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From plaque attached to the railings;
The Kempock Stone
A Bronze Age Standing Stone, dating from about 2000 B.C.
This is the famous ‘Lang Stane’ of Gourock, more familiarly spoken of as ‘Granny Kempock’ … It is supposed that the Kempock Stane marks the site in Druid times of an altar to Baal …
However that may be, the Kempock Stane was for many centuries an object of superstitious awe and reverence … Marriages in the District were not regarded as lucky unless the wedded pair passed round the ‘lang stane’ and obtained in this way Granny Kempock’s blessing …
It was chiefly in connection with the winds and the sea that the Kempock Stane was regarded with superstitious dread … sailors and fishermen were wont to take a basketful of sand from the shore and walk seven times round Granny Kempock, chanting a weird song to insure for themselves a safe and proseperous voyage.
quote from Rev. D. Macrae, “Notes about Gourock”, 1880
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From plaque erected by Kilbarchan Civic Society - 1993
Clochoderick Stone
Height 3.6m (12ft) Breadth 5.1m (17ft) Length 6.7m (22ft)
The Clochoderick stone is a particularly fine example of a glacial erratic. Composed of volcanic rock differing from that below the soil on which it rests, but similar to bedrock occurring in the hills a few miles to the north and west, and deposited here during the last ice age around 18,000 years ago.
Legend asserts its use by the druids as a site for dispensation of justice on this rocking stone. Depending on how the stone moved, with the accused in place, innocent or guilty was decreed.
It is also asserted that the stone marks the burial place of Rydderick Hael, monarch of the kingdom of Strathclyde. Considerable research establishes his crushing victory over paganism at Arthuret, near Carlisle, resulting in the conversion of the country to Christianity.
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