Roman roads or spirit paths?

More than 100 straight roads can be found in Strathearn that lead to ancient sites – many are referred to as ‘Roman roads’, but are they really Roman?

Not according to Crieff author David Cowan, who has been researching Earth energies for 40 years.

He says: “They were certainly used by the Romans when they invaded Scotland around AD 60, but the roads were there long before and were called ‘old straight tracks’, or more fittingly, ‘spirit roads’.

“They date back into the Stone Age, as can be seen where the 4km-long road from Muthill to Crieff can be extended to the north passing accurately through Ochtertyre mausoleum and burial ground and on to – or more accurately, from – a four-stone circle called Clach na Tiompan, or ‘the stone of the musical instrument’, in Glenalmond.”

Growing up in Crieff, David was often puzzled by the straight road leading up to Ochtertyre mausoleum.

Why place a burial ground so far off the main road? The answer, he says, is because our distant ancestors liked to place their sacred sites on top of volcanic anomalies, and this site is on top of the powerful Highland Boundary Fault with the road leading to it off the A85 aligned to a standing stone at Concraig Farm to the south.

Geological faults, as David explained in a previous Craigie article, emit a variety of energies which he has found standing stones pick up and transmit from their flat faces down a traceable path to a sacred site.

He adds: “That is one reason Strathearn has so many churches. The Romans simply metalled these paths giving easy access

across the country, and over time they have been tarmacadamed, until we now drive along them in our vehicles, unaware that our distant ancestors built some of them as conduits for the spirits of their dead.

“This seems strange to our modern way of thinking, but not to almost every ancient culture. In the Celtic tradition, faeries are entities which inhabit the world between the living and the otherworld, share an ambiguous relationship with the dead and

are barred from paradise. Also, their paths should not be built upon as spirits were thought to fly in straight lines a few feet above the ground, and get very grumpy and cause ill-health to person or beast if blocked.

“Celtic lore is full of these mischievous creatures – sprites, elves, hobgoblins, pixies, piskies, sithean, banshees, sylphs, water kelpies, redcaps, brownies, elves and will-o’the wisp – although, unusually, the Scottish Highland glaistigs were friendly and helpful.

“There is little folklore in Strathearn about these ephemeral creatures now. There is, however, a Faery Knowe outside Gilmerton, but curiously in St Fillans a few years ago locals stopped a property developer from digging up a huge boulder because ‘the faeries live beneath it!’”

David points out that in Crieff ’s ‘sacred design’ there is an additional aspect to the Ochtertyre mausoleum which can be found at the Episcopal church burial ground on the town’s Perth Road.

He explains: “A line can be drawn down the central ridge of this church – this is the third build on this site – to the corner stone of the burial ground and on to the corner stone of the mausoleum itself.

“The corner stone of any church is most important, and even inhumations were placed under them in some churches. Like so many churches in Strathearn, another line can be drawn down the gable end of Crieff ’s St Columba’s Church to the Dargill standing stone on the Crieff to Muthill road.

“These stones are traditionally thought to emit healthy energies, and now scientists believe they are an interaction between the sun’s coronal mass ejections and the Earth’s coils. Most churches in Strathearn are aligned with ancient sites like this and in resonance with them.”

David Cowan examines the ancient Faery Stone of St Fillans, which he says is an important symbol of west Perthshire’s Pictish heritage.

This photo was taken by John Crichton, who says: “Patience is a virtue at Forfar Loch.”