You can park the car about 200m away but you must then trespass, over a gate up hill over an electric fence then its just 60m away. Like a dunce I looked at the sign that warned of electric fence then tested it, ouch, my arm ached for about 10 miutes . The stone has great views over Campbeltown and from the high street there one can look up at the hill and see the stone not many towns can do that i'll bet. Unfortunately Ive only just read Rhiannons post so failed to note the cupmarks. We saw six stones in south kintyre and this was the tallest.
This standing stone would be 4m tall if it stood upright - but it leans somewhat. This is because Rocky Campbell dug beneath it looking for treasure (some time before 1900, apparently) - he stopped rather hurriedly no doubt when he saw it starting to bend towards him. Whether it was doing this deliberately to put him off looking is more than I can say. That story is mentioned by Grinsell (collected in his 'Folklore of Prehistoric Sites in Britain') - the following was heard by Angus Martin much more recently and can be read at http://www.kintyremag.co.uk/1998/20/page8.html. It seems that a group of tinkers were partying it up at the stone on the Sabbath - drinking, gambling, swearing - when suddenly a hole appeared in the ground next to them and out popped the Devil himself. No doubt they were pretty startled, but Auld Nick just said 'Carry on, ye're doin' fine' and left them to continue with their game.
Thom suggests that the stone was used as a lunar observatory. If you visit it be sure to look carefully at its south face as it has at least 17 cup marks (some very faint).
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Posted by postman
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