SCOTLAND.
Whatever may be the case as regards Ireland, it is probable that the
megalithic remains of Scotland are all known and have been described
more or less in detail. Such descriptions, however, as exist are
scattered through the pages of ponderous statistical compilations,
or in the transactions of learned societies in England and Scotland,
or in local journals, so that it is extremely difficult to acquire a
connected grasp of the whole subject, or to feel sure you do know all
that is required, and still more difficult to convey to others a clear
view of its outlines. Had any one done for the unsculptured stones
of Scotland what John Stuart has done for those that have devices
in them, the case would be widely different. Except Daniel Wilson's
'Prehistoric Annals of Scotland'--whatever that may mean--no general
account is available, and that work is too brief and too sparsely
illustrated to be of much use. The introductory matter, however, in
Mr. Stuart's two volumes,[271] with Mr. Wilson's book, may suffice for
most purposes; but a complete knowledge can only be obtained by wading
through the volumes of the Scotch and English Archæologias, and the
transactions and proceedings of the various antiquarian societies of
both countries.[272]
Putting aside for the present the sculptured stones as hardly belonging
to our subject, and the "cat" or battle stones, their predecessors,
though they are numerous, as might be expected among the pugnacious
Celtic races who inhabited the country, the remaining rude stone
monuments are not numerous. The free-standing dolmens are few and far
between, some half-dozen for the whole country, and none of them with
histories or traditions attached to them. The circles, however, are
numerous and important, and to some extent are calculated to throw
light on our investigations. If we exclude the two battle-fields of
Moytura, they are infinitely more numerous than those found in all
Ireland and Wales put together, although there is only one group, that
at Stennis in the Orkneys, that can compare with the great English
examples.
Their distribution too is interesting. No stone circles exist in
the lowlands or south of the Frith of Forth and Clyde; and dolmens
are rare in these regions, though this may arise from the extent to
which cultivation is carried on there. Until, however, a statistical
account is compiled, accompanied with a map, it is difficult to speak
confidently on such a subject, but the general impression is that the
lowlands are not, and never were, a region of megalithic remains;
and if this is so, it is one of the many proofs that the dolmens are
neither pre-Roman nor Celtic. At least we have no reason to believe
that the Teutonic races who now occupy that country were settled there
in the time of Agricola. But if the Celts or Picts who then inhabited
that land had been in the habit of raising megalithic structures, we
would have been more likely to find traces of them in that densely
inhabited country than in the bleak uplands of Aberdeenshire, or the
bare pastures of the Orkney Islands.
The district of Scotland where these circles and rude stone monuments
most abound is on either side of a straight line drawn direct from
Inverness to Aberdeen, which is a locality where sculptured stones are
also found in considerable numbers, but the rude stone monuments are
not found in Angus or Fife, where their sculptured successors are most
numerous. The district of the circles _par excellence_ in Scotland,
however, is not on the mainland at all, but in the northern and western
isles. The principal group is in the Orkneys; next in importance are
those in Lewes. They are found in Skye and Kantyre. There are several
in Arran, and thence the transition is easy to the Isle of Man, where
they meet the English group in Cumberland.
* * * * *
The larger circles in the Orkneys are four in number; three of these
stand on a long slip of land that divides the loch of Harra from that
of Stennis. The fourth is at some little distance from the others,
and separated from them by a narrow strait connecting the two lochs.
Besides these there are several smaller earthen circles and numerous
tumuli. The largest circle, known as the Ring of Brogar,[273] is 340
feet (100 metres) in diameter between the stones. These originally were
sixty in number, ranging from 6 and 7 to 15 feet in height; outside the
stones runs a ditch about 30 feet in width, and 6 in depth, but with
no perceptible rampart on either side. Two causeways cross the ditch
as at Penrith or Arbor Low (woodcuts No. 29 and 30) opposite to one
another, but neither square with the axis of the spit of land on which
the circle is situated, nor facing any of the four cardinal points of
the heavens.
Next in importance to this is the circle at Stennis, about
three-quarters of a mile distant. It consisted originally of twelve
stones 15 to 18 feet in height. Only two are now erect, but a third was
so not many years ago; and the fourth, of which now only a fragment
remains, is represented as standing when the drawing, which forms the
frontispiece to this work, was made.[274] The remains of a dolmen still
exist within the circle, not however in the centre, but close to its
side, one of the stones of the circle apparently acting as head-stone
to it. Beyond the stone circle which measures 104 feet in diameter is
a ditch 50 feet wide, making the whole diameter of the monument to the
outward edge of the surrounding mound about 240 feet. Not far from this
circle, and close to the bridge of Brogar, stands a single monolith 18
feet in height, which is the finest and highest stone of the group; and
in another direction a lesser one, with a hole through it. Though only
8 feet high, 3 feet broad, and 9 inches thick, this stone has become
more famous than the others, from the use Sir Walter Scott makes of
it in the 'Pirate,' and because, till a very recent period, an oath
taken with hands joined through the hole in the Stone of Woden, was
considered even by the courts in Orkney as more than usually solemn and
binding.[275]
[Illustration: 84. Circle at Stennis. From Lieutenant Thomas's plan.]
No excavations, so far as I know, have been attempted in the circle
of Stennis, but its ruined dolmen is probably sufficient to attest
its sepulchral character. Some attempts at exploration were made in
the larger Ring at Brogar, but without success. This is hardly to be
wondered at, for a man must feel very sure where to look, who expects
to find a small deposit in an area of two acres. The diggings are
understood to have been made in the centre. There, however, the ground
looks very like the undisturbed surface of the original moor, and as
if it had never been levelled or used either for interment or any
other human purpose, and slopes away irregularly some 6 feet towards
the loch. My impression is that the deposits, if any exist, will be
found near the outer circumference of the circle, either at the
foot of the stones as at Crichie, or outside the ditch as at Hakpen
or Stonehenge. In the smaller circles the diameter of which does not
exceed 100 feet, the deposit seems either to have been in the centre;
or, if at the sides, the stones were so arranged as to mark its place.
In the larger, or 100-metre circles, we have not yet ascertained where
to look. Accident may some day reveal the proper spot, but till it is
ascertained either scientifically or fortuitously, no argument can be
based on the negative evidence which our ignorance affords.
In the neighbourhood of these stone circles are several bowl-shaped
barrows similar to those in the neighbourhood of Stonehenge, not only
externally but internally. When opened they were almost all found to
contain interments by cremation and rude half-burnt pottery. It is not
here, however, that these barrows are found in the greatest numbers.
In the neighbouring parish of Sandwick they exist in hundreds, and
scattered exactly as on the Wiltshire downs, here and there, singly or
in pairs, without any apparent arrangement or grouping. It is said that
there are at least 2000 of these mole-hill barrows in the islands.[276]
Here, as there, it would seem, that where a man lived and died there
he was buried, without any reference to anything existing, or that had
existed. None of these barrows have stone circles of any sort attached
to them. Indeed, the only rude stone monuments in Orkney of the class
we are discussing are those just described, and they are all confined
to one remote inhospitable-looking spot. Close to these, however,
Lieutenant Thomas enumerates six or seven conoid barrows, whose form
and contents are of a very different nature. The bodies in them had
been buried entire without cremation, and with their remains were found
silver torques and other ornaments, similar as far as can be made
out--none are engraved--to those found in Skail Bay, along with coins
of Athelstane, 925, and of the Caliphs of Bagdad, of dates from 887 to
945.[277] That these conoid graves here, as well as others found in the
islands, are of Scandinavian origin, can hardly be doubted, and their
juxtaposition to the circles is at least suggestive. If the circles
were monuments of the Celts, whom they despised, and in fact had even
then exterminated, they would hardly choose a burying-place so close to
them.
