Memories of the hunt for ‘Baldie’s Stanes’
Our recent feature on how the Monument Monitor project was looking for old photographs to help monitor Machrie Moor prompted reader Elizabeth Kerr Dale to share her memories of the Machrie Stones, in particular, the Druid Stone at Auchancar.
Brought up in Auchancar (Achedh a' Charragh – Field of the Standing Stone) in Machrie at Druid Farm, thus called, if maybe a wee bit inaccurately, for the towing Neolithic 3,000 year old granite monolith, reputedly second tallest in Scotland, is close to the farmhouse.
As children, we played around its base beside its fallen, broken companion (More than an ancient ‘oops' moment, seeing the impressive tonnage toppling and splitting after the huge operation of getting it there?).
With a more adult outlook, we speculated, along with our dad, on the purpose of such a major project and concluded it must have come a considerable distance as the nearest natural source of solid granite stone was high on Ben Nuis, central to the island.
One day my father, Donald Craig, and his brother Baldie (Archibald) of The Glaic, headed off on the long trek to that area to gather outlying sheep and got caught up in thick mist, causing Baldie to stray from his usual route with the need to stop until it cleared. Sitting looking at his immediate surroundings, he recognised those particular rocks and boulders were very different, having sharply angled edges along their considerable lengths, unlike the rounded glaciation hewn mass of the rest of the area. It occurred to him, at once, he had stumbled on the source of the Druid Stone material.
Word of the find went round and reached Professor Archie Roy of Glasgow University, parapsychology and paranormal and frequent visitor to Machrie, who immediately expressed a wish to see the stones and, with Baldie as the guide, set off for the heights but, alas, in the vastness of the boulder field, he could not relocate them.
Meantime, word had also reached the late Stewart Lambie MBE of Glen Sherraig, long-time leader of the mountain rescue team and with great knowledge of the crags. He was determined to keep an eye open and, indeed, was eventually successful in finding the elusive stones only to, temporarily, 'lose' them again but did, finally, fix the location and underlined future recognition by spraying red sheep marker on them.
Meanwhile, in conversation with the late Dr Hugh McKerral of Lochranza Field Study Centre and a keen archaeologist, I mentioned the Druid Stone which inspired him to visit and, thereafter, telephoned in excitement to say the bearings he took closely aligned the tip with the top Tor Righ Mor overlooking the Machie Stone Circles and, moreover, he was convinced it was hand-hewn and, in his opinion, he could clearly discern the stone axe marks.
With keen anticipation, Alex and I accepted Stewart's invitation and set off on the long tramp up to the site – and what an interesting day it proved to be for us all. On reaching the spot, Stewart announced: ‘I think we will just call them ‘Baldie's Stanes' and as we studied the various groups, he remarked at one lot. ‘Do you think this would be the showroom?' as Alex feigned lifting a large slab and, indeed, it is hard to resist the theory of connections between the mountain and the low ground sites and, so, it seems likely that after about 3,000 years, one of the Druid Stone's secrets has been uncovered, but what of the rest?
How did they transport the massive stone over such a long arduous route? Log rollers or expendable mass manpower? What engineering skills went into the erection to ensure its continuing vertical status over the millennia? And most intriguing: Why? Why? Why? What was its role in what seems to have been quite a busy place, judging by the plethora of flint chippings and actual ancient arrowheads culled during the cultivation, so possibly of ritualistic importance.
But it seems it is not quite ready to yield any more information meantime, as it continues to stand implacable overlooking Machrie Bay.