Ancient Stones
A Guide to Standing Stones & Stone Circles in the South of Scotland.


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011 Standing Stone, Purveshaugh, Earlston.

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Description
A large, 1.60m high, single standing stone situated on an exposed ridge, beside a dry stone dyke running between two cultivated fields. A high crop of barley at time of visit prevented a thorough survey of the area. The stone stands about 20m from the main road and can be seen when passing. Two small houses once existed in the area, taking their name from the stone.

Directions
From Earlston, take the A6015 east for Gordon. After the junction with the B6397 the road climbs a short hill with a series of sharp bends. The stone can be seen in the fields to the south east at the highest point.

Parking
Parking is difficult in the area and walking or cycling from Earlston is the best option to reach this area. Note that the road is fast and busy.

Fieldnotes
The noise of road traffic on the nearby A6105 and the line of electricity pylons buzzing just a few metres to the south, tends to spoil the atmosphere of what would otherwise be an interesting standing stone. However, take these modern features away, get rid of the dry stone wall and cultivated crops and you can imagine what a fine location this must have been in the past. The fort on Black Hill is easily visible in the south west and the fabulous Brothers Stones and the Cow Stone are less than 3 miles to the south east. I suspect these are probably not in direct line of sight as I did not remember to look during my visit but it might be worth investigating to see otherwise and walking a "ley" line between the two might be interesting.

On re-visiting this location at a later date to obtain additional images, the first thing I noticed was that the dry stone wall had been rebuild allowing me access to the previously hidden west side of the stone. Immediately of interest was the odd shape of the stone. It has a projection at low level, almost making the stone into a seat shape. To me this suggests either the stone has been damaged, perhaps by lightning strike at some time in the past and the broken section has fallen away, or this is the natural shape of the stone. It may even have been why the stone was erected. The low level "shelf" could be used as a seat of sorts!

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Quick Info
Type: Standing Stone
Nearest Town: Earlston
O.S.
Landranger Sheet 74
O.S. Explorer Sheet 339
Grid Reference: NT 5966 3973
GPS Reference: PURVES

Symbols Key | Stone Types

Other Sites Nearby
053 Brothers' Stones, Brotherstone, St. Boswells.
054 Cow Stone, Brotherstone, St. Boswells.

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