Archaeology Notes

Event ID 730784

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/730784

NY36NW 25 3123 6600 to 3122 6598.

(NY 3122 6598) Lochmaben Stone (NR)

OS 6" map (1957)

Lochmaben or Clochmaben Stone is an erratic, 7' high and 18' in girth, which Feachem says may have been incorporated into a megalithic monument, though there is no clear evidence of this. It was published on the OS 1st edition 6" as Druidical Circle (Remains of), which the Ordnance Name Book [ONB] states formerly consisted of nine upright stones placed in an oval, two of which remain, one being locally called Lochmaben Stone.

Name Book 1858; R W Feachem 1963.

In the 16th century, it was frequently used as the meeting place between the Scots and English wardens for the administration of justice, and in comparatively recent times local gatherings took place at this stone.

T I Rae 1966.

Richmond and Ross identify it with Locus (or meeting place) Maponi of the Ravenna Cosmography, Ross adding that possibly a shrine to the Celtic god Maponus existed here.

I A Richmond 1958; K A Steer 1958; A Ross 1967.

As stated by the Ordnance Name Book (ONB) two stones survive which may represent the remains of a stone circle. The larger of the two is still known as the Lochmaben Stone and is as described. The other stone at NY 3123 6600 stands c 1.0m high by 1.2m in diameter in a less conspicuous position in a fence.

Revised at 25".

Visited by OS (RD) 18 June 1970

No change to previous field report.

Visited by OS (JP) 20 February 1973.

Lochmaben Stone

Stone Circle [NR]

(remains of) [NAT]

OS 1:10,000 map, 1980.

In 1982 the stone fell over. Excavation prior to re-erection revealed that it had been set into a shallow pit. The stratigraphy was complex and the relationship between the fill of the pit and the original position of the stone itself could not be unequivocally determined. No artifacts were recovered but a sample of mixed quercus, salix and corylus charcoal from the lower fill of the stone-pit yielded a radiocarbon determination of 2525 +/- 85 bc (GU-1591).

A Crone 1983.