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Giant's Quoiting StoneStanding Stone / Menhir
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Visited 5th March 2012 A very urban standing stone, this menhir must stand a good 10' tall. We passed it as we were heading down the A31 on our way to Castletown. I was a bit taken aback by the size of it, and how closely it stood across from the houses on Beach Road in Port St. Mary. Parking in a small residential cul-de sac opposite the site we spotted two gates into the field, one of which, in the corner of the field between the A31/A5 junction, stood wide open, invitingly beckoning us into the field. This huge stone is lovely, we sheltered in the lea of it from the unrelentingly bitter wind that seems to have blown incessantly across Man since we arrived. It was nice to take a bit of time to stand with the stone, the huge empty field streching off before us. I was possibly expecting some curtain twitching from across the road, but either everyone was out or else they are just unperturbed by a couple of old hippy stonehuggers. The dark band on the stone described by Kammer had faded down to be barely noticable, but since the stone's beard of moss only seemed to cling to its upper half I'm sure cattle still enjoy using the stone to scratch their itches. One of the finest standing stones on Man, nicely accessible, it's a lovely stone, and we didn't feel unwelcome entering the field. This one is a must visit if you are near Port St. Mary. |
Posted by Ravenfeather17th March 2012ce |
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Visited 26th August 2003: The Giant's Quoiting Stone is marked on the Landranger map (not by name, but as Standing Stone), and visible from the road between Port St Mary and Rhenwyllan. It stands in a large field, with no obvious signs of public access. The stone is much larger than I expected it to be, and quite uniform in shape. There's a dark band around the lower part of the stone, presumably as a result of being rubbed against by livestock. There's also a solitary stone at the foot it, that looks like it might plausibly have once been part of the packing material. |
Posted by Kammer10th April 2004ce Edited 10th April 2004ce |
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It seems that the Giant's Quoiting Stone may once have been part of a pair of stones, Samuel Lewis writing in 1831 states, 'In this parish are the small villages of Port Erin and Port-le-Mary. Between these villages are the Giant’s Quoiting stones, two huge masses of unhewn clay-slate, about ten feet high, three feet wide and two feet thick. Within a mile of these is Fairy Hill, a barrow situated in a low morass from which two defiles lead to Port Erin bay and the creek of Fleswick: the hill is a truncated cone forty feet high, and one hundred and fifty yards in circumference, completely surrounded by a deep and wide ditch; on the summit is a circular excavation ten yards in diameter, with a regular parapet; the sides of the hill facing the defiles are almost perpendicular, and on the north-east side a a pathway to the summit is discernable' From ‘ A Topographical Dictionary of England’ by Samuel Lewis 1831 vol 3, p230. The Fairy Hill mentioned seems to be marked on the modern OS map as a 'Motte' just to the north east of Port Erin (SC205 696). The other Quoiting Stone is said to have stood on the slope of Cronk Skibbylt behind Cronk Road. |
Posted by Ravenfeather 21st March 2012ce Edited 22nd March 2012ce |
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