Underground Angus - Pictish Souterrains, the Fairy Tradition

   One of my posts in 2018 an underground cave or tunnel at Lintrose, near Kettins (now in Perthshire, but historically in Angus), which may in fact have been a Pictish souterrain.  (The post can be read here.) These underground structures, which seem to have been made and used just beyond the horizon of the historical threshold in Scotland, have always fascinated people.  The souterrains at Pitcur near Monifieth were close to an area named the Cur Hills and the knowledge of underground works here seemed to have inspired a folk belief locally that there was some connection with fairy folk . (Read the article here.)


  Also known as earth-houses or weems, souterrains are not unique to Scotland, although the function of similar structures in Ireland, France and Cornwall (where they are known as fogous) may not be identical.  This article looks at the general lore surrounding souterrains.  The archaeology and history of these fascinating constructions will be postponed until I thoroughly digest the classic book on the subject written by W.T. Wainwright (pictured below).

Barns of Airlie souterrain

 Were they underground dwellings, subterranean stores, something else?  One thing is clear: Angus has a notable concentration of these mysterious structures. There are concentrations in such places as Kettins and the Barns of Airlie, where there were six of them.  I have mentioned the folkloric connection with underground passages and Pitcur previously, which may have been inspired by the remains of a souterrain.  The souterrain at Carlungie seems also to have inspired local people to link the structures to tales of fairies, and the connection is made clear by the following anecdote relating to Airlie which was written by the writer David MacRitchie (of whom, more below), in his article 'Stories of the Mound- Dwellers' in The Celtic Review, 4 (1907-8), pp. 316-330:

It has sometimes happened that, long after an underground house has ceased to be occupied, new settlers of another race have built their houses directly above these concealed retreats, quite unaware of their existence. Thus, at Airlie in Forfarshire, a cottage was supposed to be haunted because oatcakes, baking on the hearthstone, occasionally disappeared from sight in a mysterious manner. It was thought proper to pull down the cottage altogether, and then it was accidentally found out that the hearthstone was the roof-stone of an underground house, into which the cake had fallen through a crevice. Nobody had thought of lifting the hearthstone before proceeding to the extremity of pulling down the house. That was in the eighteenth century. (p. 319)

David MacRitchie and his Theories

   The belief, among some of the later population of Scotland, that some underground places were the dwellings of fairies has led to some anthropological theories which attempt to link the belief in a vanished race of people with tales of fairy folk. A primary mover in these theoretical fields in Scotland was David MacRitchie, who first propounded his racial theory in Ancient and Modern Britons, A Retrospect (1884).  Although Mr MacRitchie's theories are somewhat wider than a local, Angus concern they deserve space here because of their importance (they are important but, unfortunately, not correct). The author's article on the Pitcur earth-house is reproduced at the tail end of this piece.  It is notable for not containing any of the author's racial theories about the Picts.

   Who were the original Pictish people in Angus and elsewhere in our part of the world? One of the lingering misconceptions today is that the Picts were wee folk, elusive and cunning, and that the survival of some of this indigenous stock gave rise to tales of elusive, hill dwelling pygmy types who had magical powers.  This view was further propounded by people such as MacRitchie in his works, such as The Testimony of Tradition (1890) and Fians, Fairies and Picts (1893). While there was no sinister intent behind the ideas of this author, and he was certainly not alone in propounding them, there was inevitable manipulation of these ideas among other writers and soon the notions of superior and inferior races were added in to the mix.  However, The Testimony of Tradition did not go without its critics.  The author threw in ideas about gypsies, Finns and other races and wrote numerous articles of pseudo-scholarship to back up his claims.  His ideas are wholly discredited in the modern era.  Yet some of his works contain sparks of innovative ideas and his books are very readable.  Such is the fate of many of his Victorian contemporaries.

Plan of the Pitcur weem.

Appendix - 'A Visit to a Pict's House,' 

David MacRitchie

   As I have to-day visited an admirable specimen of the underground structures so frequently found in Scotland, where they are popularly known as 'Picts' Houses,' some description of it will, I think. prove interesting to the readers of Science, although the place itself has long been known to antiquaries. There are very many examples of these structures in the British Isles, notably in Scotland and Ireland, but unfortunately the information regarding them (almost invariably most exact and detailed) is for the most part buried in the various volumes of  'Transactions' of antiquarian societies, and is thereby practically useless. If the descriptions already published regarding these buildings, together with reproductions of the diagrams illustrating them, could be focused into one volume, the result would be of the highest interest to those who have paid attention to the subject, and would be a positive revelation to those who have not yet done so.' And one great advantage to be derived from a comparison of the various delineations would be that the student would realize that, although such structures are referred to under many names (such as underground caves, souterrains, weems, cloghauns, Picts' Houses, and-popularly-fairy halls), they all belong to one great class.

   The specimen visited by me to-day is situated at Pitcur, in Forfarshire, about two miles to the south-east of the small town of Coupar-Angus, and is locally known as 'the Picts' house.' It is entirely beneath the surface of the ground, and the portion of it which is still covered over stretches for
about twenty feet beneath a ploughed field. That is to say, its roof is covered by a foot or two of soil, through which the plough passes without ever striking the flat, stone roof below. In other cases, indeed, the ploughshare has often been the first discoverer of these subterranean galleries.

   The ground-plan of the Pict's House at Pitcur may be roughly described as of a horseshoe shape, with a shorter gallery parallel to the exterior curve of one side. The horseshoe itself is about 130 feet in length from end to end, with an average depth of 6 or 7 feet, and an average breadth of about 6 feet. The shorter gallery is about 55 feet long, and its dimensions otherwise resemble those of the horseshoe, except that it broadens out into a bulb shape at the inner end-a common feature in such structures. The line of length, in each case. is taken along the middle of the gallery, there being, of course, a great difference between the length of the inner and outer curves.

