Publication Account
Date 1985
Event ID 1016262
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1016262
A red sandstone monolith stands 2.7m high and 1.8m in girth on the summit of a broad ridge less than 50m above sea level and overlooking the coast around Dunbar.
East Lothian has always been in the forefront of agricultural improvement and the two deep grooves' cut in the stone near its base were made by the wire cable of a steam plough rubbing against it! However, other markings are much older. Over half way up the western side are three cup-marks each about 9cm wide and 13mm deep, in the shape of an inverted triangle.
In Lothian there are some 35 surviving standing stones; of these five or six cluster between Traprain Law and Dunbar. Whether or not the Witches' Stone (NT 669752) is such a stone, two lie just south of Traprain (no. 83)-one in the old stackyard of Standingstone Farm (NT 577736)i the other, the Loth or Cairndinnis Stone (NT 578741), has been moved to the side of its field in the interest of efficient cultivation. The impressive Kirklandhill stone (NT 617776) and the Pencraig Hill Stone (NT 581768), by contrast, are both visible from the A1; Kirkhandhill, in particular, has been suggested as a marker, linked to the conical peak of North Berwick Law over which the sun would set at the summer solstice-its most northerly point.
Information from 'Exploring Scotland's Heritage: Lothian and Borders', (1985).
