The Great X of Kilmartin

Also known as:
Nether Largie Stones
Nearest town:
Lochgilphead (10km SE)
OS reference:
NR828977
OS sheet:
55
Latitude:
56° 7' 20.79 N
Longitude:
5° 29' 41.21 W

Images

Image of The Great X of Kilmartin (Stone Row / Alignment) by drewbhoy

Interesting blue / gray colour near the bottom of this stone.

Image credit: drew/A/B
drewbhoy
drewbhoy Apr 25, 2023
Image of The Great X of Kilmartin (Stone Row / Alignment) by drewbhoy

Never noticed before, both stones almost slope at the same angle.

Image credit: drew/A/B
drewbhoy
drewbhoy Apr 23, 2023
Image of The Great X of Kilmartin (Stone Row / Alignment) by tjj

Taken walking back from Nether Largie South Cairn – mist/fine rain.

Image credit: tjj
tjj
tjj Jun 6, 2017
Image of The Great X of Kilmartin (Stone Row / Alignment) by Hob

From ‘Notes on some undescribed stones with cup markings in Scotland’, Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 16, 1882

Image credit: J. Romilly Allen
Hob
Hob Apr 21, 2007
Image of The Great X of Kilmartin (Stone Row / Alignment) by Hob

Is there the faint trace of a second ring around that cup? Or is it just me being over-keen to see something that’s not really there?

Image credit: IH
Hob
Hob Sep 28, 2005
Image of The Great X of Kilmartin (Stone Row / Alignment) by Kammer

Taken 14th August 2004: The southern stone.

Image credit: Simon Marshall
Kammer
Kammer Sep 21, 2005
Image of The Great X of Kilmartin (Stone Row / Alignment) by rockartwolf

Image taken on sunday april 24th at 5.05pm. Image taken from left to right with templewood behind you. Weather was hot and sunny.

Image credit: Brian "Blokey" Kerr
rockartwolf
rockartwolf May 6, 2005
Image of The Great X of Kilmartin (Stone Row / Alignment) by rockartwolf

Image taken from ground level of the two main stones to the right of the cross, with templewood behind you. Image taken on sunday 24th april at 5pm. weather was hot and sunny.

Image credit: Brian "Blokey" Kerr
rockartwolf
rockartwolf May 6, 2005
Image of The Great X of Kilmartin (Stone Row / Alignment) by tumulus

The outlying stones with the stones of the main alignment in the background.

Image credit: Martin McCarthy
tumulus
tumulus Oct 14, 2004
Image of The Great X of Kilmartin (Stone Row / Alignment) by tumulus

The outlying stone with Nether Largie South cairn behind.

Image credit: Martin McCarthy
tumulus
tumulus Oct 14, 2004
Image of The Great X of Kilmartin (Stone Row / Alignment) by greywether

The only way to get all five stones in and on much the same scale is to walk well back and use a long zoom.

greywether
greywether Jun 28, 2004

Articles

The Great X of Kilmartin

drewbhoy
drewbhoy Jul 6, 2023

Plenty has been said about the tall standing stones, I took a wee bit more interest in the wee four poster or kerb cairn nearby and wondered if there had a been a standing stone set inside. One of the standing stones looks like it has a kerb surrounding it as well, perhaps there are hints of something at another.

Another mystery at Kilmartin, no real surprise.

Visited 04/04/2023.

The Great X of Kilmartin

tjj
tjj Jun 6, 2017

Visited Sunday 21/5/17

It is difficult to talk about these stones without mentioning the Nether Largie South Cairn and Templewood Stone Circle as they are very close together and seem intrinsically connected to each other.

Drawing on the information on one of the excellent interpretation boards, this X-shaped monument consists of five tall standing stones and the stump of another (no longer visible) 300 metres to the west. A central standing stone with two others at some distance either side.
Three of the stones have rock art symbols on one side and had probably been prised from outcrops decorated about 1,500 years earlier. These decorated stones may have been erected approximately 3,200 years ago about the same time as those at Ballymeanoch.

Alexander Thom (controversial archaeo-astronomer) claimed this was one of the most important lunar observatories in Britain. Recent analysis supports the idea that the stones mark where the moon rises and sets at key points in its 18.6 year cycle. The standing stones also line up with the midwinter sunrise and autumn and spring equinoxes.

The Great X of Kilmartin

C
CARL Aug 10, 2015

Visited 24.7.15

It was a lovely summer’s evening. The low sun shone brightly over these wonderful stones. All was quiet except for birdsong and the occasional passing car in the distance. The stones had a decent covering of ‘hairy lichen’ and the angle of light showed the cup marks in all their glory. It is easy to take rock art for granted in Kilmartin Glen. Something we should never do of course. I hope the stones, their cup marks and secrets are with us for another couple of thousand years. I hope this glen is as beautiful then as it is now. If you have never been, make sure you visit this special place and allow as much time as possible to try to take it all in. Evening and morning visits are best as the place can get busy when the afternoon coaches arrive. Still, this place is big enough to accommodate us all – you can always find a quiet spot amongst these large and mysterious stones.