   Be it understood that both of these galleries are, as it were, great symmetrical ditches or drains, quite underground, and entered by several burrow-like doorways. Their sides have been carefully-built walls of large, unhewn,  unmortared stones, and these are still to a great extent unimpaired. The roof was formed by bringing the upper tiers of the wall slightly together, and then placing huge slabs of stone across from side to side. Two of the largest of these roofslabs measure as follows: One (the largest of all) is about 74 inches in length, by 58 inches in breadth, and from 11 to 13 inches in thickness, its shape being an irregular oblong. The other is about 60 inches long, by 48 inches broad, and 12 inches thick. These are certainly very large specimens, but one is always struck by the great size of the flag-stones used in roofing these underground retreats. I have described as unhewn all the stones employed in this building, but (as in similar cases) one is led to conjecture that some rough process of shaping must have been adopted, although the outlines are perfectly rude, and no trace whatever is visible of any tool. The selection of these great stones, whether from a quarry or a hillside, their carriage to the scene of action (often from a very great distance), and the method used in placing them in position, are all problems which have greatly puzzled antiquaries.

   In the Pitcur 'home' most of the roof-slabs have disappeared, having obviously shared the fate of so many monuments of antiquity, at the hands of proprietors and farmers in need of building materials and quite devoid of all interest in archaeology. But (perhaps because it goes underneath arable land) the northern portion of the great horseshoe gallery still retains roof: and this part of the building is,therefore, in all probability, in its original condition. It appears to have been of itself a  'house,' apart from the main gallery of which it forms a portion. for it has a carefully-built doorway leading into the main gallery; and, moreover, an extra ascent to the upper earth leads from tile side of the wall just at the outside of this doorway. On going through the doorway of this inner portion, one finds, on the right hand, a small recess in the all, about 33 inches high, 23 inches broad at the floor, and going into the thickness of the wall about 26 inches. Although this cavity is 23 inches broad at the base, the two slabs which form the supports of its little doorway are made to slant towards the top, where the breadth narrows to 14 inches. Within this recess it is possible for a man of 5 feet 10, and of proportionate breadth, to sit in a squatting posture; but it is a very 'tight fit.' I am particular in giving the dimensions of this recess, because the late Captain Thomas, a naval officer who devoted much time and study to these subterranean structures, and who found this little recess on the right hand of many of their doorways, regarded them as probably identical with the 'guard-cells' of the Pictish 'brochs.' Captain Thomas quite realized that if these were really " guard cells " they were useless for any but men of distinctly small stature - attribute of the Picts, according to tradition.

   It is difficult to convey a true idea of such buildings by written description alone, but perhaps these notes will give the readers of Science some impression of an example of a very interesting class of structures.

David Ramsay - The Royal Clock-maker, Inventor, Mystic

   There is a question mark in the title both because I am not absolutely sure that the subject of this article was a native of Angus and also because his whole surviving legacy is a matter of intrigue. We can begin with a bit of definite fiction. Sir Walter Scott's novel The Fortunes of Nigel, published 1822, is set two hundred years earlier. Early in the book we encounter a watchmaker near Temple Bar, London, David Ramsay, who lives there with his daughter, Margaret. Ramsay is described as 'an ingenious, but whimsical and self-opinionated mechanic, much devoted to abstract studies'. He was clock-maker to the king, James I (and VI), and a native of Dalkeith, near Edinburgh.

   

  

Clocks, Inventions, Occult Treasure-Seeking 

   The royal clockmaker Ramsay was a real figure, A Scot resident in London, though he was almost certainly not from Dalkeith. The Dalkieth connection was invented by Scot to link the character with the eminent Ramsays of Dalhousie. More likely by far is that this Scottish craftsman was a scion of the family who had connections in Dundee and Auchterhouse. Richard Bissell Prosser's article in the Dictionary of National Biography perpetuates the spurious Dalhousie connection but contains much of interest. John Smith's book Old Scottish Clockmakers (1921) confirms that the London Ramsay was a Dundonian.

   David Ramsay was royal clockmaker to kings James I and Charles I in succession and was also page of the bedchamber and groom of the privy chamber, and so a man of some standing in court circles as well as a 'mere' master craftsman. His interests in science apparently spread far and wide. Between 1618 and 1638 David obtained eight patents for various inventions related to ploughing soil, fertilising the earth, raising water by fire, refining metals, propelling ships, plus other things.

    Even more fascinating is his connection with the darker sciences.  The astrologer William Lilly (1602-1681), who seems to have been a kindred spirit, relates in his posthumously published Life and Times (1715) that Ramsay and others conducted an investigation in Westminster Abbey in 1634, using a diving rod to search for concealed treasure. Ramsay actually got permission for his exploration of the abbey from Dean Witham (who was also Bishop of Lincoln at the time.)The supernatural efforts were aided by the use of 'Mosaical' (divining) rods, employed by a person named John Scott. One of the participants described the event:

I was desired to join with him [Ramsay], unto which I consented.  One winter's night, Davy Ramsay, with several gentlemen, myself, and Scott, entered the cloisters.  We played the hazel-rods round about the cloisters.  Upon the west end of the cloisters the rods turned one over another, an argument that the treasure was there.  The labourers digged at least six feet deep, and then we met with a coffin; but which, in regard it was not heavy, we did not open, which we afterwards much repented.

From the cloisters we went into the abbey church, where upon a sudden (there being no wind when we began), so fierce and so high, so blustering  and loud a wind did rise, that we nearly believed the west end of the church would have fallen upon us.  Our rods would not move at all; the candles and torches also, but one, were extinguished, or burned very dimly.  John Scott, my partner, was amazed, looked pale, knew not what to think or do, until I gave directions and command to dismiss the demons; which, when done, all was quiet again, and each man returned to his lodging late, about twelve o' clock at night.  I could never since be induced to join with any such like actions.

The true miscarriage of the business was by reason of so many people being present at the operation; for there was about thirty, some laughing, others deriding us; so that, if we had not dismissed the demons, I believe the lost part of the abbey church would have been blown down.  Secrecy and intelligent operators, with a strong confidence and knowledge of what they are doing, are best for the work.

 Ramsay was not put off.  The state papers in the following year mention his treasure seeking proclivities (and there is an earlier mention in 1628 also).  The politician and lawyer Sir Edward Coke also humorously mentioned the Scot seeking the Philosopher's Stone in a letter to Secretary of State Windebanke.

