Map Reference: Balephetrish 9
Name Type: shore
Meaning: See Kory Finmackoul in Longships on the Sand.
Other Forms:
Related Places:
Information:The Gaelic Otherworld, ed Ronald Black, p 396-7:
...a 'rock gong' similar to Clach a' Choire, listed by John MacKenzie (1845, p8) as one of the seven wonders of Scotland - a huge granite erratic covered with 53 cupmarks, the deepest of which are at the most resonant parts of the stone...According to Fagg (1997 p86), Clach a' Choire was 'said to contain a crock of gold - but if it ever split Tiree will disappear beneath the waves.' If true (Mrs Fagg mistakenly attributes the staement to SHIS) the legend thus contains both a motive for destroying such stones and a warning against doing so...Compare Newton 1992 p145 where it is claimed that if Clach a' Choire 'ever shatters or falls off the pedestal of small stones on which it rests, Tiree will sink beneath the waves.'
Local Form:
Languages : Gaelic, EnglishInformants: Mairi MacKinnon, Parkhouse, 1/1994
I recorded Clach a Choire for the Kilmartin Sessions CD, available from Kilmartin House Museum. the Iona Rock Gong can be heard on the same CD. I have also recorded a number of other Scottish rock gongs.