A Scottish Labyrinth?

Trevor J Allcott has been following a vanishing thread to an elusive historical site from Northern Earth 93

Jeff Saward's labyrinths of Northern Britain (NE84) made mention of a turf labyrinth once existing 'at Stewartfield, between Dunkeld and Pitlochry'. I was unable to locate this on the 1:25,000 Ordnance Survey, and wondered if there could be any connection with Stuartfield in Aberdeenshire, where I had heard rumour of a now-lost labyrinth.

John Billingsley put me in touch with Jeff, and it quickly became apparent that we were discussing two different locations, his' being a country house with Beatrix Potter connections some 150 miles SW of 'mine'. He asked me to seek further information on the Stuartfield site, as, if confirmed, it would be only the second confirmed turf labyrinth site in Scotland, and perhaps the most northerly one in Europe.

I contacted the Laird of Crichie, Geordie Burnett-Smart, the source of my original information, and the owner of the possible site of the labyrinth. He was extremely helpful, and invited me to visit Crichie House to trawl through his archives, and also to examine a map of the estate drawn in 1775.

The map was something of a disappointment. It is extremely well surveyed, delineating field boundaries with great accuracy. However, its purpose was to provide a basis for planning land improvement, and it is a detailed report of the condition of the land, and its potential for improvement. Sadly, no antiquities were shown, although several remain in situ to this day.

Geordie also showed me a book, published quite recently by the local community as part of their Millennium celebrations (Stuartfield - Our Place, ed. Cecilia Penny), which stated the maze had been cut by the tenant of the farm of Dens early in the 19th century, and that 'the architect was unknown, and some mystery surrounded the subject".

Further enquiries produced input from a lady who claimed that the design had been drawn by her great-grandfather, tenant of a farm (Kings Crown) close to Dens. "To back up her story, she produced a framed picture depicting the design in ink with a caption The Walls of Troy cut out of the Hill of Dens at Crichie. The design was made on a piece of cardboard, with a brief, nearly illegible, account of its making."

The book goes on to say "The Walls of Troy lay in what was known as 'The Sheep Faul Park', and the site was in the centre of the S fence of that park at the 'Watterins' (watering place). At the beginning of this century 720th], it marked the exact spot whence the supply of water came, from the spring of Troy to the dam and mill at Dens Farm.

It is thought that the Walls were finally destroyed in 1869 by Wullie Scott, grieve and ploughman at Dens Farm, during reclamation work with 'sax ousen (oxen) an' a timmer plew'. That evening, when Scott met a local man he said 'Weel man, I've demolished the Walls of Troy and laid the ceety in ruins'."

A sketch of the design showed a typical single-entrance, dead-end, spiral maze. I found this report puzzling, as I would have thought that the creation of a labyrinth from scratch to be an unlikely activity for a tenant farmer, although John Cumming does not seem to have been a typical one, particularly as it seems that the spring could have been within the maze. I wondered (hoped!) if it might be that he had restored a dilapidated, but existing, feature. I therefore set off to Aberdeen Reference Library to examine their maps to see if there was an earlier record of the site. Sadly, I found nothing on even the largest scale maps.

I also wondered what would he the effect of a plough and six oxen on the spring when the site was destroyed. 10-century farmers had more respect for free sources of water for their sheep and cattle than to play those sorts of game with them!

A letter from Geordie to me casts doubt on both this location, and the date of destruction, which he believes to be earlier. He thinks the location was the top of Dens Hill, and that the site was quite small - about 50 yds circumference (thus about 48ft diameter). He has some records, apparently, amongst the current estate papers, but couldn't drop his hand on them.

I then searched The Proceedings of the Buchan Field Club, founded c1840, and those of their precursor, The Spading Society - again without success. However, a 1915 booklet, A Souvenir of Stuartfield and Crichie, suggests that the Walls of Troy was to be found on Jock's Hill, but gives no further detail.

So I now have three possible sites, albeit within a mile of each other, but lacking positive documentation, as all the contemporary sources of information seem to be lost.

To sum up, what we seem to have here is a 19th-century folly which certainly existed, but whose site remains uncertain. I hope that this is not the end of the story, and I shall continue my investigations.

Quotations from 'Stuartfield. Our Place' by kind permission of the Editress.

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