  

William Lilly. Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=914262

  Despite his status Ramsay fell into poverty and, in 1641 was, was in prison for debt.  This difficulty is referred to by his son William Ramsay at the beginning of his book Vox Stellarum ('The Voice of the Stars'):

It's true your carelessness in laying up while the sun shone for the tempests of a stormy day hath given occasion to some inferior-spirited people not to value you according to what you are by nature and in yourself, for such look not on a man longer than he is in prosperity, esteeming none but for their wealth, nor wisdom, power, nor virtue.  

   It appears that the elder Ramsay was still alive on 17th January 1653 for his son wrote the postscript of his book 'from my study in my father's house in Holburn, within two doors of the Wounded Hart, near the King's Gate'. David Ramsay may have died shortly afterwards.

Other Ramsays in Dundee, Auchterhouse and Tealing

   Andrew Jervise (Memorials of Angus and the Mearns, vol. 2, p. 122) pointed out that the Ramsays were first noted in Lothian during the reign of King David I in the early 12th century.  William Ramsay of London, whom we shall encounter again below,  stated in his book Astrologia Restorata (1653) that the Auchterhouse Ramsays, his own branch, was the oldest of the name and that they 'flourished in great glory for fifteen hundred years, till these later days,' adding that they came to this country from Egypt, where the word Ramsay signifies joy and delight.   The first record we have of Angus members of the family is in 1296 when a Thomas de Rammseye of Forfarshire paid homage to King Edward I in Berwick-upon-Tweed.

   Next mentioned is Sir John Ramsay of Auchterhouse who is mentioned as an ally of Sir William Wallace when the latter landed back in Scotland at Montrose.  Ramsays owned Auchterhouse until the early part of the 15th century.  Sir Malcom Ramsay was hereditary Sheriff of Forfarshire and his only child Isabella married Walter Ogilvy and brought the lands into that family.  

   Of the Dundee Ramsays, one conspicuous member was Patrick Ramsay, burgess of Dundee, executed in Edinburgh in 1567 for importing false money. It is recorded that his 'heid, armis and leggis' were carried by a boy from Edinburgh for display in Dundee and other burghs, for which the laddie received 24 shillings.

   His namesake and probable relative Patrick Ramsay, smith and gun-maker, was given charge of the town clock of Dundee in the church of St Mary in 1588 and had his stipend enlarged to £20 in 1604; it was later doubled from this amount. After a period away from the burgh he wrote to the burgh council on 27th June 1609:

Unto your worships humblie meanis your daylie servitour Patrick Ramsay, Smith. 

That quhair it is not unknown to your worships that I, after returning to this town when it pleased  God to withdraw his visiting hand [a reference to the plague in the town] therefrom, at your worship's desire, was moved to undertake my auld service in attending upon the knok, at which times your worships promised to have an consideration of my great pains quhilk I was to sustain in the frequent visiting of the said knok and continued reparation of her, seeing now she is all broken and worn and decayed in all the pairts thereof. Upon expectation thereof I have continually attended with my sons and servants since, and thereby have been abstracted from my labour which I should sustain my wife and bairns.

Therefore, now, I have taken occasion to remember your worships humbly, that order may be taken how I may be payed for my bypast service, and in time coming, gif your worships will give me reasonable augmentation to my former fee, I will bind and obligemyself to sustain the said knok and preserve her from decay and mend and repair her upon my own expense during my life, quhilk will be no little profit to the commoun weill.

   Of the two sons of this Patrick, Silvester Ramsay was first a teacher in the grammar school, but then probably followed the family trade. His brother, John Ramsay, certainly did and in 1646 stepped down as the keeper of the clock due to infirmity in old age.

   The historian Andrew Jervise (Epitaphs in the North-East of Scotland, I, p. 341) believed he may have found a member of the craftsman branch of the Ramsays via a much defaced epitaph in the Howff graveyard in Dundee. The inscription was to a goldsmith who died, aged around 70, in the year 1603. Only the last two letters of the surname - AY - were visible, though Jervise made out an eagle on the stone, which bird had an association with the Ramsay family.

https://canmore.org.uk/collection/789850

   The watchmaker connection of the Ramsay family is evidenced much later in Angus in a tombstone in Inverarity.  Here there is a gravestone dated 1772, with the name Margaret Ramsay.  The stone contains a shield which has details of tools belonging to the watchmaker trade. The stone has the following inscription:

This stone was erected by DAVID/RAMSAY Watchmaker in Forfar in/Memory of his sister MARGARET/RAMSAY who died the twentieth/Day of January one 1000 seven/hundred and seventy two years/aged twenty one year two months/and two weeks/The good thou hast a mind to do/Let it be quickly done/We every day example see/How soon our glass is run'.

   A prominent non clock-making Ramsay was Archdeacon John Ramsay (1569- 1618), who became minister at Tealing in 1590. His splendid tomb survives in the kirk there, depicting him as a bearded ecclesiastic (half-life size) reading at a desk or lectern. It was erected by his widow, Elizabeth Kinloch.

  

The Auld Steeple, St Mary's, Dundee, whose 'knok' or clock was in the care of the Ramsay family for a time.

Further Reading

Andrew Jervise, Epitaphs and Inscriptions from Burial Grounds and Old Buildings in the North-East of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1875).

http://ninetradesofdundee.co.uk/download/hammermen/hammermen_documents_and_pictures/various/Knok%20Makers.pdf

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Ramsay_(watchmaker)

http://www.tealingvillage.org/rareinscriptions.html

Yule and Hogmanay Revels,Traditions, Fishy Tails

Guisers and Revels at Hogmanay

  Most of the old Scottish customs regarding Christmas and Hogmanay have faded into nothingness.  At one time guisers were as common at New Year as they were at Halloween.  For instance, Jean Rodger noted in her book Lang Strang (Forfar, 1948) that the Hogmanay guisers in Forfar used to go from door to door asking, 'Onything for the guisers?'  The standard answer from householders was, 'Nothing but a red-hot poker.'  Despite this, they were invited in for refreshment.

   The Montrose, Arbroath and Brechin Review noted on 22nd December 1933 that many of the previously upheld New Year customs in Montrose were fading away.  It used to be a different story:

Among the broad-loom weavers the 'first fit' landed at a neighbour's house, produced his bottle a quantity of contents of which a quantity of the contents were consumed; then came the return dram, the cheese and the rye-loaf, after which the whole company adjourned to another neighbour's where the same performance was gone through...

