The Stone of Mannan: The Stone That Named Clackmannan
At a glance
| Also called | Clach Mhanainn, the Clackmannan Stone |
| What | An ancient stone set on top of a tall monolith beside the old tolbooth |
| Size | The stone itself about 91 × 61 cm |
| Where | West end of Main Street, Clackmannan, by the tolbooth and mercat cross |
| Set up | Lifted onto its pillar in 1833 |
| Entry | Free, in the street |
Why it matters
Few stones have given their name to a whole county. The Stone of Mannan stands at the top of the main street of Clackmannan, perched on a tall pillar beside the old tolbooth tower and the mercat cross, and the town’s name is generally explained as Clach Mhanainn, the Stone of Manau. Clackmannanshire, Scotland’s smallest county, takes its name from the town, so in a sense the whole shire is named after this lump of rock.
Who was Mannan?
The name points back to the Manau, the early people and territory of the upper Forth, remembered in the old Welsh name Manaw Gododdin for the land around the head of the estuary. A later tradition makes Mannan or Manannan a Celtic sea god who was said to live in the stone, and claims it was a focus of worship. There is no evidence for the worship, but the stone is generally thought to be prehistoric, perhaps from the third or second millennium BC.
The legend of the glove
The favourite local story involves Robert the Bruce, whose family held Clackmannan Tower above the town. Resting at the stone on a journey, he left his glove (in Scots, a mannan) on it. Half a mile further on he noticed and sent a servant back, telling him to “look aboot ye” at the clack, the stone. The servant found the glove, and the stone, the town and the steep street called Lookaboutye Brae all got their names. It is a lovely tale, but the place name Clackmannan is on record well before Bruce was born, so it is a later invention.
On its pillar since 1833
The stone has moved more than once. It is said to have stood at first near the river on Lookaboutye Brae, and by the early 19th century it lay on the ground beside the old jail and court-house by the town cross. In 1833 it was raised on the tall rough monolith you see today, brought from the Abbey Craig near Stirling, the hill now crowned by the Wallace Monument. The stone itself is about 91 by 61 centimetres.
Visiting
The stone is at the west end of Main Street in Clackmannan, beside the tolbooth tower and the mercat cross, and is free to see at any time. Walk up the hill behind it to Clackmannan Tower for big views over the Forth.
Around Clackmannan
Clackmannan is two miles from Alloa, once the brewing and glass-making town of the Forth, and the line of the Ochil Hills runs behind both, with the hillfoot towns of Alva and Dollar at the mouths of their glens. Over the Ochils by Glendevon is Loch Leven and its island castle. Upriver, the Abbey Craig that supplied the stone’s pillar is where Wallace’s army waited before the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297, and across the river is the Bore Stone at Bannockburn. For cyclists, our Alloa to Dunfermline circuit passes through. The nearest whisky is across the Forth at Falkirk Distillery. For more stones with a story, see our guide to the famous stones of Scotland.
Sources
- Canmore — Clackmannan, Stone of Mannan.
- Historic Environment Scotland — listed building record, Clackmannan Stone, Main Street.
- The Northern Antiquarian — Stone of Mannan, Clackmannan (history, 1833 move and folklore).