<< Our Photo Pages >> Torran Standing Stone - Standing Stone (Menhir) in Scotland in Argyll

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Anne T visited on 18th Jul 2018 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 4 Torran Cross Incised Standing Stone: This was to be the first time we’d seen a cross-inscribed standing stone, so we were pretty keen to locate it. From Ford, we continued up the minor road towards Torran, passing An Lodan Loch to our right hand side. We parked at the wide stony entrance to a small housing estate at NM 87884 04817 and walked up the slight slope. We could see the top of the stone poking up at the front of some tall gorse bushes to our right hand side. Having a good mobile phone signal here, I brought up the Canmore image to try and find out where the crosses on the stone were, and discovered the stone was originally behind the back fence of one of the gardens. These fences have now been removed. It felt a bit like trespassing, walking into the gardens, but none of the houses were occupied, and there was evidence of building work going on in most of them, so we took a chance. The only person who saw us was the postwoman who was working her way up the estate in her van and she gave us a wave. On the front of the stone (facing the houses) there were four horizontal lines, which are the remains of the cross on the back face. To see the back of the stone, we had to clamber up behind another smaller stone to the ‘back’ of the main standing stone (away from the houses) and look down hill. The photography was a bit difficult as this part of the stone was in deep, deep shade. Andrew went and got the flash gun from the car, which I slaved to the camera flash, but it didn’t go off as the light was too bright by the stone. I kept trying at different angles, complete with torch from our mobile phone, and ended up with some good photographs. I was curious as to the location of the stone, and where it was in relation to the valley. Walking back onto the main road, the stone could clearly be seen from the road, and eastwards looked along a small (what appears to be a) valley, which from the map, leading into An Lodan. The stone, slightly up the hill, would have been in a commanding position for anyone walking by. I had though the stone would be at the top of the hill, but the stone seems to be located near a bend in the current road leading up to Inverliever.

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