  On Hogmanay the children in great numbers made visitations.  They would march through the streets singing -

Up stocks, doon stools,

Dinna think that we're fools,

We're guid bairns come to play-

Rise up an' gie's we're Hogmanay.

Th' day 'ill come when ye'll be dead,

Ye'll neither care for meal nor bread;

Rise up, guid wife, and shack yer feathers,

And dinna think that we're beggars.

   After getting into the house one of the company would chant: 

The master of the house and the mistress also,

And all the pretty children that round the table go,

With your pockets full of money

And your bottles full of beer, 

We bless you and wish you a happy New Year.

   Children would get out the tee-totum (a spinning top) and play for crackernuts.  Other games were played:  blind man's bluff, charades, and others, until it was time to go home.  On New Year's Day there might be shooting competitions for beef, pork and sometimes money.

   The rhymes and the frolics of New Years guisers were common over much of the country.  The late Victorian festivities in Glen Esk are admirably described by James Inglis, a son of the manse there:  

The hard grip of winter is over all. Great fires are blazing merrily on every hearth. The ambrosial scent of the whisky-toddy steams out into the frosty air from the open door of the village inn. It is the New Year season. We do not keep Christmas in our village. There are no night-watch services, no joy -bells, no Christmas bush or mistletoe; but it is a season of hearty goodwill for all that, and kindly messages are sent round amongst all our kinsfolk, accompanied by New Year's gifts. When the short winter day draws to its early close, the young lads of the village would range themselves into line; and with twanging of fiddle, or tootling of flute, or more often to the ear-piercing screech of bagpipe, they perambulated the village and its neighbourhood, visiting the nearer farmhouses. Out in the cold winter's night, they would wake the echoes with the following appeal

Rise up, guidwife, and shak' yer feathers

Dinna' think that we are beggars. 

Up stocks, doon stules,

Dinna' think that we are fules;

We are bairns come to play,

Get up an' gie's oor Hogmanay.

The day'll come when ye'll be deid;

Ye'll no care then for meal or breid.

Rise up, guidwife, and dinna sweir;

Deal oot yer breid, as lang's ye're here.

Wi' pooches fu' o' siller,

An' bottles fu' o' beer,

We bless you, and wish you

A Happy New Year.'

   The illusion to ' stocks ' in the above is to the kail stock or stem of the cabbage plant which always plays an important part in the Hogmanay and Hallow E'en celebrations; but of course it is not my function, in such a rambling record as this, to enter fully into a description of things which have been so much better and more accurately described by abler writers than I pretend to be. However, the reader can easily imagine the result of such an appeal in the olden times of which I am writing. The result generally was a quaffing of such plentiful libations to Bacchus, on the part both of the itinerant musicians, and of those whose hospitality they claimed, that the true blue temperance advocates of the thoroughgoing modern school would have been perfectly horrified. Assuredly in my young days the consumption of whisky was abnormally great; but then, as I have said, there was this saving virtue, the liquor was pure and good. [Oor Ain Folk, pp. 106-7]

  Yet another version of the games and rhymes was reported from the parish of Kirkden: 

Rise up, guidwife, and shake your feather,

Dinna think that we are beggars:

We're girls and boys come out to play,

For to get our Hogmanay.

The following was sometimes added:

Give us of your white bread and not of your grey,

Or else we'll knock at your door all day.

[Ancient Things in Angus, pp. 91-92]

   The Old Statistical Account of the parish of Kirkden in 1792 observed that Christmas was a great festival in that area.  On that day:

the servant is free from his master, and goes about visiting his friends and acquaintances.  The poorest must have beef or mutton on the table, and what they call a dinner with their friends.  Many amuse themselves with various diversions, particularly with shooting for prizes, called here Wad-shooting; and many do but little all the Christmas week; the evening of almost every day being spent in amusement.

Christmas Versus Hogmanay

   The above comments relating to both Kirkden and Glen Esk are interesting in the light they shine on the Scottish lowland (for which I mean Presbyterian) attitude to Christmas.  The latter may have been frowned on by the kirk and, in some places and times, actively discouraged.  The Rev. Rogers tells of the activities of the Rev. Goodsir of Monikie who was very active i the early 18th century in putting down Christmas observance.  On Christmas Day itself he toured the parish and checked 'those symptoms of festivity which his pulpit thunders had failed to eradicate'.  One housewife spotted his approach to her cottage and panicked to remove all signs of feasting from her table.  She swiftly put her seething kail-pot in the box bed of the kitchen.  The minister had no thought of looking there and quickly left.  However, the goodwife found that the pot had burned through three of her best blankets, which must have put a dampener on her festivities. [Familiar Illustrations of Scottish Life, p. 192]

General  Yuletide and Hogmanay Traditions and Folklore

 

   Auguries as to the future were drawn from Yuletide bakings. The farmers' wives in Forfarshire kneaded bannocks at this season. If they fell asunder after being put to the fire, it was an omen that they would not bake again on the eve of Yule. [Folklore in Lowland Scotland, pp. 22-23]  The Rev. Rogers tells us that the direction of the wind on New Year's Eve indicated the state of the weather during the remainder of the season.  

   The Scots Weekly Magazine in 1832 (p. 51) informs us that the first person who opens the door on Yule-day expects to prosper more than anyone else in the family in the forthcoming year, for they have 'let in the Yule'.  There was also a custom to place a table or chair in the open threshold and set on it bread and cheese as an offering to the spirit of the New Year. Also, a new broom or besom might have been placed behind the main entrance to let in the Yule. Another custom was to have a table covered from morning to night with bread and drink on it, so anyone visiting could help themselves.  It was considered ominous for any visitor to leave without having participated in the food offered there.   Servants would go to the well to draw water and then draw corn out of the household sack, then bring in kale from the garden.  These actions guaranteed prosperity for the forthcoming year.

