<< Our Photo Pages >> Boar Stone (Armadale) - Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature in Scotland in West Lothian
Submitted by Anne T on Tuesday, 23 October 2018 Page Views: 2172
Natural PlacesSite Name: Boar Stone (Armadale) Alternative Name: Boar Stone (Barbachlaw)Country: Scotland
NOTE: This site is 2.968 km away from the location you searched for.
County: West Lothian Type: Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature
Nearest Town: Bathgate Nearest Village: Armadale
Map Ref: NS92336820
Latitude: 55.894846N Longitude: 3.723319W
Condition:
5 | Perfect |
4 | Almost Perfect |
3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
0 | No data. |
-1 | Completely destroyed |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
4 | Short walk on a footpath |
3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
2 | A long walk |
1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
0 | No data. |
5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
0 | no data |
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Anne T visited on 28th Oct 2018 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 4 The Boar Stone (Barbachlaw), Armadale: This is another site we'd picked up from the Ancient Stones website, and although it's not far from my daughter's house in Amadale, we wouldn't normally drive this road. This stone is clearly visible from the A89. We managed to park in the gateway to another field opposite, crossed the road and had to climb over the gate as it was tied shut with some very tight knots.
The field had been planted and there were some young seedlings showing through. By walking along the edge of the field, then up a tractor track, we managed to reach the stone and walk round it.
Goodness knows how much of this stone is underneath the ground – it was certainly large, and no wonder they hadn’t tried to move it!
This large natural boulder is recorded as Canmore ID 47773. The OS Name Book of 1856 says: "Tradition regarding this stone and the origin of the name "Barbachlaw" states that it is connected with a wild boar, brought to bay at this stone by a weaver, who took off his left shoe (backle) and fastened it to his hand for protection, killing the animal with his sword. It is evident that this is only a story invented to account for the name, but the stone may no doubt have some connection with the boar chase of ancient times."
A later field visit, in 1953, describes the stone as "a massive boulder, 5.3m long by 4.0m maximum breadth, embedded on the crest of a hillock in a field. It bears no inscription or symbols."
This large natural erratic stone is also featured on the Ancient Stones: A Guide to Standing Stones and Stone Circles in the South of Scotland - see their entry for Boar Stone, Barbachlaw, Armadale, which includes a description, directions for finding the stone with nearby parking, folklore and fieldnotes. The Ancient Stones adds that the stone is partially buried in the crest of the hillside, so its actual depth is unknown, although it stands about 1m above current ground height.
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