<< Our Photo Pages >> Ladykirk Stone - Rock Art in Scotland in Orkney
Submitted by howar on Sunday, 08 April 2007 Page Views: 9177
Rock ArtSite Name: Ladykirk Stone Alternative Name: St. Magnus BoatCountry: Scotland County: Orkney Type: Rock Art
Nearest Town: Kirkwall Nearest Village: St. Margaret's Hope
Map Ref: ND44008428
Latitude: 58.742534N Longitude: 2.969223W
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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Rock Art in Orkney.
RCAHMS record no. ND38SW 6, the Ladykirk Stone can be found in a church alongside the road to Burwick pier where the short sea ferry crossings take place in the tourist season. The stone as it is now measures 3'8" by 1'10" by 9", and the inch deep depressions are 10" by a maximum 3¾".
It is now in a back room at the church, and the key can be had from the lady who runs the local P.O. As this is on the 1:25,000 but unsignposted it is probably best to enquire at the Tomb of the Eagles in order to avoid disappointment outside of its limited post office hours.
The first tale related of the Ladykirk Stone is of a "Gallus priest" (i.e. of the Roman tradition) rescued by a sea monster. In gratitude he turned it into this stone and dedicated a church to St.Mary. The latter site could be 11th century but the earliest we know of it is a 1654 map [this replaced the probably 9th century St.Colm's Chapel (i.e. of the 'Celtic' tradition), now a mound beside the drained Loch of Burwick on the north side of the road after the Brough junction - ND48SW 4 at ND44178426. Originally the stone lay outside Ladykirk. Later the story changed and this whinstone became called St.Magnus Boat. South Ronaldsay is the only one of the Orkney islands where Gaelic was ever spoken, and down on the Scottish mainland at Watten there is (or was) a stone said to have been a dragon petrified by St.Magnus. This Ladykirk 'inauguration stone' with its slight rocking motion could well have been used by a sub-king with land in Caithness. Did its presence attract the church or did the church perhaps fetch it from St.Colm's ?
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2.0km ESE 116° Banks Chambered Tomb* Chambered Cairn (ND45808339)
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