The MENHIRS of MULL

Our towns and cities may have obliterated most traces of what went before them, but in the countryside, markers of significance to our ancestors still inexorably draw our attention. They are the standing stones, stone alignment and stone circles belonging to the early Bronze or even the Neolithic Age - tangible equivalents of the metaphorical menhirs that poke through our social landscape, marking our ancestral fixation with the sky. Take this list for example:

·         Christmas is celebrated just after the winter solstice (not the date of Christ’s birth at all),

·         The feast of St. John the Baptist marks the Summer solstice,

·         Sunday, Monday and Saturday are all named after heavenly bodies,

·         Easter is irritatingly dated, not from the day of Christ’s resurrection, but as the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox, which varies from year to year (roll on a fixed Easter!),

·         The concept of a “month” derives from the 29 day lunar cycle,

·         The half-way points between the solstices and the equinoxes were recognised by the Celts as Lunasda, Samhuinn, Imbolg and Bealtuinn, but became the legal “Term Days” of Lammas (August), Martinmas (November), Candlemas (February) and Whitsun (originally May), when contracts were signed and rents due.

….. and that’s before we get into the reasons why clockwise, right, East-facing etc. are all traditionally good, while their opposites are bad.

Standing stones

These can vary from 1.5 metres to 4 metres tall, and often have two long flat faces, or sides. It is the flat faces which usually indicate the directions to look towards the horizon (figure 14).

The stones are usually of local rock, and can vary from squat blocks to tall thin slabs. As well as astronomical markers, some stones have been interpreted as battle memorials, route markers or indications of territorial boundaries or may also mark burials, but the area around most stones has never been excavated.

Stone Alignments

Standing stones are sometimes grouped in a line of two or more, and are then referred to as 'alignments'. Often, but not always, the longer sides or faces of the stones in the alignments are set on the same axis, so giving a convincing indication of the directions for an observer to look in (figure 15).

Some surveyors have speculated that stones like this may simply mark the place to stand to watch the sun or moon rise or set over a known, but unindicated, horizon point.

Stone Circles

Stone circles are often associated with 'henges', which consist of a ditch and an outer bank around the circle. When henges are excavated, they sometimes evidence a ring of wooden posts. Unlike the single standing stones, the circles are concentrated in particular areas of the country - the Hebrides, Perthshire, the north-east, and the south-west. Often such concentrations are of a particular type of circle. In the Aberdeen area the 'recumbent stone circles' include a massive boulder lying flat as part of the circle, and which usually enclose a 'ring cairn' - a low ring of stones or earth with a clear space in the centre. Around Inverness the Clava-type cairns have freestanding circles of stones around them. On Arran there is a unique grouping of circles very close together on Machrie moor, many of which combine tall sandstone slabs and squat boulders. The circles on Lewis include one at the famous site of Callanish, the most awe-inspiring prehistoric monument in Scotland, which also features an avenue of stones leading towards the circle.

Archaeologists dislike the term 'ritual site', but it is often applied by them to stone circles. Their purpose is much less easy to grasp than a house or a fort, often interpreted as a way of defining a sacred area, separate from the ordinary world, for the performance of ceremonies under the open sky. Burials are often found in circles, but may date to a much later period than the erection of the stones. The use of stone circles for ritual and ceremonial is of course not incompatible with their erection as permanent orientations to the sun or the moon.

It is legitimate to ask how a circle of stones could be used to indicate a particular horizon point and so an astronomical event? The best known ancient astronomical setting in England, the circle at Stonehenge in Wiltshire, gives some idea of how this can be done. Observers in the middle of the circle look towards a monolith set up outside the circle, the Heel stone, which marks the rising point of the sun at midsummer. So an external stone would be one way of marking a line (figure 16).

Another way which the prehistoric people used was to grade the stones in height, so that the tallest stone of the circle indicates the direction an observer should look (figure 17). This is done in the Clava sites, around Inverness. Another method was to use a large recumbent block, set between the largest stones of the circle, which an observer in the middle of the circle could look over to see the sun or moon on the horizon; this is done at the recumbent stone circles around Aberdeen. 

Mull has a respectable assortment of standing stones, aligned stones and stone circles to explore, the following being a sample.