   More interesting material was compiled by the eminent Welsh Celticist John Rhys (1840-1915).  One of Rhys's informants was a Mr Craigie who informed the author on the matter of whether a woman was permitted to be first-foot and other matters:

There is no objection to a woman as a first-foot, Mr. Craigie [of Oriel College] tells me, in Forfarshire; he has heard women saying to their neighbours,  'I'll come and first-foot you; mind you, I have a lucky foot.' The favourite thing to take is a red herring, but it is somewhat regarded as a joke, and if you arrive before the family is up, which is very probable, as the first-foot sets out usually soon after twelve, you may tie the red herring to the door-handle. The first-foot is not unfrequently trysted, in other words, arranged for beforehand. The usual thing in the town of Dundee is for the first-foots to muster in the High Street, which they do in such numbers that the place is crowded. When it strikes twelve, they skail in all directions, and there is a special tramcar to take some of them to Lochee, a suburb about two miles off, the idea being that it is the right thing to await the new year in the High Street.
   Handsel Monday, i.e., first Monday after New Year's Day, or that day itself (in case it be Monday), is the day for making presents.

   We shall return to the subject of herring's association with the Dundee New Year further on in this article.  The local pilgrimage to Lochee is also interesting and would be worth looking into.

The Herrings of Dundee, a Hogmanay Mystery

Three years ago the local press in Dundee advertised that a local singer, Lynne Campbell, was interested in reviving a local New Year tradition where people in the area would give elaborately dressed herring as a first-foot gift to friends and neighbours.  The custom was prevalent in the 19th century, but dwindled away through the 20th century. The fish were said to be hung up in the houses of the recipients who saw them as a lucky charm throughout the year.  Whether they always smelled lucky is another matter.

   Apparently the Dundee fish were habitually dressed for Hogmanay in a crepe skirt and a bonnet.  The People's Journal in 1950 apparently speculated that the custom was based on the enterprise of Victorian fishmongers anxious to shift their wares, rather than anything more significant.  Brian Hayward notes that children once carried fish as dolls on New Year's Day in Brechin (Folk Drama in Scotland, p. 102).  The tradition does not seem to have been confined to Angus, for even further north there is a record of something similar.  The writer Amy Stewart Fraser was raised in Glengairn in Aberdeenshire.  Her autobiographical book Dae Ye Min' Langsyne (London, 1975, p. 178) recalls how she and her friends 'took kippers and smokies dressed as dolls in crepe paper' around the streets.

   Fascinating to wonder why such a fishy tradition lingered in areas which were not fishing ports.

Hogmanay Poem by Marion Angus

 To end with, we have a thoughtful poem about Hogmanay by the wonderful Marion Angus which reminds us that this time of year, as well as Halloween, was a period when the veil between worlds was thin and the mind looks at times past as well as the future of the New Year.

Wha knocks at my door this Hogmanay ?

A cannie young lassie, limber and gay.

Lips o’ mine, e’en o’ mine—

Come ben, come ben tho’ ye’re deid lang syne.

Whaur ha’e ye tint yir Sabbath shoon ?

The fiddles is tuned and a’ the toon

Is kissin’ and courtin’ and dancin’-fey

Tae the screich o’ the reels on Hogmanay.

When the stars blaw oot an’ the mune grauws wan,

It’s ower the hills wi’ a bonny young man

Whaur the floo’er o’ love springs thorny an’ sweet—

And tho’ an auld wife maun awhilie greet

Ye’ll aye gang limber an’ licht an’ free—

Canny bit lassie that aince wis me.

Marion Angus

Some Sources

John Carrie, Ancient Things in Angus (Arbroath, 1881).

Brian John Hayward, Folk Drama in Scotland,  Phd. Thesis  (Glasgow,1983).

Rev James Inglis, Oor Ain Folk (Edinburgh, 1894).

John Rhys, 'Notes on First-foot and allied superstitions,' Folklore, 3 (1892), 256-262.

The Rev. Charles Rogers, Familiar Illustrations of Scottish Life (London, 1867).

Eve Blantyre Simpson, Folklore in Lowland Scotland (London, 1908).

https://folklorethursday.com/folklife/new-year-celebrations-herrings-hogmanay/

More About Markets and Fairs

There have been various posts about the markets and fairs of Angus on this blog (listed at the bottom of this piece).  The last of which tried to map out the year by listing those events of this type which happened in each locality.  However dates of fairs and markets were fluid over the course of decades and centuries and the size and form of markets also grew in the 16^th and 17^th centuries.  Dundee’s market in this period had to shift locations, as the burgh records notes, because of congestion from:

all cramers, chepmen and merchants - baith neighbours and strangers handling merchandise and small cramerie wares - whause to stand in the mercat with tents and crames, come to the kirkyard, on the south side of Our Lady Kirk, and big their stands and tents there . . .

The Rood Fair, Montrose

There was fierce competition between merchants over having the prime spot or pitch, as noted by the 18^th century Montrose poet David Morison in his note to his poem ‘The Rood Fair’ (published in Montrose, Poems Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, 1790):

It was the custom in Montrose till within these few years past, for travelling merchants convene on the street, or in some convenient place, the day before the fair; after arranging themselves three men deep, each exerting his whole strength, by pushing against one another, for the choice of their place (the weakest always got the worst).  But that foolish custom is now laid aside, and in its place is substituted the drawing of tickets.

   A few stanzas of his poem give some idea about the atmosphere of the fair, which had its roots in medieval times, as it was before the 19^th century:

Was there in Scotland even see

Sic fairin' an' sic' rantin',

Sin' Allan's Christ's-kirk on the green,

A tale he weel might vaunt on,

'Till in Mon'ross there did convene,

A core baith blyth an' wanton,

When lads an' lasses neat an' clean,

Came to the Rood Fair jauntin

                    Fu' blyth that day.

Lat's view the day before th Fair;

When chapman-lads do trot in,

And on the causeway pushin' fair,

To birze out the Red Rotten;

Wi' back to side they push, they swear,

While gauments far are shot in

To keep their place, till dirt besmear,

And rotten eggs play shot in

                     Their lugs that day.

Mercantile Skulduggery at Fairs and Markets

Herbert Maxwell's history of Dundee gives a fair amount of coverage of the humdrum detail regulating the burgh's fairs and markets, but also some interesting material about disorder, crookedness and occasional violence.  Here he explains that the authorities had to be watchful about stolen produce being peddled in the town: 

In the border land between the highlands and lowlands, within passes difficult of access, and almost beyond the jurisdiction of law, there were convenient haunts for cattle lifters, who often stole with impunity, and were able to dispose of their spoil in neighbouring

borrows-towns. This nefarious traffic had been carried on in Dundee. 

