrible sight. Round the well lay
a great, coiled, dragon-like serpent. Scattered about were the limbs
of his nine daughters. The beast had killed them all. He let out a
great shriek and ran to summon his neighbours. Several had heard his
cries and in minutes a large crowd of men and women carrying various
arm implements as weapons descended on the well. Seeing them coming
the dragon shot off towards the north hotly pursued by Martin who
had somehow managed to pick up a large club. As the great scaly
creature got to the Dighty Burn Martin caught up with it and raised
his club. The following crowd yelled out as one, “Strike Martin” and
he gave the beast a crashing blow. This only served to make it
double its speed and it soon outstripped him. Help was at hand
however for horses had been brought and soon Martin and several
others were in hot pursuit of the monster. Soon they had it
surrounded and after a short struggle killed and buried the fearsome
beast. It is on this spot that tradition tells Martin’s Stane was
raised and the village of Strathmartine itself, close to Pittempton
is said to have once been called Strikemartin!
Other Pictish stones were once to be found in
this area, one with a carving of a man with a large club over his
shoulder, others, of which one is in nearby Dundee Museum, all had
serpents of different kinds on them. This suggests some sort of
important Pictish centre here, perhaps a pagan temple or similar.
What is certain however is that this is not the only story of the
Nine Maidens. The hills to the north of the Stone have a different
group - the Nine Maidens who were known as Pictish saints, and other
tales tell of similar events in Aberdeenshire while there are Nine
Maidens Wells in many locations. There are also links to King Arthur
and the Nine Maidens of Avalon, Apollo and the Nine Muses and the
Norse god Heimdall who had nine mothers. Perhaps what we have here
is a remnant of a memory of groups of ancient pagan priestesses.
Whatever the Nine Maidens were, their hold on the public imagination
lasted along time.
In Forres on the coast of the Moray Firth there
is one of the most remarkable of the Pictish Symbol Stones. Standing
almost five metres high it has been suggested that this stone is
possibly later than all the other Pictish stones. It Is a slightly
different style from most of the rest but in its obvious depiction
of a battle it is not unique - the other famous battle stone being
the Aberlemno Kirkyard Stone, thought by many to be a depiction of
the battle of Dunnichen in 685 when the Picts slaughtered the
Northumbrian Angles near Forfar. In certain areas of Scotland the
Pictish stones were long thought to be Danish and there is a strong
connection with Scandinavia in the story of Sueno’s Stone. Though
the stone itself was found buried in the 18th century and
then re-erected the tale carries us back to the Dark Ages. We are
told that the stone commemorates a battle between the local people
and an invading force of Norsemen. Fighting had been going on for
many years as the Norsemen had started to settle in the area and in
the struggle for overall control of Moray the principal antagonists
were Maelbrigde, the Mormaor of Moray and the Norse Jarl Sigurd.
Mormaor and Jarl are terms meaning something close to High Chief.
They agreed to settle matters for once and for all by having a
battle which each would come to with 40 horsemen. On the chosen day
Maelbrigde, known as the Bucktoothed because of a peculiarly long
eye tooth that was like an animal’s fang, set off for the
battlefield. As they approached the selected spot they saw the
forty Norse horses ahead. However each of the Norsemen’s horses
carried two warriors - Maelbrigde had been tricked. With such an
advantage the Norsemen were assured of victory and the men of Moray
were all killed. In celebration of this victory the Norse beheaded
their enemies and returned to their camp each astride a horse.
Sigurd, in emulation perhaps of ancient tribal tradition had taken
Maelbrigde’s head with him and slung it from the pommel of his
saddle. As they rode, singing of their triumph, and no doubt
drinking in celebration, Maelbrigde’s bucktooth began rubbing on
Sigurd’s thigh, eventually piercing the skin. Although superficially
just a scratch, the wound festered and within three days Sigurd died
in agony form blood-poisoning. Maelbrigde had his revenge.
Vanora’s Stone
Another Pictish Symbol stone with a remarkable
story is in the wonderful little museum of Pictish Symbol Stones in
the Strathmore village of Meigle, 20 kilometres north-west of Perth.
Among this magnificent collection of Symbol Stones which clearly
point to an important religious centre nearby, is the great
Cross-slab known to locals as Vanora’s’ Stone. On the side opposite
the magnificent Cross there is scene which has been interpreted by
various learned commentators as representing Daniel in the Lions’
Den. It shows a gowned figure flanked by four-legged animals with
heavy shoulders or manes. Many Pictish Symbol Stones clearly show
both Christian and pagan symbols and in basically pre-literate
societies it is at least feasible that older stories could be
attached to Christian symbolism. The Picts, like all early peoples
had their own mythology and beliefs.
Vanora’s Stone is unusual in that it once formed
part of a complex linked monument of different stones though we
sadly have no clear idea of how it used to look. The story is that
Vanora was the wife of the great king, Arthur. Having defeated his
enemies, Arthur decided to go on a pilgrimage to Rome, leaving his
nephew Modred as regent. Hardly had he set out when Vanora became
involved with Modred, and they began to rule the land together.
