The Stone Pillar Box stands at the junction of the String
and Machrie Moor. At one time mail from the settlements along the
west coast north from Machrie were deposited in a white wooden
postbox at this spot to be picked up by the horse drawn mail brake
between Shiskine and Brodick. Unfortunately in the 1870s a horse
shied at the spot, supposedly startled by the white wooden postbox,
and threw its rider. Hearing of the event one of the guests at the
Earl of Arran's Dougarie Hunting Lodge paid for David Wilson, the
Shiskine stonemason, to build a more permanent replacement, less
startling to equine travelers.
Supposedly Wilson produced this most decorative of postboxes
because he felt that he had been paid too much for a simpler stone
box. The actual carvings which decorate the Permian sandstone
blocks on three sides of the letterbox are copies of mason's marks
that Wilson would have seen during his work, although very much
larger and more prominent than the originals. Unfortunately the
Stone Pillar Box was toppled by a motor accident, but the pieces
were saved and this most unusual of letter boxes was open for
business again in November 1993 on reinforced foundations.
If you look closely at the mason's marks you will see
that several of them resemble either Roman numerals or the four
suits of cards (though perhaps rotated slightly). Now if:
A = the Roman Numeral on the southwest face
B = the Roman Numeral on the northwest face
C = the number of Clubs
D = the number of Spades
E = the number of Hearts
F = the number of Diamonds
G = A - (C + D)
H = G - F
You must first walk [(HxB)+(G+F)] single paces at a
bearing of [(GxAx(C+F))+C]º magnetic.
Then you must secondly walk [GxH] single paces at a
bearing of [(GxAxH)+G]º magnetic.
