Leslie, Greenside, Bull Stone

The Bull Stone, Leslie.

A relic of the rural pastime of bull-baiting stands on the town green. It is a roughly shaped granite boulder to which the animal was secured, and its lower part is deeply grooved by ropes (1). It measures 3 ¼ feet in height and is 12 inches in diameter at the top and 2 ¼ feet square at base.

RCAHMS 1933, visited 10 June 1928.

(1) New Stat. Acct., ix (1836), p. 115.

The Bull Stone comprises a roughly shaped granite boulder, 1m high, 0.3m diameter at the top and 0.7m square at the base. It is deeply grooved with rope or chain marks and is the stone to which the bull was secured in the ancient rural pastime of bull-baiting.

Bull-baiting took various forms but basically it consisted of the setting of specially trained dogs, one at a time, on a bull chained to a stake by the neck or leg. The dog attempted to seize the tethered animal's nose. The only protection offered the bull was a hole in the ground into which the bull might thrust this vulnerable part. This was not always provided and in some areas the bull's nose was blown full of pepper to further annoy it. A successful dog was said to have 'pinned the bull'.

This pastime was popular from the 12th to the 19th century when it was banned by Act of Parliament in 1835. Baiting and its variations declined, although very slowly, from the late 17th century onwards, having been banned by the Puritans during the Civil Wars and Commonwealth (1642-60).It is interesting to note that the only account of this stone appears in the New Statistical Account of Scotland, prepared the same year as the Act banning this activity, the writer stressing that bull-baiting in this area had occurred in the distant past.

Bull-baiting is synonymous with bear-baiting, bears being substituted on special occasions.

Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Fife and Tayside’, (1987).