* * * * *
The most important, however, of all the tumuli, not only in this
neighbourhood, but in the islands, is known as the Maes-Howe. It was
opened in 1861, in the presence of a select party of antiquaries from
Edinburgh, who had hoped from its external appearance to find it
intact: in this, however, they were disappointed. It would seem that
men of the same race as those who erected it, but who in the meanwhile
had been converted to Christianity, had apparently in the middle of the
twelfth century broken into this sepulchre of their Pagan forefathers,
and despoiled it of its contents. As some compensation for this, they
have written their names in very legible Runes on the walls of the
tomb, and recorded, in short sentences, what they knew and believed of
its origin.[278]
From these Runes we learn, in the first place, that the robbers were
Christian pilgrims on their way to the Holy Land--Iorsala Farer--from
which Professor Munch infers that they must have formed part of the
expedition organized for that purpose by Jarl Ragnvald, 1152. Beyond
this it is not possible to lay much stress on what these Runes tell
us. In the first place, because the learned men to whom they have been
submitted differ considerably in their interpretation,[279] and the
record, even in the best of them, is indistinct. In one or two respects
the evidence of the inscriptions may be considered satisfactory. Their
writers all seem to have known so perfectly what the tomb was, and
to whom it belonged, that no one cared to record, except in the most
poetic fashion, what every one on the spot probably knew perfectly
well. At all events, there is no allusion in these inscriptions to any
other or earlier race. Every expression, whether intelligible or not,
bears a northern stamp. Lothbrok, Ingeborg, and all the other names
introduced are Scandinavian, and all the allusions have a Northern
twang. Though this is merely negative evidence, it certainly goes some
way to show that the robbers were aware that the Howe was originally
erected by people of their own race. If, however, the direct evidence
of these inscriptions is inconclusive, there is one engraving on a
pillar facing the entrance which looks as if it were original, both
from its position and character. It represents a dragon (woodcut No.
85) of a peculiar Scandinavian type. A similar one is found on a stone
attached to the tumulus under which King Gorm was buried, at Jellinge,
in Denmark, in the middle of the tenth century. Making allowance for
the difference in drawing, they are so like that they cannot be very
distinct in date. A third animal of this species is found at Hunestadt,
in Scania,[280] and dating about the year 1150, but very different,
and very much more modern-looking than this one. Had the Jerusalem
pilgrims drawn this dragon, it would probably have been much more like
the Hunestadt example. On the other hand, if the one at Maes-Howe is
original, the age of the tomb can hardly be half a century distant
from that of King Gorm's Howe, which in other respects it very much
resembles. It is, however, very unlikely that Christian pilgrims would
draw a dragon like this, and still less that they would accompany it
with a Wurm, or Serpent-Knot, like that found on the same pillar; both
look like Pagan emblems, and seem to belong to the original decorations
of the tomb.
[Illustration: 85. Dragon in Maes-Howe.]
[Illustration: 86. Wurm-Knot, Maes-Howe.]
[Illustration: 87. Plan and Section of Maes-Howe. From Mr. Farrer's
work.]
Among the inscriptions in Maes-Howe is one which, from its apparent
insignificance, none of the interpreters have condescended to notice.
It will be observed on one of the loose stones lying in the foreground
on woodcut No. 88, it consists of only four letters, and reads either
HIAI or IKIH, according as it is turned one way or another. As it is
impossible to make a recognisable word, much less sense out of such
a combination, it is no wonder it was thrown aside; but it is just
because it is unintelligible that it may turn out to be valuable as an
index to the age of the monument. Nothing is more unlikely than that a
Iorsala Farer would have idly engraved these Runes on a loose stone,
but nothing more likely than that a mason who hewed the stone and
fitted it to close the "loculus" exactly, would have put a mark upon
it to show that it belonged to the right-hand chamber in which A or B
was to be buried. The inscription is on the inner edge of the stone,
where it would be hid when the stone was _in situ_, and most probably
was engraved on the stone before it was originally used to close the
opening.
This, at least, is an explanation of its meaning better than any other
which has yet been suggested, and if it is the correct one, this
inscription with the Dragon and the Wurm-Knot are among the original
sculptures of the tomb; and, if so, it will be difficult to assign it
to an earlier age than the tenth century, which, from the circumstances
to be mentioned hereafter, seems on the whole the most probable date.
[Illustration: 88. View of Chamber in Maes-Howe. From a drawing by Mr.
Farrer.]
The architecture of the tumulus, though offering some indications of
great value, hardly possesses any features sufficiently marked to fix
its date with certainty. Externally it is a truncated cone (woodcut
No. 87), about 92 feet in diameter, by 36 feet in height, and is
surrounded at a distance of about 90 feet by a ditch 40 feet wide, and
6 feet deep, out of which the earth seems to have been taken which was
required to form the mound. Internally it contains a chamber slightly
cruciform in plan, measuring 15 feet 4 inches, by 14 feet 10 inches,
and, when complete, probably 17 feet in height. On each of three sides
of the chamber is a sepulchral loculus, entered by a small opening 3
feet from the ground. The largest of these, that on the right as you
enter, is 7 feet by 4 feet 6 inches, and the central one 5 feet 6
inches by 4 feet 6 inches. Each of these was closed by a single stone
carefully squared, so as to fit the opening. The passage leading into
the central chamber was 3 feet wide by 4 feet 6 inches in height, and
originally closed, apparently by a doorway at 2 feet 6 inches from the
chamber. Beyond this it is lined by two slabs 18 feet long, reaching
nearly to a recess, which seems arranged as if to receive the real door
which closed the sepulchre, probably a large stone. Beyond this the
passage still extends some 20 feet to the present entrance, but is of
very inferior class of masonry, and how much of it is modern is not
clear.
The first thing that strikes any one on examining this mound is that
it certainly is the lineal descendant of the great cairns on the
banks of the Boyne, but separated from them by a very long interval
of time. It is not easy to determine what interval must have elapsed
before the side chambers of those tombs merged into the "loculi" of
this, or how long it must have been before their rude unhewn masses
were refined into the perfectly well-fitted masonry of this one. Some
allowance must, however, be made for the difference of material. The
old red sandstone of the Orkneys splitting easily into self-faced
slabs, offers wonderful facilities for its use, but still the way in
which the angle-buttresses of the chamber were fitted, and the cells
finished, and the great slabs line the entrance, all show a progress in
masonic science that must have required centuries, assuming, of course,
that they were built by the same people. But was this so? So far as
we at present know, these islands, when conquered by Harold Harfagar
in 875, were inhabited by two races called Pape and Peti. The former
were generally assumed to have been colonies of Irish missionaries and
their followers, who settled here after the conversion of the Picts
by St. Columba in the middle of the sixth century. The Peti, it is
also generally assumed, were the Pechts, or Picts.[281] It will not be
easy to ascertain now whether they were so or not, as, according to
Bishop Tulloch, they were so entirely exterminated by the Northmen,
that of their "posteritie there remained nocht." But if the Pape, or
Papas were Irish missionaries, they were Christians, and whatever else
Maes-Howe may be, it certainly is not a place of Christian burial. Nor
is it Pictish. If it were, we certainly should find something like it
in Pictland proper; but nothing that can be at all compared with it
is found in Fife or Forfar, or in any of those countries which were
occupied by the Picts in the days of their greatness; and it is most
improbable that a people who could not, or at least did not, erect any
such sepulchre in the fertile and populous lands which they occupied
on the mainland, would erect such a one as this on a comparatively
barren and sparsely inhabited island. On the other hand, there seems
every reason for believing that the 2000 little barrows above alluded
to are the graves of the Picts, or original inhabitants of the island
before they were exterminated by the Northmen. These barrows, however,
have absolutely no affinity with Maes-Howe. None of them have chambers,
none have circles of stone round them; all are curvilinear, and none,
indeed, show anything to induce the belief that in any length of time
they would be developed into such a sepulchre as that which we have
been describing. It is in fact the story of Stonehenge and its barrows
over again. A race of Giants superseding a nation of Pigmies with which
they certainly had no blood affinities, and erecting among their puny
sepulchres monuments dedicated, it may be, to similar purposes, but as
little like them in reality as the great cathedrals of the middle ages
are to the timber churches of the early Saxons.
