The History of Lochee

Old Lochee Book 1911.

From "Lochee" - As it was and is - by Alexander Elliot - 1911

Chapter 13

THE "STANDARD" STONE, KING'S CROSS.

THE history of this relic of a remote age is so obscure and so involved in the meshes of tradition that chroniclers, one and all, seem to be completely bewildered. Some advance the theory that originally it had supported the flagstaff from which floated the royal standard of Alpin, who, it is averred, claimed to be a Scoto-Pictish monarch, whilst others assert that it was adapted to quite a different function. It is here that mystification obtrudes. That there was a Scottish king of that name identified with our neighbourhood there is as much diversity of opinion as there is about the use and purpose of the stone itself. Some doubt that such a potentate ever existed. Others, again, hold an opposite view, and aver that a King Alpin had actually flitted across the stage of time. Still, further, it has been left on record that, as befitted a leader in arms, he fought a series of doughty battles, the last of which resulted in his overthrow.

This final and crucial action is alleged to have taken place in the vicinity of the town. Looked at, however, in the light of recent research, this statement cannot be received with explicit credence. Maclaren, a shrewd, cautious, clear-headed annotator, who edited the enlarged edition of the History of Dundee, by Thomson, in a note to that historian's version of the Battle of Pitalpie, or, as it is sometimes called, the Battle of the Law, says that though the story of the conflict is commonly accepted, "its accuracy, in some essentials, may well be questioned. Taking such authorities as Tytler, Skene, Pinkerton, and Chalmers, we find that Alpin, King of the Scots, who had a brief reign of only two years, did fight a bloody battle about 836, in which he was numbered with the slain; but it was in the parish of Dalmellingten, Ayrshire, and not on the western, slope of Dundee Law. The Register of St Andrew says that Alpin's only attempts to extend his territory beyond his native mountains of Argyle were directed to the districts of Ayr and Galloway."

The date of the battle in which Alpin is said to have been the most dramatic figure, it will be observed, is fixed as the year of our Lord 836. One writer gives the date as 833, another places it at 834, and thus there is confusion. Now at this point we again go off at a tangent, as facts and figures do not agree. Jervise, a painstaking investigator, in his "Memorials of Angus" tells quite a different tale. That authority diverts the matter into altogether another channel, and tries to solve the difficulty by putting back the wheels of time by at least a century. He affirms that it was an Elpin, not an Alpin, who encountered the Pictish host, led by an Engus, in our vicinity, and was worsted in the fray. Jervise claims for that event not 836 but the year 730. We have no data, however, whereby either assumption can be substantiated.
In certain annals an account of the battle is given with a fair amount of circumstantiality, and shows that the writers have entertained a conviction that the Battle of the Law and King Alpin's connection with it were historic facts. Is there justifica­tion for such belief? As one writer remarks, " Our national history before the tenth century is a tissue of nursery tales, monkish inventions, traditional distortion, deserving of little attention, and worthy of little respect." This latter statement is supported by the affirmation that the record of the battle " rests chiefly, if not wholly, upon the authority of an ancient chronicle written, it is commonly believed, by the reverend and ghostly canons of the Priory of St Andrews, but which monastery was not erected till about three hundred years after the date of the battle, and it is upon that account not the more to be credited. . . . . All subsequent writers derive their information concerning the conflict and the casus belli from this chronicle."

Henry Maule of Melgund, perhaps more than any other narrator, is particular in descriptive details. "With much blood," he states, "the battle was foughten for many hours together, till Alpin, with a great force, giving a fresh charge upon his enemies, was unfortunately taken. The Scots no sooner see their King taken than they betake themselves to the mountains, so that the Picts that day remain victors, who take their prisoner, King Alpin, and beheaded him, leaving his body behind them, and carrying his head to their city of Camelon, where, in derision, they fixed it aloft on a pole in the middle of the city."
In another part of his History, Maule, still adverting to the conflict, says:— "Brudus overthrew the Scots in a terrible battle fought near the town of Alectum (Dundee) at a place called Pas Alpini (id est mors Alpin) [the death of Alpin], now Pitalpine [the grave of Alpin], in which battle he took King Alpin a prisoner, and presently caused chop off his head."

