Undiscovered Scotland

 

The Drumtroddan Standing Stones are reached via a track that leaves the B7021 some two miles east of Port William. It is possible to park without causing an obstruction beside the road and you then walk the few hundred yards gently uphill to the enclosure surrounding the stones themselves. On our most recent visit in May 2024 the sign from the road had been removed and extensive works were under way in the fields near the enclosure surrounding the stones.

The first thing that is obvious from the site of the stones is that whoever took the time and trouble to erect them liked a good view. The site chosen is magnificent, commanding huge views right across the Machars and as far as the Galloway Hills to the north-east. (Continues below image...)

 

There are three stones at Drumtroddan. We first visited in April 2010 and found two still standing while the other had fallen over. We were told in 2011 that another had fallen and photos on this page are a mix of those taken before and after the second stone fell. The best estimates are that the stones were erected between 2,000BC and 1,000BC, and it is not known whether the people who erected the stones were connected with those who, at a probably much earlier date, carved the Dumtroddan Cup and Ring Markings on rocks some 400 yards to the north-west.

The two outer stones are positioned some 43ft apart. The largest, and more south-westerly, measures some 10ft by 4ft by 1ft and in 2010 was already leaning at a significant angle from the vertical. The second stone standing at that time measures about 10ft by 3ft by 1ft and still stands roughly vertically.

It looks as if the third stone originally stood on a line between the other two some 7ft from the more south-westerly of them. Early records suggest that there were originally four stones on the site, but, if so, all trace of the fourth has disappeared.

The fact that the stones were originally erected on a straight line aligned roughly north-east to south-west gives rise to an obvious question, why? Moving stones of this size to this site and erecting them would be a major undertaking even today. The effort involved in an age when tools were primitive and most of daily life revolved around the need to ensure you and your family were fed is remarkable. There is no way that the erection of stones like this could have been a recreational pastime.