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

Eigg standing stone

Standing Stone / Menhir

Fieldnotes

Eigg is the second largest of the small isles after Rum. The other small isles are Canna and Muck and none can be easily accessed by car ferry. On Eigg an island made famous by the fact the locals were able to buy back the land from there stay away landlord, this is a problem.

The island is the most populous of all the islands with a princely population of 78. There is a four mile road stretching from the port at Galmisdale to the small village of Cleadale on the north of the island. A car ferry would encourage more visitors to the island and encourage more people to come and live there. It would also enable someone to get all the disused rotten junk away from the island. Eigg is a stunningly beautiful place but it really is threatening to become disfigured by the sheer amount of fly tipping which seems to be going on.

The standing stone of Eigg is not to be confused with the monolith at the harbour commemorating the islands takeover by residents. This menhir stands proud looking over the new ferry terminal construction but the stone marked on the OS maps was about two miles further inland and pretty much in the centre of the island.

Walking there was pleasant and not strenuous, this stone was certainly easier to find than the one supposedly on the island of Rum, it was just off the side of the road, its always nice when they are so conveniently sited don’t you think?

After posing for the obligatory photographs we set off back along the road in the hope that it wouldn’t be too long before we reached the farm in which we were staying. After about half a mile we came upon another stone which didn’t look like it should have been there at all. This was smaller than the previous stone and was tilted at an angle. I again took some photos and named it the Eigg lesser stone ;-)
notjamesbond Posted by notjamesbond
1st July 2003ce

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