 ARDALANISH Standing Stone NM378189

How to find: From Bunessan take the minor road going south. After 2km a road on the right leads to a parking area and a path to the beach (Ardalanish Bay). At the beach walk left (east) for about 400 metres. The stone is visible in a field behind the dunes.

This site consists of a standing stone and a fallen stone which once stood in line with it. The standing stone is about two metres tall by 90cm wide and 30cm thick. The fallen stone lies 11 metres to the east, and is over two metres in length. It may be difficult to locate this latter stone in the long grass.

The broad faces of the standing stone indicate a line towards the prostrate stone, which seems to have fallen to the south. The line was surveyed as if the standing stone were set vertically (it now leans slightly towards the south) and by using a ranging pole set up at the base of the fallen stone. To the west, the indication is of no obvious astronomical significance, though the line would indicate the setting position of the Pleiades about 1500BC. Although the whole group would probably have been invisible at this horizon height. Today the Pleiades ride much higher in the sky, close to the position of the sun at midsummer.

To the east again, the significance is not obvious. It is not a solar or lunar line. It could mark the star Betelgeuse about 2000BC, and it may be that the line indicates the rising of the constellation Orion, of which Betelgeuse is one of the higher stars. The horizon is high enough for such a stellar line to be viable. Today Orion is also higher in our skies, and is over half in view in a winter night when on the bearing indicated by the stones.

Neither of these lines is particularly convincing, and the stones at Ardalanish still hold their secrets.

UISKEN Standing Stone NM392197

How to find: From Bunessan on the Ross of Mull take the minor road going south. Just over 3km along this road you will see a farm track on the left. Walk to the farm, ask permission for access. If given, continue walking north-east for 500m, past a ruin, to the brow of the hill, just beyond which the stone is visible.

This is a single standing stone, over 2 metres tall and now leaning slightly. It is set on open ground with fine views all around.

The stone is a fairly thin slab, with the broad faces about one metre wide, so it clearly indicates a line to the north-east and to the south-west. The survey was done assuming the stone was once set vertically in the ground.

To the south-west, the stone points close to the position of the midsummer setting full moon at the minor standstill.

 In the opposite direction, the stone points close to the position of the rising sun at midsummer, but not accurately.

Either of these events could be the one which the builders intended to mark, but it is unlikely that both were to be covered by the one stone.

 ARDNACROSS Standing Stone NM542491

How to find: The site is 6km north of Salen, or 9km south of Tobermory on the A848, which runs along the east coast of Mull. A short stretch of track to the west of the road gives access to the open ground (turn right just before reaching the buildings); a walk of about 300m uphill brings the remaining standing stone into view. The stone is not visible from the road. 

This site once consisted of six large stones set in two alignments of three stones each; five of the stones have sadly fallen and only one remains upright - it is about 2.5 metres tall. The alignments were parallel but not beside one another. There are also three kerb cairns close by, the chronological relationship of these to the alignments being unknown. This must have once been a most spectacular and important monument, set on a flat terrace above the Sound of Mull. Recent excavations around the stones have revealed that the area was originally cleared of hazel scrub by burning. It was also found that the two outer stones of each row were deliberately knocked over, with the central stones left standing; the central stone of the northern row fell of its own accord. 

It is the middle stone of the southern alignment which survives. It is 2.4m high. The prostrate northern stone of this alignment appears to be lying off the line connecting the long faces of the upright and the base of the southern stone, though it is possibly just partly buried under the turf. The line to the north-east has no known astronomical significance. The line to the south-west however, indicates the midwinter setting sun, which goes down behind the high and featureless flat ridge to the south west. 

Close by is the second alignment of three stones, all of which have fallen. If we assume that all these stones fell to the east (the same way as the two fallen stones of the other set) then the line along the bases gives a bearing to the south-west, close to that of the sun at midwinter.

BALLISCATE Standing Stone NM499542*

How to find: One kilometre south of Tobermory on the A848 look for a rough road on the right at Balliscate. You may wish to walk up this road rather than drive it. The stones are visible in the field to the right after 400m.

This is an alignment of three stones, with the central stone having fallen or been pushed over to Christianise the monument by making a cross shape. The stones are 2.5 and 1.8 metres in height, and the row is about five metres long.

A survey shows that the stones lie on a north-south line, only 3 - 5 degrees east of north. This seems to suggest that the prehistoric peoples who erected the stones wished to mark the area in the northern sky around which the heavens appeared to revolve, known to us today as the 'pole'.

