Mounting Block - Examples and Sites of Mounting Blocks

Examples and Sites of Mounting Blocks

• In Aberlady, East Lothian there was a Loupin' on stane with six steps. It figures in a 1935 photograph in the Valentine collection held by the St. Andrew's Photographic Archive.
• The kirk of Saint Dodins (NT 2832 7261) at Duddingston in Edinburgh still has its Loupin-an-stane.
• East Kilbride in Lanarkshire has an ancient Coaching Inn which is still in use today. Outside the inn is the "Loupin' on Stane", used by coast passenger and horse riders to assist in mounting and dismounting.
• At the front of Rowallan Castle in Ayrshire stood a perfect example of an old loupin-on-stane.
• In front of Jedburgh's Bank of Scotland branch, in the grounds, is the "Loupin' - on - stane". At one time, this was the house of one of Sir Walter Scott’s friends, Sheriff Shortreed.

• Outside the Old Person's Cabin in the main street of Kilmaurs in East Ayrshire is a large sandstone block which was a horse-block or Loupin'-on-stane. This large sandstone block also has a concavity in its upper surface which is reminiscent of the 'plague stones' which would be filled with vinegar into which money could be placed either as gifts to the church or as gifts to the sick. It has possibly been reused, however no local traditions survive concerning it. An example of a plague stone used by lepers survives at Greystoke village church in Cumbria.
• Outside the Cellars Inn at the seaside village of Maidens in South Ayrshire were a set of Loupin stanes which are said to have been used by Robbie Burns.
• Oxnam in the Scottish Borders has a loupin stane outside the kirk.
• On the shores of Loch Lomond, this old priory is the scene of a curse, for after the Battle of Culloden in 1746, where Bonnie Prince Charlie had his Jacobite uprising quashed, the Marquess of Tullibardine fled for his life. He came to Ross Priory and asked James Buchanan, 5th of Ross, for a safe house. James however secretly sent word to Dumbarton Castle and King George’s soldiers duly arrived and took him away as a prisoner. The Marquess called to Buchanan with a curse There will be Murrays on the Braes of Atholl land when there’s ne’er a Buchanan at the Ross. In fulfilment of that curse, all three sons of that marriage died before their father- the last of them breaking his neck at the “loupin’ stane” at the front door.

• The old village of Rossie in what is now Perth and Kinross, was demolished by the 7th Earl of Kinnaird about 1795 when constructing a park for Rossie Priory. All that remains are the parish church, a fine market cross which stood in the centre of the village and a stone called the 'Loupin-on Stane' at Map reference: NO 2921 3072. The Loupin-on stane formerly stood by the village inn door.

• At Mertoun Kirk, beside the driveway up to the church, is a red sandstone loupin an stane with a set of steps up the back allowing the rider to come forward some 4 feet above ground level. Unusually it has a side wall, acting as a 'hand rail', to help the person mounting.
• A Welsh example of a mounting block at Tanylan near Ferryside in Carmarthenshire has a set of steps leading up to a platform with the gable end of the house on the persons right-hand side. It stands on two short wall supports and the space below was used as a dog kennel.
• An English example of a mounting block stands outside a former public house on Welsh Row in Nantwich, Cheshire. It has four steps cut from a single stone block and probably dates from the 17th or 18th centuries.
• The Treaty Stone in Limerick, Ireland originally served as a mounting block for horses.
• In Minnigaff, Dumfries & Galloway, a louping-on is illustrated by MacGibbon & Ross as standing next to a market cross which bore a sun-dial.
• At Walton-on-the-Hill in Lancashire the old church font was set up as a mounting stone outside the nearby public house.
• At Chollerton in Northumberland a fine example stands by the churchyard gate.
• At Nevern church in Wales the church of Saint Brynach has a wall based mounting wall.