After going to see Discover Odin on 4th/ 5th Oct 2001, British Museum there’s another state of affairs. The king stone is the World Tree and the nine stones either side represent the nine moons that Odin hangs on the World Tree looking for answers/ powers.
This is my local site as I grew up in Amberley which is the next village to Minchinhampton
My mother tells the tale that newborn babies used to be passed through the hole in the Longstone, if they were small enough to pass through the hole they were deemed to sickly to live and were killed.
This is the supposed burial site of the legendary King Loth who gave his name to the Lothians. A shepherd had previously fallen in love with Loths Daughter and Loth was so enraged by this that he ordered his daughter killed by being thrown from the top of Traprain Law. The shepherd took revenge by killing him with a single arrow through his heart. In 1861 Professor Sir James Young Simpson (he of Simpsons Memorial hospital and anaesthetic fame) made a discovery of a stone cist 40 foot east of the original site of this stone (was moved last century 160 foot north to the edge of the field).
Somewhere in the vicinity lived the Pictish king called Loth (around 518). He had a daughter called Thenew who fell in love with a local shepherd. This didn’t please Loth and he condemned his daughter to death by having her thrown form the top of Traprain Law. She survived though and still unconscious was carried to a coracle and set afloat on the Firth of Forth. The tide carried her to Culross, where the still unconscious princess was taken ashore by shepherds. Sometime after, she bore a son called Kentigern, who trained as a holy man and was later called Mungo. When he grew up he travelled west and set up a monastery in a small village called Cathures- this grew into the great city of Glasgow- of which Mungo is the patron saint.
The shepherd who fell in love with Thenew took revenge on Loth and killed him with an arrow through his heart and legend has it he was buried at the foot of Traprain Law.
In 1861 Professor James Young Simpson (he of anaesthetic fame) examined the stones around the Law in the hope of discovering Loths grave. Forty foot east of the original site of Loths Stone a stone cist was discovered.
A note on the 19 stone type scenario that is so common in Penwith. I’ve heard tell that each one of these circles has a ‘sun’ stone or ‘king’ stone (quartz and set in the West it seems to me). Two crecents of nine stones representing waxing and waning moon and triple goddess type scenarios (virgin, mother, crone) advance on the sun/king stone. Some kind of ceremony. Hmmmm.
Leave your horse and payment here and by the morning Wayland will have shod the horse and pocketed the cash.
“The Stones of Stennis have a perfect setting of wild moorland and loch. There are two main groups- the Ring of Brogar, or Temple of the Sun, and the smaller Ring of Stennis (which is strictly a semi-circle or crescent), or Temple of the Moon.”
From “The Silver Bough Volume 1: Scottish Folklore and Folk-Belief” by F.Marian McNeill, 1957 page86.
“The belief is found throughout the Celtic territories that certain Standing Stones, set in motion by the spirits which animate them, sometimes go to drink in river or lake. In Orkney, one such Stone was said to walk from the Circle to the Loch of Stennis regularly on Hogmanay, dip it’s head into the Loch, and return to its old position. The story goes that a sailor once seated himself on the Stone some time before midnight in order to test the truth of the legend, and the next morning his dead body was found half-way between the Circle and the Loch”
From “The Silver Bough Volume 1: Scottish Folklore and Folk-Belief” by F.Marian McNeill, 1957 page 87.
About a mile to the North West of the Gop there is a field that was going to be used as the site for a new school but when digging started they uncovered a mass grave that held the victims of a battle between the Celts and the Romans. There are also caves underneath the mound that are said to run in tunnels all the way to a hill about two miles to the East that was once used as a Roman army camp and the Celts used these tunnels to mount geurilla attacks on the Roman army.
“The stone circles of the Orkneys had similar traditions:in 1703, Martin Martin wrote that the stone circles at Stenness and Brodgar were ‘believed to have been Places design’d to offer Sacrifice in time of Pagan Idolatry; and for this reason the People called them the Ancient temples of the Gods.’ An engraving made in 1823 of the Ring of Stenness, known then as the Temple of the Moon, shows a woman hallowing her promise of betrothal at the stones.”
From “Celtic Sacred Landscapes” by Nigel Pennick 1996, page 53.
