Gateside

Here we stand at the entrance of the Howe of Fife. From here this fertile stretch of the Kingdom runs in a green swathe along the valley of the Eden as far as Ladybank. We can see north-west the soft shoulders of the Ochills; south-west are the twin peaks of the two Lomonds: the East Lomond and, highest hill in Fife, the 1,713-foot West Lomond. We shall see these two hills from many points in journeys across the Kingdom, but they are seen at their best from the Howe of Fife. Their northern faces, presented to us across the valley of the Eden, can sometimes assume an attitude which, on the landscape of Fife, seems surprisingly fierce. We see them in this attitude when they have behind them the soft light of a Fifeshire evening: then their shallow gullies are harshly defined and deepened with shadow, and the northern slopes take on the appearance of cliffs frowning roughly upon the river at their feet.

We can believe then that these hills really are witnesses of that ancient secret, that those dark faces really did stare down upon a historic scene. Generations of scholars have disputed around that secret, and generations to come will carry on the dispute, but, what-ever the scholars say, the people of Howe-proud of their hills and their valley's ancient history-will bring us to this spot near Gateside close by the Merlsford Weir, and will tell us, "Here the battle was fought", and "Here the Eden for three days ran with blood". A mile up the valley-in the grounds of Edenshead, once the manor-house ofPitlochie-are traces of a Roman camp, and with this to give power to their belief the people of the Howe will say, "Here Agricola pitched his camp after the battle of Mons Graupius".

For they believe that in this valley was fought that greatest of Roman battles in Scotland, that battle at which the Roman cavalry met the army of 30,000 Britons who had rallied under the command of Calgacus, first named of all Scots. If it were here that the battle was fought, then it must have been from the battlements at Edens-head that the Roman sentries heard throughout the night that followed the wailing of women lamenting the dead under the shadow of the West Lomond, and it must have been from those ramparts that they looked out at dawn on a desolate empty country from which the Britons, burning their villages, had fled from the swooping conquest of the Roman eagles.

The scholars now argue that the great and decisive battle which Tacitus recorded as being fought on the slope of a hill called Mons Graupius, was fought north of the Tay. But the people of the Howe of Fife say that the hill to which Tacitus gives the name Mons Graupius is the West Lomond. And as proof for those who doubt, they point to the grim remains unearthed on Eden banks. One pit 6 feet long, 2 feet broad and 2 feet deep was found filled with burned bones. A hundred-odd years ago a cairn near Wellfield House was opened, and found to contain urns, stone coffins and ancient arms. Even in these day lads from the village and from nearby Strathmiglo are on occasion seized with the romance of this ancient tale and, we are told, go out fearfully at night to dig into the mysterious hillocks which mark upon the even face of the valley the age-old burial-places of those ancient peoples, and certainly there are here sufficient tumili to keep them busy.

At the base of the West Lomond is a strange monument of those ancient days-the Bannet Stone, a rock 20 feet by 10 feet and nearly a yard thick, resting flatly on a pedestal on top of a great outcrop of rock and looking for all the world like a mighty fossilised mushroom sprouting from the boulders. It has been variously described as a sun-worshippers' altar, a Druidical cromlech and a Pictish king's tombstone.

The Maiden's Bower

In the same pile of rocks is a cave, the name of which, the Maiden's Bower, perpetuates the sad and romantic story of a girl who loved the son of a rival family. At these rocks was their trysting-place, and one evening when she waited there for him she saw him riding to-wards her along the valley of the Eden. But as he neared her, retainers of her father sprang from ambush and slew him. She refused to return to her father's home, but lived a hermit life in the cave. She became known as a saint, and to her came for consolation people in sorrow and bereavement. It is said that she is buried under that rock and that if you are pure in heart any wish you make in the cave will be granted you within a twelvemonth.

To the west of the West Lomond is impressive Glen Vale, in the highest reach of which is a cleft in the rock from which Knox preached and which is known to this day as "John Knox's Pulpit". The Glen bears locally the name "Covenanters Glen" by reason of the story that the Covenanting ministers there held their conventicles.

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