As to the declaration that the scene of Alpin's battle is claimed for Dalmellington, in Ayrshire, Thomson, who strongly clung to everything of local import, declares that the evidence is so weak that he would "continue to consider Pitalpin as having the best claim to the honour, such as it is, as we have heretofore done."

Most Dundonians adhere tenaciously to the tradition that one of a line of kings fought the battle of Pitalpie, and that the King's name and the event, associated with each other as they are, having been perpetuated adown the centuries, cling together inseparably. As patriotic citizens must we lean to that view? It would be a sort of sacrilege if we did not! Keltie, whom we have previously had reason to quote, adverting to the Picts, points out that Alpin, the last of the Scoto-Irish Kings, and son of Eocha IV., a preceding potentate, ascended the throne as successor to Dungal, the last of the race of Lorn, who swayed the Dalriadic sceptre. "Alpin," Keltie remarks, "was killed in 836, near the site of Laicht Castle, on the ridge which separates Kyle from Galloway. The fiction that Alpin fell in a battle with the Picts when asserting his right to the Pictish throne has long been exploded." Kenneth McAlpine, a prince of warlike disposi­tion, who founded a dynasty, after numerous encounters seized the Pictish diadem and became ruler. Kenneth was said to be the son of Alpin. His achievements were widespread. Could it therefore be conceived that the battle of Pitalpie had ranked amongst his many engagements, and that his father's name had somehow become identified with it? That a conflict of some kind had taken place in that locality is evident from the amount of warlike tumuli in the vicinity of the stone.

With reference to the dread purpose to which it is said the stone had been applied, upon consideration, and in a historic sense, it is manifest that the tale is exactly on a plane with the reality or non-reality of the existence of either King Alpin or King Elpin. It is averred that if King Alpin metaphorically lost his head during the battle of Pitalpie, of a certainty it is further declared that he parted with it in due and regular form upon that rudely-shaped block. Hector Boece, who was born in Dundee in 1465, perpetuates the tradition, and states that the stone upon which the King is reputed to have raised the Royal emblem was used for his decollation. Looked at from every point, and examined all round, this rough-hewn boulder really does not seem to have been well adapted to facilitate the exit of a monarch or any other being, no matter how rude the times might be.

It is well known that in those rough-and-ready days heads were not of much account, and certain people were indifferent as to the way they disappeared, provided always that they did. History teems with instances of involuntary decapitation. The forcible removal of heads has always been a favourite pastime with those who could afford it—with this saving clause, that one's own was securely kept in the place where Nature intended it to be.
Now, after all, did this reputed monarch meet his fate at the so-called "Standard" Stone? Thomson, as has been explained, and Myles held a contrary view. Indeed, that dread ceremonial, if ever it was performed at all, is said to have been enacted a good way off. "The place where King Alpin was decapitated by the victorious Picts," writes Thomson, "was and is called Pitalpie—a field near a thickly-planted grove about three miles from Dundee, and one mile from the field of battle. At this place Alpin's body was buried, and hence its name—the Pit of Alpin, or the Hole or Grave of Alpin."

Last century a mound quite close to Pitalpie had to be removed to make way for the opening up of that part of the estate of Dryburgh for agricultural use, the ground at that date being covered with gorse and timber. When the mound was opened it was ascertained to be an ancient sepulchre. Its contents consisted of several graves, and from the manner of their construction it was evident they had been the last resting-places of persons of distinction. Much care seems to have been bestowed upon the formation of these antique funereal repositories, each being built around internally witli flagstone slabs, and carefully covered with the same material. In ancient times it was only to the remains of the great and powerful that such elaborate sepulture was extended. Under the circumstances, and seen in the light of the legendary chronicle, it was only to be expected that the sepulchre would be regarded as having sheltered the remains of King Alpin and some of his distinguished generals who had shared his fate. A snake bracelet is also said to have been found amongst the debris.

