Standing stones, alone or in circles or rows, are found all over the world. What were they for? Some are elaborate monuments others may just be waymarks. Many have accumulated legendary associations and are said to be such things as witches or maidens turned to stone. The stone to which this cache will take you is known as the Lot or Loth Stane, supposedly marking the grave of King Loth – who gave his name to Lothian.
One version of Loth's story is quoted in the cache page for Jack's nearby cache The Vertical Ladder (GCN55C). This says that Loth was a Pictish king around 518. He had a daughter called Thenew who fell in love with a local shepherd and became pregnant. This didn't please Loth and he condemned his daughter to death by having her thrown from the top of Traprain Law. She survived though and still unconscious was carried to a coracle and set afloat on the Firth of Forth. The tide carried her to Culross, where the still unconscious princess was taken ashore by shepherds.
Sometime after, she bore a son called Kentigern, who trained as a holy man and was later called Mungo. When he grew up he travelled west and set up a monastery in a small village called Cathures - this grew into the great city of Glasgow, of which Mungo is the patron saint. Thenew is now revered as St Enoch.
The shepherd who fell in love with Thenew took revenge on Loth and killed him with an arrow through his heart; legend has it he was buried at the foot of Traprain Law.
Sir James Simpson (who invented anesthesia) excavated around the Loth Stane trying to find the grave and is reputed to have found an empty cist. There is no record of this find, however, and excavations around the original site when the stone was moved produced nothing.
Another version of Lot's story is that he was a King in league with the great King Arthur. He was father of Gawain and his brothers and, according to Geoffrey of Monmouth, the husband of Arthur’s sister Anna. Geoffrey presents him as a supporter of Arthur, and already King of Lothian, whom Arthur placed on the throne of Norway. Other versions have Lot as the father of Mordred, Arthur's nemesis. You pays your money and you takes your choice......!
Getting There
There is a footpath running north to south at the west side of Traprain Law between the minor roads which flank the hill. You can start at either end, although the approach from the south (near a farm called "Standingstone") is shorter. There is no parking area and you will have to pull on to the verge, taking care not to block field entrances. Follow the footpath uphill between hedges. Where the hedges break, another path crosses running west-east. Go west to find the stone and the cache.