Only one hypothesis seems to remain, which is that it is a tomb of
the northern men who conquered these islands in the ninth century.
This may seem a very prosaic descent from the primæval antiquity some
are inclined to ascribe to these monuments, but it certainly is not
improbable; in the first place, because we have what seems undoubted
testimony that Thorfin, one of the Jarls (940 to 970 A.D.)
"was buried on Ronaldshay under a tumulus, which was then known by
the name of Haugagerdium, and is perhaps the same as that we now call
the How of Hoogsay," or Hoxay.[282] I have not been able to ascertain
whether this is literally true or not, but have reason to believe that
it was not in the How of Hoxay that Thorfin was buried, but in a mound
close by.[283] The fact of his being buried in a Howe is, however, all
that is at present demanded. Another important barrow is mentioned by
Professor Munch,[284] known as Halfdan's Barrow, in Sandy, and raised
by Torf Einar (925 to 936). So that we know of at least two important
barrows belonging to the Norwegian Jarls in the tenth century, though
only one has been identified with absolute certainty. As before
mentioned, it is quite certain that King Gorm (died 950) and Thyra of
Denmark were buried in tumuli in outward appearance very similar to
Maes-Howe. That of Queen Thyra has alone been opened. It is a chamber
tomb, similar to Maes-Howe, except in this, that the chamber in Denmark
is formed with logs of wood, in the Orkneys with slabs of stone, but
the difference is easily accounted for. At Jellinge stone is rare,
and the country was covered with forests. At Stennis self-faced slabs
of stone were to be had for the lifting, and trees were unknown. The
consequence was, that workmen employed the best material available to
carry out their purpose. Be that as it may, the fact that kings of
Denmark and Jarls of Orkney were buried in Howes in the tenth century,
takes away all _à priori_ improbability from the hypothesis that
Maes-Howe may be a sepulchre of one of those Northmen.
If this is so, our choice of an occupant lies within very narrow
limits. We cannot well go back beyond the time of Harold Harfagar
(876 to 920), who first really took possession of these islands, as
a dependency of Norway, and created Sigurd the elder first Jarl of
Orkney in 920. Nor can we descend below the age of the second Sigurd,
who became Earl in 996, as we know he was converted by Olaus to
Christianity, and was killed at Clontarf in 1014.[285] Within these
seventy-six years that elapsed between 920 and 996 there is only one
name that seems to meet all the exigencies of the case, and in a manner
that can hardly be accidental. Havard "the happy," one of the sons of
Thorfin, who was buried at Hoxay, was slain at Stennis in 970. Havard
had married Raguhilda, the daughter of Eric Blodoxe, prince of Norway,
and widow of his brother Arfin, but she, tired of her second husband,
stirred up one of his nephews against him, and a battle was fought at
Stennis, on a spot, says Barry, "which afterwards bore the name of
Havardztugar, from the event or the slaughter."[286] The same story is
repeated by Professor Wilson as follows, "Olaf Tryguesson, says Havard,
was then at Steinsnes in Rossey. There was meeting and battle about
Havard, and it was not long before the Jarl fell. The place is now
called Havardsteiger. So it was called, and so M. Petrie writes me, it
is still called by the peasantry to the present day."[287] Professor
Munch, of Christiania, who visited the place in 1849, arrived at the
conclusion "that most of the grave mounds grouped around the Brogar
circle are, probably, memorials of this battle, and perhaps one of the
larger that of Havard Earl."[288] In this I have no doubt he is right,
but that larger one I take to be Maes-Howe, which is in sight of the
circle, though not so close to it as those he was speaking of.
One circumstance which at first sight renders this view of the case
more than probable is, that Maes-Howe is, so far as we at present know,
unique. Thorfin's grave, when found, may be a chambered tumulus, so may
Halfdan's Barrow, when opened, but no others are known in Orkney. If
it had been the tomb of a king or chief of any native dynasty, similar
sepulchres must have been as numerous as they were on the banks of the
Boyne or Blackwater. There must have been a succession of them, some
of greater, some of less magnificence. Nothing of the sort, however,
occurs, and till more are found, the Stennis group cannot be ascribed
to a dynasty that lasted longer than the seventy-six years just quoted.
That brief dynasty must also have been the most splendid and the
most powerful of all that reigned in these islands, as no tomb there
approaches Maes-Howe in magnificence. If such a description suits any
other race than that of the Norwegian Jarls, I do not know where to
look for an account of it.
Assuming for the present that this is so, we naturally turn to the
Runic inscriptions on the walls of the tomb to see how far they
confirm or refute this view. Unfortunately there is nothing in them
very distinct either one way or the other. The only recognizable names
are those of Lothbrok and Ingiborg. The former, if the Lothbrok of
Northumbrian notoriety, is too early; the Ingiborg, if the wife of
Sigurd the Second, is too late, though, as the first Christian countess
of Orkney, her name may have got mixed up in some way with the tomb
of the last Pagan Jarl. But should we expect to find any sober record
of the date and purposes of the Howe in any of the scribblings on the
walls? The English barbarians who write their names and rhymes on the
walls of the tombs around Delhi and Agra do not say this is the tomb
of Humayoon, or Akbar, or of Etimad Doulah, or Seyed Ahmed. They write
some doggerel about Timour the Tartar, or the Great Mogul, or some
wretched jokes about their own people. The same feeling seems to have
guided the Christian Northmen in their treatment of the tomb of their
Pagan predecessor, and though, consequently, we find nothing that can
fairly be quoted as confirming the view that it is the tomb of Havard,
there is nothing that can be assumed as contradicting it.
One inscription may, however, be considered as throwing some light on
the subject. In XIX.XX. it is related, though in words so differently
translated by the various experts to whom it was submitted, that it
is difficult to quote them, that "much fee was found in the Orkhow,
and that this treasure was buried to the north west," adding, "happy
is he who may discover this great wealth."[289] A few years ago a
great treasure was found to the north-west of Maes-Howe, in Skail Bay,
just in such a position as a pirate on his way to the Holy Land would
hide it, in the hope, on his return, to dig it up and take it home;
but shipwreck or fever may have prevented his doing this. With this
treasure were found, as mentioned above, coins of Athelstane of the
date of 925, and of the Caliphs of Bagdad, extending to 945, just such
dates as we should expect in a tomb of 970, recent, but not the most
recent coins. Connecting these with the silver torques found in the
conoid barrows around the Ring of Brogar, we seem to have exactly such
a group of monuments as the histories above quoted would lead us to
expect, and which with their contents belong almost certainly to the
age above assigned to them.
Had Maes-Howe been an old sepulchre of an earlier race, when the
Northmen ravaged the western islands in the early part of the ninth
century, it is most improbable that they would have neglected to break
into the "Orkhow." The treasures which Amlaff and his Danes found in
the mounds on the banks of the Boyne would certainly have stimulated
these explorers to see what was contained in the Orcadian tumulus.
Had they done this, the Jerusalem pilgrims would not, three centuries
later, have been able to record that "much fee" was found in the tomb,
and was buried to the north-west, apparently in Skail Bay. The whole
evidence of the inscriptions, in so far as it goes, tends to prove that
the tomb was intact when broken into in the twelfth century. If this is
so, nothing is so unlikely as that it could have remained unrifled if
existing before the year 861, as a Celtic sepulchre. On the other hand,
nothing seems more probable than that Christian Northmen would have
plundered the grave of one of their Pagan ancestors, whom they knew had
been buried "with much fee" in this tumulus two centuries before their
time. Two hundred years, it must be recollected, is a very long time
among an illiterate people. A long time, indeed, among ourselves, with
all our literary aids; and when we add to this the change of religion
that had taken place among the Northmen in the interval, we need not
be surprised at any amount of ignorance of history or contempt for
the customs of their Pagan forefathers on the part of the Jerusalem
pilgrims. The time, at all events, was sufficiently long fully to
justify Christian robbers in helping themselves to the treasures of
their Pagan forefathers.
