Tormain is a hill on the South-west side of the village of Ratho, near Ratho Mains farm and Bonnington Mains, upon which the remains of a number of definite and possible prehistoric rock carvings can be found. Tormain stands 147 metres above sea level and commands a panoramic view across the ancient farming heartland of old Midlothian towards Edinburgh and the Pentland Hills, to the South Dalmahoy Hill and Kaimes Hill, and to the West, Cairnpapple. Click here for a location map provided by StreetMap. Click here for an arial photograph provided by Multimap.
Towards Edinburgh from Tormain
In prehistoric times, Tormain was evidently a significant rock-art site, and may, along with the Brythonic and Anglian settlements found on nearby Platt Hill, be associated with the beginnings of the modern village of Ratho which it lies adjacent to. Its name is most likely to be comprised of the Celtic element tor- for "hill" (Cornish tor = round hillside, and Gàidhlig torr = mound), and -maen, being a common Brittonic element in many modern Welsh placenames, meaning "stone", generally in a monumental context, such as the famous Maen Ceti (Arthur's Stone in the Gower, South Wales) mentioned by Nennius as one of the Wonders of Britain in the seventh century. Hence, Tor Maen gives us, appropriately enough, "Stone Hill".
In 1882, J. Romilly-Allen surveyed the site and gave the plan as follows, indicating a total of eight stones bearing rock-carvings of several types:
Plan of Rock Carvings, J. Romilly-Allen, 1882
The following guide uses the key system provided in Romilly-Allen's plan, from his article in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Vol.XVI, 1882.
Stone A: Cups & Rings
The cup & ring stone at Tormain sits in a prominent location at the summit of the hill, overlooking the strath towards the East. The design is almost invisible, being heavily weathered, but in this shot, the overall pattern is vaguely decipherable, despite the split in the stone which is presumably due to frost or ice damage. On the upper part of the stone, a central cup is visible with a ridge leading down to a smaller cup, almost in the shape of a Pictish mirror symbol. On either side of this ridge, two small cups lie, with ridges leading upwards and around the main central cup, with other concentric circular ridges around the centre, and further small cup marks dotted around on the lower half of the stone. The stone below the split also shows another central cup with concentric rings, but is less clearly marked today. |
In this shot, by John Allan (Ratho), the circular patterning on the upper part of the stone is more clearly visible, thanks to a fortuitous snow deposit! Photo © John Allan, Ratho, by kind permission. |
The following sketch, from J. Romilly-Allen's 1882 PSAS article (see below) shows the overall patterning of the carving in much clearer detail:
J. Romilly-Allen's Sketch of the Cup & Ring Carving, 1882
One theory regarding the design on this stone has been suggested by local archaeoastronomer, Wally from Livingston:
"The 'ring' carving consists of some long arcs terminated by small circles. When viewing the pattern such that the ends of the arcs (and the terminating circles) are nearest the observer, with the arcs bowing away, one wonders if the carvings might be a diagram that represents the various rises, paths through the sky, and sets, over time, of a celestial body like the sun or moon."
- Wally, private e-mail, 23-10-2001.
Whatever the meaning of this carving is, it is of a fairly rare type in this region, although certain similarities can be drawn with other rock carvings which also attract astronomical interpretations, such as the Swastika Stone on Ilkley Moor in West Yorkshire, England:
The Swastika Stone, Ilkley, England
Stone D: Cups & OS Marker
Another fairly uncharacteristic design - most rock carvings in this area (as elsewhere) are not easily interpretable with regard to function or meaning, but this arrow has not only two cups, one on either side, but also a deep and narrow hole at its tip, suggesting the placing of a pole of some kind as a directional marker pointing towards a promontory of the Pentland Hills. The simple explanation, however, is that it is a C19th Ordnance Survey marker! Thanks to Michael Apter (Edinburgh) for also suggesting this interpretation. |
Stone E: Cups & Grooves
This design has weathered a lot better than the cup and ring, but is highlighted here by being painted with water. The design is rather uncharacteristic of the local area, and while it looks reminiscent of the Christian cross, is actually most likely to be from well before the Christian period, although the grooves may be a later addition. One odd feature of this carving is the fact that the stone which bears it is cleanly rectangular, suggesting having been worked at some point, and possibly having been moved to the current location as a result. |
Another casualty of modern farming appears to be the Witch's Stane which used to sit on Tormain. Prior to its destruction, this was a large rock incised with cups, and was possibly used in local folk custom, with women sliding down it as a fertility charm.
The Witch's Stane, Tormain
In an 1873 article in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, John Alexander Smith wrote:
On the north-west slope of this same Tormain Hill, about 200 yards below its summit and at an elevation of 435 feet above the sea, lies the large mass or group of stones which has long been know by the name of "The Witch's Stone." It consists now of a large sloping cap-like mass of greenstone, measuring 11 feet in greatest length, by 10 feet or so in breadth across the top, about 2 feet 3 inches in depth, and about 33 feet in circumference. Along the greatest length of the upper surface of this large sloping stone there is cut a regular series of twenty-three shallow cup-like depressions. This large cap-stone rests apparently on three blocks of stone, and two other smaller portions have fallen out from below it in front, at the highest end of the mass; which measures there about 8 feet in height. Below these different portions of stone there appears to be a large foundation-stone underlying them all. Indeed, looking at the stones as a whole, they suggest the probability of this great mass being, or rather having been, one large block of stone, which has by weathering separated into three beds, the upper or cap-stone, the middle bed with the broken portions of rock now fallen from it, and the lowest bed the foundation-like stone below."
