The Isle of Skye Part 6 - Cho laidir ri Cuchullin - As Strong As Cuchillin

The Isle of Skye Part 6 - Cho laidir ri Cuchullin - As Strong As Cuchillin

From Place Names Of Skye, As Strong as Cuchullin, a complimentary term used.

"Cuchulainn Carries Ferdiad Across the River", illustration by Ernest Wallcousins from Charles Squire, Celtic Myths and Legends, 1905

The final installment of this look at stone lifting and associated gubbins on Skye, we're going to take a look at the final stone of the "original five" from the Peter Martin list and with it take a glimpse into Gaelic folklore with a mighty hero, a warrior woman mentor, a grisly spear which is thrown from the toes and some tragedy along the way - Shakespeare eat your heart out. Whilst I draw an initial line (for now) under the Skye series we'll also take a look at a few other stones and potential stones of interest, from those only a giant could lift, to our canine companions making an appearance and the different ways trial could be interpreted - another lifting stone site or just justice being meted out?

The final stone from Peter Martin's contents list is Clach Mhor Na Saothraich. By and large, any fine or precise details of this stone remain a mystery to me. In my upcoming Skye trip I'm not going to be making a trip to Elgol to try find out any more (at least this time!) but to anyone else who maybe thinking of a Skye visit, Glagen-Glune as covered prior is also near Elgol, so two birds one stone and all that jazz.

We return to the faithful "Place Names of Skye" for the below source and translation of this stone,

Any stone is great in my book

So, a translation, a rough-ish location and even a bit of history. What more could you ask for from a single source, that so far seems to be relatively reliable by virtue of having a lot of information across a range of stones that seems to be verifiable elsewhere. The first question that pops to mind is what kind of stone are we looking at? A lifting stone? A stone important for cultural reasons or rememberance, ala Ultach Fear Hiort or Glagen-Glune?

When trying to delineate between a stone or rock in Scotland and what was (or is) a lifting stone, nomenclature is key. As I've alluded to before, there's an awful lot of named rocks for various reasons in Scotland. Clach Fuileach on Skye is the bloody stone, named thus because of the red rain poured upon it from the Macleods and Macdonalds during a feud in the location it sits. Clach Luath (Luath was the dog's name), near Dunscaith castle, relates to our hero of the day - Cuchullin. However Cuchullin didn't lift this stone or even sit on it (okay maybe he did, I don't know), far more simply it was the stone he used to tie his dog up to. Clach ultach was the predominant lifting style in the Hebridean islands, with ultach X having a slightly different context but still being a stone that was lifted but perhaps for different reasons to a clach ultach. On the mainland and particularly across the Highlands we find a predominance of clach neart - putting stones, either translated across as stone of strength or something that was thrown/put over something.

We've got neither ultach or neart attached to this stone in name. Which isn't to say it's not a lifting stone or a stone that was lifted - we've already discussed the Captain Peter MacCrimmon's big stone. However I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that this stone is a very very large stone, more akin to a boulder, and therefore  unliftable.

Another putting stone with relation to Cuchullin, except this was thrown four and a half miles. But how much ya bench bro?

If we go with these two stones both being putted/thrown by Cuchullin (which I feel is a reasonable assessment, the only confusion to me is the "giants" part of the above text, but in some later stories Cuchullin was re-imagined as a giant, which may explain it,) then I imagine both are very large. "Skye, The Island And It's Legends" by Otta Swire, has a short description of Clach An Fhuarain which is in agreeance with our thoughts so far. The author describes it as "an enormous stone, estimated to weigh over two tons, which one of Cuchullin's companions flung over here when he was practicing "putting the weight"  in the Isle of Soay." If Cuchullin's friends were throwing two ton boulders for miles, I don't imagine he was moving little stones (sorry to all my fellow stone lifters, we've been out matched here) either. 

So if we're not hoping to lift Clach Na Saothraich, because it might be a huge boulder, who on earth was Cuchuillin and how could he do this? 

I can't hope to fully describe the life and times of Cuchullin here for you, nor could I list or know every possible spelling varation of his name. If this is the kinda thing that interests you, I can't recommend enough looking into it further - there is story and tales galore about this man to read.  A miraculous conception esque event with his mother a human and his father a god, a conception so miraculous that he survived an attempted abortion, led to the birth of Cuchullin, then called Sétanta.

