Rocking stone
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rocking Stones (or Logans) are large stones that are so finely balanced that the application of just a small force causes them to rock. They are found throughout the world. Some are man-made megaliths, but others are natural, often left by glaciers.
They are known in Scotland sometimes as clach-bràth and as "logan stones" in England and Cornwall.
- A location where Scottish open-air courts would take place (also known as a judgment stone)
- A stone balanced so that it moved easily, also known as a logan stone.
These two definitions are related because the movement of stones in such formations have been used to determine the guilt or innocence of those accused of serious crimes in ancient times.
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[edit] Name
The word "logan" is probably derived from the word "log", which in an English dialect means to rock. In fact, in some parts of the UK, rocking stones or logan stones are called logging stones. The word "log" might be connected with the Danish word "logre", which means to "wag a tail".
Some have suggested that the word "logan" comes from a Cornish expression for the movement that someone makes when inebriated. Davies Gilbert writes:
- It may be observed that I have always used the words Loging Rock for the celebrated stone at Trereen Dinas. Much learned research seems to have been idly expended on the supposed name, "Logan Rock." To log is a verb in general use throughout Cornwall for vibrating or rolling like a drunken man; and an is frequently heard in provincial pronunciation for tug, characteristic of the modem present participle. The Loging Rock is, therefore, strictly descriptive of its peculiar motlon.
[edit] Stones that Move
Rocking stones are immense rocks, so situated that the least touch can make them rock in one certain direction, but which cannot be made to move in any other by all the force that can be applied to it by unaided humans. Such stones are common in Britain and other places around the world; in Galicia, they are called pedras de abalar.
Pliny the Elder (23-79) wrote about a rock near Harpasa (in Caria, Asia Minor) that could be moved with a finger but could not be dislodged with a thrust of the whole body. Ptolemy (ca. 90 – ca. 168) wrote about the Gygonian rock, which he claimed could be moved by pushing on it with the stalk of an asphodel, but could not be removed by any force.
There are stones in Iona called na clachan-bràth, within the precincts of a burial ground, and placed on the pedestal of a cross, and have been according to Pennant, the supports of a tomb.
There is a rocking stone in Pontypridd in Wales in the middle of a Druidic stone circle.
Bosistow Logan Rock is at the head of Pendower Cove (sometimes written as Pendour Cove) near Zennor, Cornwall. It apparently was discovered by an employee of the lord of the local manor whose duty it was to watch the coast. A ship had been wrecked in the cove, and while watching ensuing activity, the employee leaned against a boulder. Suddenly there was a gust of wind, and the boulder shifted, or "logged". The longest side of this mass of stone is about 15 feet, and the circumference of its biggest end is about 20 feet. It is thought to be about 20 tons.
There is a rocking stone near Loch Riecawr in South Ayrshire.[1]
In the parish of North Carrick in the Straiton District in South Ayrshire, about a quarter of a mile to the west of the White Laise, and near the March Dyke, there is a rocking stone named the Logan Stone. The Logan Stone is a gray granite rock and rests on graywacke, and can easily be moved with one hand. It is 4 feet 3 inches by 4 feet, by 3 feet high.[2]
In Burma, there is the Kyaiktiyo Pagoda, where a religious shrined has been built on top of a huge granite boulder.
There are even some masses that have been shaped by humans that exhibit similar behavior (sometimes unintentionally). For example, in the ruins of the Roman temples at Jerash in Jordan (the "city of 1000 pillars"), there are some massive pillars that move back and forth in the slightest breeze.[3]
[edit] Stones that used to move
There is a stone that used to rock on a gritstone outcrop on Warley Moor near Halifax in West Yorkshire. It had already ceased to rock when described by John Watson in 1775[4]
Ayrshire in Southwest Scotland apparently is endowed with a geology that lends itself towards the formation of rocking stones. There are several rocking stones, or stones that used to rock at one time, in Ayrshire.
A rocking stone that some associate with the Druids is on Cuff Hill in Hessilhead, near Beith in North Ayrshire. It no longer rocks due to people digging beneath to ascertain its fulcrum.[5] It is in a small wood and surrounded by a circular drystone wall.
The Ogrestone or Thurgartstone near Dunlop in East Ayrshire is thought to have been a rocking stone. However soil has built up around the base of the Thurgatstone over the years, which now prevents any rocking motion.
