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<< Our Photo Pages >> Tingwall stone - Standing Stone (Menhir) in Scotland in Shetland

Submitted by Ogneslav on Friday, 31 October 2008  Page Views: 13606

Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Tingwall stone Alternative Name: Murder Stone
Country: Scotland County: Shetland Type: Standing Stone (Menhir)
Nearest Town: Lerwick  Nearest Village: Scalloway
Map Ref: HU4123742029
Latitude: 60.160655N  Longitude: 1.258903W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
4 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
4 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
5 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
4

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HenrySpeer visited on 31st Jul 2013 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 5 Access: 5 Visited with US cousins - we trace our ancestry back to Orkney and believe we are descended from Malise Sperra (Malis Spere) who was murdered here in 1391 see https://www.facebook.com/pages/Murder-Stone-Tingwall-Shetland/591748794209687

Tingwall stone
Tingwall stone submitted by Ogneslav : The Murder Stone backed by a golf-course, the Loch of Tingwall and Hill of Steinswall. (Vote or comment on this photo)
Going to or from Scalloway, the former capital of Shetland, along the road B9074, you cannot miss this 2 m stone, standing on the eastern roadside between two lakes in about 1.5 km southward of Law Ting Holm, the place of Shetland Ting.

The second name of the monument, the Murder Stone, is plausibly connected with the death of Malise Sperra, Lord of Skaldale, who was killed in a battle with his cousin Henry Sinclair, the 1st Earl of Orkney at Tingwall in 1389 or 1391. Seven of his supporters fell with him. The standing stone erected to commemorate his death at the place where he died.

See The Orkney and Shetland; Their Past and Present State by John R. Tudor, London, 1883:
"Malise Sperra seems to have endeavoured to establish himself in Shetland, and in a quarrel which arose between the cousins at a Thing meeting in the year 1389, was slain; when the standing stone of grey granite close to the roadside between the Lochs of Tingwall and Asta was probably erected to mark the spot where he fell".

Almost the same is written in The Diary of the Reverend John Mill: Minister of the Parishes of Dunrossness, Sandwick and Cunningsburgh in Shetland, Edinburgh, 1889:
"Not far distant in the same parish is a standing stone which has for long been regarded as the scene of the death of Malis Spere, on the occasion of his incursion in Shetland, as recorded in the Iceland Annals in 1329 : but these events are involved in much obscurity".

Differently, yet recognizably the story is narrated in The New Statistical Account of Scotland, vol. XV, Edinburgh-London, 1845:
"In the lake of Strom, there are the remains of a small castle, said to have been inhabited by a son of the Earl of Orkney, who was afterwards slain, by order of his father, at the standing-stone of Tingwall".
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Tingwall stone
Tingwall stone submitted by HenrySpeer : The pic shows Ed Speer from Kansas and Linn Linn from Ohio (both descended from an ancestor who emigrated to US in 17th C) with Henry Speer whose ancestors stayed in UK. We all claim descent from Malis Spere who was slain here. (2 comments - Vote or comment on this photo)

Tingwall stone
Tingwall stone submitted by Ogneslav : A view from south - the Murder stone against the Loch of Tingwall. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Tingwall stone
Tingwall stone submitted by HenrySpeer : A rummage through old photographs has yielded this pic, looking towards Tingwall Loch, taken by my great uncle Ernest Speer about 1900. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Tingwall stone
Tingwall stone submitted by howe : The stone is situated on the edge of Tingwall Golf Course (cthe club house is in the background behind the car). An alternative story behind the name @Murder Stone' is that it arises from a concocted Norse tradition that any murderer who could reach the stone running from the nearby Law Ting Holm without being killed by the victim's family would be pardoned. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Tingwall stone
Tingwall stone submitted by Ogneslav : The Murder Stone

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"Tingwall stone" | Login/Create an Account | 1 comment
  
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Street View by coldrum on Saturday, 20 March 2010
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