A great hero of Irish mythology, he lived in the first century BC and was certainly no ordinary man. I've found references to him having seven digits on both hands and feet, seven pupils in each eye (I struggle to conceptualize this). During battle he transformed into an unrecognizable being, a bezeker frenzy incarnate, eyes and muscles bulging and his legs and feet turned backwards (again I'm a little lost here), body temperature rising to the point he would melt snow (source). Cuchuillin came to Skye to learn from the warrior-woman Scáthach, who resided at Dunscaith Castle.  Here he was given his spear, Gáe Bulg, which was barbed and inflicted wounds so horrendous none recovered - this is the spear that he threw with his feet. Cuchuillin had a child with Scáthach's rival after defeating the rival in combat, a son he kills eight years later as he travels home to find his father who does not recognize him. 

The only facet of this stone I'm unable to discuss at all, is the labour/labourer connection from which it gains its name. 

Other Stones
Near Uig on the Northern side of Skye lies Ultach Fhinn, Fingal's Lift. In accordance with other stones named ultach, this was certainly an armful - just as well Fingal had long arms.

                          

The above image is from Modern Antiquarian and describes the stone as being 23' long by 6 and a half wide, with a large indent being noticeable somewhere along the stone which is Fingal's thumb indent.

Finally, I've got two potential stones, one in name only, one dubious and then a small edit for a stone we've visited. Taking a trip to Trumpan to look at Clach Deuchainn, in the North of Skye, on the middle of the three protrusions northwards from Skye. The church here has a rather dark past, with a group of Macdonalds burnt the church full of Macleods during a Sunday service. Below is a picture of this Clach Deuchainn infront of the ruins of Trumpan church. Picture from here.

Peter Martin wrote a lot about the term "Clach Deuchainn" and does indeed list it as a term used for a lifting stone, one specifically used in some kind of trial or test - the translation of "Deuchainn". This term for a testing stone seems heavily skewed towards use on the western coast of Scotland and the Western Islands. Place Names of Skye also says this particular stone was known as the "Priest's stone" and suggests that the accused person would have been blindfolded and then had to try put their finger in the hole of the stone to prove their innocence. The source for the above photo has the same story. Whilst it's certainly a different form of "trial" it's not quite the one a stone lifter would be looking for.  Skye, The Island And It's Legends provides a similar story, calling it "The Heaven Stone" and that if one could insert their index finger into the hole blindfolded then they would go to Heaven. 

So which is it? Is it both? The justice story does sound a little odd - which isn't of course to say it's wrong! I've been unable to really find anything academic or old source wise to confirm this use, where as Peter Martin had many sources in his book to back up the term "Deuchainn" to describe a lifting stone. Perhaps we need an expert in Gaelic justice systems. 

Another description of this stone from Place Names of Skye (yes it has two for some reason, as it does elsewhere as we'll see soon.)

The second entry on this stone from the same book suggests it was a lifting stone site, as opposed to how it described it earlier - again perhaps both? This source is more definitive on the side of it being a lifting stone site however. The site being located within a church yard could potentially lend credence to the lifting of stones here, as we've seen with other stones such as the Barevan stone. If this site is a stone lifting site that would therefore place it as an older, pre-reformation stone (pre 1500s).  On a more practical note, the plinth does look like it could receive a stone atop it, and as the sole example we have of a plinth stone site that isn't on the mainland, it would be a pretty special place, if we could conclusively prove that was it's purpose. 

There's certain other stones named in Place Names of Skye which could feasible have been lifting stones, for no other reason than many a stone was clearly a lifting stone, and there is no meaning or entry attached to the stone so anything is possible. MacTorcul's stone is a "Clach Mhic" in gaelic, another big or great stone like that of Peter MacCrimmon, was this a personal lifting stone or a big stone a MacTorcul lifted once? Clach Mhor a Gharbh Bhlair is described as the great stone of the rough field or of the fierce fight and again one could imagine there's a world where it is a stone related to lifting. 

Finally, another listing for the MacCrimmon stone: 

In Place Names of Skye once more. 

I'm listing this as it confirms the story I find in another source about it being placed to stop people freeing his horse, and the carry aspect of the lift. But the second name for it is interesting, Clach a Chipein, as the same source calls it Clach Mhor Mhic MacCrimmon. And it is certainly the same stone - I'm unable to think of any reason to list it twice under seperate names. What this does give us which is new is a weight - as rough as that may be. For those of you unfamilar with a "cwt" (pssht how could you not know what a cwt is) it's the short hand for a hundredweight, which in the imperial system was 8 stone, or 112lb or 50.8kg in more sensible units. Quick maths puts that to 355-406kg. It certainly looks like a big stone in the picture, but that heavy? Who knows.

That ends my look at Skye and it's lifting stones. I'm soon making a trip to Skye to hopefully find some of these stones (and of course try lift a couple) so hopefully there will be another post on Skye with my mug next to a stone or two.