Even assuming, however, that Maes-Howe is the tomb of Havard, or of
some other of the Pagan Norwegian Jarls of Orkney, the question still
remains whether it has any, and, if any, what connexion with the two
circles in the immediate neighbourhood?[290]
Locally, the Howe and the circles certainly form one group. No such
tumuli, and no such circles exist in other parts of the islands,
and the spot is so inhospitable, so far from any of the centres of
population in the island, that it is difficult to conceive why it
should have been chosen, unless from the accident of being the scene
of some important events. If Havard was slain here, which there seems
no reason for doubting, nothing seems more probable than that one of
his surviving brothers, Liotr or Laudver, should have erected a tumulus
over his grave, meaning it also to be a sepulchre for themselves. On
the other hand, it is extremely unlikely that the six or seven other
tumuli which are admitted to be of Scandinavian origin should have
gathered round the Ring of Brogar if it had been a Pagan fane of the
despised Celts, who preceded them in the possession of the island. It
cannot be necessary here to go over the questions again, whether a
few widely spaced stones stuck up around a circle one hundred metres
in diameter was or was not a temple. It is just such a monument as
1000 victorious soldiers could set up in a week. It is such as the
inhabitants of the district could not set up in years, and would not
attempt, because, when done, it would have been absolutely useless to
them for any purpose either civil or religious; and if it is not, as
before said, a ring in which those who fell in battle were buried, I
know not what it is. The chiefs, in this case, would be buried in the
conoid barrows close around, the Jarl in the neighbouring howe.
As Stennis is mentioned in the Sagas that give an account of Havard's
death, it probably existed there, and was called by the simple
Scandinavian name which the Northmen gave to all this class of stone
monuments. None, so far as I know, have retained a Celtic denomination.
Assuming it to be earlier, it still can hardly be carried back beyond
the year 800. The earliest date of the appearance of the Northmen in
modern times is in the year 793 in the 'Irish Annals,' where mention
is made of a "vastatio omnium insularum a Gentibus."[291] In 802,
and again in 818, they harried Iona,[292] and from that time forward
seem constantly to have conducted piratical expeditions along these
coasts, until they ended by formally occupying the Orkneys under Harold
Harfagar. Though smaller in diameter, Stennis has a grander and a more
ancient look than Brogar, and may even be a century or two older, and
be a monument of some chief who fell here in some earlier fight. That
it is sepulchral can hardly be a matter of doubt from the dolmen inside
its ring.
Connected with the circle at Stennis is the holed stone[293] alluded to
above, which seems to be a most distinct and positive testimony to the
nationality of this group of monuments.
It is quite certain that the oath to Woden or Odin was sworn by persons
joining their hands through the hole in this ring stone, and that an
oath so taken, although by Christians, was deemed solemn and binding.
This ceremony was held so very sacred in those times, that the person
who dared to break the engagement made there was accounted infamous and
excluded from society.[294] Principal Gordon, in his 'Journey to the
Orkney Islands' in 1781, relates the following anecdote:--"The young
man was called before the session, and the elders were particularly
severe. Being asked by the minister the cause of so much severity, they
answered, 'You do not know what a bad man this is; he has broken the
promise of Odin,' and further explained that the contracting parties
had joined hands through the hole in the stone."[295]
Such a dedication of a stone to Woden seems impossible after their
conversion of the Northmen to Christianity about the year 1000, and
most improbable if the monument was of Celtic origin, and existed
before the conquest of the country 123 years earlier. If the Northmen
had not hated and despised their predecessors they would never have
exterminated them; but while engaged in this work is it likely they
would have adopted one of their monuments as especially sacred, and
followed up one of their customs, supposing this to have been one,
though there is absolutely no proof in a holed stone being used in any
Celtic cemetery for any such purpose? The only solution seems to be
that the monument, with this accompaniment, was erected between the
conquest of the country and the conversion of the conquerors, and, like
many ancient rites, remained unchanged through ages, not as adopted
from the conquered races, but because their forefathers had practised
it from time immemorial in their native land. On any other hypothesis
it seems impossible that so purely Pagan a rite could have survived
through eight centuries of Christianity, and still be considered sacred
by those whose ancestors had worshipped Wodin in the old times many
centuries before these stones were erected in the islands.
All this seems so clear and consistent, that it may be assumed that
this group of monuments were erected between the year 800 and 1000
A.D., till, at least, some argument is brought forward leading
to a certain conclusion. At present I know of only one which tends
to make me pause: it is a curious one, and arises from the wonderful
similarity that exists between this and some of the greater English
groups. Take, for instance, Stanton Drew (ante, p. 149). It consists of
a great circle 340 feet in diameter, the same as the Ring of Brogar,
and of a smaller circle within three feet of the dimensions of that
of Stennis (101 against 104), both the latter possess a dolmen, not
in the centre, but on its edge, the only essential difference being
that the great ring at Stanton had twenty-four stones, and the smaller
one eight, as against sixty and twelve in the northern example; this,
however, may arise from the one being in a locality so much more stony
than the other, and it must be confessed the Stanton stones look older,
but this also may arise from the different nature of the rocks from
which they were taken.
The Ring of Bookan answers to the circle in the orchard; the Watch
or King Stone at Stennis to Hautville's Quoit. Even the names are
the same, "ton" and "ness" being merely descriptive of the townland,
and the long slip of land on which they are respectively situated,
and Maes-Knoll looks down on the one, and Maes-Howe into the other.
The only thing wanted is a ring stone in the Somersetshire example,
but that might easily have disappeared, and there is one at Avebury.
Some of these coincidences may, of course, be accidental, but they
are too numerous and too exact to be wholly so. If at all admitted,
they seem to force us to one of two conclusions: either the time which
elapsed between the ages of the two monuments is less than the previous
reasoning would lead us to suppose, or the persistence in these forms,
when once adopted, was greater than, on other grounds, it seems
reasonable to expect. Three or four centuries seem a long time to have
elapsed between buildings, the style of which is so nearly identical.
If, however, their dates are to be brought nearer to one another, it
seems much more reasonable to bring Stanton Drew down, than to carry
Stennis back. It is much more consistent with what we know, to believe
that Stanton Drew was erected by Hubba and his Danes, than that the
Orkney circles and Maes-Howe could have been the work of the wretched
Pape and Peti, who inhabited the island before the invasion of the
Northmen.
As this is the last of the great groups containing first-class circles,
which we shall have to deal with in the following pages, it may be
well to try and sum up, in as few words as possible, the points of the
evidence from which we arrive at the conclusion that it may be of the
date above assigned to it:--
1. History is absolutely silent either for or against this theory. In
so far as the _litera scripta_ is concerned, it may either have been
erected by the Phœnicians or in the time of the Stuarts.
2. The Danish theory is of no avail. No flint, bone, or bronze or iron
implements have been found in a position to throw any light on its age.
3. There are in the islands some thousands of small mole-hill
barrows--insignificant, stoneless, unadorned.
4. All parts of the Stennis group show design and power, and produce an
effect of magnificence.
5. It seems evident that the circles and the barrows belong to two
different peoples.
6. If so, the barrows belong to the Peti and Pape; the large howes and
the stone monuments to the Northmen.
7. If this is so, the latter belong to the two centuries comprised
between 800 and 1000 A.D.
8. Maes-Howe, being unique, must have belonged to the shortest, but
most magnificent dynasty in the Island.
9. With regard to Havard. He was killed on, or close to the spot where
Maes-Howe now stands.
10. His father, Thorfin, was buried in a howe in Ronaldshay. His
contemporary, Gorm, was buried in a howe at Jellinge.
11. A dragon and serpent were carved in Gorm's tomb. Similar
representations were found in Maes-Howe.
12. The four Runic letters on the closing stone of the right-hand
loculus, date probably from its first erection.
13. All the subsequent inscriptions on the tomb acknowledge it as a
Scandinavian monument.
14. The mention of treasure being found in it in 1152 goes far to show
that it did not exist in 861, or it would then have been robbed by the
Northmen, as the Irish tombs were.
15. It is extremely probable that the Skail Bay "find" is part of this
treasure, which is not earlier than 945, and may be twenty or forty
years later.
