Standing stones, folk tales and myth creation

The Kempock Stone, Gourock in Scotland

Very interesting article has just been published, relating to a rather mysterious standing stone called the Kempock Stone -- in an urban setting in Scotland. The details:

Tim Edensor & Kenneth Brophy (2023) The potent urban prehistory of an ancient megalith: the Kempock Stone, Gourock, Scotland, International Journal of Heritage Studies, 29:1-2, 81-96 

DOI: 10.1080/13527258.2023.2172058

ABSTRACT
This paper focuses on the modern biography of a prehistoric stone of uncertain provenance, the megalith known as the Kempock Stone or Granny Kempock that has stood in the Clydeside town of Gourock for at least several hundred years. Rather than fous on a specific prehistoric period of creation and installation, or speculate upon its original function, this account explores the numerous stories that have accumulated around the stone over the past two centuries, revealing its composite biography. In addition, the paper also identifies the plethora of practices that have focused upon the stone over the years. In adopting an urban prehistory that concentrates upon surviving prehistoric places, sites and things that survive in urban places, we investigate how these narratives and practices significntly contribute to the rich heritage of this monolith. In contending that a better understanding of the social benefits of monoliths in urban places is long overdue, we also exemplify the contemporary value such sites play in consolidating local identities, enriching heritage and hosting a wealth of shared cultural practices.

This stone is rather interesting; because it is in an urban setting and because it has been protected and valued by the community, it has attracted a vast assortment of tales, anecdotes and hazy "folk memories" that have cemented it in local consciousness and have turned it in some ways into a symbol of community identity.  The authors of this article argue that in some ways this "community value" is more important than knowing how old the stone is, how long it has stood where in now stands, and what has been done to its shape and its surface down through the generations.  Local people do not actually care whether the stone is Neolithic or Bronze Age, or how it might relate to other stone settings in the region......... but they do "own" it.

Of course, all standing stones -- whether rural or urban -- attract local attention.  They are named, and legends and folk tales are attached to them.  Bedd Morris, not far from Newport, is probably a Bronze Age feature, but it is reputed to mark the grave of somebody called Morris -- and there are two different versions of the story of Morris.  The standing stone called Hangstone Davy is associated with a gruesome tale about somebody called Davy who came to a sticky end while trying to steal a sheep.  The stones of Parc y Meirw guard "the field of the dead", which is haunted by a ghostly lady.  The stones at Bedd yr Afanc are associated with a heroic tale of the capture and killing of a fearsome water monster.  The standing stone called Cwrt-y-Gollen is reputed to grow taller as time passes.  Llech Idris standing stone was reputedly hurled from the summit of Cader Idris by a giant.  And how many stones are associated with King Arthur or Samson?  So it goes on........

People create stories about local landmarks all the time -- one might even say the urge is irresistible.  It's all good innocent fun, and we can enjoy those tales that are written down, and enjoy listening to old and new tales that simply move about orally within the community, improving all the time until they get collected and written down in collections such as my "Pembrokeshire Folk Tales" trilogy of 4 volumes.

But we do need to be a bit cautious, especially when people like Mike Parker Pearson appear in our community and get swept away by the irresistible story telling urge.  Before you can say "Eglwyswrw" or "Mynachlogddu"  there is a vast new mythology in the literature -- all centred on a single rather innocuous standing stone in a place called Waun Mawn.  Woven into the cunning tale are the bluestones, Stonehenge, heroic ancestors with ropes and sledges, quarries, astronomical alignments, giant lost stone circles, other circles yet to be found, and a vast ceremonial complex imprinted on the landscape.  All very jolly, until senior academics claim that the whole mythology is underpinned by sound science and by real features identified on the ground and in archaeological digs.  Learned papers get published in the academic literature, in a never ending stream.  TV programmes seek to convince members of the public that the myth is actually true.  Then it all starts to get rather sinister.........