Scheduled Monument
Clach an Trushal, standing stone, BallantrushalSM1661
Status: Designated
Documents
Where documents include maps, the use of this data is subject to terms and conditions (https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/termsandconditions).
The legal document available for download below constitutes the formal designation of the monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. The additional details provided on this page are provided for information purposes only and do not form part of the designation. Historic Environment Scotland accepts no liability for any loss or damages arising from reliance on any inaccuracies within this additional information.
Summary
- Date Added
- 16/02/1934
- Last Date Amended
- 03/03/1999
- Type
- Prehistoric ritual and funerary: standing stone
- Local Authority
- Na h-Eileanan Siar
- Parish
- Barvas
- NGR
- NB 37560 53779
- Coordinates
- 137560, 953779
Description
The monument comprises a very tall standing stone, of prehistoric date, and an area of land around it in which other large prostrate stones occur. The standing stone itself is already scheduled, but this proposal extends protection to the area around it.
Clach an Trushal is the tallest standing stone in Scotland, at 5.75m tall. It is of local gneiss rock, and is set on a NW-facing hillside. It slants slightly to the SW. The stone measures about 4.5m around at the base, and tapers from halfway up to a girth of about 1m near the top. Near to the foot of the stone are several other massive elongated stones, one of them fractured and others built into a bank bounding the strip of land in which the stone stands. It is at least possible, if not positively likely, that these once formed a setting with the sole surviving upright stone.
The area now to be scheduled is a rectangle 10m NW-SE by 7m, to include the upright stone, the recumbent stones and an area of ground around them in which evidence relating to their erection and use may survive, as marked in red on the accompanying map extract. The upstanding parts of the field boundaries which form the NE and SW edges of the scheduled area are themselves excluded, but the grassy banks which form their base and in which several large stones are embedded are included.
References
Bibliography
No Bibliography entries for this designation
About Scheduled Monuments
Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating sites and places at the national level. These designations are Scheduled monuments, Listed buildings, Inventory of gardens and designed landscapes and Inventory of historic battlefields.
We make recommendations to the Scottish Government about historic marine protected areas, and the Scottish Ministers decide whether to designate.
Scheduling is the process that identifies, designates and provides statutory protection for monuments and archaeological sites of national importance as set out in the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.
We schedule sites and monuments that are found to be of national importance using the selection guidance published in Designation Policy and Selection Guidance (2019)
Scheduled monument records provide an indication of the national importance of the
scheduled monument which has been identified by the description and map. The description and map (see ‘legal documents’ above) showing the scheduled area is the designation of the monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. The statement of national importance and additional information provided are supplementary and provided for general information purposes only. Historic Environment Scotland accepts no liability for any loss or damages arising from reliance on any inaccuracies within the statement of national importance or additional information. These records are not definitive historical or archaeological accounts or a complete description of the monument(s).
The format of scheduled monument records has changed over time. Earlier records will usually be brief. Some information will not have been recorded and the map will not be to current standards. Even if what is described and what is mapped has changed, the monument is still scheduled.
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