Seventeen entries

The complete roster, which is what this page is for. The homepage carries a selection; everything the site has written is listed here, filed under the section it belongs to.

• PotarchGroundA bridge over the Dee in Aberdeenshire, an inn, and two stones that have sat beside it since long before anyone thought to keep records.
• HúsafellGroundA farm in western Iceland where a slab used to close a goat pen became a test measured in distance carried rather than weight.
• The Basque CountryGroundStone-lifting as a rural competition with judges, categories and a clock.
• Why these placesGroundThe stones are where the stone is: granite, basalt and the local geology decide the shape of the tradition.

• The Dinnie StonesStonesTwo granite blocks with iron rings, together roughly 332 kilograms, named for Donald Dinnie, who is said to have carried them across the bridge at Potarch in 1860 — a claim far better known than it is documented.
• The Húsafell StoneStonesAbout 186 kilograms of flat basalt, carried against the chest around a pen, with the lap as the unit.
• The Inver StoneStonesA rounded granite lump on Deeside, awkward precisely because there is nothing to hold.
• The Atlas StonesStonesModern, cast in moulds to fixed weights, and deliberately shaped to defeat a grip.

• What counts as a liftMeasureLocked out, held, carried, or simply broken from the ground — every tradition draws the line somewhere different.
• Weight versus shapeMeasureA round stone with no handle is harder than a heavier one with a ring, which is why comparing across traditions rarely works.
• Documented and traditionalMeasureSome feats have witnesses and dates; others have only repetition, and the difference should be stated.

• The Highland GamesGamesCaber, hammer and weight over bar — events judged on control and direction rather than distance alone.
• BraemarGamesThe best-known gathering, and how a local contest became a fixture.
• HarrijasotzaileakGamesBasque stone-lifters working cylinders, cubes and spheres against a clock, in a competition culture with its own record-keeping.

• The giryaIronA Russian market counterweight with a handle, used for weighing goods long before it was used for anything else.
• The adjustable barbellIronPlate-loading turned strength into a number that could be repeated anywhere, and York, Pennsylvania became the address for it.
• What standardisation didIronOnce weight was uniform, records became comparable — and the stones became folklore.