Folklore

Thougritstane
Natural Rock Feature

Coflein is determined that this is a natural stone, which it surely is. It's a big and noticeable one though, at 13ft 2ins by 10ft and 4ft 1in high, "and is a natural erratic, of blue augitic porphyrite." But its presence has been linked in local consciousness with the once-present St Mary's Chapel (of which no trace is now said to be), St Mary's well, and the tradition of a burial site on the hill. The Coflein record also mentions rumours "that it was a 'Druidical Alter', or used for performing acts of mortification in connection with worship at the nearby chapel". It's interesting that the following quote mentions Special Protection afforded to the stone.

At a place called the Chapel Craigs, about half a mile from the village of Dunlop, there existed until lately the ruins of a chapel, which was dedicated to the Virgin Mary... It stood upon a rock, on the side of a rivulet, which was crossed by steps, called the lady's steps – which steps, however, have been superseded by a bridge. A beautiful stream of water gushes from the rock.

The existence of this chapel has given name to a number of localities around. A few hundred yards south-west of the site of the chapel, on the gentle swell of the hill, is a Druidical stone, called the Thugart stane, supposed to be a corruption of the grit stane. It appears at one time or another to have been a rocking -stone. The base is so covered with rubbisth, that it has now lost its vibratory motion. It lies on the farm of Brandleside, and the tenant is bound in his tack to protect it, by neither removing it, nor cultivating the ground for a considerable number of square yards around it.

Above the site of the chapel, a pathway was cut out of the solid rock, leading to the top of the hill, where tradition says there was a burying-place belonging to the chapel. The pathway is nearly obliterated, a quarry having been opened in the place a number of years ago.

From 'History of the County of Ayr' by James Paterson (1852) p45.

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