Long Man's Grave


Site type: standing stone

Parish: Abernyte

County: Perthshire

Grid reference: NO 2218 3153

Lat / long: 56.46928578, -3.264568456

Alternative names: Hoolmyre; Lang Man's Grave

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

This stone measures around 1.8m long by 0.5m wide and is flush with the ground on the grass verge by the road. One end of it lies under a dry stane dyke.

It's unclear exactly what the Long Man's Grave is, however it may be a fallen standing stone. When visited by the parish minister in 1845 there was a tumulus here, and upon investigation the stone was "proved to be a 'druidical stone' that had toppled over."

It has been suggested that this is the grave of a murder or suicide victim. One myth rather fancifully says it is the grave of Macbeth, while another says that the Lang Man was a horse trader who regularly visited the annual fair held near here. One year he disappeared and the story spread that he had been murdered for his gold and buried under the stone.

References (books)

  • New Statistical Account of Scotland
  • various
  • Edinburgh, 1845

  • Woods, forests, and estates of Perthshire
  • Thomas Hunter
  • Perth, 1883

  • On the Trail of Scotland's Myths and Legends
  • Stuart McHardy
  • Edinburgh, 2004

  • The fair land of Gowrie
  • Lawrence Melville
  • Coupar Angus, 1939

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    created Friday, May 14th, 2010 at 4:20 pm, last updated Wednesday, March 30th, 2011 at 11:46 pm