<< Our Photo Pages >> Torphichen Churchyard Stone - Standing Stone (Menhir) in Scotland in West Lothian
Submitted by Sunny100 on Thursday, 08 December 2011 Page Views: 9693
Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Torphichen Churchyard Stone Alternative Name: Torphichen Sanctuary Stone, Torphichen Refuge StoneCountry: Scotland
NOTE: This site is 3.021 km away from the location you searched for.
County: West Lothian Type: Standing Stone (Menhir)
Nearest Town: Bathgate Nearest Village: Torphichen
Map Ref: NS96847250
Latitude: 55.934453N Longitude: 3.652877W
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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AstroGeologist visited on 25th Aug 2018 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 3 Access: 5 Torpichen Cup Marked Menhir :
This 75cm tall Cup Marked Menhir sits in the graveyard of the Torpichen Preceptory, which was built around the site of the Menhir by the Knights Hospitallers in 1168, who built the Preceptory on the site of an earlier Celtic Cell.
The Menhir has associations with Irish Monks, Ringan (St Ninian) in the 4th century & MoEcca (St Féchín) in the 7th.
The Celtic carvings that once adorned this Menhir, are thought to date from this period (but sadly they no longer remain)
Five small cup-marks on the East face of the Menhir date from the early Bronze Age when it stood on Cairnpapple Hill (2km away to the East) the Cup Mark on top looks like it has been deepened at a later date, probably when the Knights added the cross.
The location is a bit unusual, it now sit's under a Yew Tree, and a modern gravestone is situated between the Menhir and the Tree, making it difficult to get photograph's of it that don't contain graves.
There are plenty of fascinating graves to be seen but the Sandstone Menhir is spectacular looking, and feeling. Even if it is small.
The shape of it, along with the Cup Marks really give off a feeling of importance.
It's true history may be lost, due to the many uses of the Menhir over the millennia. But one thing it hasn't lost, is character.
*Getting There ; Around a 20 minute walk from Gormyre Menhir, which is 1.6km away
(or a 4.9km walk if coming from the Bathgate train station)
Coming from Gormyre, go back to the gate and turn right, follow this country road for 1.3km, take the turns of the road but there are NO turn off's to take. Just keep walking and you'll end up in Torpichen.
Its mostly downhill. Once you get to Torpichen take your 1st left and walk along a couple hundred metres and you'll arrive at the Torpichen Preceptory.
Anne T visited on 30th Sep 2017 - their rating: Cond: 2 Amb: 4 Access: 5 Torphichen Preceptory (next door to the church): Also known as Hospital Of Torphichen; Preceptory Of St John; War Memorials.
Finally, on our third attempt, just after 2pm on a Saturday afternoon, we managed to find the small visitor portacabin open and a guide present. Guide was Liam from Order of St. John. Charming, very helpful man, in looks reminiscent of the Knights Templar. Because he was giving individual tours to everyone who turned up, he was over-stretched, and didn’t really have time to spent with us, but answered my questions as best he could.
Liam pointed out some of the features in the Preceptory itself, including old architects drawings on the walls, and walked us up to the exhibition on first floor of tower – up 45 spiral stone steps – where he pointed out a grave marker used as a lintel.
When another family arrived, he left us to take them round. I found out, through reading the display, that there was an incised stone with cross in the Parish church; Liam said unfortunately he didn’t have the keys for the church, but to come back if we wanted to look.
Anne T visited on 13th May 2017 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 5 Torphichen Sanctuary Stone, West Lothian: After an exciting day at the filming of Robot Wars yesterday we stayed overnight at daughter and son-in-law's nearby. Torphichen is a lovely little village (Cairnpapple is also signposted further on from here), larger than I expected. The parish church incorporates/is next to the Preceptory of the Knights Hospitaller of the Order of St John of Jerusalem, which dates from the late 12th century.
The sanctuary stone is in the front of the churchyard (to the left of the gate as you enter, sheltering under a yew tree). There are other boundary stone markers around the area, and I really wanted to go and find these (the Canmore record says that they ‘once sat t a mile radius on each point of the compass. Of which the Gormyre Stone to the east-north-east and the Westfield stone survive’) but we had other priorities for the day. Another visit, probably in September/October.
There were some really interesting tombstones, particularly at the east end of the church – little people/heads/bones. Had some fun photographing these.
The Preceptory wasn’t open until 1pm on the day of our visit, so we missed it. Peering through a grill into the structure, it looked absolutely fascinating. Andrew discovered what looked like a well (similar to the Galilee Well at Durham Cathedral) against the east wall of the church, although I haven’t found any mention of it on any of the historical records (yet) although Canmore says there are 2 wells in the village, one of which supplied the Preceptory.
Average ratings for this site from all visit loggers: Condition: 3 Ambience: 3.67 Access: 5
In the kirkyard a small square-shaped standing stone is believed to date from the Bronze-Age. Historians think the stone came from the nearby prehistoric site of Cairnpapple, but was perhaps reused in the 4th century by St Ninian and, later by the Irish St Feichin (Fechin) during the 6th-7th century. On the front the stone bears at least five cup-marks or pock marks, whilst the side has some faint Celtic-style carvings. On the top there is an incised cross and a small hollow in the centre, possibly once used for baptisms.
In 1124 the Knights Hospitallers (Knights of St John) built a preceptory here and they used the ancient stone to mark the site as a place of sanctuary or refuge. The stone would mark the centre of the area of sanctuary around their church covering one mile - this being the so-called Scottish mile.
A second standing stone at nearby Westfield (Os grid ref NS.9437 7211) which has a Maltese cross on it, marks the outer limit of the one mile of sanctuary around the church. Again, this second stone is thought to be prehistoric.
For more information see Canmore site no. 47929. This site is also featured on The Ancient Stones: A Guide to Standing Stones and Stone Circles in the South of Scotland - see their entry for the Refuge Stone, Torphichen Preceptory, which includes a descriptions, directions for finding this site with nearby parking, folklore and fieldnotes. The Journal of Antiquities also includes an entry for the Torphichen Sanctuary Stone, West Lothian, Scotland, which includes an antiquarian drawing of the stone, a description, background information about the possible age, origin and use of the stone, plus a list of reference sources for more information.
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