Whether Vanora was seduced by Modred or it was the other way about
is unclear but they began ruling as man and wife with the support of
Modred’s own Pictish troops. Arthur was still in Britain when he
heard the news and immediately headed north to raise his own
followers and remove the usurpers. The battle where Modred and
Arthur met is said to have been at Camlaan, on the Forth and the
site of a 6th century battle. In the fighting Modred was
defeated and killed but Arthur was fatally wounded himself and
though victorious soon passed away. Vanora was imprisoned on the
great Iron Age fort on nearby Barry Hill while her fate was decided.
She was guilty of adultery but had betrayed the king and thus the
people - breaking a sacred trust and her death was a foregone
conclusion. Such was the blackness of her deeds, the story goes,
that the wise men and priests who considered her fate decided she
should be made to suffer as dishonourable a death as possible. So it
was decided she should be torn to death by a pack of wild dogs and
the sentence was duly carried out. This is the how the locals
interpreted the scene on the Cross-slab. Following her execution,
her body was buried with oaths and imprecations being heaped upon
her burial in a manner very suggestive of ancient pagan practice.
This burial is said to be in Vanora’s Mound in the kirkyard of
Meigle and it was believed until recently that any young woman
foolish enough to stand upon Vanora’s Mound would be made barren,
such was the power of the imprecations and curses heaped upon it so
long ago. This was clearly not known to a local photographer who
quite recently had the habit of posing newly-weds on the mound for
photographs!
There are many places in Scotland that bear the
name of Arthur - Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh, Ben Arthur in Cowal,
another Arthur’s Seat further up Strathmore from Meigle, and a
handful of them are scattered in the landscape around Meigle. This
is hardly surprising as the mythical Arthur was almost certainly
common amongst the traditions of all the P-Celtic speaking tribal
peoples of Britain. In modern terms these languages survive as Welsh
and Cornish, as well as Breton. Accurate information can last for
hundreds and even thousands of years through oral transmission and
the idea of Arthur belonging as much to Pictish Scotland as Wales or
Cornwall is not really strange at all, even though the Pictish
language itself died out over a thousand years ago.
A mile or so north of Largo Law on the north
side of the Forth - a hill said to have received its cleft shape
from a ploughshare thrown by the Devil, there used to stand a
tumulus or burial mound on the farm of Auchendowie. The site of the
mound is still marked on maps though little now remains of what was
known locally as Norrie’s Law. Law means hill but there always seems
to be the sense of ritual of some kind, social, or sacred in the
name. On the slopes of Largo Law itself until a generation or two
back children would play a widely known game, with a local variant.
One child would stand in front of a group of pals and say,
“A’ll tell ye a story, Aboot Tammie o Norrie,If
ye dinnae speak in the middle o it, Will ye no?” The intention is
clear, to make one of the other, probably younger children say no
and thus the story can’t be told. This is a very widespread bairns’
game the difference here being the mention of Tammie o Norrie, a
unfortunate local cowherd. It was told that a ghost haunted the
slopes of Largo Law, a ghost condemned to roam the earth till he
could unburden himself of the secret he had died to save. This was
the location of buried gold on Largo Law and it seems clear that the
ghost’s punishment arose from some evil deed concerning that gold. A
local man, the shepherd on Balmain farm became obsessed with the
idea of this gold and decided that he would approach the ghost and
relieve it of its burden, thereby enriching himself. It took all
his courage but one evening he went to Largo Law as night fell
hoping to meet the unfortunate spirit. His luck was in and he soon
spotted the ephemeral figure. He approached the spectre and asked
what was keeping it from its rest. The spectre looked long at him
and the shepherd’s blood ran cold. Then the spirit spoke ,
“If Auchendowrie cock disnae craw,
An the herd o Balmain disnae blaw,
A’ll tell ye where the gowd is on Largo Law.”
The time appointed was to be eight o clock the
following evening. The shepherd, excited at the notion of impending
riches did his best to ensure the ghost’s conditions would be met.
That night the rooster of Auchendowie farm mysteriously disappeared.
The shepherd went the following morning to speak to the cowherd of
Balmain, Tammie Norrie and after trying to wheedle him into not
blowing his horn to summon the cattle into the byre that evening,
finally threatened to kill him if he dared do so. Sure that he had
frightened Tammie sufficiently the shepherd made his way to Largo
Law as eight o’clock approached. Just as the wraith appeared and was
about to speak, the sound of a cow horn floated through the air from
Balmain. The ghost, deprived of its release form earthly torment,
spat put the words,
“Woe tae the man that blew that horn,
Fae oot o that spot he shall neer be borne”,
and disappeared. In a blind rage the shepherd ran
to the north the thought of killing the Balmain cowherd pulsing in
his mind. When he got to what is now the site of Norrie’s Law he was
too late. There stood the figure of Tammie Norrie, horn at his lips
- turned to stone. The local people tried to shift the unfortunate
man, but some magical force prevented them and in desperation, and
some fear, they heaped a great mound of earth over the unfortunate
cowherd. This was given the name of Norrie’s Law.
