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Archaeology Notes

Event ID 709463

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/709463

NS99SW 6 9111 9188

(NS 9111 9188) Stone (NR)

OS 25" map, (1970)

King Robert's Stone (NR)

OS 25" map, (1861)

King Robert's Stone was so called from a tradition connecting it with Robert the Bruce. Because of this association it was kept, first in Clackmannan Tower, and later at the Cross (Name Book 1861). The stone, called the Clackmannan Stone by Miller and Gordon, is, according to Gordon, traditionally said to have originally come from Lookabootye Brae (name: NS 9121 9125), probably from the foot of the brae. It is a whinstone boulder, 1 1/2" x 3 1/4" x 2 1/4". It has a deep cleft on its upper side, but there is nothing about it to indicate what it may have been originally (P Miller 1889). Early in the 19th century, a suitably shaped plinth was chosen from among the large boulders at the Abbey Craig at Causewayhead, and the stone, having been clamped together with iron bars, and a hole made in it for a flagstaff, was placed on top of it for better preservation. RCAHMS and Feachem create confusion by describing the plinth as the antiquity.

The Clackmannan Stone is regarded as that from which the county takes its name, which has been in use from the 13th century. Stone of Manau.

Name Book 1861; P Miller 1889; W J Watson 1926; RCAHMS 1933; T C Gordon 1936; R W Feachem 1963

A plaque on the adjacent Tolbooth states that the stone was originally placed at Lookaboutye Brae (NS 912 911) and was sacred to the pre-Christian deity Mannan, and is a relic of pagan times. It was raised on its shaft in 1833. No further information.

Visited by OS (D W R) 20 May 1974.

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