A heavy stone, which was used as a test of strength and manhood for generations, has been found after being hidden for decades.
The Invercauld manhood stone, from the estate of the same name, was discovered in the undergrowth in a corner of the the Princess Royal and Duke of Fife Memorial Park, where the Braemar Gathering takes place each year.
It was traditionally used to test the mettle of young adolescent males, who sought to prove they had grown to men by lifting it as high as their waist.
The huge boulder had been lying hidden for at least 25 years before a former member of the Braemar Royal Highland Games Society recently shed some light on its location.
The stone now has pride of place outside the neighbouring Braemar Gathering and Highland Games Centre, which was opened last year.
Management at the facility hope to get it weighed soon at Royal Lochnagar Distillery.
Louise Kelly, venue manager, said: “We’re trying to find out a little bit more about it, it was lying next to the shed all this time.
“It doesn’t connect to the games but all of these estates would have had a testing stone where every young man coming of age would have tried to lift it above their waist.
“We knew a stone was lying there but didn’t know its significance.”
The centre has now been inundated with requests from heavy lifters from across the world, keen to take on the challenge.
It is hoped the stone could become an attraction in its own right, similar to the Dinnie Steens in Potarch.
Lifters arrive in Deeside every year and attempt to replicate the strongman feats of Donald Dinnie, the legendary competitor who managed to carry the boulders the width of Potarch Bridge on August 5 1860.
The two stones have a combined weight of 733lb and, in order to record an official lift, they must be carried unassisted and without the use of hand straps.
In March, Sean Peatfield, from Aberdeen, became the 100th heavy to enter their name into the history books.
Anyone interested in trying to lift the newly-discovered stone should contact info@highlandgamescentre.org