At this site the northern horizon is made more dramatic than usual by the mountains of Ardnamurchan which dominate the view, with the most spectacular being Ben Hiant, 10km distant. To an observer seated on the ground by the southern stone at night and looking northwards for a period of hours, the stars would appear to wheel slowly around a point in the sky which the line of stones indicates. Also an observer looking southwards about midday would see that the stones always point to the sun as it passes its highest position in the sky for the day. 

CILLCHRIOSD Standing Stone NM377535

How to find: On the B8073, 0.5km North of Calgary, there is an unclassified road which leads eventually to Caliach farm. Travel along this road for 1.5km - the standing stone is visible in a field to your right.

This stone is set on the attractive north coast of Mull, with the jagged peaks of Rhum and Skye visible on a clear day to the north.

The stone is a solid flat faced block, and is unusual as an astronomical marker. However, its thickness and solidity has ensured that it has remained exactly vertical, where thinner stones would have been dislodged by generations of cattle using them as scratching posts. Standing about two to three metres away and viewing along the longer axis of the stone almost ten degrees of horizon are covered, so the declinations given here are not necessarily deliberate.

To the distant horizon to the south-east, the intended direction may have been the rising moon at one extreme of the minor standstill, while to the north-west it may have been the setting sun at midsummer.

DERVAIG Stone Alignment NM439520*

How to find: One kilometre east of Dervaig on the B8073 immediately after a sharp hairpin bend the stones can be seen in in opening in the conifer plantation 200m to the north.

This was originally an alignment of five stones, but only two of them still remain standing. These two are large - both about 2.5 metres tall. The original alignment has been about 18 metres long. The first and last stones and the middle stone of the line have fallen.

Because the stones stand in a clearing in a thick conifer forest the view to one horizon (to the north-west) is now completely blocked by large trees, and the other (to the south west) is partly obscured.

The stones are thick, and so it is not easy to be certain of the precise line which is meant to be indicated. However, standing in a position at the northernmost fallen stone and lining up the the two standing stones the direction is close to that of the sun at midwinter, but the line is not accurate. Also possible are both the rising southern moon (south-east) and the setting northern moon (north-west) at the major standstill.

LOCHBUIE Standing Stone NM617255

How to find: Follow the A849 south from Craignure for 9km, then turn left onto the minor road which leads eventually to Lochbuie. Look out for the stone in a field on the left (south) after about 10 km. Park at the small road bridge.

This is a single standing stone about 2 metres tall by 1.5 metres wide and about 40cm thick. It stands in a very boggy field. It now leans towards the south-east, but the ground is so wet it is miraculous it is standing at all.

It has been suggested that this is not an astronomical slab, but an ancient route marking stone which indicates the way north up Gleann a' Chaiginn Mhoir which leads to Glen Mor and the main route to the Ross of Mull1.

The stone was however surveyed and found to have a possible astronomical function. To the south-west the bearing seems to have no astronomical significance, however the reverse line to the north-east is close to the rising position of the sun at the two summer Quarter days. The stone would then be a complement to the nearby Lochbuie circle and one of its outliers which indicates the sun at the two winter Quarter days.

 LOCHBUIE Stone Circle and outliers NM618252

How to find: Follow the A849 south from Craignure for 9km, then turn left onto the minor road which leads eventually to Lochbuie. Park at the small road bridge where a sign directs you along a path and track to the stones, about 600m away. The circle is not visible from the road. This is a small and well preserved stone circle set on the beautiful southern coast of Mull and overlooked by spectacular Ben Buie.

Here we have a circle originally of nine granite stones, set in a ring about 12 metres in diameter, with the tallest stone being about two metres high. One of the original stones has been removed and replaced with a low boulder.

There are also three single stones set in the field at different distances from the circle. It is natural to assume that these stones mark the direction in which to look from a position in the centre of the circle.

The nearest of these outlying stones is 5 metres away to the south-east, and is only one metre tall. The second outlier is a spectacular monolith 3 metres high and set about 40 metres away to the south-west. It indicates the position of the setting sun at the winter solstice. The horizon is now partially blocked by nearby trees. The third outlier is broken at the top and was probably taller when erected. Its bearing is of the sun at the winter Quarter days in early November and early February.

Adapted from “Stones of Wonder” by Robert Pollock