'like a tree trunk. stone like like old wood. and huge cracks from bottom to top add to its weight of years. this huge trunk reaches nearly straight to the sky. views of 270degrees of seas, inlets, isles. whether intended as such or not this stone is alter-like. faces east-west; flat side east. (pity its right beside the road).
all the stone that seems to have come out of the ground here has the same wood effect, and judging from the stone used in the walls around, appears to split readily into small versions of the elongated standing stone.
The other stone, a couple of fields down and across to the right (assuming the one I found was the right one), is only a wee slip of a stone, about 2.5 feet tall. stands between furrows in a cultivated field, seemingly fallow at the moment, on a small untouched patch, surrounded by smaller stones and other odd detritus. by its size, barely believable as a standing stone.
there possible remains of building footings further down the same field as the larger standing stone, of unknown age.'
I visited two standing stones in the island of Unst -- the stone of Clivocast and the stone of Succamires. The stone of Clivocast has the more graceful outline, and stands, a landmark for miles around, in a commanding position on a height to the east of Uyeasound and on the roadway to Muness.
En passant, an interesting traditionary derivation of the name Clivocast (which is more properly Klivincast) is preserved in the island. Two old witches lived, one in Fetlar, the other in Unst. One pair of tongs, anciently known as klivin, did duty for both their fires, and when Truylla in Fetla had made use of the klivin, she "cast" them across the sound to Truylla in Unst, and they landed in this spot, which is conveniently near to Fetlar.
The stone is composed of a soft grey slate, and seems to have been quarried near by, as there is an abundance of that particular stone all around. It is about 10 feet high and 3 1/2 feet wide at the base, tapering towards the top, and leans slightly to the northward. This stone is one of those which is not a distinct slab.
From Elizabeth Stout's article "Some Shetland Brochs and Standing Stones" which is in PSAS volume 46 (1911-12).
The Canmore record has a spot of folklore about this 9'10" stone from the Name Book of 1878: "It is said to mark the spot where the son of the Viking Harold Harfager was killed some time around 900AD. He is said to have been buried in the tumulus to the southwest." I guess this tumulus must be the chambered cairn you can see on the OS map, which is on the island on the other side of the Skuda Sound.
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