Rocking Stone - Stones That Move

Stones That Move

Rocking stones are immense rocks, so situated that the least touch can make them rock in one certain direction, but which cannot be made to move in any other by all the force that can be applied to them by unaided humans. Such stones are common in Britain and other places around the world; in Galicia, they are called pedras de abalar.

Pliny the Elder (23-79) wrote about a rock near Harpasa (in Caria, Asia Minor) that could be moved with a finger but could not be dislodged with a thrust of the whole body. Ptolemy (ca. 90 – ca. 168) wrote about the Gygonian rock, which he claimed could be moved by pushing on it with the stalk of an asphodel, but could not be removed by any force.

There are stones in Iona called na clachan-bràth, within the precincts of a burial ground, and placed on the pedestal of a cross, and have been according to Pennant, the supports of a tomb.

There is a massive 90 - 95 ton glacial erratic boulder near Halifax, Nova Scotia which can still be rocked with a lever but which used to move quite easily, before a band of sailors from the nearby Halifax garrison rocked it into a more stable configuration in the 1890s, and before its base was worn down by excessive rocking in the 1980s and 90s when a park was developed around it at Kidston Lake, in the Spryfield area of the municipality. It used to be a popular picnic destination: in Victorian times: people would travel from Halifax, climb upon it and spread their lunches, while enjoying the sensation of rocking gently while seated upon the huge rock.

The Pontypridd Rocking Stone in Wales is set within the middle of a Druidic stone circle.

Bosistow Logan Rock is at the head of Pendower Cove (sometimes written as Pendour Cove) near Zennor, Cornwall. It apparently was discovered by an employee of the lord of the local manor whose duty it was to watch the coast. A ship had been wrecked in the cove, and while watching ensuing activity, the employee leaned against a boulder. Suddenly there was a gust of wind, and the boulder shifted, or "logged". The longest side of this mass of stone is about 15 feet (4.6 m), and the circumference of its biggest end is about 20 feet (6.1 m). It is thought to be about 20 tons.

A rocking stone is recorded near the site of Saint Bride's Chapel. This stone stands on top of the Craigs of Kyle near Coylton in Ayrshire. It weighs around 30 tons and rests upon two stones. A large standing stone known as Wallace's stone stands nearby.

There is a rocking stone near Loch Riecawr in South Ayrshire.

In the parish of North Carrick in the Straiton District in South Ayrshire, about a quarter of a mile to the west of the White Laise, and near the March Dyke, there is a rocking stone named the Logan Stone. The Logan Stone is a gray granite rock and rests on graywacke, and can easily be moved with one hand. It is 4 feet 3 inches (1.30 m) by 4 feet (1.2 m), by 3 feet (0.91 m) high.

Near Lugar in the Parish of Auchinleck in Ayrshire, Scotland is a rocking stone in a hollow by the Bella Water near its junction with the Glenmore Water. It is made of two vertical stones, and a horizontal stone about six feet long, three feet broad and four feet high. It was regarded as a Druidical monument or the grave of a Caledonian hero.

A rocking stone existed in 1913 - 1919 at Sannox on Arran. It sat on a nearly horizontal platform next to the seashore.

The Kyaiktiyo Pagoda in Burma is a religious shrine built on top of a huge granite boulder that is also a rocking stone.

There are even some masses that have been shaped by humans that exhibit similar behavior (sometimes unintentionally). For example, in the ruins of the Roman temples at Jerash in Jordan (the "city of 1000 pillars"), there are some massive pillars that move back and forth in the slightest breeze.