Gruline

Nearest town:
Lochaline (14km ENE)
OS reference:
NM545396
OS sheets:
47, 48
Latitude:
56° 29' 3.53 N
Longitude:
5° 59' 16.68 W
Added to TMA by

Sites within Gruline

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Images

Image of Gruline (Standing Stone / Menhir) by Kammer

Taken 9th August 2004: A gratuitous photo of my stone hunting ‘buddy’ William alongside the stone at Gruline, viewed from (something like) the north.

Image credit: Simon Marshall
Kammer
Kammer Jul 25, 2005
Image of Gruline (Standing Stone / Menhir) by Kammer

Taken 9th August 2004: Viewed from the west (I think).

Image credit: Simon Marshall
Kammer
Kammer Jul 25, 2005
Image of Gruline (Standing Stone / Menhir) by Kammer

Taken 9th August 2004: Gruline from a distance. This photo was easy to take (no bull!).

Image credit: Simon Marshall
Kammer
Kammer Jul 25, 2005

Articles

Gruline

C
CARL Sep 11, 2013

Visited 1.8.13

We stayed the night in a lovely B+B near Mausoleum (SNT site – well worth a look) and once the children had been settled down I had the opportunity of going for a walk before it got too dark. Luckily I was only a short walk from several ‘old stone’ sites so as they say ‘jobs a good ‘un’!

I walked onto the B8035 and headed south.

Gruline standing stone is easily seen in the middle of a field from the roadside.
Access into the field is easy enough over a metal field gate. Although technically there is no public access, given the location and time of day this was never going to be an issue!

The stone is about 2m tall and has a nice backdrop of hills and even a waterfall in the distance.
A bird of prey shrieked overhead which added to the occasion.

Well worth a visit when in the area.

Gruline

Kammer
Kammer Jul 30, 2005

Visited 9th August 2004: William and I visited this stone without the others (they opted to stay in the car).

When we visited there was a lot of silage stacked up near the stone tractor in the field and a knackered old tractor (William liked this). The biggest obstacle we faced was mud. The part of the field nearest he gate was awash with it. It took us ages to cover a short distance.

The stone itself is tall and slender, but this I didn’t find the site very inspiring. Perhaps I had the wrong head on for it, or perhaps it was the mud, but I didn’t feel any great urge to contemplate the place for very long.

Gruline

nickbrand
nickbrand Apr 22, 2003

As can be seen from the photograph, this field was occupied, so I didn’t make an issue of it and took the bull’s photograph along with the stone, which is over 2m in height and very slim.

Folklore

Gruline
Standing Stone / Menhir
Rhiannon
Rhiannon Jul 26, 2005

There appears to be another standing stone at Gruline, at NM543397, in amongst some trees. According to the Canmore record it’s slightly taller at 2.45m, and tapers in at the top.

It’s not ‘strictly’ to do with the stones (or is it?), but the legend of the Cailleach is connected with the neighbouring loch (she is largely associated with the imposing mountain Schiehallion), as you can see from this excerpt from “A MacLean Souvenir” by J. P. Maclean (1913) – a fiercely copyrighted annotated version of which may be found at
gillean.com/jpmclean/

No district of Scotland was more noted for its witches than Mull. On the shore of Loch Ba lived the famous “Calleach Bheurr” and there closed her career of thousands of years. At intervals of a hundred years, so the legend relates, she immersed herself in the waters of the Loch, which ordeal gave here a further lease on life. But having waited too long for this ordeal, for the cycle had been spun to its limit, and while in the act of seeking this elixir of life, she staggered, reeled and dropped to rise no more.

Sites within 20km of Gruline

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