A Blast From the Past
Tuesday 3rd July 2012Ballauns, or cursing stones, a hangover from pagan times, have been found in Ireland, but very few in Scotland until recently.
A ballaun is an indented boulder in which a stone ball was rotated during some long forgotten ceremony. They are thought to be of the Bronze Age but were in use in early Christian times. They are associated with burial and religious sites, and very few have been found with both the ballaun and the stone ball.
In May 2012 in an old graveyard on the Isle of Canna off the west coast of Scotland, a complete set was discovered. This jogged my memory in that I remembered seeing such a stone a few miles from Pitlochry. I can't think that it could be anything but a ballaun, especially in an area associated with early celtic church figures as St. Fillan and St Colman.
It is currently being investigated. Watch this space!
