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The Witching Stone

Standing Stone / Menhir

<b>The Witching Stone</b>Posted by markj99Image © Mark Johnstone
Nearest Town:Girvan (5km S)
OS Ref (GB):   NS201027 / Sheet: 76
Latitude:55° 17' 7.26" N
Longitude:   4° 49' 59.3" W

Added by follow that cow


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<b>The Witching Stone</b>Posted by markj99 <b>The Witching Stone</b>Posted by markj99 <b>The Witching Stone</b>Posted by markj99 <b>The Witching Stone</b>Posted by markj99 <b>The Witching Stone</b>Posted by markj99 <b>The Witching Stone</b>Posted by markj99

Fieldnotes

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Visited 17.02.24

I've passed by The Witching Stone countless times, however, the field was usually in crop or I was on my way to somewhere. Yesterday, while travelling home from a Bill Bailey concert, I noticed that the field enclosing The Witching Stone was being drained so it seemed like a good opportunity to finally visit the standing stone.

My first difficulty was finding a place to park on the busy A77. After some trial and error I parked down the track to the cottages S of the Alginate factory. The lane is a high tide detour off the Ayrshire Coastal Path. The track leads onto the beach. After following the coast S for c. 0.5 mile i headed to a gate in the NW corner of the field. The Witching Stone was c. 150 yards SE from the gateway across a sodden field (I had wellies on obviously).

The Witching Stone is natural pointed boulder leaning c. 30 degrees ESE. It is set upright with broad sides on a ESE-WNW axis. The stone measures c. 4x3x1 feet. The overall height is reduced to 3.5 feet by the lean. It is located at NS 19924 01730 (transcribed from OS Aerial Mapping).

There is no obvious reason why this rather ordinary stone has been set upright and preserved in the field. It is not listed on Canmore and a Google search for Standing Stone The Curragh Girvan produced no result.
Posted by markj99
18th February 2024ce
Edited 18th February 2024ce

This is a sad and solitary little stone situated in a farmers field on your right hand side, between the road and the seashore, travelling south on the A77 about 1km past the seaweed(alginates) factory.

As it is quite small it may, or may not, be of human design.
follow that cow Posted by follow that cow
17th December 2004ce
Edited 17th December 2004ce

Folklore

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The Witching Stone was pointed out to me by an elderly relative on the occassion of scattering the ashes of my mother in law over her favourite childhood beach.
He told me that as children playing nearby they would always take a wide berth to avoid this stone as it had a sinister and frightening aspect.
I can find no listing of this stone in my OS disc nor of the name of the adjoing beach known by him as Curragh Beach, therefore the OS location given is only a questimate.
follow that cow Posted by follow that cow
17th December 2004ce
Edited 15th January 2005ce

Miscellaneous

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Drive by - 28.7.15

The stone is easy to see alongside the A77 but parking anywhere near is impossible. The stone stands in the middle of a recently ploughed field. It is approximately 1m high x 0.5m wide at the base. It has a pointy top.
The stone must be a considerable pain for the person who has to plough the field :)
Posted by CARL
28th July 2015ce