The Loupin' Stanes

About The Loupin' Stanes

This is an oval ring of twelve stones with the "entrance" between the two tallest and largest stones so that the approach was from down the valley, from the southwest. The habit of the local lads of "louping" from the one to the other of the two great stones was abandoned after a leg was broken. Please don't try it!

The circle's longest diameter is about 18 metres, much smaller than the nearby Girdle Stanes. Note that the base or "platform" of the circle is fairly level and somewhat raised above the surrounding sloping ground. Some archaeologists suggest that this platform is what remains of a low cairn, but this effect may just be because the area of the circle was left unploughed and perhaps because stones turned up when ploughing were dumped there.