pieces of Fifeshire freestone. No carved stones of this material were met with, but many blocks were to be seen, large enough to be used as ashlar or face stones in the walls. This would seem to point to the existence of a still earlier structure which had been erected of Fife stone, the materials of which had been used along with Kingoodie or local stone, in the construction of the building, which was so nearly all taken down in 1794, that only the west gable was left along with portions of the foundations of the side walls. Could it be possible that the association with St Andrews would lead to the use of Fifeshire stones for the earlier structure, and possibly to the employment of masons from the Cathedral town? Transport by water would be comparatively easy. The quarries at Kingoodie have probably been worked for many centuries. It is judged by experts that the Old Steeple in Dundee, and the Church of Fowlis Easter, both buildings attributable to the fifteenth century, are erected of Kingoodie stones. It may, however, well be that a church. existed at Longforgan long prior to this; and if, as is not improbable, masons were sent from Fifeshire, it may have been considered desirable to supply them with the class of stones they were accustomed to. III. NOTICE OF THE WALLACE STONES, LONGFORGAN. BY ALEXANDER HUTCHESON, F.S.A. Scor., BROUGHTY FERRY. In the village of Longforgan, Perthshire, there is preserved a relic, which tradition connects with the Scottish Patriot, Sir William Wallace. I understand it is the intention of Mr Charles J. G. Paterson of Castle Huntly, shortly to place this relic for preservation in a public position in the village of Longforgan. A fitting opportunity has therefore offered for a critical notice, which has not hitherto been accorded to the relic in question. The tradition, which is a purely local one, relates that when Wallace fled from Dundee, after having slain the son of the English Governor, he rested on a stone which stood at the door of a cottage in Longforgan, and there received refreshment at the hands of the occupants, and the stone which served as a seat for the youthful hero has, it is claimed, been preserved to the present day, and is locally known as the Wallace Stone.' The Longforgan incident is not referred to by Blind Harry, although he details the fatal quarrel in Dundee and the flight of Wallace. The earliest reference I have met with to the Wallace Stone occurs in a MS. in the possession of Mr Paterson of Castle Huntly. This MS., which gives a description of the lordship of Castle Huntlythen called Castle Lyon-is not dated, but from internal evidence appears to have been written about 1760, by one who had apparently discharged the duties of forester or gardener on the estate. The reference to the Wallace Stone is here given entire and verbatim. "Among the curiosities of this Lordship their is on in the Village of Longforgan omited formerly which I shall mention here, viz. In the reign of Edward Longshanks of England Sir William Wallace of Elerslie, Barronet, being a promising youth of 14 years of age was sent from there to his uncle's 1 The MS. is signed 'A Gardener,' but whether the actual surname of the writer or a nom de plume signifying his employment there is nothing to show. than proprietor of Kilspinde for his Education, who sent him to the School of Dundie-the Mayor of Dundie at that time was a Yorkshire Gentleman of the name of Selbie, who had on only son of 16 years of age was likewise at School their. On day when all the Schoolars was at play at the west port of that town Young Selbie found fault with Wallace for having a Suit of short Green Clothes with a belt from thence depended a Durk or Skene. This weapon is still pratised in Scotland and is very Dangerous in Close Combat, it serves for manual uses as well as for Defence; it is ten Inches Long in the Blade and two edged with a row of holls up the midle, the handle is five inches Long, it hings befor on the Belly-this Weapon young Selbie wanted from Wallace at any rate, so that a scuffle inshued between the two young Heroes. four times Wallace threw his antagonist on the ground, at the fifth atack Wallace drew his Skene & stobed young Selbie to the Heart and then fled to a house on the Northside of the Overgate of that town where he was well screened by the female Sex while the English Garishon vended their fury on the inhabitants of the town and would have Laid it in ashes if it had not been for the interposition of Sir John Scrimger of Dudup who went to his kness and stopted their fury. As this was the first of our Scots-worthy's Exploits Let us return to him. Wallace being cunducted safe out at the West Port fled up the Tayside. The first halt he made was at a house in Longforgan and sat Down at the Door of said house on a stone which serves for a knocking stone and hear the Hospitall Landlady give him an ample repast of Bread and Milk, from there he proceeded to Killspindie, but his Uncle fearing a Search from Dundie sent our young Hero with his wife over the