16. The torques found in the six large tumuli at Brogar belong to the
same age.
17. The Holed Stone at Stennis was certainly set up by Northmen and by
them dedicated to Woden, and it certainly forms part of the group.
18. The name Havard's Steigr, attaching to the place at the present
day, is important.
Against this, I know of only one argument: _Omne ignotum pro antiquo_;
which, for reasons, given above, I reject.
If such a case were submitted to anyone, regarding a monument of
which we had never heard before, no one would probably hesitate in
considering the case as proved, till, at least, something more to the
point could be brought forward on the other side. Such, however, is
the effect of education, and so strong the impression on the minds of
most Englishmen with regard to Phœnicians and Druids, that nine
people out of ten will probably reject it; some alleging that it must
be an unfair, others that it is an inconclusive statement. Let them try
and state their view in as few words, and I do not believe it will be
difficult to judge between the two cases.
CALLERNISH.
The next in importance after those of Stennis among the Scottish group
of circles is that at Callernish, in the Isle of Lewis. They are
situated at the inner end of Loch Roag, on the western coast of the
island, and consequently more remote from the routes of traffic or
the centres of Pictish or Celtic civilization than even the Orcadian
groups. The country, too, in their neighbourhood is of the wildest
and most barren description, and never could have been more densely
inhabited than now, which is by a sparse population totally unequal to
such monuments as these.
[Illustration: 89. Monument at Callernish. From a plan by Sir Henry
James.]
The group consists of three or four circles, situated near to one
another, at the head of the bay. They are of the ordinary form, 60
to 100 feet in diameter, and consequently not remarkable for their
dimensions, nor are they for the size of the stones of which they are
composed. One of them, which had been covered up with peat-moss, was
excavated some years ago, and a number of holes were found, filled,
it is said, with charcoal of wood;[296] but the account is by no
means satisfactory. About a mile to the westward of the three, on
the northern shore of Loch Roag, stands the principal monument. This
consists of a circle[297] 42 feet in diameter. In the centre of this is
a tall stone, about 17 feet high, which forms the head-stone of a grave
of a somewhat cruciform plan; but it is in fact only the tricameral
arrangement common in tumuli in Caithness and other parts of the north
of Scotland.[298] It apparently was covered originally by a little
cairn of its own; but this had disappeared, and the tomb emptied of its
contents at some period anterior to the formation of the peat which had
accumulated round the stones, and which was removed a few years ago
by Sir James Matheson when this grave was first discovered. From the
central stone a double avenue extends 294 feet, and from the same point
southward, a single row for 114 feet; making the whole length of the
avenues 408 feet; while two arms extend east and west, measuring 130
feet across the whole.
I believe it was John Stuart that first made the remark:--"Remove
the cairn from New Grange, and the pillars would form another
Callernish;"[299] and there seems little doubt but that this is the
true explanation of the peculiar form of the monument. Nor is it
difficult to see why this should be the case; for it must be borne in
mind that the whole of the chambers and the access to them must have
been constructed, and probably stood, naked for some time before they
began to heap the cairn over them. Calliagh Birra's tomb (woodcut No.
80), and the numerous "Grottes des fées" we meet with in France and
elsewhere I look on as chambers, some of which it was intended should
be buried in tumuli, which, however, never were erected: others,
when men had become familiar with the naked forms, were like many
dolmens, never intended to be hidden. It may be a mere fancy; but I
cannot escape from an impression that, in many instances at least, the
chambers were constructed during their lifetime by kings or chiefs
as their own tombs, and that the cairn was not raised over them till
the bodies were deposited in their recesses. This, at least, is the
case in the East, where most of the great tombs were erected by those
who were to lie in them. During their lifetime they used them as
pleasure-houses, and only after their death were the entrances walled
up and the windows obscured, so as to produce the gloom supposed to
be appropriate to the residences of the dead. Another point is worth
observing. It seems most improbable that sculptures, such as are found
in the Irish and French chambered tumuli, could have been executed by
artificial light. Either the stones were sculptured before being put
into their places--which, to say the least of it, is very unlikely; or
they were sculptured while the light could still penetrate through the
interstices of the stones forming the walls. In any case, however, the
naked forms of these chambers must have been perfectly familiar with
those who used them; and there is no difficulty in understanding why,
as at Carrowmore or Callernish, they should have repeated the same
forms which were certainly never intended to be covered up.
From the occurrence of a similar form at Northern Moytura (woodcut No.
59), used externally also, it may be argued that this may be of the
same age. The Irish example, as explained above, is probably of the
same age as the great chambered tumuli of Meath; but there seems to be
a difference between the two, which would indicate a very different
state of affairs.
At Moytura, the covering stones, though thrown down, still exist, and
there is every appearance of direct imitation. At Callernish, the
size, the wide spacing, the pointed form of the stones, and the whole
structure exhibit so marked a difference from anything that could be
intended to be covered up, that it certainly appears as if a long time
had passed before the original use of the form could have been so
completely overlooked as it has been in this instance. Everyone must
determine for himself how many centuries he would interpose between
New Grange and Callernish. To me it appears that an interval of very
considerable duration must have elapsed between them.
At Tormore, on the west coast of the Isle of Arran, there is a third
group of these monuments, more numerous, but not on so large a scale
as those of Stennis or Callernish. These were all carefully examined
by Dr. Bryce, of Glasgow, assisted by a party of archæologists, in
1864, and the results recorded in the 'Proceedings of the Scottish
Antiquaries,'[300] and also in a small work on the Geology of
Arran.[301] All were found to contain sepulchral remains, except one
which had been rifled, but there the cist still remained. The principal
circle is now represented by only three upright stones, from 18 to 20
feet in height; but they originally formed parts of a circle 60 feet
in diameter. Two other circles can be traced, and two kistvaens of
considerable dimensions, and two obelisks on the high ground, which
apparently formed parts either of circles or of some other groups of
stones.
Though not so large as the other two groups named above, this one at
Tormore is interesting because it affords fair means of testing whether
these groups were cemeteries, or marked battle-fields. Here the two
principal circles are situated on a peat moss which extends to some
feet, at least, below the bottom of the pillars, and the sepulchral
deposits were found in the peat. Others of these Tormore monuments are
situated where the peat joins the sandy soil, and others are situated
on the summit of the sandy hills, which here extend some way in from
the shore. Now it seems hardly probable that such a diversity of taste
should have existed in any line of princes. If the peat was chosen
as a resting-place for some, it probably would have been for all.
If elevated sandy hillocks were more eligible for that purpose, why
should some have chosen the bog? and if a cemetery, why not all close
together? They extend for about half a mile east and west at a distance
of about a mile from the shore, and on about as desolate a plain as one
could find anywhere. If a battle was fought here against some enemy who
had landed in the bay, and those who were killed in it were interred
where they fell, all the appearances would be easily explained; but
it is difficult to guess who the chiefs or princes could be who were
buried here, if they had leisure to select their last resting-place, or
why they should have been buried in this scrambling fashion.
There are the remains of two other circles and one obelisk in Brodick
Bay, on the other side of the island, but widely scattered, and with
nothing to indicate their purpose. There are also other circles and
detached standing stones in the Mull of Cantyre, up to the Crinan
Canal; but the published maps of the Ordnance Survey do not extend so
far, and such accounts as have been published are too vague to admit of
any conclusions being drawn from them either as to their age or uses.
The Aberdeenshire circles, above alluded to, differ in some respects
from those found in other parts of the country, and are thus described
by Colonel Forbes Leslie, in a Paper read to the British Association
this year:--"The principal group of stones in these circles always
contains one stone, larger than the rest, which in different monuments
varies from 11 to 16 feet in length, and from 2 to 6 in breadth. It is
never placed upright; but close at each end of this recumbent monolith
stand two columnar stones; these vary in height from 7 to 10 feet, and
have generally been selected of a pyramidal form. From the face, and
near the ends of the recumbent stone, two stones project about 4 feet
into the circle, and the recess thus formed is occupied by a stone laid
flat on the ground.