“One of the Stenness stones was particularly noteworthy. This was the Stone of Odin, a six-metre high, one-metre wide and forty centimetre thick monolith destroyed in 1814, through which there was a hole. Through this hole, lovers would clasp their hands and enter into marriage. (This is a variant on the time-honoured custom of handfasting, a form of marriage by public declaration. Couples who wished to divorce could do so by leaving through seperate doors of a church after the service.)”
From “Scotland:Myth, Legend and Folklore” by Stuart McHardy 1999, pages 107-108.
“Before 1814, when it was destroyed by a farmer, the Odin Stone, a holed stone at Croft Odin, Orkney, was used for oath-taking. In 1791, a young man was arraigned by the Elders of Orkney for ‘breaking the promise of Odin’, that is, breaking an oath sworn on the stone. When visiting the stone ceremonially, it was customary to leave an offering of a stone or a piece of bread, cheese or cloth.”
From “Celtic Sacred Landscapes” by Nigel Pennick 1996, page 53.
“There are many evidences of Roman occupation round the Pentland Hills, and the Caiy Stone of Kelstane or Battle stone near Fairmilehead marks the place of a traditionary battle between the Romans and the PictsÉ..Evidence of the Danish occupation was seen in the Camus Stone, from which Comiston gets its name. This stone has disappearedÉ(?). The Camus Stone was probably erected by or for a Danish commander named Camus”
From “The Call of the Pentlands” by Will Grant, 1927 pages 207-208.
I think the ‘Caiy Stone of Kelstane’ is maybe a mis-print and should read ‘or’. I was also interested in the part re the disappearance of the Camus Stone as I was sure this was just another name for the Caiy Stane. I had another look at my Edinburgh map and there are five streets round about the Caiy Stane named after Camus, some of which join Comiston Road. Was there another stone nearby that has been confused with the Caiy Stane over the years???
“In an adjacent field, close to the quadrilateral of trees that are supposed to mark the line of a Roman camp, is the Kel or Kat Stone- translated ‘Battle Stone’- a cup-marked monolith seven feet in height, which, if legend speaks true, marks the grave of a chieftain who fell in fight. It certainly was raised for a purpose; and the gray and lichened landmark, standing where it does on a ridge and near a cross-road, looking across to the Pentlands and down upon Swanston catches the eye and challenges the fancy”
From “The Fringes of Edinburgh” by John Geddie (date unknown) pages 102-105.
There’s supposed to be a “Fairy Ring” up here ... though judging by the state of the place, any fairies will have been long scared by people sat around campfires getting pissed ...
“On Fonab moor rather more than half way between Pitlochry and Strathtay and sixty yards to the north of the path connecting those places there are two fine standing stones and the remains of two others called “Clacnah an Diridh” or “Stones of the ascent (or brae)“. Some people call it the remains of a circle, but there is no appearance whatever of there having been any other stones or of the remaining stones ever having been in a circle. On the contrary, they more resemble a large oblong dolmen such as we have described and the appearance of their site is quite consistent with there having originally been a mound of earth over them which was afterwards scattered around. But they are not near enough to each other to be a dolmen. Another theory about the “Clacnah an Diridh” is that the stones marked the scene of some periodical religious meeting or ceremonial of which nothing is now known.”
From “Pitlochry Past and Present” by John Dixon 1925 pages 56-57.
“Mention must also be made of a Stone Circle by the old path to Loch Tummel. There are four stones, on a magnificent site, and they are named na Clachan Aoraidh, the Stones of Worship. That fairies had their home here is shown by the place-name given to the wooded knoll south-west of the Mains of Fincastle. This is still named an Sithean, the Fairy Hill, and west of it is Edintian, which in reality is Aodann an t-Sithean, Face of the Fairy Hill.”
From “Highways and Byways in the Central Highlands” by Seton Gordon 1947, page 152.
“At the head of Glenfincastle is the famous stone circle known as “An Carrigean” which was visited on the first of May, and supposed to bring good fortune to those who walked round it. It consists of four stones of no great size, set on a raised earthen platform, which seems at one time to have been causewayed. The circle is probably of Neolithic origin, from the small size of the stones and the veneration in which it was held. An avenue lined with small stones leads to it, through which cattle were probably driven when they underwent the baptism of fire, and there is a large hut circle on one side. An extensive view is got from the platform, and at no great distance on the same moorland plateau is Grenich, with its burial mounds and evidences of Sun worship.”
From “Pitlochry District” by Hugh Mitchell 1923, pages 60-61.