This story seems to be a degenerate version of an
even older tale that said inside the mound was the body of an
ancient warrior called Norroway who had been buried astride his
horse in a suit of silver armour! What we do know is that sometime
in the 1830s a local cadger, or carter, was digging sand out of the
hill for some building he was doing when he made a remarkable
discovery. He found the treasure and over a few years he sold most
of it to a silversmith in Cupar who melted it down and re-used it.
Eventually the cadger’s conscience got the better of him and he
handed over the few remnants he had to the widow of the local
landowner, the recently deceased General Durham. She in turn donated
the material to the then Museum of Antiquities and the few
magnificent remnants of the original Norrie’s Law hoard can be seen
in the new Museum of Scotland. There a just a few bits and pieces
including a pair of pins with Pictish symbols, a couple of
lozenge-shaped pieces that once might have been part of a corselet
of mail, and pieces of a sword hilt, helmet and scabbard.
The hold that the idea of the Picts as our
ancestors held was remarkable. When we remember that almost
universal literacy is only a century or so old in Scotland and that
only two or three generations ago most people travelled rarely and
not very far it is easy to understand how ancient stories could
retain a strong hold on peoples’ imaginations. This tenacity of
belief was shown remarkably in Orkney a hundred and fifty years ago.
There like many places in Scotland people believed that the Picts
were wee dark and exceedingly hairy people, who haunted the ancient
ruins and wild places of the countryside. Robert Louis Stevenson
wrote an interesting version of the story of Pictish Heather Ale in
his poem the King of the Picts but his father had a startling
encounter with belief in the Picts. He was in Orkney surveying a
site for a new lighthouse when he and a colleague were visited in
their lodgings by a distraught local. He begged them to come with
him and help him and his neighbours with a desperate problem. Their
help was sought because they were educated men and whatever the
problem was it was taxing the powers of the local community. He told
them that a Pict had turned up in their village. This was met with
utter disbelief by Stevenson and his friend but the local was
insistent. It was a wee dark, hairy man with great big feet, clad in
strange shaped shoes, dressed in rags and couldn’t speak. He had
come into the village and collapsed. The engineers were hardly keen
to go outside, it was a wild night and they were comfortable by the
fire. However the man was in such a state of distress they thought
they should try and help and at last agreed to go. When they reached
the nearby village they were ushered into a humble cottage,
surrounded by a crowd even in the biting cold. Inside yet more
people were grouped around a bed on which lay the Pict. The mood of
the people was sombre and mutterings of ”get rid of it “ and other
such comments could be heard. In truth the man sound asleep on the
bed was very small, not much over four feet and had a mass of
unkempt hair and a big black beard. His clothes were stitched
together rags and his feet were encased in extremely crude boots,
obviously hand-made by someone with little if any cobbling skill. It
seems Stevenson might have had trouble keeping a straight face for
he in fact recognised the sleeping Pict. He was a man who had been a
shopkeeper in Edinburgh till one day he got the call to go on the
road and spread the word of the Lord. He gave away all his worldly
goods and left the city to wander wherever his feet took him,
spreading the Gospel and living as simply as he could. He had
eventually ended up in Orkney, got lost and by the time he found the
village was in a state of absolute exhaustion, made worse by not
having eaten for several days, if not longer. His life on the road
accounted for his appearance and he had, naturally made his own
boots, with no skill or instruction in that particular art. The
villagers took some convincing but when the Pict at last opened his
eyes, recognised Stevenson and spoke to him in Scots, their
scepticism disappeared. Their fears that an ancient Pict had burst
forth from a burial mound to wreak havoc among them could be laid to
rest.
When we think of this tenacity of belief as
superstition we should maybe consider if we ourselves are free from
all ancient belief. How many of us still throw spilt salt over our
left shoulders or touch wood at the mention of unpleasantness?
Largest Ever' Pictish
Hillfort Discovered in Scotland
Discovering the
Northern Picts with Professor Gordon Noble
The first lecture in the 2022-2023 academic year is by Dr Gordon
Noble, Professor of Archaeology at the University of Aberdeen. In
this lecture, Professor Noble discusses The Northern Picts project
at Aberdeen, which is an award-winning project run by the University
of Aberdeen uncovering the archaeology of Pictish society in
Scotland. Winners of the 2021 Current Archaeology Research Project
of the Year, the project has uncovered major new central places of
the Picts including an early royal centre at Rhynie and a 16-hectare
settlement at Tap o’ Noth with over 800 house platforms. This talk
outlines some of the major discoveries of the project and outlines
what the new findings mean for Pictish society in the period
c.300-900 AD.
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