Fertility stone remains in place after women protest

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Fertility stone remains in place after women protest
By David Lister, Scotland Correspondent



A PLAN to move an ancient phallic stone said to contain the spirit of a Celtic god has been abandoned by councillors after locals threatened to stage a sit-in around the monument. Councillors confirmed last night that they had shelved a proposal to shift the Stone of Mannan just five yards from its site in the Scottish town of Clackmannan after furious opposition from local women.

Harry McLaren, a local councillor who proposed moving the stone while repairs were made to an adjacent 16th century Tolbooth, said last night that he had been astonished by the level of opposition to the plans and had shelved them indefinitely. “I’m afraid it kindled up a vast reaction, more than we’ve seen for anything for ages, and just about everyone was against this,” he said. “We’ve now said that we won’t consider moving the stone unless there is very good reason for it.”

The Stone of Mannan, a whinstone boulder three foot long by two foot high, occupies pride of place in the town’s main street, where it has perched on top of a monolithic plinth since 1833. Although locals dispute how long it was at its previous location, near an old road by the River Forth, legend has it that the stone has played a role in the community since pagan times, when it was worshipped for supposedly containing the spirit of Mannan, a Celtic god of the sea and fertility. Even today locals joke that the stone continues to confer virility on local men and fertility on the town’s women.

According to another myth, the stone is also said to conceal the gauntlet of Robert the Bruce after the Scots patriot apparently lost a glove while hunting in the area.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,170-1797950,00.html