On a recent trip to Scotland we saw a mysterious object that I will tell you about all in good time. We were staying in a wood cabin on the edge of Loch Monzievaird near Crieff, a Loch large enough to support an enormous amount of wild life including freshwater mussels.

A gentle walk part round the Loch and across some grass fields got us heading towards the oldest distillery in Scotland which is now part of the Famous Grouse distillery and has a Grouse at least five metres tall standing in the car park, the visitors centre was well stocked and on the first floor there is a lovely restaurant with one dish that needed a little explaining Haggis, tatties and neeps, this turned out to be Haggis, mashed potato and mashed swede and very nice it was too. Anyway that's not what I am trying to tell you about it's the mystery I mentioned earlier, just a short distance from the very large grouse is a very large burial plot that is divided in two, ancient and modern.

In the oldest side stood the mystery objects gravestones with skulls and crossbones and other symbols like a winged person, an egg timer shape and on some a square and compass the whole place looked like the last resting place of the pirates of the Caribbean it was a good job we saw them before we got to the distillery as it was spooky without a wee dram in us.

Two days later we were on the Al2 Perth to Inverness road and stopped at the small town of Dunkeld it has quite a large cathedral set in beautiful lawns, we found out that a wedding was about to take place but the bride was late, waiting for her apart from the groom in full Scottish dress

was a very smart white haired gent who looked after the cathedral and I told him about the stones down in Crieff, he instantly turned around and showed me the stone right outside the cathedral door and it was almost the same there were lots more and an explanation was now forthcoming. At the top is the angel of death he said that comes to take you away and the sands of time that have run out, and in the days when there were crusading Knight's only the skull and thigh bones were returned home not the whole body, the square and compass also stems from Masonic connections. He had just finished when the bride arrived in a splendid vintage Citroen car and we were left to explore some more.

Is this type of stone unique to Scotland or can they be found elsewhere? Perhaps somebody out there knows more.

Barry & Sue.