 [October 5, 1562]:  'It is notourlie knawn that diverse persons in the country and to landward, theftously steal sheep, kye, and oxen, and bring the bouks  [carcasses] thereof to sell in the market, and for concealing and colouring their theft, leave behind them at hame the skins, hides, and heads thereof, so that the marks of the samin can nocht be knawn, and the awners thereof restorit to their awn.'

The Council resolved to suppress this, and for remedy they 'ordanit that na person bringing flesh to sell, presume fra this day furth to bring ony bulks of sheep, kye, or oxen without the samin have with them and ilk ane of them the skin, hide, and head presentit also, under the pain of confiscation of all flesh brocht be them wanting the skins and heads.' Objection had likewise been made to keeping cattle alive in the town; and it was enacted  'that sheep shall not be transportit furth, but be slain and presentit to the public market ;" and again, that no one "shall buy ony sheep or cattle coming alive, but shall lat the awner slay the samen' and sell them 'to the king's lieges'—the purpose of this being to secure the animals for the use of the town by rendering them incapable of being driven off elsewhere. [The History of Old Dundee, Dundee, 1884, p. 55.]

   Five years after that ruling there was an ordinance in Dundee banning the selling of birds at market devoid of head, feet and feathers.  'Naked' fowls might often be unidentifiable and were often feared to be stolen.

Violence At The Dundee Fairs

  The right of the hereditary constables of Dundee - the Scrymgeours - to have jurisdiction over Dundee's fairs was frequently disputed.  But the fact of frequent disorder at the events was another factor which argued that some authority had to be maintained.  Whether the Scrymgeours misused their influence, or were thought to do so, is also open to question.  Four brothers from Tealing named Maxwell were at Dundee fair in August 1580 when they allegedly witnessed their cousin Walter Arnot being assaulted by the uncle of the constable, James Scrymgeour.  They rescued Walter but were challenged to surrender him to the authorities several days later, which suggests that he was being accused of some criminal activity.

 The ancient St James’ Fair at Forfar used to last for ten days, from 20^th to the 30^th of July, but had dwindled to a single day by the late Victorian period.  There must have been a history of disorder at this mercantile gathering also, for in 1652 a warrant was issued empowering the magistrate of Forfar ‘to arme with halberts twenty-foure men during the time of the faire, for keeping the peace, and collecting the customs thereof.’

 

Competition and Trade at Brechin

  Roger Leitch has looked at the struggles of the smaller burghs, such as Brechin, to maintain their markets in the face of competition both from other markets and from itinerant merchants such as packmen who were able to undercut the traditional traders at the established markets.*  Brechin’s economy was noted as declining in the 1680s and even several decades earlier native merchants complained to the council about what they regarded as illegal competition from chapmen ‘who retail and buy all sorts of staple goods such as lint

hemp iron tobacco salt serp and yarn, whereby they detain the country people from coming into the burgh to buy such commodities from us . . .'

   Remoteness from ports and competition from the Laird of Edzell’s weekly market at the St Lawrence Fair in the Mearns also damaged livelihoods in the town.  There was also an illegal market nearby every week near the North Water Bridge, in the parish of Dun. 

(*  'Here chapman billies tak their stand: a pilot study of Scottish chapmen, packmen and pedlars’, Proceedings of the  Society of Antiquaries of  Scotland, 120 (1990), 173-188.)

Previous Posts on Fairs and Markets

The Angus Calendar: Revised List of Fairs and Markets

The Angus Calendar: Fairs and Markets, Part One

Fairs and Markets, Part Two

 Latter Day Angus Fairs and Markets  (from the Arbroath Directory, 1926)

Fairs and Markets in 1846
(from the Angus and Mearns Directory)

Inchbraoch - The Holy Island of Montrose

   Among the demonstrable early Christian sites in Angus there are some which are more prominent than others, which is not to say that this was always the case.  The most famous sites are arguably those which continued to have religious significance in the centuries after their establishment.  Among these we may include Brechin, St Vigeans, Monifieth, and Restenneth.

   The criteria for establishing which place was suitable as a religious centre was likely never hard and fast.  Different places became holy places or habitations of Christian monks for a variety of reasons.  The traditional belief that many, if not most, early Christian sites were nothing more than pagan holy places rebranded by the sign of the cross is untenable.  But there are certain aspects of places which did seem to make them suitable as religious power centres. Sites  which were on the boundaries of political regions, or on border areas, were sometimes chosen by early holy men, mindful that they could thereby be at the fulcrum of two sets of tribes or regional authorities.  In our area the major example may be Meigle, the Perthshire parish which – to this day – juts like an isthmus into Angus, and which was likely a major Pictish religious and temporal power centre.  Another place may be Dargie/Invergowrie, straddling the later Angus-Perthshire border, a boundary perhaps representing the divide between Pictish provinces or regions.

   One tactic favoured by some wily early medieval churchmen was to inveigle the local warlord into gifting them their stronghold, which could be afterwards converted into a church or a monastery.  The primary example of this in Angus might be Kirkbuddo (Carbuddo), which was allegedly founded by the Irish St Buite in the 5^th century.  (The story of its foundation can be read here.)

   Christian foundations such as St Vigeans and  Logie in Dundee were made on prominent sites, hillocks which were prominent local landmarks, and possibly in these cases had ritual and pagan significance of some sort before the coming of the new religion.  Other places, such as Restenneth were islands (or near islands), which again may have had a spiritual significance connected with belief and landscape.

   In this latter category is Inchbrayock, or Inchbraoch, south of Montrose.  Also known as Rossie Island*, this is a site of some obvious importance in the early medieval period. Separated by two channels of the South Esk the place was a tidal island until the 1970s, access by foot being possible from the south side to Ferryden at low tide. The north channel facing Montrose was wider and served by a suspension bridge (replaced by a concrete bridge in 1930).  On the Ferryden side there was a stone bridge. Even in the Dark Ages this low lying island must have been, topographically speaking, nondescript.  What made it special, apart?

