Strathmartin

If you head north out of Dundee through Bridgefoot and on towards Craigowl Hill, you will chance upon Martin's Stone.

Set in the middle of a field, and now surrounded by iron railings, it marks the spot where a local hero dispatched the troublesome Dundee Dragon.

The story goes that the Farmer at Pitempton had nine daughters and one day he sent the youngest to the nearby well to fetch water.

After waiting for many an hour she had not returned and so he sent his next youngest daughter in search of her.

When that daughter did not return either he sent all his other daughters out looking for them. Having run out of daughters to send out, he went out himself to look for his nine offspring.

Heading towards the well he found a great serpent surrounded by the dead bodies of his lovely daughters just outside the village of Baldragon.

He quickly raised the alarm and a local man called Martin, the son of the blacksmith and lover of one of the daughters, set out with his trusty hammer.

On encountering the dragon a chase ensued in which Martin harried the dragon towards Kirkton of Strathmartine.

The dragon, already weary from pursuit and the blows of Martin's hammer, made its last stand just north of Strathmartin where the blacksmith's son took one mighty swing and crushed the creature's head on a stone.

The stone has been called Martin's Stone from that very day. A local rhyme commemorates the occasion.

Tempted at Pitempton
Draigled at Baldragon
Stricken at Strathmartin
And kill'd at Martin's stane.

The stone itself is of Pictish origins, probably from the 6th or 7th Century AD, and has been carved in relief on one side only. Depicted are two horsemen, a serpent, and a beast of Pictish origin.