Alva Church, Alva, Clackmannanshire

Standing Stones:  OS Grid Reference – NS 88812 97235

Getting Here

Go on the A91 through Alva, eastwards, and just before you go out of the town, note the small road on your left up to the graveyard.  As you go into the graveyard, keep your eyes peeled on your left-hand side.  You can’t really miss it!

Archaeology & History

Alva stone07
Alva’s standing stone

Reported as “lost” or “destroyed” in many official reports, one of at least two standing stones that were reported in the Old Statistical Account of 1795 can still be found at the bottom of the graveyard, adjacent to the old holy well of St. Serf.  Very little has been written about it, and when it was mentioned in the OSA, the stones were only added in a foot note to the impressive stone cross on the outskirts of Alloa, saying:

“There are two stones resembling this one, in the neighbouring parish of Alva, at no great distance from the church, but not close to one another. They are both near the foot of the Ochils.”

A little person by its side
A little person by its side
From the stone, looking NE
From the stone, looking NE

When some of the lads from the Scottish Royal Commission came here in July 1927, they could find no remains of any such standing stones and simply reported that they “no longer exist.” However, as visitors can plainly see, a tall upright standing stone still remains here, albeit repositioned by the good local people of Alva several decades ago.  Standing more than seven-feet tall, the stone is very weather-worn on one side, with a plaque at the bottom.

References:

  1. Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments, Scotland, Inventory of Monuments and Constructions in the Counties of Fife, Kinross and Clackmannan, HMSO: Edinburgh 1933.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian 

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