“The once celebrated Clachan an Diridh (’stones of the ascent’) lie, now almost forgotten, to the south of Pitlochry near the ridge of Carra Beag (’little rock’) and An Suidhe (’the seat’), which together are popularly known as Fonab Hill. At the begining of the twentieth century, the Clachan an Diridh stones would have stood majestically on bare hill and are now half hidden in a clearing, within forestry, but there are signs that after the Second World War trees were planted as close as a metre to each stone. Originally a four poster, although only three stones now remain, this site was visited on the first day of May each year, the religious rite being to go round the stones deiseil (’sunwise’-that is, clockwise).”
From “Pitlochry-Heritage of a Highland District” Colin Liddell 1993.
In an old guide book of the area I found the following in reference to the standing stones of the district;
“Now there won’t be heard the song of my fame,
The stranger will not know of my grave,
He will see a grey stone with ragweed o’ergrown,
And he will ask ‘whose grave is this’,
‘We know not’, the children of the glen will say,
‘The song of his fame has not lived to our day’”
From “Pitlochry District” by Hugh Mitchell 1923.
Apparently, if you run barefoot up and down, then across the arms, you will be invigorated and be able to continue your journey.
Or dead of exhaustion – it’s *very* steep up there on the Ridge ...
It’s said that this is where the Stonehenge bluestones come from... maybe... not sure if this is true, but it’s certainly the same type of rock, on a major footpath, and *very* strange up there.
Well, it’s said that if you stop your car on a hill on the roads around here, put it into neutral then take your brake off, it rolls up the hill...
...but I can’t get it to work.
Badbury Rings is supposed to be a candidate for the Battle of Badon Hill, where Arthur decisively beat the Anglo-Saxons. However, it is no hill at all, just the remains of a settlement with earth walls and ditches around it. It was called Durnovaria during Roman times, and 4 Roman roads meet here. The views are very beautifull, I can recommend a visit to anyone .
The Humber Stone Leicester.
Close to Thumaston Lane. Although only a few feet from the road, it is just off a new roundabout that leads to the Hamilton housing estate, it is near a garage. You will need a recent OS map as much has changed around here recently.
A huge red granite stone some six feet wide and twelve high once stood in a hollow on the top of an eminence at Humberstone. It was variously called the Hoston, Hostin, Holly, Holy or even Hell Stone, and gave its name to the nearby village, though the official derivation is from Hunbeort’s Stan [Stonel. Geologically, the stone is an erratic, (similar red granite is found closest at Mountsorrel some miles away), but there is folklore that it was dropped by a god, and frequented by fairies. In the eighteenth century the farmer on whose land it stood had the upper parts of the stone broken off, and the hollow levelled for the plough. For meddling with the stone he was soon reduced from being the owner of 120 acres to penury, and six years later he died in the workhouse. The bad luck – if you can call it that – seems to still linger as within 10 minutes of my arrival yesterday two squad cars and 3 police officers harassed me at the site asking what I was doing on ñtheir landî! This is a public monument six feet from the highway and marked by a notice by the way. They obviously have a policy of harassing visitors as one questioned me about ley lines – a bizarre, and somewhat disturbing experience, now I know what it must feel like to be a traveller. The remnant of the stone can still be seen and has been recently dug out of the ground and is most impressive. As large as some stones at Avebury it must weigh at least 6 tons in its curtailed form (my friendÍs estimate who knows about these things), deeply fissured and very red. Its large front originally faced north towards Charnwood it seems. It must have been very impressive in its day, no granite let alone red granite around this district. In the same locality there was a plot of land called Hell-hole Furlong, and also the traditional site of a nunnery which was reputed to be connected by an underground passage to Leicester Abbey, two miles away and possibly visible, there has been much obstruction of site lines recently. The stone sits forlorn amongst new industrial and housing estates. This tunnel story is possibly a later reinvention of a much older line of sight alignment as in the Abbey Fields at Leicester there was once a seven-foot stone called St John’s Stone. Its site is now in the middle of the Stadium Housing Estate. It was the custom for people to visit it on St John’s Day, close to the solstice on the 24 June. Children sometimes played around it, but were always careful to leave before nightfall, when the fairies came out. Nowadays it is the institutionally anti-archaeological forces of Babylon one has to be wary of it seems.
Alex Peach