Standing Stone: OS Grid Reference – SJ 3997 8638
Archaeology & History
Similar in size and appearance to one of the cup-marked Tuilyies standing stones in Fife, Scotland, it was our old ley-hunter, Alfred Watkins, who described this stone in his Ley Hunter’s Manual (1927), along with giving us the old photograph taken by one of his mates here, which also showed the cup-and-ring carvings near the base of the stone. Are they still visible? (I’ve not been here, hence mi ignorance!) Watkins thought the cup-markings at the bottom represented some of the local leys—but unfortunately they don’t.
Folklore
Legend says that the deep grooves running down the stone were made by men sharpening arrow-heads on it (like a whetstone). There was also the usual christian Victorian fable that the stone was used by the druids and that the grooves on the stone were where the blood of their human sacrifices was channelled to the ground! The stone was also said to have some relationship with the nearby Calder Stones (which seems probable).
References:
- Cowell, Ron, The Calderstones – A Prehistoric Tomb in Liverpool, Merseyside Archaeological Trust 1984.
- Watkins, Alfred, The Ley Hunter’s Manual, London 1927.
Links:
© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian
Your blog post caught my interest. It is a map shown in that stone, but of what?
Hi Alex – Well Alfred Watkins thought the cup-markings here represented a map – in this case, one of the local leys of the area. I’ll dig out the rubbings he did of the carvings (I’m sure I’ve got them somewhere) and add them over the weekend.
Sounds good 🙂