* Alternative names/spellings for the same place include Inchbrioch and Insula Sancti Bricchi. In the 13th century Registrum of Aberbrothoc the island is called Inchebrioc and Innis sancta brioc.

The Church, Churchyard and The Saint

   The name of the place is possibly the key to its religious beginnings, but it is doubtful whether this puzzle can now be resolved. The clerical author of the Old Statistical Account of the parish in the late 18th century suggested that Inchbrayock means 'Island of Trouts,' but most modern authorities agree that the name means 'Island of St Brioc', and that this saint is the Celtic British churchman of the 5th-6th century who was born in what became Cardiganshire and emigrated to Brittany, via Cornwall. The parish of St Breock in the latter remembers him, as does the town of St Brieuc in Brittany, where he settled. A disciple of the better known St Germanus of Auxerre, it is a mystery why he should be especially remembered on the eastern coast of Pictland. Archibald Scott, however, equates the Brioc of eastern Scotland with another man, also known as St Brigh, associated with Kingennie in Angus and other places (The Pictish Nation, p. 215).

Inchbraoch from the south

   His other major commemoration in Scotland is as patron of the church of Rothesay on the island of Bute. 'St Brock's Fair' on Bute also honoured the saint and was held on the first Wednesday in May. 'Brux Day Fair,' was held in the 16th century on the island of Cumbrae. The only other remembrance of him seems to be in Dunrod, Kircudbrightshire, whose church was dedicated both to St Mary and St Brioc. The saint's day, in Scotland, was 1st May. Suggestions that the place may remember an even more shadowy Irish saint with a similar name are dubious.

   The ancient church on Inchbrayock stood on the south-east side of the island, on a slight mound or eminence which was possibly artificial. The church is recorded as being dedicated in 1243, though would have been in existence long before this date. It was in ruins by the year 1573 and was demolished some time before 1684. Ochterlonie's Account of the Shire of Forfar, close to the latter date notes:

The river (South Esk) makes ane island betwixt Montrose and Ferredene, where the kirk in old stood, and the whole parish is designed from the island, and is still the buriall place of the parish. They always wait the low water, and carries over their dead then, being almost dry on the south syd when it is low water.

   The ancientness and sanctity of the island seems to be warranted by several accounts: its association with an ancient saint, the elevated position of its church, and the continuance of burial on the island after the church was removed. A further point in favour of its uniqueness are the three Pictish stones found on the island, discussed below. There is another indication of early sancity. Thomas Clancy Owen notes that the Angus name Annatbank must relate to Inchbrayock. The element annaid means 'ancient or prior [church] foundation' and is recognised as a name which is indicative of very early Christian activity. He states: 'it [Annatbank] being an eroded sand bank, can be understood merely as a bank which had fishing or collecting rights belonging to the local andod, Inchbrayock.'

   The chapel on the island was ruinous by the late 16th century.  In fact, the Protestant Superintendent of Angus and the Mearns, John Erskine of Dun (1509-1591), a local man, was accused by some of  physically demolishing the chapel of the island, a charge which he firmly rebutted in a response to the General Assembly of the kirk:

Hearing in my absence that a complaint was given upon me alleging that I had destroyed . . .the kirk of Inchbrayock and joined it to the kirk of Maritoun, I . . . declare to your wisdomes my part in that cause. I never did destroy a parish kirk but would have the reparation of all. As to that kirk ... I, in my visitation, finding it spoiled and broken, did request that the parishioners repair to the kirk of Maritoun, being near them, until their own kirk was bigged, the which I wish  to be done shortly and what is in me lyeth to further the same shall not be omitted. This is the truth . . . and if it be found otherwise I shall build the kirk at my own expenses. If your wisdomes think any fault herein, I am subdued, and shall obey your godly judgement. 

   We have no reason to disbelieve such a scrupulous individual as Erskine, though one reason why he, or other Protestants, would have done away with the kirk here might have been due to its association with ritual or idolatry in some form.  The fact that there was a complaint in the first plays shows the regard which locals held the site in.  The medieval church probably stood where the remains of the later vault now lies, but there is no very early medieval architecture on site.

The Pictish Sculptured Stones - the Samson Connection

   Three Pictish stones haves been found at Inchbrayock, one of which is now lost.  Inchbrayock No. 1 is the largest stone and the most complete.  This stone was found in the kirkyard on the island (grid reference NO 709568) and first described by Patrick Chalmers in Ancient Sculptured Monuments of the County of Angus (1849).  Now in Montrose Museum, where it was brought to in 1859, this cross slab may be 9th or 10th century, a dating based partly on the fact that there are few Pictish symbols on the stone.  The exception seems to be the  possible 'double disc' Pictish symbol on the top-left hand of one side.  Similarities to earlier Northumbrian art have been postulated. The figures on this same side, at the bottom, may feature Samson attacking his enemy with a jaw bone  (on the left).  The reference would be to the passage in Judges, chapter 15, 15-16:

And he found a new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and slew a thousand men therewith.
And Samson said, With the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jaw of an ass have I slain a thousand men.

   The particular significance of this biblical passage in this setting is unknown. The strange figure on the bottom right of this side may represent the Virgin Mary with the infant Jesus (bottom right).  On the top of this side is a hunting scene, familiar from many other Pictish slabs.

   The presence of the biblical hero has given this stone its alternative informal name The Samson Stone.  The link with Samson is conjectured to continue on the other side, with a small figure who is having his hair pulled by a larger figure to his right, supposed by some to represent Delilah.

   But the Samson link is by no means unanimously agreed.  The Pictish expert Isabel Henderson commented in The Art of the Picts (2004, p. 143) that:  'With...uncertainty, the dregs of a Samson cycle may be perhaps be seen on the front and back of  cross-slab from Inchbrayock.'  The figure supposed to be Delilah has what appears to be an animal's head, which would not only case doubt on her as a biblical character, but also summons thoughts of similarities to other figures on Pictish stones elsewhere which have human bodies but heads belonging to different creatures.

Inchbrayock  No. 1, front and rear.

    Inchbrayock No. 2 was found near the site of the other stone in 1857 while a grave was being dug.  It was also given to Montrose Museum.The front of this incomplete stone displays the upper section of a cross, with each corner holding a symbol which may represent St John the Evangelist.  The rear shows a hunting scene.

