Hogback stones
Introduction
The photograph on this page of Hogback stones by Richard Sutcliffe 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
Hogback stones
Image: © Richard Sutcliffe Taken: 1 Sep 2024
Some of the Govan Stones. There are five of these 'hogback' stones at Govan. They date from the 10th and 11th centuries AD. They are called 'hogbacks' because of their curved backs, which are thought to represent the back of a pig. In fact they probably represent copies of the houses (some show distinctive wooden roof tiles) of Viking rulers of the time, who had them made. Similar stones are found in northern England and southern Scotland - areas where Vikings settled.
Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0
Image Location
Latitude
55.864682
Longitude
-4.313132