I had heard about Dunino Den in Fife years ago but it was only when I saw some photos online of the place that I decided it was time to go and check it out myself. I must say I found it a bit of a strange place.

The ‘den’ is situated at the back of Dunino church (above), there’s a path down through the grass and woodland which leads to a sunken area, a small burn (stream)  flows through it but you are surrounded by quite high rock faces, some of which have been carved over the years.

We had the place to ourselves but it is obviously popular with people, probably quite an eclectic bunch as there are some Christian symbols if you look hard, a faint Celtic cross to the left of the large LC below.

But it’s thought that this place was used as a place of worship and possibly sacrifice by the Druids.

But there are also ‘offerings’ to whatever, in the shape of stones, flowers and candles. I was particularly unnerved by the pottery figure of a headless woman in the photo above. Was she just accidentally broken or was it a deliberate offering of some sort?  I found the place to be a bit spooky, but it has obviously been used for centuries, possibly as a place of worship during the Scottish Reformation, but the land above the rockface which has ancient stairs cut into it also has a rock with a footprint cut into the stone, usually a sign that a king/chieftain has been there, and beside it there’s a sort of natural stone basin which was full of water.

You can see the bottom of the stone steps in the middle background of the photo below.

The burn was very low, slow and sludgy considering how much rain we had had.

Below is the sort of natural stone pond.

And the rock below by the pool has some faint cup and ring marks (maybe) and what looks like part of a footprint. This actually a very dangerous place to stand by as it is situated above the other photos and is close to the edge of the rockface, it would be very easy to step over the edge, especially as it is overgrown with ferns at the edge.

Right by the stone above is the well worn stone steps down to where the other photos were taken, we didn’t go down the steps though, they looked too dangerous, there is a path through the woodland which is much safer.

I don’t remember seeing it but it seems there’s a face carved into one of the rock walls. The photo below is from the website in the link above.

So that’s Dunino Den, a bit of a strange place which goes way back in time, no doubt some believe there are fairies living there, or some other sorts of spirits, I’m sure there are plenty of theories about it. I’m glad we visited it at last, but I don’t know if I want to go back. It’s not far from St Andrews, if you are interested in visiting it.