Stravanan Bay Stone Row, Bute

Stravanan Bay Stone Row

Three stones are arranged in a row in a field at Largizean Farm, south of Stravanan Bay, in the southwestern corner of Bute. The stones are set up on a NW-SE axis and stand 3.5m (10 feet) apart. The row in total is 7.3m long (approximately 24 feet).

Facts and Figures

These irregular whinstone boulders are arranged in height order from the southeast (smallest) to the northwest (tallest). The southeast stone measures 1.9m high x 1.6m wide and is 1.2m thick (6.25 x 5.25 x 3.95 feet).

The middle stone is 1.7m x 1m x 1m (5.6 x 3.3 x 3.3 feet), while the northwestern stone is 1.5m x 1.3m x 0.8m (4.9 x 4.27 x 2.6 feet).

The stone row is at the edge of a field, roughly 500m northwest of the farmhouse. There are limited views of the bay, and on a good day you can see the peak of Goatfell on Arran in the distance.

Looking north along the row

There is a recumbent fourth stone between the middle stone and the northwest stone, but this appears to be a recent addition, not part of the original row.

The Stravanan Bay Stone Row is classified as a Type 52 row, meaning that it is made up of fewer than 10 large stones. This is the most common type of stone row in Britain, with 39 known examples, many found in Argyll and the Western Isles of Scotland.

Getting There

The stone row is immediately beside a farm track. You can pick up the track at Largizean Farm, on Plan Road, south of Kingarth. The track follows a field boundary north then turns west at the next boundary. You will see the stone row ahead to the right of the path. Please be respectful of farm crops in season!

The West Island Way long-distance footpath passes to the north of the stone row, at the next field boundary, and the Bute Golf Club lies beyond the footpath.

Ordnance Survey Explorer map 662 covers Bute and is the best resource for finding the site.