Field Visit
Date 4 August 1914
Event ID 1103586
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1103586
Standing Stones, Na Fir Bhreige, Blashaval.
Along the summit of a ridge which slopes down gently from Blashaval in a north-westerly direction towards Loch Veiragvat, some 2 ½ miles north-west of Lochmaddy, at an elevation of about 150 feet above sea-level, are three standing stones, Na Fir Bhreige (“the falsemen”), deeply embedded in peat. The stones are placed almost in a straight line running west by north and east by south, the central stone being about 1 foot north of the axial line. The latter stone, which is a broad, thin pillar, the face lying in the line of the other two, shows a height of 1 foot 9 inches above ground and measures 3 feet 1 inch broad and 7 inches thick, while it is sunk at least 3 feet 6 inches under the surface of the peat. The eastern pillar, which is placed some 85 feet higher up the slope, is 2 feet 3 inches high above ground, 1 foot 6 inches wide on its broadest face, and is sunk more than 2 feet in peat. The western pillar lies 109 feet down the hill from the central stone and measures 1 foot 10 inches in height above ground, over 2 feet 6 inches below ground, 12 inches in breadth and 10 inches in thickness.
According to tradition these stones represent three Skye men, who, having deserted their wives, were turned into stone by a witch.
RCAHMS 1928, visited 4 August 1914.
OS map: North Uist xxxv.
