Visited 11th August 2004: Tiraghoil was the second stone we came to heading east. I left the others in the car (the rain had subsided a bit) and made my way to the stone. This is a large lump of rock, much bigger than Fionnphort. It has quite a presence to it. With the weather as it was the stone did a good job looking immoveable (sort of, "I ain't budging!"). The lichen hair might have been what suckered me into thinking of the stone as human.
This stone is in a field just off the Fionnphort road. It is aligned N-S, and has no markings or carvings, and stands just over 2m tall. Magnificent views all around!
Aubrey Burl described that this stone had a tradition which was "uniform among the natives, that they were intended as guide-posts to strangers visiting Iona on pilgrimage" on a route which was first used by St. Columba. This may perhaps be the superimposition of an earlier, indigenous hero-figure of some sort.
Alexander Thom thought this monolith marked a solar alignment indicating May Day/Lammas between two peaks to the northeast.
Reference:
Thom, A., Thom, A.S. & Burl, A., Stone Rows and Standing Stones, II, Oxford 1990:274
Log in |
Register
Scotland
0 discussions
Show map (inline Google Map)
Add an image 
Posted by Kammer
Posted by nickbrand
Posted by Paulus
Top of page