The Hidden Glasgow Forums

Benarty Hill lies south of Loch Leven in Perth and Kinross. Known locally as the 'sleeping giant'.

I came across a question asked some years back (that no-one could answer) about the Suits of Cards on Benarty Hill. These were said to be four suits of cards planted on the elevation of the east side of the hill, opposite Loch Leven in the form of plantations in the shapes of Hearts, Diamonds, Spades, and Clubs, on the hilltop.

They were last seen in the 1940s, but when the writer returned after the war, the story was that a Mr Cruickshanks (owner of a sawmill near Cluny, Cardenen) had felled the fir trees shortly after the war began, so they aerial view of the trees could not be used as a navigational aid by enemy aircraft.

Clearly, not an aerial view that Google, or any of the other online maps can help with, the question was whether or not there were possibly any aerial photographs, or paintings from the period, that illustrated the plantations.

Apollo, I' ve looked everywhere for info on this and can't anything. Asked everybody and still nothing, nadda, not a sausage!

You never know, it might crop up in a pub conversation.

Somebody's paying attention!

Seriously, it would probably need someone local to the area to have taken a pic at that time, or some wealthy motorist (doctor, entrepreneur?) on tour around Scotland, with the similarly wealth-demanding hobby of photography as a pastime. Hard to believe there isn't a pic languishing in a dusty old pox of prints and negs on a shelf somewhere.

I've got quite a few old Scot's Magazines ferreted away, but without an index, all I can say is that they didn't help either, though I could've flicked past without noticing.

Still, you never know who might look in here one day

I'm quite interested in this and as my nose is bothering me I'm going to take a wee trip with the dog in a few weeks. I'll ask some of the locals and see if they can come up with something. As you said,you never know.

Best of luck...

(and please excuse the reference to a "pox of prints" above how'd I get a b instead of a p?)

How about views from the air? The evidence of any kind of "crop" activity of this kind is very persistent and will exist for hundreds, even thousands, of years even if the ground has been ploughed, etc. many times.

I've had quick look at Google maps

http://maps.google.com/

but the Satellite pictures only zoom in to an area about 2 miles by 1.5 miles. Even so, some distinct markings are visible on Benarty Hill. including one that looks like a giant dog's footprint!

(BTW, if anyone knows how to post a link to a *specific* view in Google maps - e.g. the view of the Benarty Hill area just mentioned , please let me know).

I'm afraid I don't have the time to research it, but I imagine there must be archives of aerial photos available somewhere?

Last thought. IIRC a gliding club launches from the next-door hill to the east of Loch Leven. If you can contact them, some of their members might be able to throw some light on the subject.

HTH

http://maps.live.com/

Try this lot. Much higher resolution.

Nuff Sed wrote:(BTW, if anyone knows how to post a link to a *specific* view in Google maps - e.g. the view of the Benarty Hill area just mentioned , please let me know).

The modern views are worthless (if interesting), regardless of resolution, since the forest has been obliterated for decades:

http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&c ... &alt=-1000

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q ... 9&t=k&om=1

The links to a given view (as above) are provided on the page:

For Google: top right of map, Click on Links to this page

For Virtual Earth (Live Search/Microsoft): Hover over Share and click View permalink

In each case, just copy and paste the link given.

Interesting about the Gliding Club next door - wonder if that was the motivation for one of the rich members to arrange the 'cards', so he could enjoy the view from above?

Apollo wrote:The modern views are worthless (if interesting), regardless of resolution, since the forest has been obliterated for decades:

I'm not convinced that this necessarily follows, and believe it will depend on what the land is now used for. Of course, if it has been reforested, that makes life difficult! But if it is now cultivated, the previously wooded areas might well still be visible under advantageous conditions.

Thanks for the tips on creating links to particular map views.

Yes, I agree that natural loss and decay would probably leave something useful, but in this particular case, I was thinking of the report that he planting was deliberately eliminated with the purpose of rendering it of no value to enemy fliers. If the pattern was formed by the choice of tree variety, then there would be no ground related signs, since it would have been the foliage that produced the pattern.

The view in Virtual Earth is pretty desolate, and I couldn't spot anything that resembled a decent plantation or forest, let alone a suite of cards. What's left now might even get sued if it claimed to be a wood

Fingers still crossed though

Have you spotted the following thread:

http://www.hiddenglasgow.com/forums/vie ... t=swastika