Alfred Watkins heard a local tale that the large stone or ‘Sacrificial Stone’ was said to be “the door of the Giant’s Cave thrown down.”
The Giant’s Cave is Clutter’s Cave. AKA the Hermit’s Cave. How many names do these places need?
Mr Watkins got a friend to recline on the stone as though he was about to be sacrificed and took a photo. He was seemingly convinced it was Suitable as it fitted the human body just right. He mentions someone else’s ideas who’d been observing the sun at the Midsummer, and thought that that would have been just the moment to do the deed.
Naturally he spotted a number of his leys around this area.
He published the idea and photo in ‘The Old Straight Track’, but this link (’Republications’) is more interesting because it comes with his own handwriting:
cantab.net/users/michael.behrend/repubs/watkins_misc/pages/giants_cave.html
Waum is assuredly a variant form of weem
Not at the OED it isn't. Or do you mean in Orkney?
I've added some pics of the cave for you Rhiannon.
Excellent!! thank you for that. It looks rather strange. Rather too neat from the outside. But with wilder curious colours inside don't you think. Really quite odd?
Certainly looks uncomfortable! The colours are due to the translucent quality of the volcanic rock. It's almost amber in colour in some light.