- John Alexander Smith, "Notes of Rock Sculpturings of Cups and Concentric Rings, and 'The Witch's Stone' on Tormain Hill", Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Vol.X, 1873, p.143.
The location of the site of the Witch's Stane is not possible with absolute precision from Smith's account alone, but in another article from the same journal, J. Romilly-Allan gives a more detailed description:
"The Witch's Stone is situated on the west slope of Tormain Hill, a few hundred yards from the road leading from Ratho to Bonnington Mains, at a distance of one mile south-west from the former place. The village of Ratho lies seven miles west of the city of Edinburgh. There is an Ordnance bench mark cut out the stone itself which gives the level at 430 feet above the sea and 40 feet below the summit of Tormain Hill (see One-inch Ordnance Map Sheet 32, and Six-inch Sheet 5). The position being thus at a considerable elevation above the valley of the Forth, a very extensive view is obtained in all direction. The Witch's Stone is a natural boulder of whinstone, rounded and smoothed by glacial action, whose upper surface slopes at an angle of about 35 degrees with the horizon. The length of the sloping face is 8 feet and at the top is a flat place 2 feet wide. The breadth of the stone is 11 feet 3 inches at the upper end, and 4 feet at the lower end. The thickness varies from 2 to 3 feet. The highest part of the stone is 6 feet 6 inches above the ground, and the lowest 1 foot 6 inches. It rests on what has originally been a portion of the same boulder, but is now a mass of whinstone broken up into several fragments, which serve as supports to prop up the stone above. Viewed from the north side the whole presents the appearance of a cromlech, the upper stone forming the cap, and the disintegrated portion below the supports. This notion, however, will be clearly seen to be erroneous on looking at it from the opposite side, [as shown on the accompanying sketch (fig.1), where the crack separating the two portions of the boulder is very apparent."
- J. Romilly-Allen, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Vol.XVI, 1882, p.80.
Consulting the OS map for 1855, however, we see that a stone marked with an OS bench-mark is indicated in the field to the West of the main rock carvings:
Bench-Marked Stone, OS Map, 1855
Presumably, this map indicates the exact location of the Witches' Stane, and the following photograph shows the slight ridge and depression which exists there now:
Location of the Witches' Stane
Two other stones are known locally as the Witch's Stane can be found still on Platt Hill and at Williamcraigs, although these are simple standing stones (?) and are unlikely to have been used in the same way as the Tormain stone. Furthermore, a collection of large boulders exists in the corner of the field on the Western end of the woods, next to the possible cist stone (see below), and it may be that these boulders are the remains of the Witches' Stane.
Possible Remains of the Witches' Stane?
Another partial casualty from Tormain is a now absent Christian cross noted there by Romilly-Allen and Anderson in their still canonic text, The Early Christian Monuments of Scotland (Edinburgh: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 1903):
The Stancross, Tormain, from ECMS (1903)
Romilly-Allen and Anderson say that this cross was known as the Stancross Stone, by which they presumably mean that it was originally called in Scots simply the Stane Corse ("Stone Cross"). It was apparently 5 feet high, with relief sculpture on the face shown above, and had been used as a gatepost, with a hole through the top arm of the cross itself. However, it was in fact merely removed from Tormain, rather than destroyed, and now stands in the grounds of the nearby St. Mary's Episcopalian Church at Dalmahoy.
The Stancross, now at Dalmahoy
This particular form of cross is generally considered to be quite early - later crosses tend not to be in relief on a slab (apart from Pictish crosses, which this is surely not). The Stancross is probably Anglian and thus, perhaps, a very early example of Christian sculpture from Northumbrian Lothian following the annexation of Gododdin by Northumbria c.638 AD.
Deepest thanks go to Tom Harrison (Ratho) for suggesting the modern location of this stone after reading an earlier version of this page!
In the far Western corner of the woods in which the stone carvings can be found is a curious stone which is vaguely suggestive of the type used in other local sites to cap a cist burial. It is basically ovoid in shape, and supported by underlying stones.
A Cist Burial Stone?
One other intriguing feature is a large circular indentation on top of the stone which has clearly been heavily burnt at some point.
Burnt Indentation?
The stone is, unfortunately, flanked by modern dykes on two sides, and it is possible that some movement has been caused as a result of this. What the significance of this stone might be currently seems entirely obscure, and it may be an actual piece of archaeology moved from elsewhere on the site, or simply an anomaly.
Several querns were also discovered on Tormain in the nineteenth century due to ploughing, and apparently pieces were still visible in 1873. The existence of these querns on the hill suggests that there was at one time a settlement of some kind there.
Typically, Tormain has never been significantly excavated, and it is more than likely, for example, that if some of the earth, grass and moss covering the rocks on the summit were cleared away, further carvings might be found, and quite probably in better condition than those currently visible. It is surely crucial that professional authorities become involved in preserving what remains of this significant, if relatively unknown prehistoric site. Perhaps a campaign for funding should be started? Or a surreptitious suggestion to Time Team?