Alternative Names Uaigh An T-Seanalair
Site type CAIRN, CUP MARKED STONE
Canmore ID 25002
Site Number NN74NW 8
NGR NN 7317 4657
Council PERTH AND KINROSS
Parish FORTINGALL
Former Region TAYSIDE
Former District PERTH AND KINROSS
Former County PERTHSHIRE

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Archaeological Notes

NN74NW 8 7317 4657

See also NN74NW 6.

(NN 7322 4654) (information from M E C Stewart, 2 February 1956). A cairn of small stones overlaid with earth, 18' across the flat summit, 30' in diameter at base and 2 1/2' high, surrounded by a ditch 9' to 13'9" wide and 2'4" deep with an outer bank about 3' broad. Excavation by Stewart in 1884 revealed fragments of human bone below two small flagstones, south of the centre and near the base of the cairn.
Stewart classifies this site as a disc-barrow but neither the plan nor the description suggest this. It is more like a bowl barrow with a ditch and outer bank.
A cup marked stone 8' long by 3'2" wide lies in the ditch. It bears 9 cups on the west side and one on the north end. This stone is said to have stood upright on the top of the mound, but in 1838 it lay a short distance from NN74NW 6, having been undermined about the end of the 18th century.
Watson gives the local name of the site as "Uaigh an t-Seanalair" - the General's Grave - and the tradition that it is the grave of either Pontius Pilate or his father.
C Stewart 1884; F R Coles 1910; W J Watson 1930; NSA 1845

NN 7317 4657. A turf-covered mound bounded by a ditch and outer bank, as described and illustrated by Coles. The name 'Uaigh an t-Seanalair' and the tradition concerning Pontius Pilate is not known locally. The cup marked stone, not in situ, is as described and illustrated by Coles. Its original position is uncertain.
Surveyed at 1:10,000.
Visited by OS (NKB) 2 October 1975

No change to previous field report.
Surveyed at 1:2500.
Visited by OS (MJF) 30 November 1978.

Coles, F R (1910) 'Report on stone circles surveyed in Perthshire (Aberfeldy District), with measured plans and drawings', Proc Soc Antiq Scot, vol.44
Page(s): 121-3

NSA (1834-1845) The new statistical account of Scotland by the ministers of the respective parishes under the superintendence of a committee of the society for the benefit of the sons and daughters of the clergy, 15v Edinburgh
Page(s): Vol.10 (Perth), 550 Held at RCAHMS B.2.2.STA

Stewart, C (1884) 'Notice of sepulchral mounds and cup-marked stones, near Fortingall, in Glenlyon, Perthshire', Proc Soc Antiq Scot, vol.18
Page(s): 376-7