Neolithic Perthshire Fieldtrip: Part Three

We had two more stops after this: Dunkeld (where we had lunch, and had the option of viewing the cathedral) and the Cleaven Dyke.

Dunkeld Cathedral was built between 1260 and 1501, and is dedicated to St Columba. It is said that the cathedral houses his relics. Of course, it was smashed up in the Reformation, and was later burned after the battle of Killiecrankie in 1689, by the Jacobites. The nave is in ruins (they were being repaired by Historic Scotland at the time, so we couldn't wander about them) but the choir has been restored in various ways through the years. 

Approaching the cathedral

This fellow was a thorough rascal, but his burial effigy was quite impressive, I must confess!

These formed some sort of memorial in another area of the cathedral. I love the skulls and bones!

Glimpses of the nave.

The grounds of the cathedral, with a glimpse of the river Tay.

After lunch and our wander around the cathedral, we went to the Cleaven Dyke, and with the Dyke we return once again to the Neolithic. It is one of only a few cursus monuments in the UK that survives as more than a cropmark. Above ground it is 1.8km long, and 300m survive as cropmarks. There is a large bank running in the middle of two ditches. It isn't really known what cursus monuments were used for, but it's intriguing to walk through something that was constructed somewhere around the 4th millennium BC. 

The bank  - the ditches are roughly where the lines of trees are.