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.