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St Fillan's Stones

Socketed Stone (Period Unassigned), Stone(S) (Period Unassigned)

Site Name St Fillan's Stones

Classification Socketed Stone (Period Unassigned), Stone(S) (Period Unassigned)

Alternative Name(s) St Fillan's Ash Tree; St Fillan's Seat

Canmore ID 24219

Site Number NN53SE 6

NGR NN 5708 3249

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/24219

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
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Administrative Areas

  • Council Stirling
  • Parish Killin
  • Former Region Central
  • Former District Stirling
  • Former County Perthshire

Archaeology Notes

NN53SE 6 5708 3249

St Fillan's Ash tree was held sacred by the natives (J Shearer 1836). In 1912 the dead stump still stood against the S post of the mill gate at the NW corner of Dochart Bridge (NN 5708 3249). A rock-cut seat, also associated with St Fillan, was said to be by the side of the tree but nothing was known of it in 1912.

St Fillan's Stones have been preserved in the mill since time immemorial. In 1912 there were eight stones; seven were water-worn pebbles, and the two largest, socket stones. They were used for rubbing the bodies of invalids.

G C Cash 1912.

The St Fillan's stone seat stood under a large ash tree near the mill but was swept away by a flood in 1856. The tree was blown down by a gale in 1893, but St Fillan's Stones survive.

E A Elders 1962.

No information was found regarding St Fillan's Tree and Seat; their former sites could not be located. The St Fillan's Stones are in a small aumbry, protected by an iron grille, in the mill at NN 5708 3249.

Visited by OS (WDJ) 18 August 1969 and (SFS) 16 September 1975.

Gillies notes several traditions associated with both St Fillan's Stones and the ash tree. He also records the continued observance (in 1938) of a ceremony in which the stones were taken out each year on the 5th January, and 'replaced on a fresh bed of straw, reeds and grass gathered from the river bank. MacMillan suggests that two socketed stones, then (1883) in the burial ground at Cladh Dabhi (NN53SE 3), also reputed to have healing powers, may have once formed part of the collection at the mill. See NN53SE 36 for more information on the mill.

Information from RCAHMS (SDB) 23 July 2007.

H MacMillan 1884; W Gillies1938.

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