Standing Stones

Torran, Ford, Kilmartin, Argyll

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Standing Stone: OS Grid Reference – NM 87901 04877

Getting Here

On the A816 road, a mile-and-a-bit north of Kilmartin, take the small road (east) to Ford—passing the Creagantairbh stone on your right, then a bit further on the Auchinellan stone on your left. Go through Ford village, making sure to stick to the road that goes along the north side of Loch Awe — as if you’re heading to Dalavich. Just fractionally over a mile out of Ford village, just where the road begins to swerve into a large bend, there’s a small left-turn that takes you to some houses. Just 60-70 yards along this little road, take the trivial little path on your right that takes you straight to a piece of manicured scrubland. If you walk into it, and bear left, you’ll see what you’re looking for. It’s unmissable!

Archaeology & History

When I first visited here in the 1990s, a farm building stood by this huge standing stone and there were no other houses nearby. How things change—but thankfully our old sentinel stone is still living here.

It was highlighted by the Ordnance Survey lads on their early map of the area, and visited a few years later by the great petroglyphic pioneer J. Romilly Allen. (1880) Standing eleven feet tall and more than four feet across at the base, Allen noticed that, about four feet above ground-level, someone had carved an old cross onto the northeast face of the stone (you can just make it out in the attached photos). It had obviously been carved many centuries ago, by a wandering christian no doubt—although it was incomplete and never finished. Perhaps the person who carved it was chased away by local folk, who would obviously and rightly seen such an act as outright vandalism. The cross was deemed by Ian Fisher (2001) and the Royal Commission (1992) to be medieval in nature. Apparently there’s another, much fainter cross that was first mentioned by Marion Campbell etched on the other side of the stone, but in all the times I came here I was never able to make it out.

But even further back in time someone had carved a cup-marking on the stone—and the cross was etched onto the same spot, enclosing the cup-mark. When I lived nearby, I made a sketch (long since lost) of what seemed to be two other faint cup-marks at one end of the extended arms of the cross, but on our recent visit here these were very hard to make out. When Ron Morris (1981) mentioned the stone in his survey, he mentioned its proximity to other cup-and-ring carvings immediately to the southeast and a hillock thereby, wondering whether there was “an astronomical complex” going on here. I doubt it—but I like the idea!

But it’s the size of the stone that’s most impressive here and keeps up with the tradition of similar megaliths in and around the Kilmartin area. Check the place out when you’re hunting the other stones nearby. You won’t be disappointed!

Folklore

Local tradition ascribed this great stone as marking the grave of an ancient warrior. The full folk tale seems to have been lost.

References:

Allen, J. Romilly, “Note on a Standing Stone near Ford, Argyllshire,” in Proceedings Society Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 14, 1880.
Campbell, Marion, Mid Argyll: An Archaeological Guide, Dolphin: Glenrothes 1984.
Campbell, Marion & Sandeman, M., “Mid Argyll: An Archaeological Survey,” in Proceedings Society Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 95, 1964.
Christison, D., “On the Standing Stones and Cup-Marked Rocks, etc. in the Valley of the Add and some Neighbouring Districts of Argyle,” in Proceedings Society Antiquaries, volume 38, 1904.
Fisher, Ian, Early Medieval Sculpture in the West Highlands and Islands, RCAHMS: Edinburgh 2001.
Morris, Ronald W.B., The Prehistoric Rock Art of Southern Scotland, BAR: Oxford 1981.
Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland, Argyll – Volume 6: Mid-Argyll and Cowal, HMSO: Edinburgh 1988.
Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland, Argyll – Volume 7: Mid-Argyll and Cowal: Medieval and Later Monuments, HMSO: Edinburgh 1992.
Ruggles, Clive, Megalithic Astronomy, BAR: Oxford 1984.
Swarbrick, Olaf, A Gazetteer of Prehistoric Standing Stones in Great Britain, BAR: Oxford 2012.

Acknowledgements: Huge thanks for use of the Ordnance Survey map in this site profile, reproduced with the kind permission of the National Library of Scotland.