In the Dundee Advertiser of date 16th September 1842 it is freely stated that the remains of the unfortunate King had been discovered at King's Cross. It is therein recorded that "a skeleton was found in digging through the mound at Pitalpin on which the stone stands to commemorate the battle fought between the Scots and Picts in the year 834. This skeleton must be the remains of King Alpin, who was taken prisoner in the action and beheaded by the Picts, for though some historians state that his head and body were removed by the Scots to Icolmkill and there buried, yet the fact of now finding the head severed from the body, which was in the centre of the mound, and distant some fields from the mass of bones of those who fell in action, renders it certain that it must be the skeleton of some chieftain, and there is no record of anyone of note having fallen on that occasion except Alpin. . . . These royal remains have been carefully collected and placed in a shell, and are now deposited in the Watt Institution, where they may be seen by the public."

Thomson waxes sarcastic over this discovery of so called "royal remains." At the date of the find the ground in the vicinity of the stone was an open waste—literally a "no man's land."- For generations it had been the haunt of gipsies, tinkers, and itinerant nondescripts, and as such was used till about 1860, when it was enclosed within the polices of Camper-down. Thomson declares that his opinion was that instead of the remains being those of a royal personage they represented all that was mortal of one of the nomads, who had been killed in. an affray, which was of common occurrence amongst these disorderly people. He also maintained that the separation of the head from the body might "be ascribed to the progress of gradual decomposition and the length of time the mound had concealed the effects of a private murder."

Thomson's view coincides with the statement of a person advanced in years who was conversant with the incident. This person, when questioned upon the finding of the remains, declared in homely Scotch that they were "juist those of a bit tinkler-buddy."
Returning to the historic stone and the place it is alleged to hold in our annals, another and more reasonable theory has been adduced. It is contended that, instead of being a useful adjunct to a battlefield, it fulfilled a higher and probably a more legitimate destiny. Research—hard, stern, analytic—in this and in innumerable instances ousts tradition from its place and declares it a usurper. The romantic story of the standard, dear as it has been to Dundonians, when subjected to the broad light of inquiry, is found to have had no foundation in fact. That is the opinion of those who have given much serious thought to the subject. Mr Alexander Hutcheson, one of the most accom­plished of our local antiquarians, and the author of the introductory treatise to Small's "Scottish Market Crosses," states that this unchiselled, shabby-looking block in bygone centuries had been the base of an ecclesiastical cross—quite a different phase of utility to that which has met with a certain degree of credence. "King's Cross," writes Mr Hutcheson, "situated about a mile and a half north-west from the ancient burgh of Dundee, was no doubt an ecclesiastical cross. Nothing now remains but the base-stone or pedestal with socket in which the shaft of the cross was inserted. An absurd tradition makes it the base for a royal standard in a battle fought about a thousand years ago.

A similar tradition attaches to the Bore-stone at Bannockburn as having supported Bruce's standard on that eventful day. There is no evidence that standards ever were so placed." The stone in question is circular in shape, with a flat upper surface, and its dimensions, which were recently taken, show that it is about a yard in diameter either way. The depth on one side is two feet, and on the other fully a foot. It is probable the stone originally had been spherical—a large boulder in fact—and that the discrepancy on the one side had been due to rough treatment or unskilful handling when adapting it to usage. The socket is intact, and from its shape it fully bears out Mr Hutcheson's assertion. The orifice in the centre of the upper surface is oblong, its length being 10 inches, breadth 6 inches, and depth varying from 5 to 6 inches. It will thus be seen that no flagstaff could ever have been supported by such an insecure hold, and that, too, considered apart from the irregular conformation of the bottom of the socket. Judging, also, from the limited dimensions of the orifice there is the likelihood that if an ecclesiastical cross had been upreared upon this base it was not of an imposing character, and there is the possibility, if that theory is accepted, that it had been raised as a simple sign-manual of faith and an object of veneration to passing wayfarers. Crosses, which at one time were common to this country, combined two orders— the cross ecclesiastic and the market cross. Few of the former remain. Zealots, who could tolerate no emblem that partook of the Papacy, regarded them as flagrant eyesores, and forthwith they were destroyed.

