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Stoneyfield once renowned as a Tinkers' den..........must have tried to flog it to a Doctor who didn't want it so they dropped it there.

 

Looks to me like the stone circle has been manicured, much too uniform in lay out and the stones very close together...is it authentic or another Sneckie mystery??

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Stoneyfield once renowned as a Tinkers' den..........must have tried to flog it to a Doctor who didn't want it so they dropped it there.

 

Looks to me like the stone circle has been manicured, much too uniform in lay out and the stones very close together...is it authentic or another Sneckie mystery??

I seen it over 20 years ago and it was all overgrown, must have been tidied up in recent years.

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Stoneyfield once renowned as a Tinkers' den..........

I remember it well, but was it on the left side of the old A96 round about the toll house, near the shore? I certainly remember it was pretty minging looking and, if I recollect, had quite a few decrepit looking tents as opposed to the gleaming chrome plated mobile palaces so many of them seem to acquire these days. I also recollect that there seemed to be some of them there all of the time so whether some came and went I don't know.

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On the Southern Distributor Road at Inshes.

Correct but I don't know what on earth the Council are thinking about with all the nonsense, especially trees and bushes, that they are putting on roundabouts and traffic islands these days.

It's actually very helpful for drivers to be able to see over these things so they can spot nearby traffic, especially less conspicuous bikes. But if you take the example of the Muirfield Road junction at the back of the former Hilton Hospital, there's an island there which has foliage several metres high. As a result there could be a vehicle coming round there which you can't see until very late indeed.

Then with things like that eagle, it's simply a distraction, far worse than the much maligned yellow Galeic place names on road signs, which people will automatically look at instead of the road.

Maybe if they would remmber that roundabouts and islands are meant to be fuctional and not works of art so they would make them far safer by leaving this kind of nonsense out - and save money for the sparse public purse at the same time.

Along the same lines, the adverts that are on so many roundabouts these days are, by definition, a distraction since they are put there for the sole purpose of being looked at. Their only saving grace is that they at least raise some cash.

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Yes Scarlet next to your Auntie's old house!  The railings were put round it when the old junction at Culcabock was converted to a mini roundabout about 25 years ago.

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OCH!  By the way it wiz ma Grannie not ma Auntie. IBM

 

Quite a history.

I am afraid though that the writing is so blurred to old Pimple that he can't read it. Can anyone  repeat to me what the writing says, please.

Wasn't he murdered by MacBeth? The latter laddie is an ancestor of mine since MacBeath is a derivative of MacBean my mother's clan with the original spelling being kinda Gaeliccy ..MacBeathan , meaning spirited one, or son of  a spirited one.

 

MacBeath was  a firey gent who was out of control but then again that could be said of numerous nobles and  prominent people at that time as I devine.  After the murder he fled back to his clan MacBean lands close to Inverness (Dores area eh, IHE) looking for sanctuary and sustenance and then went to ground. Never taken to task though for the deadly deed was he? After that he seemed to fade into obscurity until Wille Rattle-Assegai  revived his notoriety. I remember when I was sitting in the English class at the Academy and I was distracting young  Willie Munro from Culloden by telling him Shakespeare's nickname,  the teacher dragged me out and belted me good and proper. Now , that was unfair wasn't it on account of the fact that Willie senior was a notable BARD?  

Oh My! The joys of being a fidgetty boy. :blush:  :wink:

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All of the above IHE :laugh: . 

 

The clan apparently originated a long time ago in N E Ireland. They came over to SW Scotland sometime thereafter. to.Lochaber? Would that be close? 

The daughter of the clan MacBean Chief then made  a grand " Royal Progress": up to the Inverness district to allow her to marry the Chief of the clan Mackintosh who was the big boss in that district at that time .This ultimately led to the formation of the clan CHATTAN which was an amalgamation of five or six  of these northern clans, including the MacBeans and bossed by MacKintosh. This was a very powerful union in Scotland at that time ,. The clan Chattan motto also included the wildcat symbol (French " le chat" = the cat in English).

 

That's the MacBean clan memorial at Dores all right with the two wild cats on the top. The motto of of the clan is .."Touch not the cat bot a glove" the word "bot" means without.

       The current chief is an American and seems to  be very interested in the role. Poses in the kilt in an exaggerated stiff pose with his hand on his hip and with a stern, overly-proud face. For Americans, such ancestral feelings are very strong and make them feel like a real somebody. I  think this gent has money because being a clan chief and coming over to Scotland  as frequently as he apparently has done (for meetings, parades etc.) costs a lot of dollars.  He's a McBain though and, if my memory serves me correctly, he either  paid for the building of the memorial or was involved in the formation of an organisation of contributors to the project. I am sure it wasn't cheap.

        In the grounds you can see the original main house, what appears to us now to be a little more than a stone built country house- not a castle or the like. But maybe ,when you get a close-up look, it may well be quite a large residence indeed. Next time I come over I will visit the grounds  and maybe IHE will hold my hand and give me the grand tour. :laugh:

        From what I have read, there are several different variations, or even septs, of the clan (name)  throughout the world and they are all in some way distantly connected through the past e,g, Bains, Beans, Banes etc -- a rose by any other name smells the same, eh, IHE?

 Thank you IHE for highlighting this. :notworthy:

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As for King Duncan it's probable that he stopped there for a drink on the way into Inverness from the East and maybe he was fleeing from another skirmish with MacBeth and his boys who were hot-footing it after him.  Doesn't sound as if King Duncan did not make a huge mark on history or last very long  on the scene. He died young did he not ? 

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And where is Auldcastle Road  exactly IHE.? In or out of Inverness?

I'll visit that as well if you promise to hold my hand  --there might be ghosties in there , ye  ken? :lol:

It is up the Crown you turn up Victoria Drive off Millburn Road then right before Crown Drive, it is a circular road and there is the Inverness Highland bowling green there as well.

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