Bellman’s Stone

Also known as:
The Bell Rock
Nearest town:
Old Meldrum (2km N)
OS reference:
NJ80402515
OS sheet:
38
Latitude:
57° 18' 59.54 N
Longitude:
2° 19' 31.6 W
Added to TMA by

Images

Image of Bellman’s Stone (Natural Rock Feature) by LesHamilton

Bellman’s Stone from the southwest.

Image credit: Les Hamilton
LesHamilton
LesHamilton Aug 3, 2013

Articles

Bellman’s Stone

LesHamilton
LesHamilton Aug 3, 2013

Visited August 3, 2013

To access Bellman’s Stone, start at the entrance to the grounds of Bourtie Old Manse (across the road from the Kirk) and follow the generous field margin to the left of the trees, first northwards then eastward till reaching a north-south field boundary. Follow this boundary northwards for about 100 metres to the boulder, which lies a couple of metres west of the fence.

Folklore

Bellman’s Stone
Natural Rock Feature
Rhiannon
Rhiannon Jul 31, 2013
comment 1 comment

Yet another boulder with a name in the vicinity of Bourtie and its circles. A report from the Boulder Committee of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1872) mentions it:

Boulder, about 20 tons. Longer axis E. and W. Called “Bell Stane,” the church bell having once hung from a post erected in it.

There’s a picture on the Canmore website which shows it in 1902, and calls it The Bell Rock. And on a 25” map from 1900 it gets called Bellman’s Stone, so it has a variety of similarish names to choose from. Maybe someone should go and tap it to see if it’s really called the Bell Stone because it rings. Or, since we’re in Scotland, could it even be a Bel stone like Beltane. I mean maybe you would ring a bell from it, though you’d think it’d be better to ring it from the church itself – it seems a bit like a convenient way to Christianise it perhaps. Ah the realms of speculative folklore etymology.

comment 1 Comment

Sites within 20km of Bellman’s Stone

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