Clach na h-Annait (Stone of the Mother Church) standing stone, Kilbride, Skye, Scotland, UK, looking NNE towards Beinn Dearg Bheag.


Clach na h-Annait (Stone of the Mother Church) standing stone, Kilbride, Skye, Scotland, UK, looking NNE towards Beinn Dearg Bheag. A prehistoric monolith used as a focus for an Early Christian community. Tobar na h-Annait (Well of the Mother Church) is a spring rising in marshy ground some 45m S of the stone (in front of the ash tree centre R in this photo). The well is capped by a rough 'millstone'. The stone & well were connected with a chapel dedicated to St Bridget (hence the placename Kilbride) which stood between the stone & well. (some 23m SE of the stone). At some point a bell & water stoup were found either under the stone when it fell over or at/near the chapel site. Some descriptions say there was a holed stone at the base of the monolith associated with the performance of penances (is this the stone which now covers the well?). Other stories suggest that a pirate was buried at the foot of the stone. An immortal fish/ancient trout is said to have lived in the well. Some of the surrounding land has been improved since this photo was taken in June 1985.


Size: 2641px × 3780px
Location: Clach na h-Annait, Kilbride, Strath Suardal, Broadford, Isle of Skye, Highland, Scotland, UK
Photo credit: © Mick Sharp / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: -annait, age, ancient, archaeological, archaeology, ash, beinn, bheag, bridget, bridgets, britain, british, bronze, chapel, christian, christianise, church, clach, cloud, deard, early, flag, grazing, great, ground, highland, hill, hills, holy, inverness-shire, iris, isle, isles, kilbride, kingdom, landscape, lochalsh, marsh, marshy, megalith, menhir, mist, misty, monolith, monument, mother, na, pasture, prehistoric, prehistory, rain, rough, scotland, skye, slopes, st, standing, stone, strath, suardal, tobar, trees, uk, united, wet, wetland, yellow, yellow-flowered