Skelmorlie serpent mound elevation. Source: On Prehistoric Traditions and Customs in Connection with Sun and Serpent Worship, p31

From History of Skelmorlie:

...near to Skelmorlie castle at the Meigle is a 100 foot high artificial mound, said to have been the site of Sun and serpent worship. A Dr Phené discovered this structure and excavations revealed a paved platform shaped like a segment of a circle, together with many bones and charcoal. The mound itself may well be entirely natural, however the paved platform is a genuine artifact; it is not listed by the relevant authorities.

Possible Skelmorlie serpent mound location. Source: Skelmorlie Villas

From Skelmorlie: The Story of The Parish Consisting of Skelmorlie and Wemyss Bay, Walter Smart, 1969:

In Skelmorlie is one of the most remarkable antiquities in Scotland a ‘Serpent Mound’, supposed to have been used by the ancient Britons in the worship of the Sun and the Serpent, and other religious rites. The head of the Serpent lies behind Brigend House and the ridge forming the body is now severed by the road running up the hill at Meigle. In the 1870’s Dr. Phené of Chelsea made some interesting excavations, discovering a paved platform some 80 feet long, and evidence of early cremations. The details were fully reported in the Glasgow Herald and the Scotsman at the time and there are specimens in the Kelvingrove Museum in Glasgow.

Recent examination of the pieces at Kelvingrove confirms that they are indeed burned human bones, something which was always disputed about Phené's original findings. Artefacts found at the Kempock Stone ¹ during similar excavations in the 19th Century are now also due to be tested alongside items found during the controversial excavations at Langbank, recently rediscovered at the National Museum Edinburgh. It is suggested that dating of the artefacts and remains will show them to be contemporary, and that the strange serpentlike drawings uncovered on stones at Langbank are linked to the "serpent mound" at Skelmorlie, via some sort of celtic river or serpent worship cult.

Skelmorlie serpent mound's initial (1871) description comes from On Prehistoric Traditions and Customs in Connection with Sun and Serpent Worship, Dr John Samuel Phené, section 42, p30:

But in my investigations in Scotland I have lately discovered, in Ayrshire, a monument which appears to combine the most important customs I have touched on in one. Diagrams 32 and 33 represent the form of a mound with a large circular head, ² and a serpentine ridge 400 feet long (figs. 32 and 33). It appears, though in a different attitude to the serpent mound in Argyllshire, ³ to still to bear the characteristics of a serpent emblem.

Attracted by the outline, I excavated the mound, and discovered a paved platform of great interest. The hill is 100 feet high on its western side, is most uniformly shaped, and on the north and south sides measures 60 feet high ; to the east it is only 40 feet, and here its true circular form is lost, and a distinct elongation, terminated in broken ground, occurs just over a roadway formed at no very remote date. On the other side of this roadway similar broken ground appears, where a beautifully curved serpentine embankment, 300 feet long commences. It is evident that the embankment once joined the circular mound or head, and was severed when the road was made.

The embankment forms a ridge about five feet across on the top, and was once nearly 400 feet long ; it tapers as it recedes from the head, and also slopes downwards towards the end or tail, terminating almost vertically, the earth having been retained in position by a facing of uncemented stonework, the remains of which still preserve the shape. The ridge, which runs sinuously from the east side of the mound northwards, has been formed on the crest of a lofty bank, and is at an elevation of 130 feet above a stream still further north.

The serpentine ridge did not contain any relics, but on cutting through it, its artificial formation was plainly shown, the materials having been brought from the adjacent sea-shore, and being quite distinct from the original summit, which was clearly defined.

Trenches were cut in the head or circular hill at the four cardinal points, from the summit to the base, without any result ; but on continuing these over the plateau, so as to form a cross, a divergence had to be made to avoid some trees, when the soil, hitherto of light colour, suddenly changed to black. This discoloration being followed, a paved platform was found about two feet, in some places, under a rich vegetable soil, which covered the whole hill uniformly (except where it had been severed from the embankment), and which it must have taken ages to deposit ; the trees that have been for many years on the hillock assisting little, as they are coniferae.

Fig. 33. Plan of Mound (rotated to north). Source: On Prehistoric Traditions and Customs in Connection with Sun and Serpent Worship, p31

Phené was very careful to get details of the platform area:

Fig 33. Skelmorlie summit: position of platform (enlarged). Source: On Prehistoric Traditions and Customs in Connection with Sun and Serpent Worship, p31

This discovery took place at the north-east, and was on the verge, just where the plateau joined the declivity. Cuttings were then made at intervals of a few feet all round the edge, in the same position, without success, till, on arriving at the north-west, the same appearance was exhibited. In result it was found that the platform was 80 feet long and 5 feet wide, paved with smooth flattened stones from the shore in a true curve, forming a segment of a circle, and covering a space between and including the north-east and north-west points of the compass (fig. 34).

Fig. 34. Phene' plan of Skelmorlie serpent mound's charred platform. Source: On Prehistoric Traditions and Customs in Connection with Sun and Serpent Worship, p33

The platform itself, and the earth beneath it to a considerable depth, were highly charred, large masses of charcoal filled the interstices between the stones, and on washing the earth obtained from the same position, it was found to be full of portions of bone, so reduced in size as to show that the cremation must have been most complete. Taking the latitude of the mound, and the points of the compass where the sun would rise and set on the longest day, this segment-shaped platform, devoted apparently to sacrifice by fire, is found to fill up the remaining interval, and thereby complete the fiery circle of the sun's course, which would be deficient by that space.