"In several of these circles a raised platform, 5 or 6 feet broad, and
18 or 24 inches high, can be traced. This has been supported on the
outer side by a low wall connecting the columnar stones, which are
disposed at equal distances on the circumference. The inner side of
the platform has been supported by stones little more than its height,
placed near each other.
"Circles of this sort are found at Aquhorties, Tyrebagger, Balquhain,
Rothiemay, Parkhouse, near Deer, Daviot, New Craig, Dunadeer, &c.,
in Aberdeenshire. There is also a circle on the "Candle Hill of Old
Rayne,"[302] within sight of which, on the slope of a ridge about a
mile distant, stood the two sculptured stones now at Newton,--on one
of which is the unique alphabetical inscription; and on the other
a serpent, with the broken sceptre, surmounted by the double disk,
usually called the Spectacle Ornament."
Their general arrangement will be understood from the woodcut overleaf,
representing one at Fiddes Hill, figured in the fifth volume of
'Archæologia,' which may be taken as a type of the rest. The sepulchral
deposit here, is no doubt, in the raised part, in front of the great
stone, and not in the centre,--a peculiarity we have already had
occasion to remark upon in the smaller circles at Stanton Drew and
Stennis. This, however, does not seem to have been always the case. The
circle, for instance, at Rayne, above alluded to, was excavated under
the superintendence of Mr. Stuart,[303] and found to contain in its
centre a pit, in which were "a quantity of black mould, incinerated
bones, and some bits of charcoal. Fragments of small urns were also
found, and all the usual accompaniments of a sepulchral deposit."
In concluding his account of it, Mr. Stuart says:--"It is worthy of
remark, that on the 2nd of May, 1349, William, Bishop of Aberdeen, held
a court at the Standing Stones of Rayne, at which the King's Justiciar
was present" ('Regst. Episc. Aberd.' vol. i. p. 79, Spald. Club). Thus
clearly proving not only the sepulchral nature of the circles, but the
use that was subsequently made of them.
[Illustration: 90. Circle at Fiddes Hill, 46 feet in diameter.]
If we may connect these stones at Rayne with the Newton stones, as
Colonel Forbes Leslie is inclined to do, we obtain a proof of a
post-Christian date for this sepulchral circle, as well as a mediæval
use; and though I have no doubt that all this is correct, the mere
juxtaposition of the sculptured stones and the circle hardly seems
sufficient to rely upon.
In the Appendix to the Preface of the first volume of the 'Sculptured
Stones,' Mr. Stuart records excavations made in some fourteen circles,
similar, or nearly so, to this one at Rayne; and in all sepulchral
deposits, more or less distinct, were found. In some, as in that of
Crichie, before alluded to, a sepulchral deposit was found at the
foot of each of the six stones which surrounded it. Like many of our
English circles, this last was surrounded by a moat, in this instance
20 feet wide and 6 feet deep, crossed by two entrances, as is Arbor
Low and the Penrith circle, and within the moat stood the stones. As a
general rule, it may be asserted that all the Scotch circles, having
a diameter not exceeding 100 feet, when scientifically explored, have
yielded evidences of sepulchral uses. Such, certainly, is the result
of Mr. Stuart's experience, as detailed above; of Dr. Bryce's, in
Arran; of Mr. Dyce Nicol[304] and others, in Kincardine; and elsewhere.
Colonel Forbes Leslie informs me that he has not been so fortunate
in some of those he mentioned in his lecture, which he either opened
himself or learnt the details of on the spot. Some of these he admits,
however, had been opened before, others disturbed by cultivation;
and altogether his experiences seem to be exceptional, and far from
conclusive. The preponderance of evidence is so overwhelming on the one
side, that we may be perfectly content to wait the explanation of such
exceptional cases as these.
The Aberdeenshire circles are all found scattered singly, or at most in
pairs, in remote and generally in barren parts of the country; so that
it is evident they neither marked battle-fields nor even cemeteries,
but can only be regarded as the graves of chiefs, or sometimes, it may
be, family sepulchres. There is one group, however, at Clava, about
five miles east from Inverness, which is of more than usual interest,
but regarding which the published accounts are neither so full nor so
satisfactory as could be wished.[305]
According to Mr. Innes, the ruins of eight or nine cairns can still
be distinguished, though the whole of the little valley or depression
in which they are situated seems strewn with blocks which may have
belonged to others, but which the advancing tide of cultivation has
swept away. The most perfect of those now remaining are three at the
western end of the valley, the two outer and larger cairns stand
about 100 yards apart. They are of stone, about 70 feet in diameter,
surrounded by a circle of upright stones measuring 100 feet across.
The intermediate one is smaller, being only 50 feet, with a circle
80 feet in diameter.[306] The two extreme ones have been opened, and
found to contain circular chambers about 12 feet in diameter, and 9 in
height, with passages leading to them about 15 feet long and 2 feet
wide; and in two or three instances the stones in them were adorned
with cup-marking, though it does not appear that they were otherwise
sculptured.[307] In that to the west two sepulchral urns were found,
just below the level of the original soil. They were broken, however,
in extracting them; and they do not appear to have been put together
again or drawn, so that no conclusions can be deduced from them as to
the age of the cairns.
[Illustration: 91. Plan of Clava Mounds. From Ordnance Survey. 25 inch
scale.]
[Illustration: 92. View of Clava Mounds. From a drawing by Mr. Innes.]
Meagre as this information is, it is sufficient to show that Clava
does not mark a battle-field. Carefully-constructed chambers with
horizontally-vaulted roofs are not such monuments as soldiers erect
in haste over the graves of their fallen chiefs. It evidently is a
cemetery; and, with the knowledge we have acquired from the examination
of those in Ireland, there cannot be much hesitation in ascribing it
to that dynasty which was represented by King Brude, when St. Columba,
in the sixth century, visited him in his "Munitio," on the banks of
the Ness.[308] If King Brude were really converted to Christianity
by Columba, it is by no means improbable that the small square
enclosure at the west end of the "heugh," which is still used as the
burying-place of Pagan, or at least unbaptized babies, marked the spot
where he and his successors were laid after the race had been weaned
from the more noble burial-rites of their forefathers.
It would be extremely interesting to follow out this inquiry further,
if the materials existed for so doing; as few problems are more
perplexed, and at the same time, of their kind, more important, than
the origin of the Picts, and their relations with the Irish and the
Gaels. Language will not help us here: we know too little of that
spoken by the Picts; but these monuments certainly would, if any
one would take the trouble to investigate the question by a careful
comparison of all those existing in Scotland and Ireland.
[Illustration: 93. Stone at Coilsfield.]
In the south of Scotland, for instance, we find such a stone as this
at Coilsfield, on the Ayr,[309] which, taking the difference of
drawing into account, is identical with that represented in woodcut
No. 71. There is the same circle, the same uncertain, wavy line,
and generally the same character. Another was found at Annan-street,
in Roxburghshire, and is so similar in pattern and drawing that if
placed in the chamber in the tumuli of New Grange, or Dowth, no one
would suspect that it was not in the place it was originally designed
for.[310] But no sculptures of that class have yet, at least, been
brought to light in Pictland, or, in other words, north of the Forth,
on the east side of Scotland.
[Illustration: 94. Front of Stone at Aberlemmo, with Cross.]
[Illustration: 95. Back of Stone at Aberlemmo.]
The sculptured stones of the Picts are, however, quite sufficient to
prove a close affinity of race between the two peoples, but always
with a difference, which is evident on even a cursory examination.
