Undated standing stones, burial mounds, pottery and prehistoric worked flint.


The name Cloughen corra ('odd stones') is recorded on an early 18th century deed. The name was applied to a group of stones whose number has gradually diminished to the single survivor standing today. The grid reference relates to the surviving stone.


Lewis' 'Topographical Dictionary of England' (1831) states that there are five stones present. This is confirmed by reminiscence recorded in the 19th century, though perhaps by the end of the same decade it seems that the number had reduced to four, according to the Archaeological Commissioners' report of 1878 when referring to a time 40 years earlier. Oswald's 'Vestigia' of 1860 likewise records four stones (in an arc), but the Ordnance Survey 1:2500 First Edition mapping of 1868 only records two.


JR Bruce of the Manx Museum (of whose manuscript notes the above narrative is a summary) notes a photograph in his possession in 1970, taken in 1907, showing two stones present, and that W Cubbon (director of the Manx Museum 1932-40) told him one of the stones was 'destroyed' c.1919. Bruce himself recalls only ever seeing one stone from 1921 onwards.


The two stones recorded by the OS stood at SC2215171641 and SC2215971634, only the latter of which is still present. The visible portion of the surviving stone is just over 2m high, 0.8m broad and 0.7m thick.


Oswald also records 'A few paces eastward from this there are two low tumuli', in commenting on which in 1930 PMC Kermode (director of the Manx Museum 1922-32), states that one 'could still be traced a few years ago'. Kermode goes on to state that 'probably it was from one of these that the Urn came which is said to have been found at the Standing Stones in 1878.' Kermode appears to be referring to the Archaeological Commissioners' report, but Bruce's manuscript narrative describes sherds of an urn as being ploughed up 'within 100yds SE' of the standing stones. The urn has not been identified within the Manx National Heritage collections, and may not survive.


Together, these observations appear to place up to two possible burial mounds and a possible inhumation, cremation, or earth-fast pot a short distance (and certainly within what was then the same field, OS Field no. 0285) east of the standing stones.


Kermode (1930) also records that worked flints have been recovered: this would appear to relate to finds made by F Swinnerton. Additional flints have been found since.


Modern reconfiguration of the surrounding field boundaries and a trackway has significantly changed the landscape context of this site from that in which most of the antiquarian observations were made, whilst also diminishing the extent to which the remains survive as upstanding features, which together makes their interpretation difficult. The arrangement of the standing stones led Bruce to state that there was 'little doubt' that they represented the remains of the forecourt of a chambered Neolithic tomb, whilst other antiquarian observations are united in assuming that earthworks and the discovery of pottery imply the existence of - probably Bronze Age - burial activity. The recovery of worked flints undoubtedly confirms prehistoric activity in the immediate area, perhaps from as early as the later Mesolithic.