Islay barley

Not much barley is grown on Islay. It's too windy. What little is grown there is used there. A couple of the distilleries offer whisky made from "home-grown" barley.

Carragh Bhan

I had done some research on the RCAHMS Canmore site before we left, to find standing stones and other similar points of interest on Islay. I took down the directions to this one near Kintra Farm. We didn't see it until the return trip. We had to walk into a muddy cow pasture to get up to it. It is about my height, generally square in shape, and only about two feet thick. And leaning.



This stone, called Carragh Bhan, is identified in local tradition as the grave of Godred Crovan, King of Man and the Isles, who died in 1095.







When we got back to the car, the cows across the road had come over to see what was happening.