To take one instance. There is a very beautiful stone at Aberlemmo,
near Brechin, which is said to have been put up to record the victory
gained over the Danes at Loncarty, in the last years of the tenth
century.[311] Be this as it may, there seems no reason for doubting
that it is a battle-stone, and does belong to the century in which
popular tradition places it. On the front is a cross, but, like all
in Scotland, without breaking the outline of the stone, which still
retains a reminiscence of its Rude form. In Ireland, the arms of the
cross as invariably extend beyond the line of the stone, like those at
Iona, which are Irish, and these are generally joined by a circular
Glory. The ornaments on the cross are the same in both countries, and
generally consist of that curious interlacing basket-work pattern so
common also in the MSS. of that age in both countries, but which exist
nowhere else, that I am aware of, except in Armenia.[312] The so-called
"key" ornament on the horizontal arms of the cross at Aberlemmo seems
also of Eastern origin, as it is found in the Sarnath Tope, near
Benares, and elsewhere, but is common to both countries; as is also the
dragon ornament on the side of the cross, though this looks more like
a Scandinavian ornament than anything that can claim an origin further
east.
Among the differences it may be remarked that the figure-subjects on
Irish crosses almost invariably refer to the scenes of the Passion,
or are taken from the Bible. On the Scotch stones, they as constantly
refer to battle or hunting incidents, or to what may be considered as
events in civil life. The essential difference, however, is, that, with
scarcely an exception, the Pictish stones bear some of those emblems
which have proved such a puzzle to antiquaries. The so-called broken
sceptre, the brooch, and the altar, are seen in the Aberlemmo stone;
but in earlier examples they are far more important and infinitely
various.[313] It may also be worthy of remark that the only two real
round towers out of Ireland adorn the two Pictish capitals of Brechin
and Abernethy. All this points to a difference that can well make
us understand why St. Columba should have required an interpreter
in speaking to the Picts;[314] but also to a resemblance that would
lead us to understand that the cemetery at Clava was the counterpart
of that on the banks of the Boyne, with the same relative degree of
magnificence as the Kings of Inverness bore to those of Tara; and if
we do not find similar tumuli at Brechin or Abernethy, it must be
that the kings of these provinces--if there were any--were converted
to Christianity before they adopted this mode of burial. It may be
suggested that, as Maes-Howe is certainly the lineal descendant of
the monuments on the Boyne, it too must be a Celtic or Pictish tomb.
For the reasons, however, given above, such a theory seems wholly
untenable; but thus much may be granted, that such a tomb would
probably not have been erected, even by a Northman, in a country where
there was not an underlying Celtic or Pictish population.
[Illustration: 96. Cat Stone, Kirkliston.]
Before leaving these sculptured stones, it may be as well to point
out one of those anomalies which meet us so frequently in these
enquiries, and show how little ordinary probabilities suffice to guide
to the true conclusion. Among the sculptured stones of Scotland,
one of the oldest is probably the Newton stone. It has at least an
Oghan inscription on its edge; and most antiquaries will admit that
Oghan engravings on stone were discontinued when alphabetic writing
was introduced and generally understood. It also has an alphabetic
inscription on its face, but the letters are not Roman. They may be
bad Greek, but certainly they appear to be pre-Roman, and therefore
probably the earliest Scotch inscription known. There is another stone
at Kirkliston, near Edinburgh, which has a Latin inscription on it.
It is a "cat" or battle-stone, and records the name of Vetta, the
son of Victis, in good Latin. Whether this Vetta is, or is not, the
grandfather of Hengist and Horsa, as Sir James Simpson contended,[315]
is of no great consequence to our present argument. It is of about
their age, and therefore as old as any of the other stones in Scotland;
and there is also a third at Yarrow,[316] with a later inscription,
which seems about the same age as the Lothian example. Now the curious
part of this matter is, that having begun with alphabetic writing, they
entirely discontinued it, and during the six or seven centuries through
which these sculptured stones certainly extend, it is the rarest
possible thing to find one with an alphabetic inscription; and why this
should be so is by no means clear. Take, for instance, the Aberlemmo
stone just quoted. The people who erected it were Christians,--witness
the cross: the ornaments on it are almost identical with those found in
Irish MSS. of the seventh and eighth centuries.[317] It is thus evident
that the persons who drew these ornaments could write, and being able
to write and carve with such exquisite precision, it seems strange they
never thought of even putting the name of the persons who erected the
stone or some word expressive of its purpose. The Irish probably would
have done so; and the Scandinavians would have covered them with Runes,
as they did those they erected in the Isle of Man, though probably at
a somewhat later date. In the instance of the two crosses illustrated
in the woodcuts, Nos. 97 and 98, the first bears an inscription to
the effect that "Sandulf the Swarthy erected this cross to his wife,
Arnbjörg." From their names, both evidently of Scandinavian origin. The
inscription on the side of the second runs thus: "Mal Lumkun erected
this cross to his foster-father Malmor, or Mal Muru."[318] Both names
of undoubted Gaelic derivation, thus showing that at that age at least
any ethnographic theory that would give these stones exclusively to
either race can hardly be maintained. The two races seem then to have
followed the fashion of the day as they did in ruder times. Except
in the instance of the St. Vigean's stone on which Sir James Simpson
read the name of Drosten,[319] ascribing it with very fair certainty
to the year 729 A.D., none of the 101 stones illustrated in
the splendid volumes of the Spalding Club contains hardly a scrap
of alphabetic writing. Throughout they preferred a strange sort of
Heraldic symbolism, which still defies the ingenuity of our best
antiquaries to interpret. It was a very perverse course to pursue,
but while men did so, probably as late as Sueno's time, A.D.
1008,[320] it is needless to ask why men set up rude stones to
commemorate events or persons when they could have carved or inscribed
them; or why, in fact, as we would insist on doing, they did not avail
themselves of all the resources of the art or the learning which they
possessed?
[Illustration: 97. Cross in Isle of Man, bearing Runic Inscription.]
[Illustration: 98. Cross in Isle of Man, bearing Runic Inscription.]
The other rude-stone monuments of Scotland are neither numerous nor
important. Daniel Wilson enumerates some half-dozen of dolmens as still
existing in the lowlands and in parts of Argyllshire, but none of them
are important from their size, nor do they present any peculiarities
to distinguish them from those of Wales or Ireland; while no tradition
has attached itself to any of them in such a manner as to give a
hint of their age or purpose. Besides these, there are a number of
single stones scattered here and there over the country, but there is
nothing to indicate whether they are cat stones or mark boundaries,
or merely graves, so that to enumerate them would be as tedious as it
would be uninstructive. What little interest may attach to them will
be better appreciated when we have examined those of Scandinavia and
France, which are more numerous, as well as more easily understood.
When, too, we have mastered them in so far as the materials available
enable us to do, we shall be able to appreciate the significance of
much that has just been enunciated. Meanwhile it may be as well to
remark that what we already seem to have gained is a knowledge that
a circle-building race came from the north, touching first at the
Orkneys, and, passing down through the Hebrides, divided themselves on
the north of Ireland--one branch settling on the west coast of that
island, the other landing in Cumberland, and penetrating into England
in a south-easterly direction.
In like manner we seem to have a dolmen-building race who from the
south first touched in Cornwall, and thence spread northwards, settling
on both sides of St. George's Channel, and leaving traces of their
existence on the south and both coasts of Ireland, as well as in Wales
and the west of England generally. Whether these two opposite currents
were or were not synchronous is a question that must be determined
hereafter. We shall also be in a better position to ascertain what the
races were who thus spread themselves along our coasts, when we have
examined the only countries from which it is probable they could have
issued.
[Footnote 271: 'The Sculptured Stones of Scotland.' Two vols.
quarto. Published by the Spalding Club. 1856 and 1867.]
[Footnote 272: A few years ago the late Mr. Rhind, of Sibster,
left an estate worth more than 400_l._ per annum, to endow a
Professorship of Archæology in Scotland, who was also to act as
curator of the monuments themselves, but unfortunately left it
encumbered by a life interest to a relative. Two years ago an
attempt was made to get the Government to anticipate the falling
in of the life interest, and appointing Mr. Stuart to the office
at once. It was, perhaps, too much to expect so enlightened an act
of liberality from a Government like ours. But their decision is
to be regretted; not only because we may thereby lose altogether
the services of the best qualified man in Scotland for the purpose,
but more so because the monuments are themselves fast disappearing
without any record of them being preserved. Agriculture is very
merciless towards a big stone or a howe that stands in the way of
the plough, and in so improving a country as Scotland, very little
may remain for the next generation to record.]
