Glen Ellrig Standing Stones

Illus: The southern standing stone looking north-east.

SMR 503 & 504 /

NS 8850 7399 & NS 8853 7385

To the south of Glen Ellrig House two standing stones were erected to form visual features of the designed landscape.  The nearest was in the paddock below the house and was only 0.4m in width, 0.2m in thickness and 1.0m in height. It was aligned east-west so as to be prominent from the house.  It was removed during opencast mining in the late 1980s.  The second stone still stands on a small knoll 100m south of the house overlooking the River Avon.

Illus: The southern standing stone looking south-west.

The knoll is surrounded by a low circular drystone retaining wall erected to provide a landscaped setting for it.  This stone measures 2.0 m in height and 0.23 m thick.

If the stones had been present at the time of the 1860s survey by the Ordnance Survey it is probable that they would have been noted and annotated on the published map.  It is therefore likely that they formed part of the 1870s scheme which saw the construction, but not completion, of a new façade for Glen Ellrig House. This subsequently became summerhouse and picnic spot for the Ralston/Waddell family.

Illus: 1960/67 Ordnance Survey Map showing the two Standing Stones in line with the Tower of Glen Ellrig House (National Library of Scotland).

Bibliography

Ordnance SurveyArchaeology Sheets
(Quoted at 1 & 2 below)
RCAHMS1963Stirlingshire: An Inventory of the Ancient Monuments.
(Quoted at 3 & 4 below)
  1. “Standing Stone, Glen Ellrig 1. In the lower part of the field that lies immediately south of the ruined house of Glen Ellrig there is a standing stone measuring 3’3″ in height, 1’3″ in breadth and 9″ in thickness. It is probably not a pre-historic monument. Visited 16th April, 1954. Situated in a small paddock on rising ground, this stone measures 0.4m in width, 0.2m in thickness and 1.0m in height. Its main axis lies east-west; the west shoulder has been trimmed off. The stone shows little evidence of weathering.”
  2. “Standing Stone, Glen Ellrig 2. This stone stands on a knoll overlooking the River Avon in the centre of a small wood enclosed by a drystone dyke, and 320 yds, nearly due south of the ruined house of Glen Ellrig. It is a slab of freestone with one upper corner broken off, and measures 4′ 6″in height, 1’8″ in width and 6 and a half ins. in thickness. This stone is probably not a prehistoric monument. Visited 16th April, 1954.”
  3. “In the lower part of the field that lies immediately S of the ruined house of Glen Ellrig there is a standing stone measuring 3ft 3in in height, 1ft 3in in breadth and 9in in thickness. It is probably not a prehistoric monument. 884739 NS 87 SE (unnoted) 16 April 1954” [p.67, No. 53]
  4. “This stone is situated in a small circular plantation-ring on the top of a small rounded hillock. It is a slab-like stone. Like its neighbour (No. 53), this stone is probably not a prehistoric monument. 885738 NS 87 SE (unnoted) 16 April 1954” [p.67, No. 54]

G.B. Bailey, 2025