History
A prehistoric landscape
The Laggangairn Standing Stones were likely erected about 2000 BC.
Tradition has it that the two 2m-tall stones were originally part of a circle of up to 14 stones. Seven still remained in 1873. The others were removed over the centuries, some for use as lintels in neighbouring cottages.
Place of pilgrimage
A large Christian cross surrounded by four crosslets is carved into each of the stones. The style of the crosses suggests they were added during the AD 600s and 800s.
The stones stand on a medieval pilgrimage route, running south across Galloway to Whithorn. It is likely that these crosses were carved by medieval pilgrims travelling along this route to the shrine of St Ninian at Whithorn.
The name of the nearby farm of Kilgallioch, translated as ‘church of the standing stones’, suggests there may have been an early church site just to the north. A writer in 1907 also mentions three beehive holy wells near this spot.
This lonely windswept spot seems to have been a sacred place for thousands of years.
