The Carlin or Hag's Stone
On top of the Common Crags overlooking Dunlop and the Glazert is a large procumbent boulder known as the ‘Carlin’s Stone or Stane’. This stone is not as well known as the Thorgatstane. A Carl is a commoner, a husband or in a derogatory sense, a churl or person of low birth. Carlin is the Scots equivalent of Gaelic “Cailleach”, meaning a witch or the 'old Hag', goddess of Winter. This would therefore be the Witch’s Stone, one of several in Scotland with this name.
Near 'Kirkhill' outside Stewarton are several Kilbrides. Bride, Brigit or St. Brigid was originally a Celtic Goddess linked with the festival of Imbolc, the eve of the first of February. She was the goddess of Spring and was associated with healing and sacred wells, therefore the antithesis of the Carlin. Carlin's Tooth is the name of a rock outcrop in the Scottish borders between Knocks Knowe and Carter Fell (Logan Mack 1926). Several Carling Farms are to be found near Darvel in Ayrshire.
Read more about this topic: Stones Of Scotland
Famous quotes containing the words hag and/or stone:
“Old Molly Means was a hag and a witch;
Chile of the devil, the dark, and sitch.”
—Margaret Abigail Walker (b. 1915)
“Here, the churches seemed to shrink away into eroding corners. They seem to have ceased to be essential parts of American life. They no longer give life. It is the huge buildings of commerce and trade which now align the people to attention. These in their massive manner of steel and stone say, Come unto me all ye who labour, and we will give you work.”
—Sean O’Casey (1884–1964)