
This image shows the standing stones in relation to the barrow
This image shows the standing stones in relation to the barrow
Sorry couldn’t resist putting this one on. Energised cat!
Note the small eyelet about half way up on the left hand side of this stone this is the NW facing side, does anyone have any explainations, wear and tear or design?
Directions:
On the road to Iona (A849) Park at the cemetery about 1 mile west of Bunessan. Go through the gate and up the steep but short hill. When you reach the top you will see the ruined, deserted buildings and the two standing stones.
The views north across Loch Na L’Athaich over to the mountains are breathtaking. We stopped of here on our way back from Iona. You should do the same.
Canmore states:
There are two standing stones on the NNE side of the barrow. One stone measures 1.1m high x 0.6m and the other 1.95m high x 0.6m. The smaller stone has a hole 0.4m from the top but this does not seem to be an ancient perforation. 1974.
There is a deserted township at Suidhe with panoramic views of the Ross of Mull, this township was last populated in the 1940’s and became a scheduled monument in 2004 due to its importance as a monument in helping understand a settlement that has been adapted over a period of hundreds of years possibly medieval. To the southwest of the township is a prehistoric Barrow, see site posting for more, approximately 7,000 years old, with the two standing stones clearly visible on its NNE side. The two remaining standing stones here make one wonder whether at some point in the past there was a full circle encircling the base of the barrow, however conjecture aside what we are left with are two stones of very different dimensions. The larger standing very erect at appx 2 metres high. The smaller of the two intrigued me, it stands at around 75cm to a metre high, am kicking myself for not taking a tape measure, being a woman my spacial awareness isn’t that great! This stone is small and stubby and has an eyelet about half to three quarters of the way up on the NW facing side, wear and tear or by design? The peace and solitude here is breathtaking, despite being there with two seven year olds and the family cat! I think we all picked up on the positive energy of the site, two fractious children becoming creative and imaginative and the cat becoming very vocal, and me, I just let my mind wander where it would. Even for the views though from the brow of the hill itself it is worth a visit. Suidhe in Gaelic means seat and folklore has it that Columba rested there on his way to and from Iona in the 6th century.