Clach Cuid Fir?

“Clach Cuid Fir” is Gaelic and stands for “Manhood Stones”.

Clach Cuid Fir is used to a variety of strength testing stones throughout the world.   

In Scotland for example, the country with the most historical tradition in stone lifting, the Clach Cuid Fir signified a right of passage for young males. A male would be welcomed into manhood and into the local clan when he was able to lift the clan's testing stone to waist height.

In other stories of traditional, historical Scottish Stone lifting, smaller testing stones were placed near the church (kirk) and young men practice lifting them after attending the worship.

The clach cuid fir is also often used as a means of demonstrating strength and stone lifting is also a common event in Highland Games and Strongmen competitions.

Scottland's famous manhood stones

Inver Stone

Photo: courtesy of Alan Wyne.

The Inver Stone - is located at the Inver Hotel in Crathie.

Crathie (Scottish Gaelic: Craichidh) is a village in Aberdeenshire.

Photo courtesy of Matt Jackson (Rage)

The Inver weights 265 lb (120 Kg).

Dinnies Stones

Photo: courtesy of Alan Wyne.

The bigger stone weights 413 lb (187 Kg) and the smaller stone 321 lb (146 Kg).

The Dinnies Stones - located at the Potarch hotel in Potarch.

Photo: courtesy of Alan Wyne.

Here you'll find a list of all successfull lifts of the Dinnies on Gordon Dinnies wonderful website.

To prepare lifting the Dinnies I highly recommend you using David Horne's replica rings.

Here you find an article from David how he trained to lift the Dinnies.

Dalwhinnie Stone

Photo courtesy of Matt Jackson (Rage)

    
Dalwhinnie lies to the north up the A9, at the northen end of Loch Ericht.

The Dalwhinnie Stone is located outside of the Loch Ericht / Dalwhinnie Inn hotel in Dalwhinnie.

He looks like a flattened egg, oval in shape, of grey granite and slightly smaller than the Inver Stone.

Photo courtesy of Matt Jackson (Rage)

The stone has a weight of approximately 105 - 110 Kg.

Testing Stone of the Fianna

This is one of the most historical stones in Scotland and well worth a visit while you can.

This stone has been moved from its original and "sacred" location in Glen Lyon to the farmhouse yard a few miles down the road.

This farmyard has been developed into private housing now, so what will become of the stone I do not know.

The farm is called Slatich.

The weight of the stone is ~ 300 lb (136 Kg) and his shape is like a "rounded pyramid" which makes a lift very challenging!

  

Ladykirk Stone

The Ladykirk Stone is located in Ayr and his weight is approximately 280 lb (127 Kg).

The Ladykirk stone was a stone falled from the top of a gatepost ... it has now been replaced.

Menzies Castle Stone

Photo courtesy of Matt Jackson (Rage)

This stone is outside of Menzies castle at the front corner of the castle on a section of tree trunk in Aberfeldy.

The Menzies castle stone lies in the grounds of Castle Menzies in Aberfeldy.

If you find Perth, in Scotland on a map, then follow the A9 north out of Perth, till Ballinluig (23 miles from Perth)
then turn left onto A827 to Aberfeldy (9 miles) turn right towards Weem then follow B846 out of Weem towards Camserney - it's got a sign by the side of road for the Castle.

Easy to find and maybe 1 and 3/4 hours from Inver stone --> (On a map it's just below and left of Pitlochry)

Photo courtesy of Matt Jackson (Rage)

The weight of the stone is approximately 252lb (115 Kg).

The name is pronounced "Mingis".

Ardvorloch Stone

Mentioned and pictured by Peter Martin in a MILO article.
Few miles from Balquidder is Arvorlich Estate, a very large stone is pictured in front of Ardvorlich house.
I have not heard of anyone lifting this stone.

Dalness Stone

Dalness in Glen Etive, near the old house.
I am not aware of any other lifter than Peter Martin lifting this stone (pictured in MILO sept 2001/vol 9).

The Blue Stones of Old Dailly

These stones are bolted into the wall of the old church.

They are not to lift anymore but you can lift some smaller stones onto the top of church wall.

Iceland's famous manhood stones

Husafell Stone

The Husafell stone - located in Husafell, Iceland (what a surprise, right?! :) )

It's named after an area/town in Iceland called Husafell.

This very well known testing stone in Iceland and has a proud weight of approximately 418lb (190 Kg).

Husafell Stone, named Kviahellan (pen slab) by an ancient pastor who used the stone as a door to his sheep pen.

The test is to lift the stone up and carry it the 50 meters around the perimeter of the pen.

Replica's of this stone are often used in Strongmen competitions.

Djupalonssandur / Dritvik stones

This is a set of four stones and can be found in the town of Djúpalónssandur at the foot of Snæfellsjökull.

This Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons image is from the user Chris 73 and is freely available at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Djupalonsandur_stones_in_Iceland.JPG under the creative commons cc-by-sa 2.5 license.

The mountain Snæfellsjökull is one of the most famous sites of Iceland, primarily due to the novel "A Journey to the Center of the Earth" (1864) by Jules Verne, in which the protagonists find the entrance to a passage leading to the center of the earth on Snæfellsjökull.

  
The 'legend' says that those four stones were used by the ship's crews to check the strenght of the applicants sailors.

The heavier of a stone that could be lifted the higher the pay of the fisherman. 

The smallest rock is called "Amlodi" (= ineffectual) and weights 23 kg;

 
The second one is "Halfdraettingur" (= gracile) and weights 54 kg;

  
The third one is "Halfsterkur" (= medium strenght) and weights 100 kg;

  
The biggest one is called "Fullsterkur" (= full strenght) and weights 154 kg.

In the past, if you weren't able to lift at least Halfdraettingur, you weren't allowed to join the ship's crew, because you would have been too delicate for the ocean life...

Switzerland's famous manhood stone

Unspunnenstein  

The Unspunnen Stone (German: Unspunnenstein) is a 83,5 kg stone and has been a symbol of the Unspunnenfest since 1805.

The stone is regularly thrown in stone put (Steinstossen) competitions.

It has also been stolen twice, once in 1984 by an underground group from the francophone canton of Jura, and again in 2005.

Owner of the Unspunnenstein is the TV Interlaken.

Germany's famous manhood stones

The Map

"The Map" is located in East Germany; Malchow (Mecklenburg - Vorpommern).

The measurements are 80 cm in lengths x 60 cm width x 12 cm depth.

Her weight is 153 Kg.

Showtime for "The Map" is 2010 on German Strongmen competitions.