Drumnod wood hut circles, Creich castle and church

On Sunday 25th November 2018 several members of the group undertook a site visit to several features in the vicinity of Creich, near Brunton in North Fife.

1. The first site was some iron age roundhouses, the link to the relevant canmore page is:

https://canmore.org.uk/site/31812/drumnod-wood

You need to check for permission with the farm owner (the Wedderburns, Patrick or Louise, on 01382 330252).  They are mainly concerned with cattle not being disturbed.

There is parking for maybe 3 cars on the north side of the minor road just to the south-eat of the road junction marked Hazelton Walls on the map shown in the above link, OS map reference NO335217.

Photos of an incised stone that is in the middle of the most obvious roundhouse can be found here (also one photo shown below): https://www.flickr.com/photos/roymarsden25/albums/72157698574256570

There was also a feature (quarry?) on a small rise a short distance over the fence in the field to the south.

We then walked to ….

1. 16th century Creich castle.The castle itself is in too dangerous a state to enter but you can see the far side of the castle if you check for permission with the neighbouring house owner first. The sides facing the public road are relatively plain but the walls are more decorative on the far side.The canmore link is:

https://canmore.org.uk/site/31811/creich-castle

1. A hundred metres to the west along the public road are the ruins of the 14th century Creich church (public access) with several interesting tomb stones featuring coats of arms, canmore site is :

https://canmore.org.uk/site/31799/creich-old-parish-church-of-st-devenic  (in reality it is St. Serf)

The modern (i.e. 1830s) Creich Parish Church, which we did not visit, is on the east side of Luthriebank Road, Luthrie.  This has a very fine 1421 Barclay slab (presumably moved from the ruined church) and incised effigies in the porch.

 

We did not have time to walk to the last site….

1. Green Craig iron age fort (again need to check for permission with the Wedderburns – if not ok then an alternative is to walk to the top of the neighbouring Black Craig that overlooks Green Craig)

https://canmore.org.uk/site/31823/green-craig