[Footnote 273: The account of these monuments is abstracted from a
paper by Lieutenant Thomas, of H. M.'s surveying vessel _Woodlark_.
It is the most detailed and most correct survey we have of any
British group. It was published in the 'Archæologia,' xxxiv. p. 88
_et seq._]
[Footnote 274: Four stones are represented as standing when
Barry's view of the monument was published in 1807, and four
are represented as standing in a series of etchings made by the
Duchess-Countess of Sutherland from her own drawings, in 1805. If
the elbow in the bridge shown in the drawing in the frontispiece
is not a licence permitted to himself by the artist, my drawing is
earlier than either of these. When I first purchased it I believed
it to be by Daniel. His tour, however, took place in 1815. From the
internal evidence this drawing must be anterior to 1805.]
[Footnote 275: 'Archæologia,' xxxiv. p. 89.]
[Footnote 276: 'Archæologia,' xxxiv. p. 90.]
[Footnote 277: The greater part of this find, with all the coins,
is in the Museum of the Society of Antiquaries, Edinburgh. The
dates on the coins were kindly copied for me by Mr. Stuart.]
[Footnote 278: 'Notice on the Runic Inscriptions discovered during
Recent Excavations in the Orkneys.' By James Farrer, M.P. 1862.]
[Footnote 279: 'Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot.' v. p. 70.]
[Footnote 280: Olaus Wormius, 'Monumenta Danica,' p. 188, fig. 6.]
[Footnote 281: Barry's 'History of Orkney,' p. 399. See also
'Archæologia,' xxxiv. p. 89.]
[Footnote 282: Barry, 'History of the Orkneys,' p. 124.]
[Footnote 283: Mr. George Petrie has recently at my request made
some excavations in these mounds, but the results have not been
conclusive. He is of opinion that one of the mounds he explored may
be the grave of Thorfin, but it is too much ruined to afford any
certain indication.]
[Footnote 284: 'Mémoires des Ant. du Nord,' iii. p. 236.]
[Footnote 285: These dates are taken from Barry, p. 112 _et seq._,
but they seem undisputed, and are found in all histories.]
[Footnote 286: 'History of Orkney.' p. 125.]
[Footnote 287: 'Prehistoric Annals of Scotland,' p. 112.
'Archæologia,' xxxiv. p. 89.]
[Footnote 288: 'Mémoires des Antiquaires du Nord,' iii. p. 250.]
[Footnote 289: Farrer, 'Inscriptions in the Orkneys,' p. 37].
[Footnote 290: A few years ago such a question would have been
considered answered as soon as stated; but, as Daniel Wilson writes
in a despairing passage in his Introduction,* "This theory of
the Danish origin of nearly all our native arts, though adopted
without investigation, and fostered in defiance of evidence, has
long ceased to be a mere popular error. It is, moreover," he
adds, "a cumulative error; Pennant, Chambers, Barry, Mac Culloch,
Scott, Hibbert, and a host of other writers might be quoted to
show that theory, like a snow-ball, gathers as it rolls, taking up
indiscriminately whatever chances to be in its erratic course." In
spite of his indignation, however, I suspect it will be found to
have gathered such force, that it will be found very difficult to
discredit it. Since, too, Alexander Bertrand made his onslaught on
the theory, that the Celts had anything to do with the megalithic
monuments, the ground is fast being cut away from under their feet;
and though the proofs are still far from complete, yet according
to present appearances the Celts must resign their claims to any
of the stone circles certainly, and to most of the other stone
monuments we are acquainted with, if not to all.
*'Prehistoric Annals of Scotland,' p. xv.]
[Footnote 291: 'Annales Innisfal.' in O'Connor, 'Rerum. Hib.
Scrip.' ii. p. 24. 'Annales Ulton.' _Ibid._ iv. p. 117.]
[Footnote 292: Duke of Argyll's 'Iona,' p. 100.]
[Footnote 293: On the left of the view in the Frontispiece.]
[Footnote 294: 'Archæologia Scot.' iii. p. 119.]
[Footnote 295: 'Archæologia,' xxxiv. p. 113.]
[Footnote 296: 'Proceedings Soc. Ant. of Scotland,' iii. p. 213.]
[Footnote 297: These dimensions and the plan are taken from Sir
Henry James's work on 'Stonehenge, Turuschan,' &c.]
[Footnote 298: Anderson, on horned Tumuli in Caithness, 'Proc. Soc.
Ant. of Scotland,' vi. p. 442 _et seq._, and vii. p. 480 _et seq._]
[Footnote 299: 'Sculptured Stones of Scotland,' ii. p. xxv.]
[Footnote 300: Vol. iv. p. 499.]
[Footnote 301: Glasgow, 1865, p. 186 _et seq._]
[Footnote 302: In the 'Archæologia,' vol. xxii. pp. 200 and 202,
are plans and views of six Aberdeenshire circles, and two more are
given in the same volume further on.]
[Footnote 303: 'Sculptured Stones of Scotland,' vol. i. p. xxi.]
[Footnote 304: In September, 1858, Mr. Dyce Nicol, with a party
of experienced archæologists, excavated four circles situated in
a row, and extending for nearly a mile, on the road from Aberdeen
to Stonehaven, and about 1½ mile from the sea. The first and
last had been disturbed before, but the second, at King Caussie,
and the third, at Aquhorties, yielded undoubted evidences of their
sepulchral origin. The conclusion these gentlemen arrived at was,
that "whatever other purposes these circles may have served, one
use of them was as a place of burial."--_Proceedings Soc. Ant.
Scot._ v. p. 134.]
[Footnote 305: I regret much that I have been unable to visit
this place myself. It was, however, carefully surveyed by Captain
Charles Wilson, when he was attached to the Ordnance Survey at
Inverness. He also made detailed plans and sketches of all the
monuments, but, unfortunately, sent them to the Ordnance Office at
Southampton, and they consequently are not accessible nor available
for our present purposes.]
[Footnote 306: These dimensions are taken partly from the Ordnance
Survey Sheet, 25-inch scale, and partly from Mr. Innes's paper in
'Proceedings Soc. Ant.' iii. p. 49 _et seq._]
[Footnote 307: _Ibid._ Appendix, vi. pl. x.]
[Footnote 308: Reeves, 'Adamnan. Vita St. Columb.' p. 150.]
[Footnote 309: Wilson's 'Prehistoric Annals,' p. 332.]
[Footnote 310: An amusing controversy regarding the existence of
this stone will be found in the 'Proceedings Scot. Ant.' iv. p.
524 _et seq._ It seems absolutely impossible that any man, even
under the inspiration of some primordial whisky, to have drawn
by accident a sculpture so like what his ancestors did fifteen
centuries before his time.]
[Footnote 311: Gordon, 'Iter Septemtrionale,' p. 151.]
[Footnote 312: In my 'History of Architecture,' ii. p. 345, I
ventured timidly to hint that this Armenian ornament would be found
identical with that in the Irish and Pictish crosses. Since then I
have seen a series of photographs of Armenian churches, which leave
no doubt in my mind that this similarity is not accidental, but
that the one country borrowed it from the other.]
[Footnote 313: See Stuart's 'Sculptured Stones,' and Colonel Forbes
Leslie's 'Early Races of Scotland,' _passim_.]
[Footnote 314: Reeves, 'Adamnan. Vita St. Columb.' pp. 65 and 145.]
[Footnote 315: 'Proceedings Soc. Ant. Scot.' iv. p. 119 _et seq._]
[Footnote 316: _Ibid._ iv. p. 524.]
[Footnote 317: Westwood, 'Facsimiles of Irish MSS.' plates 4-28.]
[Footnote 318: These two woodcuts are borrowed from Worsaae, 'The
Danes and Northmen.' London, 1852.]
[Footnote 319: 'Sculptured Stones of Scotland,' ii. p. 70.]
[Footnote 320: Camden, 'Brit.' 1268.]