The ecclesiastical cross, in pre-Reformation times, stood upon a different footing from the market cross, and was entirely disassociated from the irreverence that too often marked the scenes of which the latter was the centre. On the other hand an ecclesiastical cross in mediaeval days was looked upon as a sanctified symbol of Divine significance transmitted from the best days of the Romish hierarchy. Denuded, therefore, of its picturesque garniture and the meshes that time and tradition have entwined around it, this simple stone, if it bore a cross, is lifted from out the rut of a romantic past and invested with a realism that should excite our respect, as in times remote it had served to inspire as with a ray of heavenly light the darkened understandings of those who were steeped in religious and intel-lecttial obscurity. It is to be regretted that this stone, rendered sacred by such associations, should be abandoned to the scrap heap. The stone in question, it seems, at one time had been built into a drystone dyke or fence which skirted the old Strathmartine Road, and situated a short distance south of Meric Moor. The point marked the junction of the boundary of the burgh where the parishes of Dundee, Liff, and Strathmartine met. When the Avail fell into decay the stone was placed on top of an adjacent mound, where it remained till knocked down by some mischievous persons. It may be of interest to state, for the benefit of the curious-minded, that in 1810 the tumulus was opened, and a search made for human remains or any memorial which would indicate that a sanguinary conflict had taken place at the spot. The investigation, however, as far as can be learned, was entirely fruitless.

VILLAGE OF PITALPIE.

The village of Pitalpie occupied a most beautiful and attractive position, being surrounded by some of the finest scenery in the neighbourhood. Built out of the residuum of the old House, the village or hamlet consisted of a cluster of eight thatch-covered cottages, which were occupied till close on 1830. About that year the cottages were removed, and their sites thrown into the adjoining land. This antique village was situated upon the rising ground on the north side of the three-mile stone on Coupar Angus Road. A solitary ash tree marks the spot. The foundations of the houses and the road by which they were approached can still be traced.

VILLAGE AND CHAPEL OF GOURDIE.

Few would conjecture that there existed, for how long no one knows, a village and attendant place of worship, designated the village and chapel of Little Gourdie, both being within the ground now occupied by the gardens of Camperdown. "The site of the village of Gourdie," writes Maxwell, " about the year 1800 was indicated by the remains of the foundations of many separate houses," and the "Chapel of the Haley Spreit," as it was termed, " stood within the enclosures amongst great trees." Though all traces have been obliterated of both village and chapel, this historian adduces proof that their habitation and sphere of usefulness were centred there. It seems peculiar that a place of worship should have been associated with the village when the pre-Reformation church at Liff was so near at hand. At all events, be that as it may, that writer has ascertained from an old burghal record that the yearly rental of a tenement in Argylesgate (Overgate) belonging to an " umquhile Sande Heris " was devoted to its support, the amount being four merks yearly—that is to say, when that sum was paid. Sir John Barnis, an ecclesiastical dignitary of the day, and chaplain of St Katerine's Altar in the Church of St Mary, Dundee, seems to have had the spiritual oversight of the "Haley Spreit." Herewith an interesting sidelight enlivens the obscurity of the transaction.

