Bunnet Stane facts for kids
The Bunnet Stane (which means 'bonnet stone') is a cool rock formation. You can find it near a small village called Gateside in Fife, Scotland. It's right at the bottom of a hill called West Lomond.
This unique stone looks like a giant mushroom! It has a flat top, about 10 feet by 20 feet wide. This top sits on a much thinner column of rock. People have made up some fun stories about how it got its shape. But actually, nature created it over a very long time. Wind and rain slowly shaped the rock. The Bunnet Stane is made of a type of rock called calciferous sandstone. This rock is part of the Old Red Sandstone group found around the Lomond Hills.
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Maiden's Bower: The Secret Cave
Beneath the Bunnet Stane, there's a small cave called Maiden's Bower. It was carved by people into the rock. Long ago, this cave and the Bunnet Stane were both sometimes called 'Maiden-bore'.
Stories of the Maiden's Bower
There's a sad old story about the cave. It says that a young maiden (a girl) fell in love with a boy from a family her own family didn't like. The Bunnet Stane was their secret meeting place. One day, as she arrived, she saw her father's men attack and kill the young man. After this terrible event, she was so heartbroken that she refused to go home. She spent the rest of her life living in the cave. People in the area began to see her as a saint.
Other Ideas for the Cave
However, there are other, more realistic ideas about why the cave was built.
- Some think a landlord might have built it as a small shelter for workers.
- Others believe surveyors (people who map land) might have used it in the 1800s.
- A lady who visited a nearby farm as a child wrote a letter about it. She said an old man, possibly a former soldier, was allowed by the farmer to build a small shelter there. He lived in it while working as a shepherd.
If you look inside the cave, you can still see signs of how it was used. There are remains of an iron fireplace and a chimney for smoke. The walls have grooves and notches. These might have been used to divide the space, perhaps for a sleeping area or for storage. One larger notch on the south wall might have held one end of a sleeping platform.
Finding the Bunnet Stane
The Bunnet Stane is a bit hidden, so it's not always marked on every map.
- On the 1:50 000 OS map (Ordnance Survey map), its coordinates are GR 189 071.
- You can find a path leading to the Bunnet Stane from a small, unmarked car park. This car park is at GR 185 082 on the same map.
- Both the Bunnet Stane and the car park are clearly marked on the 1:25 000 OS Explorer map (Number 370 - Glenrothes North, Falkland & Lomond Hills).