St. John’s Stone, Leicester, Leicestershire

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Standing Stone (destroyed): OS Grid Reference – SK 5779 0644

Also Known as:

Little John’s Stone

Archaeology & History

This once impressive megalithic site was first mentioned in 1381, giving its name to the field Johnstone Close. Shown on the early Ordnance Survey maps standing on a raised portion of land in an area north of the modern town centre, not far from the Abbey, its destruction had been a slow one until it finally disappeared about a hundred years ago. One of the early descriptions of it was by John Nichols (1804) in his immense series of works on the county. He called it ‘Little John’s Stone’* and gave us the first known illustration of the monolith (right), telling it to be “7 feet 2 inches high, and 11 feet 3 inches wide”—although he obviously meant circumference and not ‘wide’, as his illustration clearly shows. Although this slight error was perhaps the reason that Historic England proclaimed the stone to have been little more than “a natural feature”—which it clearly wasn’t.

The stone stood in what Nichols called “a kind of amphitheatre”, and what James Hollings (1855) subsequently called a sloping hollow which, he thought, had “been excavated by the hand of man.” It was located “in a meadow, a little to the west of the Fosse-way,” he said, “not far from the ancient boundary wall of the Abbey of St. Mary de Pratis.” There’s little doubt it was a prehistoric standing stone. Hollings described it as standing erect and told it to be one of those “monolithic erections, or hoar stones, anciently sanctified by the rites of Druidic worship,” comparing it to “similar rude columns” in Cornwall, Scotland and just about everywhere! He also told that it was a place of summer solstice gatherings, being

“in the memory of many living, annually visited about the time of Midsummer by numerous parties from the town in pursuance of a custom of unknown antiquity.”

When James Kelly (1884) wrote about the stone, little was left of it save at ground level. He repeated much of what Hollings had previously written, but had a few notes of his own. One related to the local mayor and MP for Leicester, Mr Richard Harris, dated January 1853, who told him:

“When a boy, he had frequently played on the spot where it was customary for the children to resort to dance round the stone (which he thought was about eight feet high), to climb upon it and to roll down the hill by which the stone is in part, encircled. The children were careful to leave before dark, as it was believed that at midnight the fairies assembled and danced round the stone.”

More than fifty years later when Mrs Johnson (1906) wrote about the place she said that only a small section of the stone still remained, just “a few inches above the earth.” It had been incrementally “broken to pieces down to the surface of the ground and used to mend the road.” (Kelly 1884) Alice Dryden (1911) lamented its gradual demise in size, summarizing:

“At the beginning of the nineteenth century it was about 7 feet high, but by the year 1835 it had become reduced to about 3 feet. In 1874, according to the British Association’s Report, it was about 2 feet high, and it has now completely disappeared.”

Local tradition tells that some small pieces of St John’s Stone were moved to the nearby St. Luke’s church, where bits of it can still be seen. Has anyone found them?

More recent lore has attributed St John’s Stone to have been aligned with the Humber Stone (SK 62416 07095) nearly 3 miles to the east, in a summer solstice line—but it’s nowhere near it! A similar astronomical attempt said that the two stones lined up with the Beltane sunrise: this is a little closer, but it still doesn’t work. The equinox sunrise is closer still, but whether these two stones were even intervisible is questionable.

* this was probably the name it was known by local people who frequented the nearby Robin Hood public house (long gone); its saintly dedication being less important in the minds of Leicester’s indigenous folk.

References:

Cox, Barrie, The Place-Names of Leicestershire – volume 1, EPNS: Nottingham 1998.
Devereux, Paul, “The Forgotten Heart of Albion,” in The Ley Hunter, no.66, 1975.
Dryden, Alice, Memorials of Old Leicestershire, George Allen & Sons: London 1911.
Hollings, James Francis, Roman Leicester, LLPS: Leicester 1855.
Kelly, William, Royal Progresses and Visits to Leicester, Samuel Clarke: Leicester 1884.
Nichols, John, The History and Antiquities of Leicestershire – volume 3: part 2, J. Nichols: London 1804.
Johnson, T. Fielding, Glimpses of Ancient Leicester, Clarke & Satchell: Leicester 1906.
Trubshaw, Bob, Standing Stones and Markstones of Leicestershire, Heart of Albion Press 1991.

Acknowledgements: Huge thanks for use of the Ordnance Survey map in this site profile, reproduced with the kind permission of the National Library of Scotland.

Kirkgunzeon, Kirkcudbrightshire

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Stone Circle (destroyed): OS Grid Reference – NX 8657 6668

Archaeology & History

Little is known about this stone circle, which had apparently been destroyed sometime in the first half of the 19th century. The local Rev. J. Gillespie spoke about it with the great Fred Coles (1895), who told that it was “near the manse of Kirkgunzeon.” The site was listed in Burl’s (2000) magnum opus, where he wondered if it might have been a cairn; and interestingly, when the Ordnance Survey lads came here, they spoke with a Mrs J. Moffat, the oldest inhabitant in the area, who told that,

“a circle of stones c.30 ft in diameter with a small mound in the centre stood on flat ground at NX 8657 6668. Over the years successive farmers have removed the larger stones and now only the slight mound, c.4.0 m diam. x 0.3 m high, with several clearance stones on top, survives to mark the site of the stone circle.”

