Knock, Queen Blearie's Stone

NS46NE 13 4932 6614.

(NS 4932 6614) Site of (NAT) Standing Stone (NR)

OS 6" map (1914)

A description of Renfrewshire (probably written in the early 18th century) notes that at Knox (Knock) in the common moor of Renfrew, there is a "large stone erected with stairs round it". At that time it was the place of rendezvous for the County Militia, and it was said that it marked the spot where Marjory Bruce broke her neck by a fall from her horse when hunting (W Macfarlane 1907). Crawford, writing in 1710, naming it as "Queen Blearie's Stone" describes it as a high cross and gives the tradition (followed by later authorities) that she gave birth to Robert II here, prematurely, prior to her death after the fall. Origines described "an octagonal pillar, the shaft probably of a cross, 10ft high without sculpture or inscription, inserted in a solid pedestal, also eight-sided and 6ft across". The cross had been removed by 1782, at which time part of it formed the lintel of a barn door; it had disappeared by 1836 (NSA 1845). The New Statistical Account (NSA) locates the site of the Stone precisely, stating that it stood 134 yards from the centre of Kemp Knowe (NS46NE 14), in the direction of a point 2 1/2 yards south of the byre door of Knock farm.

G Crawfurd and W Semple 1782; Orig Paroch Scot 1851

The cross-shaft was removed and built into the barn shortly before 1779, when the pedestal was dug up and used to repair walls. The spot shown to Dr Macfarlan (NSA 1845) was that shown to him by the father of Mr J Snodgrass, Knock Farm, who stated that the site marked is on or about the spot where his father had told him the stone stood. No other authorities consulted could point out the site, though it was agreed that Queen Blearie's Stone had stood on Knock farm.

Name Book 1856

The site is now in a housing estate, no further information obtained.

Visited by OS (WMJ) 3 September 1951