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I am thinking the article might be improved by a paragraph (or two?) about the map that the link refers to. Who drew it? Why? Laurel Bush 15:18, 8 Apr 2005 (UTC).
Strange questions. Firstly the map was engraved not drawn. Who? There was a team. Imagine the field surveyors - in top hats laboriously climbing every hill in Scotland with their theodolites over their shoulders in all sorts of weather (probably not in winter though). Then there were the engravers at base - the English maps were done in the Tower of London; this one may have been done in Edinburgh Castle. There were at least two people worked on each plate - one did the geographical features and the real expert did the lettering. Try writing Stone Lud in mirror image and just 10 mm wide. Now try doing the same, cutting it into a copper plate. If you can lay your hands on a paper copy of the map, you will probably find their names at the bottom right hand corner.
Why? Threat of Napoleonic invasion is among the reasons cited. But really it was just Progress that demands ever better versions of everything. Thanks to rifling, the Artillery found that they could land shells with greater accuracy so they were demanding more accurate maps.
The article does not need a paragraph about the map. I have added the few words that are needed to describe it. -- RHaworth 23:53, 2005 Apr 26 (UTC)
Thank you. I now know its an OS map, and not the result of an archaeological survey. Laurel Bush 09:24, 27 Apr 2005 (UTC)
The summer-solstice sunset alignment has correspondence with that of Maeshowe, a chambered cairn in Orkney, which is built so that sunlight will penetrate the cairn at the time of the same sunset.
Maeshowe is aligned with the winter solstice sunset not the summer. I don't know about the stone of Lud alignment.
I believe you may be right about Maeshowe. As a sunset bearing, the Lud bearing is definitely summer, not winter. Dont know, however, whether any one has checked it as possibly a winter sunrise bearing. Laurel Bush11:10, 16 March 2006 (UTC).[reply]
The Stone Lud like most paired standing stones in Caithness is part of a larger Neolithic landscape, within the surrounding area there are several possible burial cairns and possible stone rows which have yet to be fully studied. Until this has happened a full understanding of alignments with astronomical occurrences is not possible.
The Lud is not that unusual in terms of Caithness, there are many single and pairs of standing stones, but is included on many older maps of the area as a means of navigation.
The Lud stands on a ridge in an area of open moorland and would have been visible for several miles (if you discount the modern forestry plantation to the west and the 19th century boundary wall next to it still is), it has 18th and 19th century roads (linking both East/West and North South) nearby and this route would have been used for many centuries prior to this.
During the late medieval period the stone lay at the centre of the estate of Bowertower (Bower probably Norse for estate and tower with earlier forms of tour/tor probably referring to the Stone Lud) and from the 17th century it along with its pair was used as the boundary marker between the estates of Bowermadden (probably Maddens, as mentioned in the Orkneyinga Saga, Estate) and Tister (probably the Homestead of the ruins/ old houses)
