Standing Stone (destroyed): OS Grid Reference – NO 3069 3609
Also Known as:
![](https://www.thenorthernantiquarian.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/grey-lady-1860-1.jpg?w=300)
The site of the stone is on the top of a ridge due west of Lundie Castle and is best approached from the minor road between Lundie and Denhead, but at the time of my site visit a steel gate had been erected across the field just before the site of the stone together with a large festoon of electric fencing, which I did not cross.
Archaeology & History
![](https://www.thenorthernantiquarian.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/grey-lady-lundie-angus-01-1.jpg?w=300)
The Ordnance Survey name book describes the stone, the informants being Mr. Pattullo junior and Mr. Bett of Pitermo:
“This name is applied to a Standing Stone a little to the west of Lundie Castle. It is about 4 feet high, between two & three broad & rather a Kidney Shape. …Some think of druidical origin, but young Pattullo intends to blast it shortly“.
![](https://www.thenorthernantiquarian.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/grey-lady-lundie-angus-02-1.jpg?w=300)
And indeed it seems the feckless youth did have his wicked way with The Grey Lady, who had been a landmark for millennia, for she sadly no longer exists. In view of the folklore attaching to the stone, it may be worth speculating whether the kidney shape denoted a lunar symbolism for the stone.
Folklore
The OS name book states:
“The ladies of Lundie Castle have romance connected with it – that a white lady is to be seen walking round it on a certain night of every new moon.”
Reference:
- Ordnance Survey Name Book; Forfarshire (Angus) volume 66 (1857-61)
© Paul T. Hornby, The Northern Antiquarian 2017