Wester Cowden Farm

Also known as:
Dalginross, Roman Stone, Samson and West Cowden Farm
Nearest town:
Crieff (9km ENE)
OS reference:
NN774206
OS sheets:
51, 52, 57
Latitude:
56° 21' 42.33 N
Longitude:
3° 59' 4.84 W
Added to TMA by

Images

Image of Wester Cowden Farm (Stone Row / Alignment) by thesweetcheat

The northern face of the Roman Stone. There are a couple of cupmarks about a third of the way down the shadowed side, to the left of the ridge running along the edge of the rock.

Image credit: A. Brookes (6.10.2016)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Oct 23, 2016
Image of Wester Cowden Farm (Stone Row / Alignment) by thesweetcheat

Looking north towards the foothills below Ben Chonzie and Carn Chois.

Image credit: A. Brookes (6.10.2016)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Oct 23, 2016

Articles

Wester Cowden Farm

hamish
hamish Jun 30, 2008

You cannot miss this one,it’s rather large. There are clear cup marks on pointy end and other eroded featuring on the face. There are other stones in the near area but I couldn’t find them. Maybe next time I’ll bring a strimmer.

Wester Cowden Farm

BigSweetie
BigSweetie Dec 28, 2003

Visited here today on a bitterly cold day. The Roman Stone – the big one, as Mr Brand mentions below – leans at an alarming angle over it’s smaller neighbours. The cup-marks on the flat stone are quite shallow, but very obvious nonetheless.

The name Roman Stone presumably comes from the fact that in the field nearby was a Roman camp.

Historic Scotland lists this as the remains of a stone circle, but as Fred Coles pointed out in 1911, there is a lack of any evidence to suggest that these stones ever formed part of a circle.

Wester Cowden Farm

nickbrand
nickbrand Mar 13, 2003

The main stone, a large block which leans markedly east, is the Roman Stone itself. Beside it is a small block, and six feet east a larger flat rock with over 20 cup-marks on its surface.

Folklore

Wester Cowden Farm
Stone Row / Alignment
Rhiannon
Rhiannon Jun 29, 2012

About a mile south of the bridge over the Earn at Comrie, on the moor of Dalginross, and on the left side of the road going to Glenartney and Braco, there is a well-known standing stone, popularly named after Samson.

It is one of a group of three. The other two are lying to the east, and on the upper side of the eastmost one, there are twenty-six cup marks.

From ‘Notes on Cup-Marked Stones, Old Burying -Grounds, and Curing or Charm Stone, near St. Fillans, Perthshire’ by J M Gow – Archaeological Review October 1888.

Miscellaneous

Wester Cowden Farm
Stone Row / Alignment
BigSweetie
BigSweetie Dec 28, 2003

Directions – head west from Perth on the A85 for Crieff. Keep going straight into the centre of Crieff, and as you start to go down the steep hill, take the right turn (signposted A85 Lochearnhead, I think). Keep going on the A85 for about 7 miles and you will reach Comrie. In the centre of Comrie you will see a turn off to the left over the river, signposted “Wildlife Centre” amongst other things. Head down here to the bottom of the village, where you follow the road round a sharp right turn to leave the village. About 200m outside the village the Roman Stone is clearly visible by the road, on your left next to a sign for the footpath to Muirend.

Sites within 20km of Wester Cowden Farm

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