Fancy A Trip On The Crieff Canal ??

                            The Campus , The Cursus and The Stayt

  Colin Mayall

 Crieff

November 2009

(Updated February 2010 , May 2014)

      Crieff’s Cursus - The Symbolic River

( written 2006 )

Perhaps you had noticed that they were digging ditches and doing all sorts of things in the field where the new Crieff High school is scheduled to be built? . This was  a sort of preamble to the building work commencing in the near future ( after November 2007 ) . It is now a pre requisite of all building works that where there is an important site of historic interest archaeological work must be undertaken prior to works commencing . The proximity to the  old Stayt of Crieff ( the “ Parliament “ of old Strathearn ) was the reason . That was the spot where the Stewards of Strathearn sat on the elevated pimple that occupied the site  until the mid 19^th century . They had removed themselves to the comfort of 

the new Town House in the  17^t.h century leaving the small hillock 

somewhat superfluous to requirements . When the farmer of the time 

decided that this was  a bit too much to work around each season he

levelled it off . The following is a report of the find that ensued :

Report on the findings in Broich Road Crieff in 1860

In the month of November 1860 the mound was leveled and ploughed over and in the course of the operations two cists containing human remains were exposed along with an urn of clay the measurement of which is given as 5 inches across the mouth . The finds were duly recorded at the time in the local press from which the following particulars are taken : 

( ** Strathearn Herald 17^th and 12^th November and 8^th December 1860 ) 

17^th November 1860 

One of the urns was simply composed of blue whinstone sides , the ends of red sandstone laid roughly together . The bones were very much decomposed and broken so much so that had it not been for the presence of a pretty complete heel bone , ulna , rib etc it would have been difficult to determine whether  the remains were human or not . Some of these crumbled to an almost impalpable white powder and others appear to have been subjected to the action of fire . The second deposit of bones was less formal – resting in the solid soil and covered over with three rough slabs of no great size . There is an immense boulder weighing over a ton which has not yet been displaced but which is supposed to cover the upper part of a cist .

8^th December 1860

We will now take a glance at the interior of the quasi tomb before it was touched by the intruders’ feet . The surface of the bottom was smoothly laid with clay …….. an urn lay on its side …. And beside it lay a small heap of ( it is supposed ) cremated human bones . …. Within the urn was a quantity of mould supposed by some to be ashes of calcined bones . The mould was of a dark brown colour and had a rich soft velvety feel.

It will be seen that the urn now in the National Museum corresponds with that taken out of this mound; and as there is no record of any other urn having been found in a cist near Crieff in 1860, the conclusion is irresistible that it is the same.

It was on this mound that the court of the Earls of Strathearn and the stewards or seneschals was held, when such courts were held in the open. From the Statistical Accounts we learn that the old Tolbooth in Crieff was erected in 1665 for the accommodation of the steward’s court, “which from this period ceased to be held in the open air. “ It is known that some forty volumes of records of the steward’s court were stored in the Tolbooth, and that they were ruthlessly destroyed by soldiery quartered there in 1798, which used the tomes for fuel! But there are several documents extent relating to the court. When Robert the High Steward of Scotland, nephew of David ll (afterwards Robert ll) was Earl of Strathearn, he held a court

“ apud Creffe ” on 8^th May 1358 ( Charters of Inchaffrey Abbey ), and this appears to be the first record of the court we have. In the Abercairney papers which have been examined by the Historical MSS. Commission are several documents containing the records of the courts, and amongst them is a notorial instrument in the vernacular expede at the “ Stayt “ in 1475 ( Hist . MSS. Com., 3^rd Report ). The office of steward, which was at first by appointment, eventually became hereditary in the family of Drummond till heritable jurisdictions were abolished in 1747. It is a popular mistake to suppose that these courts were principally concerned with hangings . They had indeed the power of life or death , but on the other hand they had a wide jurisdiction in regard to civil matters , and from documents that have come down to us( a full record of the proceedings at feudal courts held on Hund- hill of Langforgrund  ( Longforgan ) as far back as 1385 still exists ) ,  we see practically the same officers as figured in the courts of the sovereign  accompanied the holder of the court  , and that in the proceedings there was a strict adherence to legal formalities . In addition to the stewards and the steward depute  , the other officers were a judge ( judex ) , a steward clerk , a deemster or doomster ,  a mair or officer of the court  , and a headsman or hangman , whose salary in 1741 was £27 Scots . In their proceedings , the first duty appears to have been to “ fence “ the court , which was done by the officer repeating a formula forbidding anyone to interfere with the proceedings . Parties were sometimes represented by council  ( fore – speakers ) , as may be seen  by reference to the notorial instrument of 1475 above mentioned  , and the judgement of the court was given by the doomster . There was an official chair  , apparently , as in a charter  of lands by the Earl of Strathearn . , in the fourteenth century  , the chair of justice and the “ place of doom “ are reserved .  But there is a paucity of information regarding the superstructure itself , and the form , arrangement , and furnishings of the court ; and this paucity is emphasised when we consider that the people of the remoter prehistoric age have left us something tangible in this urn , from which , and its associated remains , the archaeologist is able to build up the history of the culture  and civilisation of the era .

The discovery of the “ Stayt “ burial chamber and the Neolithic presence could not of come as a total surprise to those “ experts “ of yester year . A standing stone stood a mere 100 yards from the Stayt ( NN 863 208 ) . Sadly it , like so many others in Strathearn , vanished in the agricultural enthusiasm of the post Victorian era and is only detected by reference to old OS maps .The 1932 edition states ( scuse the pun ) “ Standing Stone ( Site of ) “ . It was  in the field  next to the wall beside the road .