We continued the topic of features associated with the British Landscape.
In the previous session we had broken the topic into three parts and completed the first section of rocks and rock formations with healing properties.
i/. Natural Rocks and Rock Formations & Stones with Healing Powers
ii/. Natural Rock Formations & Stones with Powers of Fertility
iii/. Natural Rock Formations & Stones connected to Oath taking etc.
In this session we completed the second two groups and started a new section of Stone circles, Standing stones etc.
1/.
1.1 Natural Rock Formations & Stones with Powers of Fertility
These included examples of ensuring female fertility and for easing childbirth and one example of male fertility from Boho, Enniskillen. Then we looked at stones relating to good harvests, fine weather, or good catches at sea. In one example in the Western Isles Scotland weather stones were treasured by families and clans; these stone were not always big and were looked after in houses, kept wrapped (often in flannel) and washed in water or milk.
A lot of these stories were in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
We discussed why stones might have been used in these rituals.
1.2 Natural Rock Formations & Stones connected to Oath taking etc.
We looked at number of these which covered marriages, inauguration of kings, oaths and agreements.
If the stones were not respected there could be consequences. The Deity stone in Penmaenmawr, North Wales it was told that if a person blasphemed or used bad language within arm’s reach of the stone it would strike them. In the legend it was told someone had challenged this, used bad language and had been found battered and trampled to death beside the stone.
We looked at why stones may have been used for this, perhaps because they are fixed and a constant and somehow these attributes could be borrowed by the process used. The use of stones in this way goes back at least as far as the Celts.
2/. Stone circles, Standing Stones etc.
These go back a very long way, certainly to 3500-1000 BCE. They are all over the country and there are lots of examples in Cornwall which has areas which have not been inhabited so remain undisturbed. Not all have folklore attached.
There were a number of common themes such as petrifaction of people who failed to observe the sabbath or are duped by the devil, the number of stones being impossible to count, consequences of trying to count them, offerings being made. There was impact of Christianity on the folklore.
One example in Rollright, Oxfordshire covered a stone circle which had stories relating to a king and his Knights being turned to stone, the stones being impossible to count and the king someday coming back to life.
Last Updated on July 17, 2023