Inchbrayock No. 2

   Inchbrayock No. 3, another broken stone, survives only in a photograph and has gone missing since the early 20th century.  It also shows a hunting scene.  It was discovered in 1884 and may in fact represent a detached part of  Inchbrayock No. 2.

Inchbrayock No. 3

The Parish History

   The island and the adjoining part of the mainland formed up the medieval  parish of Inchbraoch, which was joined with the adjacent parish of St Skeoch  (St Skae, or Dunninald) to form Craig parish in 1618. (Inchbrayock was subsequently joined to Montrose parish.) The proximity of the dedication to St Skeoch obviously merits further examination.  The original church dedicated to Skeoch stood on the cliffs.  The historian of the county, Alexander Warden, describes it as follows:

The Kirk of S. Skeoch, Disciple, stood upon a cliff on the coast, some distance to the south of the debouchere of the South Esk. There is still a small graveyard called the Chapel of St Skay, but there are now almost no ruins of any buildings to be seen on the spot. It is a picturesque place, and  interments are still made there whensoever occasion arises. manse, which stood on an adjoining field, is still discernible. [Angus or Forfarshire, volume 3.]

   This saint too is something of a mystery.  Some have equated him with one of the numerous holy men called Eochaid.  Mackinlay (in Influence of  the Pre-Reformation Church on Scottish Place-Names, p. 26) believes that it is significant that this east cost proximity of dedications to St Brioc/St Skeoch is echoed on the west coast island of Bute, where 'there is a Skeoch in Rothesay, and...St Brock Fair...'  

   Significantly or not, the chapel of St Skeoch belonged to the ancient priory of Restenneth near Forfar.  Warden also refers to two ancient chapels in the vicinity, attached to the church of Inchbrayock:

the Chapels of S. Mary and S. Fergus.  Of the latter nothing is known, but the former stood a little to the south of Scurdyness Lighthouse, and close by the ocean. The site is now the burying place of the families of Scott and Renny, who were formerly proprietors of lands in the parish.

   Fergus was an early saint venerated in Angus.  His name occurs on the Drosten Stone at St Vigeans and he was the patron of Glamis parish.

   According to the writer Andrew Jervise:

Inchbrioch, which was a mensal church of the diocese of St. Andrews, was dedicated by Bishop David in 1243, and with its two chapels (possibly S. Mary's and S. Fergus'), is rated at 30 merks in the Taxation of 1275. The first recorded rector of S. Braoch is Sir John of Cadiou, who on 21st Sept., 1328, witnessed a confirmation charter by Robert the Bruce of Walter of Shakloc's gift to Henry of Inieny of the third part of the lands of Inieny. [Epitaphs and Inscriptions, vol. 2, p. 387.]

In Conclusion

   Without archaeological exploration it is impossible to say what the scale of the early religious site was at Inchbraoch - was it a full monastery or a secular site with some religious presence, for instance?  Does the persistence of the use of the burial place on the island, long after the chapel disappeared, signify that it had associations akin to a place of pilgrimage? 

   The associations of the saint Brioc give no clue as to why he should have special association with this place in Scotland: his traditions are the bland, standard miraculous fare of saints' lives. If the stones found on the island point to a possible 9th-10th century religious settlement, was there an earlier establishment connected with the 5th-6th century saint?  The emphatic use of the saint's name here echoes the local cult site of St Vigeans to the south (and further away Pictish foundations such as St Andrews), and may hint that relics belonging to this saint were honoured at a foundation here.

   I have pointed out the possible coincidence that Bute, an island on the other side of Scotland, has a dedication to St Brioc.  If we look for 'holy' islands on the east coast of Scotland these are truly few and far between.  One thinks first of Inchcolm, dedicated to Columba, in the Firth of Forth, but the early history of this place is likewise unknown. 

   Still, the similarity of this island in its landscape to other sacred islands such as Iona has been pointed out by  Fanch Bihan-Gallic; and especially its 'border land' position:

Inchbraoch is a double border: it is the island standing between Montrose and the fishing village of Ferryden, but also the island closing the Basin of Montrose, thus marking the transition between the river Esk and the North Sea.

   It is unlikely that we will ever know the full story of the holy island.  But the fact that there have been no explorations of excavations of religious sites in southern Pictland possibly gives impetus to excavation here.  The riches discovered at the hitherto unknown northern Pictish monastery at Portmahomack signposts the possibility of further discoveries in southern Pictland.

Some Sources and Further Reading Suggestions

A Calendar of Scottish Saints, Dom Michael Barrett (2nd edn, Fort Augustus, 1919).

Ancient Church Dedications in Scotland, Non Scriptural Dedications, James Murray Mackinlay (Edinburgh, 1914).

Angus or Forfarshire, Alexander Warden, 5 vols. (Dundee, 1880-1885).

'Annat in Scotland and the origins of the parish,' Thomas Clancy Owen, The Innes Review, vol. 46, No 2 (Autumn 1995) pp. 91-115.

Epitaphs and Inscriptions from Burial Grounds and Old Buildings in the North East of Scotland (2 vols., Edinburgh, 1879).

Influence of  the Pre-Reformation Church on Scottish Place-Names, James Murray Mackinlay (Edinburgh and London, 1904).

'Pictish Art,' Robert B. K. Stevenson, in The Problem of the Picts, ed. F.T. Wainwright, pp. 97-128 (London, 1955; rep. Perth, 1980).

'The parishes of medieval Scotland,' Ian B. Cowan, Scottish Record Society, vol. 93 (1967).

The Pictish Nation, Its People and Its Church, Archibald B. Scott (Edinburgh and London, 1918). 

http://www.ancientpages.com/2019/01/21/inchbrayock-stone-pictish-samson-stone-carved-with-biblical-symbols-and-scenes/

https://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=7154

https://saintsplaces.gla.ac.uk/place.php?id=591

http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/36229/details/inchbraoch+braoch+road+church/  

https://canmore.org.uk/site/36229/inchbraoch-braoch-road-church

Eileanan-Cladha anns an Alba, Burial-Islands in Scotland, Fanch Bihan-Gallic,  University of Edinburgh 2015, https://www.academia.edu/35728633/Burial-Islands_in_Scotland