Strangest thing I've seen in a while!

Pinkycharm

So not too long ago myself and a fellow boardsie (not sure if they want to be named) published an article on this place. Went down for a visit today and discovered twine tied connecting all the trees on the main central mound (of a motte and bailey). They were along the inner bank also in a circle. What led to me seeing this was walking up the road and hearing the noises from inside so myself and my aunt went in and discovered these yokes. The farmer who owns the land was out ploughing in the field next to it and hadn't a clue what they were.

Hard to see in the video but you can hear the noise the twine is making. Its tied to the bark at the start of the video. Some of them are so low that they could easily catch your neck. when they were blowing in the wind it was really hard to see them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwQezGDY08c&feature=youtu.be


Also a neighbour was in there cleaning rubbish from dumping and came across a group of these rocks. She took one, they fell out from under a rotten tree stump and she gave me this to put back. The others were gone when I went to put it back. Not sure what to make of it. Any ideas?? This is the one stone and I don't think these markings could be natural.

Excuse the state of my nails in the pics!!

slowburner

First thought about the twine - something to do with scaring the crows from the roost?
It used to be a common practice (maybe it still is) on driven shoots to tie strings around trees like this in order to force pheasants to fly higher. This was in areas where there were no natural features to make the birds fly high.

Then again, people do all sorts of odd things at what they consider to be 'special' places.

The markings on the stones are either plough marks, or natural. The pile of stones is probably a clearance cairn made up of stones hand picked from the ploughsoil.

bawn79

I was going to say ploughmarks also but I think they are on all sides of the stone, would plough marks not only be on one surface of a stone?

slowburner

bawn79 wrote: »

I was going to say ploughmarks also but I think they are on all sides of the stone, would plough marks not only be on one surface of a stone?

Not necessarily. Stones get rolled over, ploughed in, rolled over again, and ploughed over again. Especially if they are small stones like these. With modern agri plant, the same thing happens with much more substantial stones.

bawn79

Thanks Slowburner I kinda thought that might be the reason but I wasn't sure if that happened in reality (get rolled over and ploughed on again).

Pinkycharm

slowburner wrote: »

First thought about the twine - something to do with scaring the crows from the roost?
It used to be a common practice (maybe it still is) on driven shoots to tie strings around trees like this in order to force pheasants to fly higher. This was in areas where there were no natural features to make the birds fly high.

Then again, people do all sorts of odd things at what they consider to be 'special' places.

The markings on the stones are either plough marks, or natural. The pile of stones is probably a clearance cairn made up of stones hand picked from the ploughsoil.

That was a thought I had too but farmer insisted that he didn't put them there and they were cut down today. In all my years, I had never seen them there at any stage of the year. The stones were found in the centre of the fort which wouldn't have been touched by a plough so would that still be a possibility?

slowburner

Pinkycharm wrote: »

That was a thought I had too but farmer insisted that he didn't put them there and they were cut down today. In all my years, I had never seen them there at any stage of the year. The stones were found in the centre of the fort which wouldn't have been touched by a plough so would that still be a possibility?

Yes. It is very likely. Farmers plough the field around the monument, pick out stones, and the monument provides the perfect place to discard them.
Similar concentrations build up around things like Hawthorns. Very often, an isolated tree sits out in the middle of a field surrounded by stone. Generations have attached lore to the tree so it survives the ravages of agricultural practice. Over time, cleared stones are discarded around the tree, and sometimes the build up can resemble a cairn. These clearance cairns can easily be misinterpreted as constructed monuments, especially burial cairns.
The stones you pictured are plough marked, so their deposition is most probably a product of agricultural activity. The ploughing could easily have occurred a very long time ago and the deposition of the cleared stones might have a very long history too.
This is all part of the archaeology of this place, and is no less valuable in how it tells a story than the monument itself.