The Great X of Kilmartin

Hob
Hob Sep 28, 2005

August 2006

Went and had a look a few times this year, over the space of a week, but can’t convince myself about the second ring I thought I’d seen previously, despite a number of different lighting conditions, both natural and artificial.

August 2005

Wheelchair/buggy access here is very good (as it is at most of the main Kilmartin sites). The dedicated parking space is only a few hundred metres away, the ground is fairly flat, with no big bumps, gates are sensible, and there is a nice even bridge over the stream.

It seems to get a bit busy though, even on weekdays, we hung about for an hour or so, and spotted at least 7 groups of other visitors, most of whom were in a bit of a hurry. It’s quite fun to watch folk doing the circuit from here to Nether Largie south, via Temlpewood, it looked like quite a nice little walk. So we eventually got up and did the same.
It’s a nice way to see these 3 sites, as it gives you the chance to see the X from a number of perspectives, but isn’t strenuous in the least.

I got the idea into my head that there are two rings around one of the cups, but it could just be a trick of the light. There are’t any double rings on any of the diagrams I’ve seen.

The Great X of Kilmartin

tumulus
tumulus Oct 14, 2004

New paths and fences have been put around this area this year. One result of which is that the outlying stone (between the X and Temple Wood and the Nether Largie South cairn) is in the same field as the main stone setting and so is more readily accessible than in the past.

The Great X of Kilmartin

Vicster
Vicster Jul 20, 2004

We went out on a walk with a local countryside ranger last week and he told us of an American woman who had asked to visit the 5 smaller stones in the field alone with him. When they got there she said that this site should never be excavated but she wouldn’t tell him why. She was absolutely adamant about his and he said he sensed a fear in her – he was sure that whatever reasons she had for such a request where absloutely valid to her mind.

The sense was that the stones had been placed there to “contain” something – whether real or otherwordly, I really don’t know but I had never really thought of this before. I can’t remember whether this was explicit in what she said, or just suggested but it did make us stop and think – and come up with even more “what if"s and “why"s

(It certainly made for an interesting debate around a couple of bottles of wine later that evening....)

So, we sat there and wondered at what lies beneath and started to feel a sense of trepidation! The mind can play tricks on you in such a place.....in the end we decided to sit within the “circle”, our backs to the 2 larger stones and felt a sort of calm fall over us.

Still would like to know what had spooked her so much, though!

The Great X of Kilmartin

greywether
greywether Jun 28, 2004

I hadn’t planned a return visit to this site. I had simply stopped in the car park to phone home and have a bite to eat before the two hour drive back.

Then I noticed that there was no one at the site (perhaps not unusual at 8.30pm out of season) and, more importantly, the sun was probably in a good position to show up the carvings on the centre stone.

So in I went delaying my departure by about half an hour while I wandered about taking pictures in these near-perfect conditions.

Visited 25 June 2004

The Great X of Kilmartin

S
stiiv Feb 16, 2004

The Nether Largie stones (the Great X etc.) seem to be lined up with features of the landscape.
E.g:
Looking down the line of the ‘X’ (its a very narrow X, more like a straight line with an ‘entrance’ at each end – see kilmartin.org/kilmartin/sites/ss9.html
for a good view of it) from its southwestish end, it points at the small wood to the northeastish;
The big central stone of the X lies on a straight line between Templewood and another small wood on the opposite side. It is a thin, flat sided stone and the plane of it is on this line. (Where these woods there when the stone were erected?);
Also when you line this central stone up with the smaller stone that is standing on its own in what is now the next field to the northish it points at the highest visible hilltop peak.
The www.kilmartin.org site reckons it may have been used to track the sun and moon. Doesn’t say how – but if so looks likes its relating them to local landscape. (Also/or related to geomancy?)
The landscape of the whole glen is really unusual. You particularly notice this if you go towards the sea. The glen is not only mostly very flat, its also mostly right at sea level. It looks and feels like its just been submerged and could be again at any moment. The glens stones etc. are all basically round the edge of a giant peat bog which according to my sources (a tourist brochure) would have been a bit bigger and maybe still partly submerged when the stones were erected. Go down towards the sea, especially in the late afternoon/evening and its a really eerie, quiet and strange landscape, which is maybe why the glen has so many ritual sites.

The Great X of Kilmartin

IronMan
IronMan Dec 17, 2002

On the way up to Kilmartin I vowed not to get distracted and stop off, just get to the B&B and wait till Sunday to explore the sites... this place stopped me in my tracks! It still had me spellbound the next day – the central stone’s carvings in clear definition. I sat waiting for the sun to move and bring new detail to the stone, a totally captivating experience.

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