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

Ladykirk Stone

Carving

Folklore

Saint Magnus appears to come into the story sometime between the 16th century and 1690. Down in Caithness a story was told of the saint turning a dragon into the Stone Hone in the Watten parish, now reduced to rubble.
The first mention is that a man was shipwrecked and got home by jumping on the back of a monster, which he then turned into the stone, this "Gallus" promising to dedicate a church to St. Mary. Although the writer wrote of the stone being by a 'temple' near the shore I presume this simply means the kirk. Between this time and 1701 it seems to have been reduced from 6'x4' to the present dimensions - perhaps this was to remove some pagan feature.
By Gallus we might be dealing with another word for a RC priest - perhaps Magnus' name was attached to protect the stone at a time of religious upheaval. Of course as this saint was an earl of virtually kinglet status it could have been attached even earlier.
wideford Posted by wideford
3rd September 2004ce
Edited 25th May 2012ce

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