ferry at Lindors on their way to Dunipce in Stirlingshire where he was safe at that time. But to return, that stone at the house in Longforgan still goes by the name of the Wallace Stone, and what is more remarkable ever since the for-mentioned period of Wallace, the name of Smith from father to son hath been Landlords of this House and how long before is not known, only this on thing among all the Revolitions of time they have been very carfull in preserving this stone as a piece of great Antiquity." The next notice in point of time, I have been able to trace, is contained in the Statistical Account of Sir John Sinclair, which gives the tradition as it existed in 1795. This account agrees with 1 This by no means correct description of a Scottish dirk was probably drawn from some specimen of a weapon the writer had seen. The Scots or Highland dirk is usually single edged. The double-edged specimens have probably been made from the blade of a sword cut down-at least any that I have seen gave me that impression. The row of holls up the middle' would be most unusual. It will be observed that the writer gives the popular Scottish pronunciation "durk." 2 An independent tradition in Dundee also assigns the house to a site in the Overgate. the former; but as it is rather fuller in description, and is moreover apparently the basis of all subsequent references to the Stone, I make no apology for quoting it also entire. "There is a very respectable man in Longforgan (Perthshire), of the name of Smith, a weaver, and the farmer of a few acres of land, who has in his possession a stone, which is called Wallace's Stone. It is what was formerly called in this country a bear stone, hollow like a large mortar, and was made use of to unhusk the bear or barley, as 'a preparation for the pot, with a large wooden mell, long before barley-mills were known. "Its station was on one side of the door, and covered with a flat stone for a seat, when not otherwise employed. Upon this stone Wallace sat on his way from Dundee, when he fled, after killing the Governor's son, and was fed with bread and milk by the good wife of the house, from whom the man, who now lives there, and is proprietor of the stone, is lineally descended, and here his forbears have lived ever since, in nearly the same station and circumstances for about 500 years." (xix. 516-2.) The story appears subsequently in much the same form in various publications, and amongst others in the Notes to Jamieson's Edition of Blind Harry's Wallace. In a local publication, Myles' Rambles in Forfarshire and the Borders of Perthshire (Dundee, 1850), the writer, in giving the tradition, states that he has seen the Stone. No mention is made of the Stone or of the tradition in the Scottish Text Society's Edition of Wallace. Mr Henry Prain, Longforgan, who remembers seeing the stone and hearing the tradition seventy years ago, informs me that the last male representative of the Smith family had been long abroad. When he came home he bought property in Dundee, and he and his sisters removed thither in or about 1860, and nothing is now known of the family. Mr Prain further states that the late Mr George Paterson of Castle Huntly, shortly before Mr Smith left for Dundee, asked for and obtained possession of the Wallace Stone, and from that date until now the relic has been preserved at Castle Huntly. A short description of the stone or stones is now desirable. The 1 He also rather inflatedly tells that it is kept as clear and clean as any dish in the house, and is exposed in as favourable a place for view as if it were a splendid piece of family china, larger of the two stones (fig. 1), which is the only one described or referred to usually in giving the tradition, is what was known amongst country people as a 'knocking-stone-a stone mortar for husking or preparing barley for cooking purposes. It measures externally about 15 inches across, by about 10 inches in height. The basin or hollow in the stone is 9 inches in diameter at the top, slightly less at the bottom, and 6 inches in depth. Apart from the hollow, the stone has not otherwise been shaped or dressed. It is a rudely rhomboidal block, apparently of Kingoodie1 sandstone, the edges and angles rounded by the weather or attrition. Fig. 1. The Wallace Stones '-a Knocking-stone with its cover. (1) The other stone, which accompanies it, and which ought perhaps to be regarded as the real 'Wallace Stone,' since it and not the other formed the seat, is a thin undressed slab of a hard-grained sandstone, not more than 1 inches in thickness, and otherwise of such dimensions as just to cover the lower stone, which was indeed its purpose (fig. 2). The under side of the slab appears to have been painted, and exhibits, when turned up to the light, many lines of circular striation such as would naturally be formed by contact with the lips of the trough when 1 A quarry in the neighbourhood. The older knocking-stones were like this one, unshaped externally; the more modern examples were squared or octagonal in form. |