This tale is one of the saddest stories on Mull.
At the foot of the 1,000ft cliffs of Gribun stands Clach na Leannan, the Stone of the Courting Couple. The stone is just 50 yards inland from a road where it passes the first farm coming from Salen direction, with a windbliwn elder tree at the gable. This stretch of road on the south side of Lich na Keal can be extremey terrifying, with the overhanging cliffs on one side and a drop into the sea below. There are many occurancs of rock avalanches after heavy rain or a passing sheep dislodging a stone.
In about the year 1700, in autumn, a young man named John, a local shepherd was betrothed to Rona, daughter of a local blacksmith. The couple had been fortunate in obtaining a small but cosy cot- house that stood on a piece of flat land at the foot of the cliffs of Gribun. Their new home was situated opposite where the wedding was taking place.
The wedding celebrations went on until dawn in the barn of an old farmhouse. A storm had been threatening all day and broke in the night, a great wind came roaring in from the sea accompanied by torrents of rain. As time went on the neawly-weds slipped out and hurried over to their little home. With the noise of the storm, pipes and celebrations, no-one heard the dreadful sound in the night when a great outcrop split, and a huge section rolled down, coming to rest on and completely flattened the cot-house with the young couple inside.
There they lie to this day with just a few flowers springing up against the rock in their memory.
This story is told on Mull – how people remembered the ends of some if the rafters were still to be seen sticking out from the bolder up to 2 centuries later.