The Lamagee or Lamargle stone is in the center of a stone circle in the village of Lugar in East Ayrshire. The Lamargle stone rests on two stones. Locally legend it has it that the Lamargle stone used to rock, but it no longer does.
[edit] Dislodged Rocking Stones
Often wear, erosion or human intervention have resulted in the dislodging of rocking stones.
[edit] Pembrokeshire
There was a rocking-stone in Pembrokeshire, which is described in Gibson’s edition of Camden’s ‘Britannia', from a manuscript account by George Owen:
- This shaking stone may be seen on a sea-cliff within half a mile of St. David’s. It is so vast that I presume it may exceed the draught of an hundred oxen, and it is altogether rude and unpolished. The occasion of the name (Y maen sigl, or the Rocking-stone) is for that being mounted upon divers other stones about a yard in height it is so equally poised that a man may shake it with one finger so that five or six men sitting on it shall perceive themselves moved thereby.
Cromwell’s soldiers rendered the rocking-stone of Pembrokeshire immoveable after Mr. Owen had described it. They reportedly destroyed it because they felt it encouraged superstition.
[edit] Golcar Hill
There was another rocking stone at Golcar Hill, near Halifax in Yorkshire. However, the Golcar Hill rocking stone will no longer easily rock because some masons wanted to find out how such a large weight could move so easily, so they chopped at it until they destroyed its balance.
[edit] Men Amber
There was a very sensitive rocking stone called Men Amber (sometimes written as Men-Amber or Menamber) on a high ridge in the parish of Sithney, near Pendennis, Cornwall. It is 11 feet long, 4 feet deep, and 6 feet wide. It was toppled by Shrubsall, the governor of Pendennis, and his men about 1650 during Cromwell’s Commonwealth.
One rumored motivation for the dislodging of Men Amber was a purported prophecy of Merlin. Merlin had supposedly said that Men Amber would stand until England had no king.
Rev. Dr. William Stukeley wrote
- Main Ambres; petrae ambrosiae, signify the stones anointed with holy oil, consecrated; or in a general sense, a temple, altar or places or worship
William Borlase in his 1754 book Antiquities of Cornwall, claimed that Men Amber was dislodged because:
- the vulgar used to resort to this place at particular times of the year, and payed to this rock more respect than was thought becoming to good Christians
[edit] Logan Rock
Another well-known example of a rocking or logan stone is Logan Rock of Treen in Cornwall. This huge stone weighs about 80 or 90 tons. It is one of the best known rocking stones for several reasons. For example, Modred, in William Mason's dramatic poem "Caractacus," addressing the characters Vellinus and Elidurus, says of the Logan Rock:
-
-
- Thither, youths,
- Turn your astonish'd eyes; behold yon huge
- And unhewn sphere of living adamant,
- Which, poised by magic, rests its central weight
- On yonder pointed rock: firm as it seems,
- Such is the strange and virtuous property,
- It moves obsequious to the gentlest touch
- Of him whose breast is pure; but to a traitor,
- Tho’ ev’n a giant’s prowess nerv’d his arm,
- It stands as fixt as Snowdon.
- Thither, youths,
-
However, another reason that the Logan Rock of Treen is remembered is that it was the center of a famous drama. In April of 1824, Lieutenant Hugh Goldsmith, R. N. (nephew of the famous poet Oliver Goldsmith), and ten or twelve of his crew of the cutter HMS Nimble, armed with bars and levers rocked the huge granite boulder until it fell from its cliff-top perch. Goldsmith was apparently motivated to disprove the claim of Dr. Borlase, who wrote in Antiquities of Cornwall in 1754 that:
- In the parish of S. Levan, there is a promontory called Castle Treryn. This cape consists of three distinct groups of rocks. On the western side of the middle group near the top, lies a very large stone, so evenly, poised that any hand may move it to and fro; but the extremeties of its base are at such a distance from each other, and so well secured by their nearness to the stone which it stretches itself upon, that it is morally impossible that any lever, or indeed force, however applied in a mechanical way, can remove it from its present situation.
Goldsmith was determined to demonstrate that nothing was impossible when the courage and skill of British seamen were engaged. The Logan Rock fell and was caught in a narrow chasm.