The executors of Sandy Harris, it is averred, did not meet their obligations with any degree of regularity, and as Sir John had not received his legitimate quota of stipend "sen ye burnm' o' ye toon," he appealed, as any modern clergyman would in like circumstances, to those whose duty it was to deal with such matters. His expostulations, however, were in vain. Nothing further was done for several years, the defaulters alleging that they did not have the necessary wherewithal to liquidate the debt because of the deplorable state of the town, which had been "harried aboot their lugs" by their "auld enemies of England." Despite their excuses, Sir John waxed wroth, and again appealed—this time with success. The authorities "decernit" in bis favour, and gave him "doom of possession" of the tenement "be the mouth of John Gardine, dempster "—that is to say, the common executioner. A fragment which may be accepted as having belonged to the chapel was recently discovered amongst some debris lying about the gardens. It consists of a finial or terminal of a pillar, and its design is clearly ecclesiastical. This interesting souvenir has been preserved.

OLD ROAD AND GALLOWHILLS.

There is still another memento of the past that falls to be mentioned. In the north policy of Camperdown the remains of an old drove road are perceptible. Its breadth is about twenty-five feet, and on the west it terminates at the junction of the Templeton Road at the fourth mile stone from the city and close to Coupar Angus Road. This road, it seems, was one of a number of intersecting roads that led to the market stances in the neighbourhood of the ancient burgh. Several roads, more or less extensive, converged on the west side of the Haar Law (Birkie Roundie), and led to Liff, Fowlis, and Lundie on the one hand, and Strathdichty, Dronley, and Auchterhouse on the other. Eastward, the route of this old road has been traced till it reaches the old Strathmartine Road at King's Cross. Flanked by low feal-dykes and overgrown with vegetation, it can easily be seen from the public highway.

The Temple Lands, or Templeton, the property of the Knights Templars, a wealthy community, were in close proximity. These lands changed hands more than once. In 1587 they were owned by a William Duncan, who, being desirous of conferring a benefit upon a deserving institution, devoted twenty-eight shillings Scots to the Hospital which belonged to the Red Friars at foot of South Tay Street, where St Andrew's Pro-Cathedral stands. That sum was derived from a tenement on south side of Nethergate, and payable half-yearly in equal moieties at Pentecost and Martinmas. The attestation of the gift shows the paucity of the educational equipment of the time, the assignation being couched as follows :-—"I, Villiame Duncane, with my hands twitching ye pen, led by ye notar, because I can nocht vryte myself."
Gallowhills or Court Hillocks, of which there are two in the vicinity of Lochee, were considered in times past indispensable accessories to every barony in the land. It was in these places, with the sky overhead, that the Baron Bailie held his Court and administered the law; and it was from a gibbet or stout branch of a tree standing nearby, after doom was pronounced, that an end was put to many a life. Within the fields of the farm of Ballfield, on west side of Loons Road, a mound of no great height is still pointed out as the gallowhill of Dudhope; and in the north policies of Camperdown, at their highest point over­looking Clatto Moor, there is another seat of judicial procedure that bears the same dread name.

SUBTERRANEAN DWELLING AT DRYBURGH.

Underground dwellings were characteristic of the Pictish era, and these unconventional abodes have been discovered in many parts of the area once occupied by these warlike people. It is recorded that "about the year 1788 one of the subterranean erections called Picts' Houses was discovered (in a field of Nether Dryburgh), which consisted of several narrow apart­ments, connected with each other by entrances or doorways, the whole being built of large undressed stones without any mortar or any kind of cement whatever to bind them. After remaining for some time for the gratification of the curious the stones were removed and the place filled up. These singular underground structures," it is continued, "are generally considered as old as the Roman invasion in the first century, and to have been constructed by the ancient Druids as places to which they could retire from the persecuting- and exterminating fury of the merciless invaders." In our notes upon the standing stone near west gate of Camperdown policies reference is made to the popular tradition that a subterranean chamber was found in that neighbourhood. As that stone is a considerable distance west of Nether Dryburgh, which was situated a short way south of the farm of that name, there must either have been two of these underground residences discovered or the one may have been confused with the other.