The Kempock Stone
Introduction
The photograph on this page of The Kempock Stone by Raibeart MacAoidh as part of the Geograph project.
The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.
There are currently over 7.5m images from over 14,400 individuals and you can help contribute to the project by visiting https://www.geograph.org.uk
The Kempock Stone
Image: © Raibeart MacAoidh Taken: 16 Jan 2017
The Kempock Stone or Lang Stane, known locally as “Granny Kempock” is all that remains of a Druid altar to Baal in Druidical times, and today it is surrounded by superstition and tenements. Gourock was a port before Greenock was and sailors and fishermen attributed great powers to Granny Kempock. If you took some earth from around her and used it as ballast, your ship was safe from evil. Another story is that sailors would march round Granny Kempock seven times, carrying baskets of sand and chanting an incantation for a fair wind and safe voyage. At a witch trial held in Gourock in 1662 a teen-age girl named Mary Lamont confessed before the local minister that she was a witch and that her coven (twelve witches and the Devil) had planned to throw Granny Kempock into the sea and so destroy the good she did to sailors. Mary Lamont, aged 18 was burned at the stake at Inverkip. She involved several other women, and they too were tortured and burned at the stake.
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Image Location
Latitude
55.961343
Longitude
-4.819952