References:

Burl, Aubrey, The Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany, Yale University Press 2000.
Coles, Fred, “The Stone Circles of the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright”, in Proceedings Society Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 29, 1895.

Knockshinnie, Kirkcudbright, Kirkcudbrightshire

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Stone Circle (destroyed): OS Grid Reference – NX 681 450

Archaeology & History

In an area that’s littered with prehistoric rock art, this “stone circle” at Knockshinne—listed in Burl’s (2000) magnum opus—is a debatable entry that was described in one of Fred Coles’ (1895) many articles on such matters. When he came here he told how to the west,

“of Balmae House, and near the base of Knockshinnie, four stones in situ, all, I think, granite, and the sites of six others as distinctly observable…. A massive stone lies outside the circle on the south. Diameter 72 feet.”

Subsequent visits to the same spot by the Royal Commission (1914) gave a somewhat different interpretation to that suggested by Coles. They told us that,

“This setting of stones, noted elsewhere as a stone circle, lies on rough pasture some 100 yards below the road passing to the south-west of Knockshinnie, and about ¼ mile west-north-west of Balmae. It consists of four granite blocks, the highest standing about li feet above ground, placed on an arc with a chord of 76 feet and radius at centre of 21 feet. The stones are placed at irregular distances on a sloping bank, so that the lowest stone is at 8 feet lower elevation than the upper one. Other two displaced boulders and a number of smaller stones lie in a heap to the north-west, and the beds of stones which have been removed from the setting are visible. Though the boulders have been placed in position by man’s hand, it is doubtful if they have ever been part of a stone circle, and from their situation on a slope below a plateau it is probable that they represent the line of an old dyke.”

By the 1970s, all that remained here was a line of three stones, but these have subsequently been removed or destroyed. Modern archaeological interpretation goes against Burl (2000) and Coles, suggesting that the stones were more likely part of an ancient dyke.

References:

Burl, Aubrey, The Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany, Yale University Press 2000.
Coles, Fred, “The stone circles of the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright”, in Proceedings Society Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 29, 1895.
Royal Commission Ancient & Historical Monuments & Constructions of Scotland, Inventory of Monuments and Constructions in Galloway – volume 2: County of the Stewatry of Kirkcudbrightshire , HMSO: Edinburgh 1914.

Acknowledgements: Huge thanks for use of the Ordnance Survey map in this site profile, reproduced with the kind permission of the National Library of Scotland.

Market Cross, Elstow, Bedfordshire

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Cross: OS Grid Reference – TL 04864 47498

Archaeology & History

Sitting quietly “on the village green, where the fair is still held,” wrote Wigram (1885), “stands the base of the old market-cross, reduced to a shapeless stump, but still bearing traces of leaden setting.” Thought to be mediaeval in age, it was described as a sundial on some of the early Ordnance Survey maps which, perhaps, it may have been used as for a short period (although records are silent on the matter). Standing just three-feet tall, this old stone pillar still lives on its ancient spot, as quiet as always, keeping itself to itself…

References:

Wigram, S.R., Chronicles of the Abbey of Elstow, Parker & Co.: Oxford 1885.

Balnabroich hut (9), Kirkmichael, Perthshire

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Hut Circles: OS Grid Reference – NO 10018 56937

Getting Here

Along the A924 Strathardle road, a couple of miles south of Kirkmichael, about 100 yards south of the Balnabroich standing stone, look out for the dirt-track that runs up the slope on the east side of the road. Go up here, past Stylemouth house and further up the track where it opens out into the fields. Keep heading up the same track and you’ll notice on the near skyline a few hundred yards ahead of you, a mass of stones with a tree growing out of it. That’s the Grey Cairn; and about 75 yards below it, just to the right-side of the path low down in the grasses, you’ll see this hut circle.

