Featured: Ark of Secrets - Neolithic spirit alive in the Middle Ages

Ark of Secrets - Neolithic spirit alive in the Middle Ages

Stonehenge Sacred Symbolism - Ancient Beliefs in Britain and Northern Europe

Stonehenge Sacred Symbolism - Ancient Beliefs in Britain and Northern Europe

Who's Online

There are currently, 521 guests and 3 members online.

You are a guest. To join in, please register for free by clicking here

Sponsors

<< Our Photo Pages >> Craigston Wood Menhir - Standing Stone (Menhir) in Scotland in Renfrewshire

Submitted by AstroGeologist on Tuesday, 02 April 2019  Page Views: 2089

Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Craigston Wood Menhir
Country: Scotland County: Renfrewshire Type: Standing Stone (Menhir)
Nearest Town: Johnstone  Nearest Village: Elderslie
Map Ref: NS4332961360
Latitude: 55.819995N  Longitude: 4.502229W
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
3 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.
3 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
5

Internal Links:
External Links:

I have visited· I would like to visit

AstroGeologist visited on 25th Mar 2019 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 3 Craigston Wood Menhir : A massive Menhir in a clearing in Craigston Woods, surrounded by small cliff faces and boulders, it may have been an ancent quarry site. This Menhir has a crack running the lenghth of it,and has a most unusual feel to it. l found a few shells at the base of the Menhir, suggesting birds drop the shells onto the rock to smash them open and get the food inside. It is about 2 or 3 minutes from the Cup & Ring Marks, in the same Woods. When I spoke to an elderly couple walking their dog, they didn't know much about it, but told me it had been there for as long as they've lived there. Site visits ; 1. 25/03/2019 2. 12/04/2019 *Getting There ; About a 20~25 minute walk from Johnstone train station. Come out the station and take a right onto Thorn Brae, walk East up Thorn Hill and take your third right down Kings Road. Walk up Kings Road for 440m and take a left when you reach Auchenlodment Road, follow this road for 470m until you reach the end of the housing. Walk up the country road for 300m and you will come to a bend in the road, walk up the bend in the hill for a further 600m - you will see a carpark on the left handside of the road, across from this is an entrance path through the woods to the Menhir.

Craigston Wood Menhir
Craigston Wood Menhir submitted by AstroGeologist : Facing SE (25.03.19) : The thinner end of the Menhir (Vote or comment on this photo)
Standing Stone (Menhir) in Renfrewshire

375m from Craigston Woods Cup & Ring Marks, in a large clearing in the middle of Craigston Woods sits a Massive Menhir.
It has a NE & SW Face, and measures about 3m high by 3m wide, and 1m thick.
The Menhir is really impressive, and towers a good 4ft above head height, there is now a crack running the length of the Menhir about halfway up, it is most peculiar.

The Menhir itself seems to be Volcanic in nature (Similar to the Gleniffer Brae Menhirs 2.3km away) and the NE face is roughly aligned with a small Cliff Face about 60m away.

It is situated in the middle of a grassy patch with rocks and cliffs forming a sort of circular shape around the Menhir, it is a nice and peaceful setting. Worth the visit if going to see the nearby Cup & Ring Marks, located in the same Woods.
You may be viewing yesterday's version of this page. To see the most up to date information please register for a free account.


Craigston Wood Menhir
Craigston Wood Menhir submitted by AstroGeologist : Facing NE (25.03.19) : View of the Menhir from ground level (Vote or comment on this photo)

Craigston Wood Menhir
Craigston Wood Menhir submitted by AstroGeologist : Facing NE (25.03.19) : The Cliff face 60m away (Vote or comment on this photo)

Craigston Wood Menhir
Craigston Wood Menhir submitted by AstroGeologist : Facing SE (25.03.19) : 3m tall Menhir with crack dividing the Menhir in two (Vote or comment on this photo)

Craigston Wood Menhir
Craigston Wood Menhir submitted by AstroGeologist : Facing NE (25.03.19) : The large SW Face of the Menhir (3m x 3m approx) (Vote or comment on this photo)

Craigston Wood Menhir
Craigston Wood Menhir submitted by AstroGeologist : Facing SW (25.03.19) : The large NE Face of the Menhir (3m x 3m approx) (Vote or comment on this photo)

Craigston Wood Menhir
Craigston Wood Menhir submitted by AstroGeologist : Facing NW (25.03.19) : The SE side of the Menhir

Craigston Wood Menhir
Craigston Wood Menhir submitted by AstroGeologist : Facing SW (25.03.19) : The Menhir from approximately 30m (100ft) away

Do not use the above information on other web sites or publications without permission of the contributor.
Click here to see more info for this site

Nearby sites

Click here to view sites on an interactive OS map

Key: Red: member's photo, Blue: 3rd party photo, Yellow: other image, Green: no photo - please go there and take one, Grey: site destroyed

Download sites to:
KML (Google Earth)
GPX (GPS waypoints)
CSV (Garmin/Navman)
CSV (Excel)

To unlock full downloads you need to sign up as a Contributory Member. Otherwise downloads are limited to 50 sites.


