Bridge of Lyon

This pair of stones are just one part of an interesting area on the banks of the River Lyon. Close by is a cup-marked stone, a long cairn, a medieval moated site (once thought to be a Roman camp) and a round cairn topped with a cup-marked standing stone.

Only one stone now stands, while 5m to the NE the second is partly buried, with only a metre of it visible. It has been reported that in 1838, the cup-marked stone which now lies on top of the nearby Lyon Bridge round cairn (supposedly Pontius Pilate’s grave!) was actually close to these two stones, having apparently fallen at the end of the 18th century. This has led to suggestions this might be the remains of a four-poster.

However, the same cup-marked stone is supposed to have stood upright on the cairn on which it now lies, and the New Statistical Account actually says “two obelisks, the one about 6 feet high: the other lying on the ground, having been undermined some fifty or eighty years ago”. This makes me think that perhaps the half-buried stone might be cup-marked on one of its buried faces, and that it was confused with the stone on the cairn which did once stand there.

standing stone – 1.88m tall
fallen stone – 2.43m long
the stones stand 5.00m apart