Dunino Den is a small wooded gorge behind Dunino Church, seven kilometres south of St Andrews, and it is the strangest place in Fife.
A burn runs through a steep-sided glen under old trees. Cut into the rock and the ground around it are features that are very old and, in the honest state of the evidence, not securely explained.
A rock-cut basin in the flat sandstone above the glen, roughly circular, filled with water — usually described as a Pictish altar or a ritual basin. Beside it, a carved footprint in the rock.
A rock-cut stairway descending into the glen.
A carved cross on the rock face, and lower down, a carved head in the Celtic manner.
A large sandstone outcrop, sometimes called the altar rock, above the burn.
Offerings, everywhere: coins pressed into cracks in the rock, ribbons and threads tied to branches, small objects left in hollows, and — at an upturned tree root — a shrine of accumulated things.
Very little, and the honest position is worth stating.
The rock-cut features are old. The carved cross is probably medieval or later. The footprint and basin may be Pictish and may relate to an inauguration site, of which a small number are known in Scotland, or they may be considerably later.
There was certainly a church here from an early date — Dunino has a long Christian history and the present church is nineteenth-century on an older site — and early churches were frequently placed at sites that already mattered.
Beyond that, most of what is said about Dunino Den is modern. The identification of it as a Druid grove, the specific ritual explanations, and much of the atmosphere are twentieth- and twenty-first-century additions, and the offerings are entirely contemporary practice.
That does not make it less interesting. It makes it a genuinely living site — a place where people are currently doing something, for their own reasons, on ground that has evidently drawn people for a very long time.
Two things are worth saying, because visitors keep saying them.
Do not carve into the trees. This has become a serious problem — initials and marks cut into living bark, which damages and eventually kills the trees. Regular visitors are angry about it and are right to be. Leave a coin, tie a ribbon, take a photograph, and leave the trees alone.
Take your litter and think about what you leave. Ribbons and plastic degrade; coins in trees kill them.
It is also a working churchyard. Cross the ground respectfully.
Park by Dunino Church, off the B9131 south of St Andrews.
The main route is a set of stone steps down into the glen, which are steep, uneven and often slippery.
An easier route avoids the stairs: go round the other side of the church and through the field, entering the glen at a gentler point. Regular visitors recommend this, with the caveat that it crosses grazing land — do it respectfully, close gates, and keep to the edge.
Free, open at all times.
Time: thirty to forty-five minutes.
Facilities: none whatever.
Access: not accessible — steep steps, uneven ground, tree roots, wet rock.
Footwear: boots or good shoes. It is muddy and slippery for most of the year.
Light: the glen is deeply shaded and gets dark early. Do not go at dusk without a torch.
A wooded glen with rock-cut features — a basin, a footprint, a carved cross and a carved head — of uncertain but considerable age, now used as an informal shrine.
Possibly, in part. The dating is not secure, and much of what is said about the site is modern interpretation rather than evidence.
Go round the far side of the church and through the field, entering the glen at a gentler point — respectfully, as it is grazing land.
Yes, free and open at all times, with parking by the church.
Do not carve into the trees — it is damaging them and it is the one thing regular visitors ask people to stop.