The Granny Stane

The squat black rock, which sits in the river Irvine below the modern Rivergate shopping centre, is once thought to have belonged to a stone circle. A stone circle once existed in the area but it was removed in 1895 during the construction of a weir.

There has been some speculation as to the origins of the name of the stone, there is a similar granny stone in Gourock, the name may relate to Apollo Grannicus a Romano-British sun God, Grainaig, a Celtic god of the sea or Granos, the god of thermal springs, which is the most unlikely as there is no evidence of thermal springs in the area. Unfortunately the origins of the name and perhaps other insight that could be gained from folklore have been lost.