Falcon Stone


Site type: standing stone

Parish: Longforgan

County: Perthshire

Grid reference: NO 2956 3096

Lat / long: 56.46506093, -3.144308937

The historic map is an Ordnance Survey map from 1919 to 1947, and is provided by the National Library of Scotland

Although dismissed by the RCAHMS as a "naturally deposited erratic boulder" this stone is decorated with five clear cup-marks which hint at its antiquity. The fact that aerial photographs have shown that the stone is surrounded by a 17.0m ring-ditch combined with the shape of the stone suggests that it did once stand upright. Nearby barrows and square barrows also show up in aerial photos.

The stone gets its name from a legend connected to the Battle of Luncarty, fought in 990. The story goes that a peasant ancestor of the Hay clan saved the day for King Kenneth III, and as a reward was offered all the land that his hawk could fly over. The Falcon Stone is supposedly where the hawk reached.

References (books)

  • The Queen's Scotland - Heartland of Scotland
  • Nigel Tranter
  • London, 1971

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    created Friday, May 14th, 2010 at 4:20 pm, last updated Wednesday, March 30th, 2011 at 11:25 pm