Archaeology & History

In an upland area that is literally teeming with ancient remains, this is a good place to start if you’re wanting a day out exploring. It’s the best and easiest of the hut circles to find and is a good indicator of what to look for when you’re seeking out the others close by. This particular prehistoric house has been noted in various books and essays: firstly by the great Scottish antiquarian John Stuart (1868) in his overview of the great mass of sites hereby, saying simply:

“A hut circle on the south-west of the Grey Cairn was dug into around the entrance, in the belief that in this situation articles would probably have been thrown out, but with no result. In the centre, charred wood and minute fragments of bones were found.”

The great Christian MacLagan (1875) came to survey the area shortly after Stuart’s visit, making a series of sketches of some of the circles. She noted fourteen huts hereby, but it’s not totally clear which of them is this particular “hut 9”. It seems to have been her hut circle no.13, which she told “has a central chamber 40 feet in diameter, and its wall is 10 feet broad.” This is pretty close to our modern measurements. From outer wall to outer wall, its east-west axis measures 47 feet, and its north-south axis measures 49 feet. The most notable section of the walling is on is northern and eastern sides where it is deeply embedded into the ground.

When you’re sitting in this hut circle, eating your sandwich or drinking your juice, remember that thousands of years ago someone was doing exactly the same thing in the place where you’re now sat!

Just 70 feet away is hut circle no.10 in this cluster; whilst above this is the massive prehistoric rock pile of the Grey Cairn; and the smaller earth-covered mound above you to the right is another prehistoric burial. A small stone circle is on the moorland level beyond that… There’s plenty to see here.

References:

Coutts, Herbert, Ancient Monuments of Tayside, Dundee Museum 1970.
Harris, Judith, “A Preliminary Survey of Hut-circles and Field Systems in SE Perthshire”, in Proceedings Society Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 114, 1984.
MacLagan, Christian, The Hill Forts, Stone Circles and other Structural Remains of Ancient Scotland, Edmonston & Douglas: Edinburgh 1875.
Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland, North-East Perth: An Archaeological Landscape, HMSO: Edinburgh 1990.
Stuart, John, “Account of Excavations in Groups of Cairns, Stone Circles and Hut Circles on Balnabroch, Parish of Kirkmichael, Perthshire,” in Proceedings Society Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 6, 1865.
Thorneycroft, Wallace, “Observations on Hut Circles near the Eastern Border of Perthshire, north of Blairgowrie,” in Proceedings Society Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 67, 1933.

Acknowledgements: Huge thanks for use of the Ordnance Survey map in this site profile, reproduced with the kind permission of the National Library of Scotland.

Balnabroich hut (10), Kirkmichael, Perthshire

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Hut Circle: OS Grid Reference – NO 09997 56964

Getting Here

From Kirkmichael to the Balnabroich standing stone, take the same directions as if you’re heading up to the Balnabroich hut circle (9). Just over 20 yards NNW of it, on the other side of the faint footpath that takes you to the Grey Cairn, look closely at the ground and you’ll see a broken oval of stones in the grasses.

Archaeology & History

This can be difficult to see in poor light, and I found it easier to look at from above, closer to the Grey Cairn.

It’s one of the twenty (known) hut circles in this archaeologically rich neck o’ the woods. Nothing special to look at, but it is perhaps 4000 years old! This one seems to have been listed by Christian MacLagan (1875) as her hut circle no.12 and which she described briefly, telling that “the central chamber of this circle is 36 feet in diameter, and the surrounding wall is 15 feet broad.” Much of the walling would seem to have been stripped away considerably since MacLagan’s time. The faded remains of its entrance can be seen on its southwestern side.

References:

Coutts, Herbert, Ancient Monuments of Tayside, Dundee Museum 1970.
Harris, Judith, “A Preliminary Survey of Hut-circles and Field Systems in SE Perthshire”, in Proceedings Society Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 114, 1984.
MacLagan, Christian, The Hill Forts, Stone Circles and other Structural Remains of Ancient Scotland, Edmonston & Douglas: Edinburgh 1875.
Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland, North-East Perth: An Archaeological Landscape, HMSO: Edinburgh 1990.
Stuart, John, “Account of Excavations in Groups of Cairns, Stone Circles and Hut Circles on Balnabroch, Parish of Kirkmichael, Perthshire,” in Proceedings Society Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 6, 1865.
Thorneycroft, Wallace, “Observations on Hut Circles near the Eastern Border of Perthshire, north of Blairgowrie,” in Proceedings Society Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 67, 1933.

Acknowledgements: Huge thanks for use of the Ordnance Survey map in this site profile, reproduced with the kind permission of the National Library of Scotland.