Near the centre of this hillock was found under the surface a much larger stone than any on the hill, and which may have formed part of the foundation of an altar. Independently of the time of year indicated by this fire agreeing with that of the midsummer fires of the Druids, we have here not only apparently an evidence of solar and serpent worship, but also of sacrifice. In Scotland also fire in connection with the cross was the signal for blood-shedding. ⁴

From section 43:

Observe then, — with the Hebrews was the custom of keeping fire burning nocturnally, from sunset to sunrise, and this in connection with sacrifice; in the monument before us appears the same custom on a magnificent scale, viz., for a particular occasion the burning seems to have been so arranged as even to fill up the arc of the sun's disappearance from the point of his setting to his rising again, completing, as it were, the circle of his light and heat.

Phené also wrote Reptile Tumuli: A Lecture, 1871.

If local residents were being sacrificed on the mound by Meigle's 'meggies' (a Lincolnshire term), where were the residents being farmed?

From Skelmorlie:

It is known that "a significant population" lived around the area behind the present-day Manor Park Hotel in the 9th to 11th century, and evidence supports the theory that an early Celtic church existed there before the arrival of the Cluniac Monks (who formed Paisley Abbey in 1163) and the foundation of the Roman Church.

Also, there were three hill forts to the south of Skelmorlie:

From Prehistoric Man in Ayrshire, John Smith, Elliot Stock, London, 1895:

This locality is quite famous for the number of archaeological remains that have been got at it. In making a road, a number of stone coffins were encountered, and at certain spots one has only got to dig perseveringly enough to unearth a cinerary urn ; and the number of these which have been got, and as a rule broken, is astonishing, and quite entitle the place to the name of Urnfield.

Blue: Verified locations. Red: Candidate mounds

Map based on the following data:

near to Skelmorlie castle at the Meigle The hill is 100 feet high on its western side, the north and south sides measures 60 feet high to the east it is only 40 feet, and here its true circular form is lost, and a distinct elongation The ridge, which runs sinuously from the east side of the mound northwards, has been formed on the crest of a lofty bank, and is at an elevation of 130 feet above a stream still further north. The embankment forms a ridge about five feet across on the top, and was once nearly 400 feet long ; it tapers as it recedes from the head The head of the Serpent lies behind Brigend House the ridge forming the body is now severed by the road running up the hill at Meigle "a significant population" lived around the area behind the present-day Manor Park Hotel

More about Phené:

From John Samuel Phene (Wikipedia):

He was born the son of William Phene, a London businessman and educated at King's Lynn Grammar School ⁵

From Dr Phene’s House of Mystery:

Despite the murkiness surrounding facts about his ancestry, it is clear that Dr Phene maintained an interest in the traditions of old France, for in 1885 he was one of the founders of the Huguenot Society of London. Despite the wealth of (often) apocryphal stories that circulate regarding this mysterious man, he was a serious scholar who published numerous research papers and gave both his services and artefacts to museums around the country.

Phené was involved in technical education for young men and with tea barons (whom Wikipedia says lived in Skelmorlie). From Chapter 7: Disaster and Recovery - The Education of the Eye, Brenda Weeden's history of the University of Westminster:

The directors included John Phené, the first managing director of the new Institution, and Thomas Twining, a member of the wealthy family of tea merchants, who was an authority on technical education. The Rev. Charles Mackenzie became head of the educational department.

See also Dr Phene in his garden.

And from https://infogalactic.com/info/Skelmorlie:

Skelmorlie's history is recorded as far back as the fifteenth century. Skelmorlie Castle, south of the village, is a tower house built on the site of an older structure in 1502. Much altered and added to since, it is an ancient seat of the Clan Montgomery (a notable burial tomb of the family can be seen at Skelmorlie Aisle in Largs). During the nineteenth century the village was once home to many Glasgow tea barons. On the cliff above the shore a large hydropathic institution ^{1 2} once stood, with access from the main road via a lift whose shaft was hewn out of the rock face. The building later operated as a hotel, but was demolished in the 1990s.

To the south of Skelmorlie is the serpent mound, a prehistoric, perhaps druidic, site apparently carved either deliberately for religious uses or by nature then reused due to its natural shape.

On Saturday 18 April 1925, an embankment on the reservoir which belonged to the Eglinton Estate and provided the main water supply for the whole village gave way, releasing millions of gallons of water down through the village. After 10 minutes many homes, streets and gardens were shattered and five people, four of them children, lay dead.

Perhaps his associating with Thomas Twining is what gave Phené his opportunities to explore and document Ayrshire and Clyde's mounds.

National Portrait Gallery images of John Samuel Phené:

John Samuel Phené on far left. Source: National Portrait Gallery

John Samuel Phené on far left. Source: National Portrait Gallery

Interesting mix of professions all gathered togther there for a photo.

Other Mentions:

• Meigle, North Ayrshire

• History of Skelmorlie

• Tales of the Oak - Skelmorlie, Ayrshire

• Skelmorlie. The Story of the Parish Consisting of Skelmorlie and Wemyss Bay, Walter Smart, 1968. Published by The Skelmorlie and Wemyss Bay Community Centre.

• Picturesque Ayrshire. Dundee, William Harvey. Valentine & Sons.

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