The Modern Antiquarian. Stone Circles, Ancient Sites, Neolithic Monuments, Ancient Monuments, Prehistoric Sites, Megalithic MysteriesThe Modern Antiquarian

Sheriffmuir Stone Row

Stone Row / Alignment

Fieldnotes

I think this might have been the first neolithic site I went to, when I was about ten. My mum was showing the local sites to an American friend of the family, Kate Ascher. I remember this so well, because Kate's visits were a highlight for us - she seemed uninhibited and free, more so than anyone else we'd met in our fairly restrictive council estate and R.C. upbringing. I also remember her as a humble and benevolent person. She later told us that she thought we were all referring to the 'local hills' when we talked about the Ochil Hills. Anyway I think me and my little brother were wearing the NY Yankees t-shirts that Kate had brought over, and we went for lunch at the Sheriffmuir Inn. I remember I was intrigued and a bit worried about the [one remaining] standing stone and there was talk of witchcraft and rituals.

I didn't know, until a few years ago when I was looking at the OS Landranger, that this place was actually a stone row of five stones, of which only one remains upright.
On closer inspection, this site turns out to be very unusual.
The stones are almost perfectly aligned, roughly SW-NE. The most northerly stone looks as though it would have been the tallest, standing at about 10 feet tall. The second one is still standing at 6 foot, and is called the Wallace Stone (see folklore). The middle stone would have been around five feet tall. The fourth stone has split into two and would have been about seven feet tall. The south stone has cup markings.
The stones are all almost evenly spaced, being about a hundred metres apart.
When I last visited with a friend last year, we found animal bones and an animal skull around the stone.
The site is on rough, exposed, heathered moorland on the western shoulder of the Ochil Hills.
Posted by winterjc
7th December 2001ce

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