While we were talking to Lindsay Sandford about Giant’s Castle Maze, she also told us that the rock formation that we all know know as “Camel Rock” or the “Loaded Camel” was actually originally called “Dick’s Carn.” The real “Loaded Camel” was actually a logan stone, out by Giant’s Castle. This rock formation features in some early postcards that we managed to find in the Isles of Scilly Museum archive. True to it’s name, it really looked like a camel with a pack on its back.

*An early, hand-tinted postcard showing the Loaded Camel rock, from the Museum archive on St Mary’s…*

Lindsay told us that bored servicemen had pushed this rock formation over the cliff, presumably while they were stationed out at Giant’s Castle nearby.

A date from the back of one of these postcards shows that the loaded camel stone must have still been in place at least as late as June 1909. So it may have been dislodged in either WWI or WWII.

An early postcard from the SA&H museum archive showing the rock we now know as the "Loaded Camel” with its original name of “Dick’s Carn.”

We also found earlier reference to soldiers pushing a logan stones off its pivot in an early account of Scilly from 1822:

“Near the head of Giant's Castle Bay is a rock nearly ten feet in length, seven in breadth, and above five feet thick, reclining in a slanting direction on another rock, imbedded in the earth. This was formerly a loggan (or logging) stone,— called by some a riding rock. It was so nicely poised on the sharp edge of the rock which still supports it, that it could be put in motion by a child, six years of age, (or, as Troutbeck says, "with a man's little finger;") and would continue its oscillatory vibrations in a very perceptible manner, for a considerable time after receiving this slight momentum; yet it was calculated that the exertions of a thousand men would be insufficient, -without the aid of machinery, —to remove it from its position. It was, however, thrown from its poize a few years since, by a number of soldiers then in garrison here, in compliance with the wanton orders of their officers, in order to decide a frivolous bet! Thus it appears that if the age of chivalry is gone by, that of the Vandals and Huns is not yet utterly past.”

- Rev. George Woodley, A View of the Present State of the Scilly Islands, 1822

Woodley would, I feel sure, be disappointed to learn that the “age of vandals and huns” was still in full swing into the 20th Century. But what does this have to do with labyrinths?

Well, I think this discovery supports the idea that service people could have made the labyrinth at Giant’s Castle, as the is a historical president that a) they were definitely stationed out at Giant’s Castle at various points in history and b) they were messing around with the rocks out there, although unfortunately their activities do seem to be more destructive than creative from what we have found so far.

Ammendment: Rowan Smith from the Scilly Memories Facebook Page got in touch to let us know that there is a mention in Scillonian Mag #133 (1958. Spring)) that describes the toppling of the Loaded Camel stone, indicating it happened that year, 1958:

"It was a logan, or rocking stone and rocked easily on the base though it weighed several tons. Now this top portion has been pushed off, presumably by vandals-probably by more than one. It is greatly regretted that such acts can be perpetrated by such hooligans whose strength and ideas should be channelled into more useful hobbies. It is hoped they at least feel a keen sense of shame at this act of vandalism which has caused concern and dismay to so many islanders who revere their beautiful homeland."

This rules out wartime servicemen for the toppling of the stone - and with it goes my (tenuous at best, to be honest) theory that they may have built the labyrinth too, but it’s still a good story.

Toppling the Loaded Camel Logan Stone

Discovering the lost Garrison Labyrinth on St Mary’s

Dowsing the energy lines at Giant’s Castle Maze