Wilson Scar, Shap, Cumbria

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Stone Circle (destroyed): OS Grid Reference – NY 549 182

Archaeology & History

This site has been completely destroyed by the huge eyesore of a quarry that we all see when we’re travelling up the M6 north, above Shap. John Waterhouse (1985) told that “a rescue excavation” was carried out here with help from the kids at Penrith Queen Elizabeth School, shortly before its destruction in 1952, but now there is no trace left of it. When it was first described by J.E. Spence (1935), the circle had already been damaged by a wall that cut right through its centre. He told:

Spence’s 1935 plan

“The circle, which is 6o feet in diameter, is composed of 35 stones, 20 being on the west and 15 on the east side of the boundary wall running through the circle from north to south. The stones of which the circle is composed are Borrowdale erratics, a large number of which are scattered over the adjoining ground on both sides of the wall but more thickly in Sweet Holme Pasture. The stones, which vary up to 5 feet 9 inches by 3 feet, are larger and more numerous in the north-west quadrant where the tallest stands 1 foot 8 inches above the level of the turf. The ground within the circle is level, but to the south and west it slopes gently down from the edge of the circle in such a manner as to suggest that the area within the circle has been levelled.”

Spence told that an ancient “sunken trackway” led outwards from the circle to the south-west in the direction of Rosgill, but when the 1952 excavation occurred, no remains of such a track were found; nor was the wall that had cut through it; and the north-easterly section of the circle had been cut into and re-laid, presumably by the quarrymen. It was quite plain, wrote G.G. Sieveking (1984), “that this portion of the monument was encroached upon in the summer of 1952, and hastily reconstructed for the benefit of the archaeologists.”

Their excavation found that some internal sections of this ring had been paved with thin limestone slabs and they also uncovered two small cairns, neither of which possessed anything. However, they did find four funerary deposits within the monument: one at the northeastern section of the circle (no.1); another near the centre (no.4); and remains of a cremation west of centre (no.3); but the most complete find was at the western side of the ring, where a “disarticulated inhumation burial was lying immediately beneath the turf line in a shallow grave 1.35 m long, surrounded by a setting of small boulders.” It was a near complete human skeleton. This place was obviously, at times, used in ceremonies for the dead.

Shortly after the archaeological examination of the site, it was blasted away by quarrying. Gone!

References:

Barnatt, John, Stone Circles of Britain – volume 2, BAR: Oxford 1989.
Burl, Aubrey, The Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany, Yale University Press 2000.
Farrah, Robert W.E., A Guide to the Stone Circles of Cumbria, Hayloft: Kirkby Stephen 2008.
Seton, Ray, The Reason for the Stone Circles in Cumbria, privately published: Morecambe 1995
Sieveking, G.G., “Excavation of a Stone Circle at Wilson Scar, Shap North 1952,” in Transactions Cumberland & Westmorland Antiquarian & Archaeological Society, volume 84, 1984.
Spence, J.E., “A Stone Circle in Shap Rural Parish,” in Transactions Cumberland & Westmorland Antiquarian & Archaeological Society, volume 35, 1935.
Waterhouse, John, The Stone Circles of Cumbria, Phillimore: Chichester 1985.

Witch’s Stone, Bankfoot, Perthshire

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Standing Stone: OS Grid Reference – NO 04236 37526

Getting Here

Travel along the B867 road from Bankfoot to Dunkeld (running roughly parallel with the A9) and you’ll reach the hamlet of Waterloo about one mile north of Bankfoot. As you approach the far end of the village, keep your eyes peeled for the small turning on your left and head up there for just over a mile. The road runs to a dead end at Meikle Obney farm, but shortly before reaching there you’ll pass this large standing stone on the right-side of the road, just along the fence-line. It’s almost impossible to miss!

Archaeology & History

This is one of “the large rude upright stones found in the parish” that William Marshall (1880) mentioned briefly, amidst his quick sojourn into the Druidic history of Perthshire. It’s an impressive standing stone on the southern edges of the Obney Hills that doesn’t seem to be in its original position. And it’s another one that was lucky to survive, as solid metal staples were hammered into it more than a hundred years ago when it was incorporated into the fencing, much like the massive Kor Stone 6½ miles south-west of here.

