The Logan Rock (Cornish: Men Omborth, meaning balanced stone) near the village of Treen in Cornwall, United Kingdom, is an example of a logan or rocking stone. Although it weighs some 80 tons, it was dislodged in 1824 by a group of British seamen, intent on showing what the Navy could do. However following complaints from local residents for whom the rock had become a tourist attraction and source of income, the seamen were forced to restore it. Today the Logan Rock still rocks, but with much less ease than it did in the past. The South West Coast Path, which follows the coast of south-west England from Somerset to Dorset passes by on the cliffs to the north.
Geography The rock is a ninety-ton granite boulder perched on the edge of the cliffs overlooking the English Channel, on a headland one mile south of Treen. The rock is within Treryn Dinas, an Iron Age promontory fort, or cliff castle, with five lines of fortification. The rock is finely balanced due to the actions of weathering, and prior to its restoration in 1824 it could be rocked by applying only a little pressure. As well as the logan stone itself, the name Logan Rock is also applied to the surrounding tip of the headland. Cripp's Cove lies to the east beneath the rock. A number of stacks are located around the edge of Logan Rock including Great Goular, Horrace, and Seghy. The area is within the Treen Cliff Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), notified in 1951 for its marine heathland and rare plants. It is within the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), the Penwith Heritage Coast and is owned and managed by the National Trust.
The Runnel Stone Marine Conservation Zone was designated on 29 January 2016, covers 7¾ sq. mi. (20 km2) and is based on a 2¼ mile (3.5 km) arc measured from the National Coastwatch Institution lookout based at Gwennap Head. Included is much of the coast from Gwennap Head to Hall Dinas on the east side of Treryn Dinas. The MCZ protects habitats ranging from exposed rock on the coast to soft sediments on the sea floor and animals such as pink sea fan (Eunicella verrucosa) which can be found on the eastern side of the headland.
Name The original Cornish language name for the rock, recorded in 1870 as Men Amber, is Men Omborth, meaning balanced stone. The word "logan" (properly pronounced "logg-un") is probably derived from the word "log", which in an English dialect means "to rock". In fact, in some parts of the UK, rocking stones or logan stones are called logging stones. Bray, writing in 1832, notes the expression 'to log the child's cradle' in relation to logan stone as an example of ancient British dialect recorded on Dartmoor in Devon. Some have suggested that it comes from a Cornish expression for the movement that someone makes when drunk. Davies Gilbert writes:
It may be observed that I have always used the words Loging Rock for the celebrated stone at Trereen Dinas. Much learned research seems to have been idly expended on the supposed name, "Logan Rock." To log is a verb in general use throughout Cornwall for vibrating or rolling like a drunken man; and is frequently heard in provincial pronunciation for tug, characteristic of the modern present participle. The Loging Rock is, therefore, strictly descriptive of its peculiar motion. The Cornish word Leghen means "a thin flat stone", whilst its root word, Legh, can also mean "rickets", a disease caused by deficiency of vitamin D and Calcium which can lead to bone deformity. It should also be noted that the name for rocking stones could be a modified form of the Danish word "logre," which means 'to wag the tail,' and this suggests possible Norse origin. Danes in particular established a kingdom in Great Britain before 1000 AD, Norway maintained nominal control over the Hebrides in northern Scotland until the late Middle Ages, and Vikings frequently raided along the British coastal areas between 800 and 1000 AD Thus, a Norse origin for the word Logan, while speculative, cannot be ruled out.
Story of the rock
The Logan Rock is one of the best known rocking stones for several reasons. For example, Modred, in William Mason's dramatic poem "Caractacus," addressing the characters Vellinus and Elidurus, says of the Logan Rock:
However, another reason that the Logan Rock of Treen is remembered is that it was the centre of a famous drama. In April 1824, Lieutenant Hugh Goldsmith, R.N. (nephew of the poet Oliver Goldsmith), and ten or twelve of his crew of the cutter HMS Nimble, armed with bars and levers rocked the huge granite boulder until it fell from its cliff-top perch. Goldsmith was apparently motivated to disprove the claim of Dr Borlase, who wrote in Antiquities of Cornwall in 1754 that:
In the parish of S. Levan, there is a promontory called Castle Treryn. This cape consists of three distinct groups of rocks. On the western side of the middle group near the top, lies a very large stone, so evenly, poised that any hand may move it to and fro; but the extremities of its base are at such a distance from each other, and so well secured by their nearness to the stone which it stretches itself upon, that it is morally impossible that any lever, or indeed force, however applied in a mechanical way, can remove it from its present situation.
Goldsmith was determined to demonstrate that nothing was impossible when the courage and skill of British seamen were engaged. The Logan Rock slid aside and was caught in a narrow crevice (it did not fall from the cliff as claimed by some). This upset the local residents considerably, since Logan Rock had been used to draw tourists to the area. Treen had become a lucrative tourist destination. Sir Richard R. Vyvyan was particularly unhappy. The local residents demanded that the British Admiralty strip Lieutenant Goldsmith of his Royal Navy commission unless he restored the boulder to its previous position at his own expense.
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