This upset the local residents considerably, since Logan Rock had been used to draw tourists to the area. Sir Richard R. Vyvyan (1800-1879)[6] was particularly unhappy. They demanded that the British Admiralty strip Lieutenant Goldsmith of his Royal Navy commission unless he restored the boulder to its previous position at his own expense. However, Mr. Davies Gilbert, persuaded the Lords of the Admiralty to lend Lieutenant Goldsmith the required apparatus for replacing the Logan Rock. The Admiralty sent thirteen captans with blocks and chains from the dock yard at Plymouth, and contributed £25 towards expenses. Gilbert also raised more funds[7]
After months of effort, at 4.20pm on Tuesday, the 2nd of November, 1824, in front of thousands of spectators and with the help of more than sixty men and block and tackle, the Logan Rock was finally repositioned and returned to "rocking condition" (Michell 1974). Apparently the total final cost of this enterprise was £130 8s 6d. However, it is not clear how much of the remaining £105 Goldsmith had to make up out of his own pocket.
For some time after, the rock was kept chained and padlocked, but eventually these restrictions were removed, and the rock was set free. However, it apparently no longer vibrates or "logs" as easily as it did before.
Tourism dropped, and this was blamed on the condition of Logan Rock. For a while, Treen was nicknamed 'Goldsmith's Deserted Village'.
Another famous rock structure, Lanyon Cromlech, was knocked down during a thunderstorm in 1815. The same machinery that was used to restore the Logan Rock in Treen was successful in repositioning Lanyon Cromlech.
[edit] Beliefs
There are a wide variety of beliefs associated with rocking stones. Because of their strange nature, rocking stones were sometimes associated with witchcraft, or Druids. Stones which were balanced so that the wind could move them were used sometimes in trials to determine guilt or innocence of the accused.
It was said that the rocking stone near Nancledrea in Cornwall could only be moved at midnight when witches were out. People claimed that if you touched the rocking stone nine times at midnight, you would turn into a witch.
The Brimham rocking stone in Yorkshire is said to rock only for the efforts of an honest man. [8]
The rocking stone at Land's End was said to have been placed there by a giant who used it to rock himself to sleep.
It was claimed that the Logan Stone in Treen could cure childhood diseases The children were rocked on the Logan Stone in certain seasons. People say that the charm was broken when Lieutenant Goldsmith dislodged the Logan Stone.
It is a Cornish tradition to make a vow and then attempt to move a rocking stone, or logan rock. It was said that no one with treachery in their heart could make a rocking stone move.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ A map showing the location of a rocking stone in South Ayrshire
- ^ Prehistoric Man in Ayrshire, John Smith of Dalry, 1895
- ^ A travel diary from Jordan describing the movement of pillars at Jerash
- ^ The History and Antiquities of the Parish of Halifax, in Yorkshire T. Lowndes, London, 1775, republished by E.J. Morten, Manchester, 1973, p.26
- ^ Topographical Description of Ayrshire; more Particularly of Cunninghame: together with a Genealogical account of the Principal families in that Bailiwick., George Robertson, Cunninghame Press, Irvine, 1820
- ^ 101 Cornish Lives, Maurice Smelt, ISBN 0-906720-50-8
- ^ http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/prwe/prwe066.htm
- ^ Hippisley Coxe, Antony D. (1973). Haunted Britain. Pub. Hutchinson. ISBN 0-09-116540-7. P. 21.
- Michell, John (1974). The Old Stones of Land's End. Garnstone Press. ISBN 0-85511-370-7. P. 78.
- World Wide Words entry, Michael Quinion
- photograph of the Pontypridd rocking stone in Wales in the middle of a Druidic stone circle
- an account of the Logan Rock
- Stonehenge. A temple Restored to the British Druids, W Stukely, 1740.
- Secret Cornwall: Bodmin Moor and its Environs, Andy Norfolk, Imbolc 2003; a discussion of Men Amber's destruction
- Old England, Charles Knight, 1845.
- The Description of Penbrokeshire, George Owen, 1603.
- Lake’s Parochial History, S. Levan, 1868
- A website describing some legends of Cornwall
- Logan stone
- site with maps of 9 rocking stones in the UK listed
- A photograph of the Thorgatstane
This article incorporates text from “Dwelly’s [Scottish] Gaelic Dictionary” (1911) (Clach-bràth) This article incorporates text from the public domain 1907 edition of The Nuttall Encyclopædia.
