Saturday 29/11/03
It's absolutely tipping it down. Not just heavy rain, but a really soaking down pour and it's been at it for most of the morning. I park at the end of a farm drive that takes you from the A708 up the farm of Whitefeild. Donning goretex layers, stuffing notebooks and maps well out of the rain and sealing my camera in a zip-lock bag I venture out of the warm dry confines of my car. In my infinite wisdom I have forgotten waterproof troos so after about two minutes my combats are uncomfortably soaking. I was planning to head up to the farm building to ask permission to have a look at this stone, but it's on the way up the track, next to the road and has a rather well tended wooden fence around it so I guess it's okay to look (plus I'm wet enough as it is!). The stone is around 1.5 metres high by about 40 cm thick whinstone block. Legend has it that this stone was erected to mark the grave of two British Christian Chieftains. There was, at one time, a Latin inscription on the eastern face, however, most traces of that have been washed away over time- you can just about make out some lines if you squint hard enough. I get the feeling that this is a Christianised standing stone, due to the fact that it was under the ground until the 19th Century, that there was meant to be around twenty large cairns on the same moor and that there are two other significant standing stones 500 metres and 750 metres to the ENE of here.
This stone was 'turned up by the plough' at the beginning of the 19th Century and underneath were found the remains of human bones. The NSA of 1845 states that the moor on which it was found was also home to around twenty 'large cairns', but all trace of these has gone. The stone is said to mark the graves of two British Christian Chieftains. The inscription, now badly damaged supposedly said;
Here, an everlasting memorial.
In this place
here lie the most famous princes,
Nudus and Dumnogenus, in the tomb - two sons of Liberalis.
An entry from Ancient Stones, an online database that covers most of the standing stones, stone circles and other stones found in South East Scotland. Each entry includes details, directions, photograph, folklore, parking and field notes on each location.
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