The Berneray King-Stone

There are several inauguration stones in Scotland. The most famous is the Stone of Scone; stolen by Edward I in 1296, and placed under the Coronation Chair in Westminster Abbey until it was returned to Scotland in 1996. Although there are many who believe the stone Edward took was a fake, and that the true stone is still hidden in the Hebrides.

The early rulers of Argyll and the Islands had their own inauguration stones, with a footprint carved in them where the King-To-Be would place his foot. Dunadd is the best known of these, and if you make the easy climb to the top of the hill you will find a footprint. But if you put your foot in it you will not be following in the footstep's of kings; for the true stone-footprint lies under the concrete replica that caps the hill, lifted in place by a helicopter.

I've only heard of two inauguration stones in the Hebrides, both of them associated with the Lords of the Isles. The best known was on an island in Loch Finlaggan (Islay); but you can not put your foot on it these days, as at some point in time it was destroyed. The other Lord of the Isles' stone is on Berneray (Sound of Harris). The Berneray stone is near Cladh Maolruibhe (the burial ground of St Mealrubha), which lies atop a hill called Beinn a' Chlaidh (see this RCAHMS link for more). The site is easy to find as it has an eight-foot-tall standing stone.

Berneray Standing Stone - Pabbay in the distance

The Berneray Stone

One-hundred meters southwest of Cladh Maolruibhe is a jumble of stones that may have once been a large cairn. In amongst them lies a large slab with what I thought at the time had the form of a footprint chiseled out on top. It was not much of a footprint, appearing to have flaked away over the centuries. My boot fit, sort of, and so I celebrated my inauguration with a can of beer. 

Update April 27, 2021: I learned in 2021, many years after the visit described above, that the actual footprint stone lies  at NF 9116 8059, some 90 meters east of the stone I found - see this link. So I can no longer clam to be Lord of the Isles.

The Footprint Stone - or so I thought

A close fit - only off by 90 metres