Turn off the page maps and other distractions

Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 425m NE 39° High Craigenfeoch Rock Art* Rock Art (NS43616168)
 2.3km ESE 117° Gleniffer Braes Menhirs* Standing Stones (NS45356026)
 3.3km NW 312° Barr Hill Fort Hillfort (NS40946365)
 3.3km SW 218° Walls Hill Fort Hillfort (NS4117058800)
 5.6km NNW 327° Back O' Hill Farm Cup Marked Stone Rock Art (NS40456623)
 5.7km NW 314° Broom Cist Cist (NS39356552)
 5.8km ENE 61° Barochan Cross* Ancient Cross (NS48556395)
 5.9km W 267° Clochodrick Stone* Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature (NS37366127)
 6.0km WNW 294° Lawmarnock Cup Marks Rock Art (NS3794264004)
 6.0km NW 325° Houston Tumulus Barrow Cemetery (NS40066640)
 6.0km NW 326° Houston South Mound Cairn (NS4010066487)
 6.2km W 279° Dun Bower Hillfort (NS3721962579)
 7.1km NW 315° Law Hill Dun Hillfort (NS38506659)
 7.7km NNW 330° Sewn Dun Hillfort (NS39766816)
 7.7km WSW 250° Loch Winnoch Crannog Crannog (NS3600358999)
 7.8km SW 215° Cuff Hill* Chambered Cairn (NS386552)
 8.1km NNW 338° Barochan Hillfort Hillfort (NS40566902)
 8.2km W 271° Knockmade Tumulus Barrow Cemetery (NS35126184)
 8.3km SW 218° Four Stones (North Ayrshire) Stone Circle (NS379550)
 8.7km SE 127° Duncarnock Hillfort Hillfort (NS50105590)
 9.0km NW 325° St Fillan's Seat (Kilallan)* Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature (NS38396892)
 9.1km NW 325° St Fillan's Holy Well (Kilallan)* Holy Well or Sacred Spring (NS38406899)
 9.1km SSE 149° Covenanter's Stone* Stone Circle (NS47735333)
 9.2km SSE 154° Moyne Moor* Cairn (NS471529)
 9.5km NW 320° Barlogan Cairn* Cairn (NS37426887)
View more nearby sites and additional images

<< Crosshall Cross

Segmented Pit Alignment (Ainthorpe / Danby Rigg) >>

Please add your thoughts on this site

A Phenomenology of Landscape, Tilley

A Phenomenology of Landscape, Tilley

Sponsors

Auto-Translation (Google)

Translate from English into:

"Craigston Wood Menhir" | Login/Create an Account | 2 News and Comments
  
Go back to top of page    Comments are owned by the poster. We aren't responsible for their content.
Re: Craigston Wood Menhir by Anonymous on Tuesday, 30 March 2021
Came upon this website by chance and checked out listing for local area. This is NOT a standing stone. The site is an infilled quarry where Carboniferous whinstone (dolerite) was extracted.There are numerous old quarries in the area, plus the working Highcraig quarry less than 1 km west. This site was used as the rubbish dump (coup) for Johnstone until the late 1970's. Prior to being infilled the "menhir" was an isolated pinnacle in the middle of the quarry floor. I used to visit the area when young and from memory the pinnacle must have been well over 6 m tall. Why it was not removed during extraction I don't know. Recently I've seen the much reduced pinnacle being used by rock climbers for " bouldering". It's still an interesting historical artifact.
[ Reply to This ]

Re: Craigston Wood Menhir by Anonymous on Wednesday, 30 December 2020
The Craigston Wood Menhir mentioned in your articles is not in fact a standing stone.
This stone was the centre point of Craigenfeoch quarry which was filled in with rubbish by the council in the late 1970's.
The stone was commonly referred to as the "needle" and was a stone from the ground rock left due to the quarrying of stone all around it.
What you see nowadays as I said is not a standing stone, but the top 2m's or so of the tip of the "needle" stone which is protruding above the new ground level raised by the depositing of rubbish materials by the local council.
Hope this corrects the original posts and is taken in a positive manner and not a negative manner. Just trying to get the facts correct.
I can be contacted if required on gkavanagh@ymail.com
Regards,
Gerry Kavanagh
[ Reply to This ]

Your Name: Anonymous [ Register Now ]
Subject:


Add your comment or contribution to this page. Spam or offensive posts are deleted immediately, don't even bother

<<< What is five plus one as a number? (Please type the answer to this question in the little box on the left)
You can also embed videos and other things. For Youtube please copy and paste the 'embed code'.
For Google Street View please include Street View in the text.
Create a web link like this: <a href="https://www.megalithic.co.uk">This is a link</a>  

Allowed HTML is:
<p> <b> <i> <a> <img> <em> <br> <strong> <blockquote> <tt> <li> <ol> <ul> <object> <param> <embed> <iframe>

We would like to know more about this location. Please feel free to add a brief description and any relevant information in your own language.
Wir möchten mehr über diese Stätte erfahren. Bitte zögern Sie nicht, eine kurze Beschreibung und relevante Informationen in Deutsch hinzuzufügen.
Nous aimerions en savoir encore un peu sur les lieux. S'il vous plaît n'hesitez pas à ajouter une courte description et tous les renseignements pertinents dans votre propre langue.
Quisieramos informarnos un poco más de las lugares. No dude en añadir una breve descripción y otros datos relevantes en su propio idioma.