Shown on the first Ordnance Survey map of the area in 1867, its bulky 6½-foot-tall body stands all alone on this relatively flat plain, with open views to the east, south and west. It gave me the distinct impression that it was once part of a larger megalithic complex, but I can find no additional evidence to substantiate this. Call it a gut-feeling if you will. Intriguingly, the closest site to this are two standing stones just out of view literally ⅔-mile (1.07km) to the northeast, aligned perfectly to the Witch’s Stone! Most odd…

Folklore

The story behind this old stone is a creation myth that we find all over the country, but usually relating to prehistoric tombs more than monoliths. The great Fred Coles (1908) wrote:

“the common legend is told of a witch who, when flying through the air on some Satanic behest, let the Stone fall out of her apron.”

References:

Coles, Fred, “Report on Stone Circles Surveyed in Perthshire – North-eastern Section,” in Proceedings Society Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 42, 1908.
Marshall, William, Historic Scenes in Perthshire, William Oliphant: Edinburgh 1880.
Stewart, Elizabeth, Dunkeld – An Ancient City, Munro Press: Perth 1926.

Acknowledgements: Huge thanks for use of the Ordnance Survey map in this site profile, reproduced with the kind permission of the National Library of Scotland.

Kor Stone, Logiealmond, Perthshire

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Standing Stone: OS Grid Reference – NN 9733 3004

Also Known as:

Car Stone
Carse Stone

Getting Here

Take the tiny long winding B8063 road that runs west off the A9 at Luncarty, meandering eventually to the entry of the Sma’ Glen. If you’re coming via Luncarty, after going west for 8 miles (12.9km) you pass the hamlet of Harrietfield and just a few hundred yards further a dirt-track on your right goes uphill to Milton. If you’re coming via Crieff/Sma’ Glen direction, along the B8063 road, cross the Bridge of Buchanty and after nearly 3 miles (4.7km) just past a bit of a hairpin, you’ll see the track up to Milton on your left. Walk up, past all the newly modernised houses and go through the gate, bearing right where, in the field on your right (thru another gate) you’ll see this big fella standing alone 200 yards to the east along the fence-line.

Archaeology & History

This is a bit of a hidden beauty! Standing nearly ten feet tall on the crest of an elongated ridge with the land ever so gently declining either side of its proud stand, it beckons the impression of partners long since gone (or something truly olde)… and so it proved to be. Very little has been written about the place, despite its impressive stature. It seems to have been described firstly in J.W. Thomson’s essay on the local parish in April 1837 (subsequently published in the NSA in 1845) where, ascribing it as usual to the druids of olde, he told that,

“at the western extremity of Logiealmond, there is one remarkable block about 12 feet high and 18 feet in circumference, standing upon its narrow end, with three other stones in its immediate vicinity. It is commonly called the Kor Stone.”

William Marshall (1880) also mentioned these three additional standing stones, saying that they were “apparently part of a row.” But they are long gone and we know not what became of them. They were probably uprooted and included in some of the nearby walling or buildings (quite a lot of suspicious-looking stones scatter the edges of many fields around Logiealmond). If we look closely at the surface of our Kor Stone, in earlier times someone has fixed metal loops into the monolith to make it part of an early fence or gate.

The stone was highlighted on the 1867 OS-map of the area and described in the accompanying Name Book,

“Carse” Stone on 1867 map

“A stone about ten feet high, supposed by some people to be the remains of a Druidical Circle, by others to be a mark on a division of lands: in support of the latter supposition they bring forward the fact of a large stone at Dunkeld and one near Fowlis – both similar to this one – and The Carse Stane being in the same straight line.”

The great Fred Coles (1911) also gave the place his attention, but apart from a brief description of its size and position, he found no additional lore about the other three stones, telling us simply:

“It is an imposingly large and erect block of rugged whinstone, 9 feet 9 inches in height, with a basal girth of 15 feet 10 inches, but at about midway of its height the girth increases to fully 17 feet. The view…shows the Stone as seen from the east.”

In truth, the location of this giant stone on the ridge strongly suggests it was once part of a much greater megalithic neolithic monument. But whatever that might have looked like, we may never know. It’s an awesome site though. Well worth checking out if you’re in the area.

References:

Coles, Fred, “Report on Stone Circles Surveyed in Perthshire, Principally Strathearn” in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 45, 1911.
Finlayson, Andrew, The Stones of Strathearn, One Tree Island: Comrie 2010.
Marshall, William, Historic Scenes in Perthshire, William Oliphant: Edinburgh 1880.
Thomson, J.W., “Parish of Moneydie,” in New Statistical Account of Scotland – volume X: Perth, William Blackwood: Edinburgh 1845.

Acknowledgements: Huge thanks for use of the Ordnance Survey map in this site profile, reproduced with the kind permission of the National Library of Scotland.