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
Wigtown ( (both used locally); gd, Baile na h-Ùige) is a town and former royal burgh in Wigtownshire, of which it is the county town, within the Dumfries and Galloway region in Scotland. It lies east of Stranraer and south of Newton Stewart. ...
,
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
.
Description
The stone circle consists of nineteen
granite
Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...
boulders set on a slightly raised platform.
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.
The larger stones, over 1 metre high, are on the southeast side.
Three upright boulders stand in a line near the centre of the circle.
The direction of the line of the three central stones is northeast to southwest.
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.
There are also surviving remains of several burial cairns, and history records others long removed to build field dykes.
The stone circle has not yet been archaeologically excavated. It probably dates to the
Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...
period or the
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...
.
The Torhouse Stones are in the care of
Historic Environment Scotland
Historic Environment Scotland (HES) ( gd, Àrainneachd Eachdraidheil Alba) is an executive non-departmental public body responsible for investigating, caring for and promoting Scotland's historic environment. HES was formed in 2015 from the mer ...
as a
scheduled monument
In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change.
The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...
.
In folklore
Local tradition maintains that the three large stones in the center of the circle contained the tomb of
Galdus, a mythical Scottish king.
A similar story is told about one of the tombs at
Cairnholy
Cairnholy (or Cairn Holy) is the site of two Neolithic chambered tombs of the Clyde type. It is located 4 kilometres east of the village of Carsluith in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland (). The tombs are scheduled monuments in the care of Hist ...
, also in Galloway.
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".
Gallery
File:Torhouse Stone Circle - geograph.org.uk - 2979843.jpg, Central setting of three stones
File:Torhousekie Stone Row - geograph.org.uk - 1231667.jpg, Torhousekie Stone Row, 130 metres east of the stone circle
References
External links
*Historic Environment Scotland
Visitor guide
{{European Standing Stones
Stone circles in Dumfries and Galloway
Archaeological sites in Dumfries and Galloway
Scheduled Ancient Monuments in Dumfries and Galloway
Historic Scotland properties in Dumfries and Galloway