The Caiy Stane is a single upright sandstone monolith over nine feet in height which lies just North of the Lothianburn Junction on the City Bypass, off Oxgangs Road on the Southside of Edinburgh. It currently sits in an alcove at the side of the pavement on Caiystane View, on top of Caiystane Hill. Click here for a location map provided by StreetMap. Click here for an arial photograph provided by Multimap.
The Caiy Stane, at the Side of Caiystane View, Edinburgh
The name of the Caiy Stane (pron. "Kay") is ambiguous, not least given that it has also been known variously as the Kel Stane, the Cat Stane, and the Camus Stane. The first version, Kel, might suggest the Celtic cal (caleto = "hard") element known in placenames such as Calder, Callander, Caledonia, and so forth. The second possibility suggests the Celtic cath ("battle") element witnessed in names such as Cathcart, Cath Law, or Cat Craig, but also raises an intriguing connection with the Cat Stane per se in Midlothian. However, in thinking of the etymological space between the cal and cath derivations, it should also be borne in mind that locally, evidence exists of the interchangeability of these elements in the Calder Wood in West Lothian, also known as the Cather or Cauther Wood. The third possibility, camus, might suggest a tenuous connection with Camilty, a few miles to the West, which is often derived from the name of Camulos, the ancient Celtic war-god remembered in various placenames and often linked with the Roman Mars. No doubt Arthurian enthusiasts could also find some intrigues in the Caiy element!
According to the National Trust for Scotland, the stone may be as old as 3000BC, in the Neolithic era, and various cairns, cists and urns were discovered in the immediate area, presumably at the time of building the 1930s housing estate which now occupies the hill.
The Caiy Stane
In 1903, the stone attracted the attentions of the archaeologist Fred Coles, who wrote of it as follows:
"The Kel, or Caiy, Stane at Comiston. - The site of this tall monolith is in Colinton parish, on the estate of Comiston, in the corner of a field between a quarter of a mile east of the loaning which leads from the main road between Fairmilehead and Hunters Tryst to Swanston farm. A very few yards east of the stone is a large square space enclosed by a strip of plantation on all sides. To the east again, and exactly a quarter of a mile distant from the Kel Stane, there is marked on the O.M. the site of a supposed Roman Camp; and a furlong or so to the S.W. of this, the sites of two cairns. On the same map, the ground lying to the south of the main road and adjacent to these sites is named Caiy-side; while at Fairmilehead, just at the point where the Edinburgh and Colinton roads meet, a straight piece of old road trends almost due south to Lothian burn, and this on the map is named Roman Road...
The Kel Stane is set up on the level and broad summit of the ground here, which is a very gently rising eminence. Its longer axis is set practically due north; for I found by compass that it pointed 10 points to the E. of N., and the variation for Edinburgh being at present 18' brings the edge of the stone within 8 points of due north. The east and west sides, taken at the ground, measure respectively 4 feet 1 inch and 4 feet 5 inches in breadth, the north edge 1 foot, and the south edge 1 foot 3 inches. It is of very roughly granulated sandstone. Its greates height is 9 feet 7 inches, and its greatest girth, which occurs at the height of about 5 feet, is 12 feet 9 inches. Its weight may therefore be computed at considerably over a couple of tons.
The most distinct cup-marks - on its east face - are six in number, of equal size and depth, and arranged in a very slightly curving slope (fig 14), the highest, near the south edge of the stone, being 1 foot 6 inches above the ground. Just to the right of the deep fissure, and near the north edge of the stone, are several more very much worn-out cups, clustered pretty close together. I do not think these have hitherto been noticed.
With regard to the site of the cairns above noticed, we have in a brief paragraph by the Rev. T. White, the following notice:-
'"In the neighbourhood of this [i.e. Morton Hall], but further southwest, on the grounds of Comiston, were found, in forming the public road, under large heaps of stones, various sepulchral stone enclosures, in which were deposited urns with dead men's ashes, and divers warlike weapons.' And again, when speaking of the levelling of a part of the ground close to the old (so-called Roman) road, by Sir John Clerk of Pennycuick, the same writer adds, there " were discovered several stone coffins with human bones."
- Fred R. Coles, 'Notices of (1) The Camp at Montgoldrum and Other Antiquities in Kincardineshire; (2) A Stone Circle Called the Harestanes in Peebleshire; (3) A Cairn and Standing Stones at Old Liston, and Other Standing Stones in Midlothian and Fife; (4) Some Hitherto Undescribed Cup and Ring-Marked Stones; and (5) Recent Discoveries of Urns.', in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Vol.37, 1903, pp.209-210.
Coles also provided the following sketch of the cup-marks on the East-facing side, but which (as the photographs below show) is a surprisingly incomplete sketch:
Coles, The Kel Stane, 1903
As can be seen below, the cup-marks on the Eastern (rear-facing) side are more numerous thatn those sketched by Coles, going about half-way up the full height of the stone. However, when the following photographs were taken, many of them were defaced by modern graffiti:
Cup-marks and Modern Graffiti, Eastern Face
Cup-marks and Modern Graffiti, Eastern Face
Cup-marks are also evident, although less numerous, on the Western (front) side of the Caiy Stane:
Indistinct Cup-marks, Western Face
Hopefully, we will soon be able to research further information on the digs which uncovered evidence of burials in the immediate area of the Caiy Stane, but our first impressions are that this may be yet another possible connection with the Cat Stane in Midlothian!