Torhouse
| Photo of the stone circle in evening sunlight
Torhousekie stone circle
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 Shown within Dumfries and Galloway
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| Alternate name | Torhousekie |
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| Location | Galloway |
| Coordinates | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. |
| Type | Stone circle |
| History | |
| Periods | Neolithic / Bronze Age |
| Site notes | |
| Ownership | Historic Scotland |
| Public access | Yes |
The Standing Stones of Torhouse (also Torhousekie) are a stone circle of nineteen granite boulders on the land of Torhouse, three miles west of Wigtown, Scotland.
Description
The stone circle consists nineteen granite boulders set on a slightly raised platform.[1] The stones have a height ranging from about 0.6 metres to 1.5 metres and are arranged in a circle with a diameter of about 22 metres.[1] The larger stones, over 1 metre high, are on the southeast side.[2]
Three upright boulders stand in a line near the centre of the circle.[3] The direction of the line of the three central stones is northeast to southwest.[1]
Two stones stand 40 metres to the south-southeast of the stone circle, one large and the other small, and there is a stone row of three stones 130 metres to the east.[2] There are also surviving remains of several burial cairns, and history records others long removed to build field dykes.[2]
The stone circle has not yet been archaeologically excavated. It probably dates to the Neolithic period or the Bronze Age.[1][2] The Torhouse Stones are in the care of Historic Scotland.[2]
In folklore
Local tradition maintains that the three large stones in the middle of the circle contained the tomb of Galdus, a mythical Scottish king.[4] A similar story is told about one of the tombs at Cairnholy, also in Galloway.[5]
In the dyke on the south side of the road is a stone with a deep cavity which according to tradition, "the knowing never pass without depositing therein some pebble or gift to pass in peace".[6]
Gallery
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Torhouse Stone Circle - geograph.org.uk - 2979843.jpg
Central setting of three stones
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Torhousekie Stone Row - geograph.org.uk - 1231667.jpg
Torhousekie Stone Row, 130 metres east of the stone circle
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Cairn Holy Chambered Cairns, Historic Scotland, accessed 14 August 2015
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Torhousekie. |
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