Mounting block

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A mounting block, horse block, carriage stone, or in Scots a loupin'-on stane [1] is an assistance for mounting and dismounting a horse or cart.

Contents

The Duke of Wellington's mounting block, Athenaeum Club, London Duke of Wellington's Mounting Block, Athenaeum Club, London.jpg
The Duke of Wellington's mounting block, Athenaeum Club, London

Usage and locations

Mounting blocks were especially useful for women riding sidesaddle or pillion, that is 'riding double', [2] allowing a horse to be mounted or dismounted without a loss of modesty. Women would often ride behind their husbands and servants who were on foot. [3] They were also used to assist ladies and men into and out of carts. [4] They were frequently located outside churches or kirks for the use of parishioners attending services, funerals, etc. Often they were located in the main streets and outside public houses. In Yorkshire some were built at the top of steep lanes, where the rider would remount after leading his horse up the slope. [5]

A modern mounting block, and cat for scale. MountingBlockAndCat.jpg
A modern mounting block, and cat for scale.

Mounting blocks today are primarily used by modern equestrians who are a) beginners b) people who have difficulty mounting (either a tall horse, or a short person, or someone with some mobility impairments) and c) people who feel that use of a mounting block reduces strain on the spine of the horse, particularly at the withers. Modern mounting blocks are usually made of wood or of molded plastic.

Construction

Stepped mounting block in Nantwich, Cheshire Mounting block Welsh Row Nantwich.jpg
Stepped mounting block in Nantwich, Cheshire

Mounting blocks were usually made from stone or wood and prior to the era of the motor car they were very common. Some have three or more steps leading up to a platform which gave extra height and therefore easier access to the saddle and less chance of falling when dismounting. [6] A few had a wall or some other support to one side of the steps, as at Saint Boswells. [7] Some were built as memorials and bear inscriptions. [5] They were built with bricks, ashlar and even occasionally from a single stone block, [5] whilst an example at Shewalton Mill in North Ayrshire is a glacial erratic boulder located in the mill yard.

Using a mounting block

A horse is best mounted using a mounting block because it is easier for the rider to mount the horse, it puts less strain on the stirrup leathers when mounting and it decreases the chances of the saddle slipping to one side when mounting, thereby reducing the chances of a fall and possible injury to the rider. A horse or pony is mounted from the "near" side, that is the horse's left side. [8]

Decline in use of mounting blocks

A mounting block in a Country Park, Eglinton, Ayrshire. Mounting Block, Eglinton.JPG
A mounting block in a Country Park, Eglinton, Ayrshire.
Old mounting block at Dumfries House, Scotland. Mounting block at Dumfries House.JPG
Old mounting block at Dumfries House, Scotland.

Mounting blocks were a common feature up until the late 18th century. [9] They are still used at equestrian centres, [8] but are no longer a common feature of inns, churches, farms, country houses, etc. in the United Kingdom, where they were once almost an obligatory feature.

The generally poor condition of roads up until the late 18th century in Scotland for example, meant that most passenger transport by horse was literally on horseback. For instance, wheeled vehicles were practically unknown to farmers in Ayrshire until the end of the 18th century, and prior to this sledges or slide-cars were used to haul loads [10] [11] as wheeled vehicles were useless. The roads had been mere tracks and such bridges as there were could only take pedestrians, men on horseback or pack-animals. The first recorded wheeled vehicles to be used in Ayrshire were carts offered gratis to labourers working on Riccarton Bridge, Kilmarnock, in 1726.

Once wheeled vehicles became commonplace the need for horse mounting blocks would have greatly decreased, thus mounting block as a permanent fixture went out with changing times. You didn't need one for getting into carriages, and thus as roads got better and fewer people rode, the need decreased. With the invention of the automobile, the need for the public mounting block vanished and they now are used exclusively by equestrians or retained as historic features at old inns, kirks, etc. [12] [13]

In the 1860s, those mounting blocks that remained in London e.g. Bayswater, were thought of as quaint and old fashioned "in the true style of olden times". [14]

A Loupin' on stane poem

Tam o' Crumstan [9]

"A loupin' on stane is a very good thing,
For a man that is stiff, for a man that is auld,
For a man that is lame o' the leg or the spauld,
Or short o' the houghs, to loup on his naggie;

So said Tam o' Crumstane, unbousome and baggie;
And mountin' the stane at Gibbie's house-end,
Like a man o' great pith, wi' a grane, and a stend
He flew owre his yaud, and fell i' the midden!

Standing stones, stone rows, etc.

At Eskdalemuir in Dumfries and Galloway, the remains of a 'stone avenue' are known as the Loupin' Stanes due to the similarity with said structures. [15] The Wolfcleuchhead, 'Loupin' Stone', Mounting Steps or Mounting Block is in the parish of Roberton, Scottish Borders. This stone bears two carved heads and lettering; on the other the name 'Wolfcleuchead'. [16] These names have arisen either from the appearance or the actual re-use of these stones.

An ancient mounting block on the Isle of Portland, Dorset. 1990-10 New House, Grove Corner, Mounting Stone Easton 11m263.jpg
An ancient mounting block on the Isle of Portland, Dorset.

Examples and sites of mounting blocks

Elaborate mounting block on Government Street in Mobile, Alabama. Government Street Carriage Block.jpg
Elaborate mounting block on Government Street in Mobile, Alabama.
The Loupin'-on-stane & concavity at Kilmaurs Kilmaurs loupin stone 2.JPG
The Loupin'-on-stane & concavity at Kilmaurs
The Treaty Stone in Limerick stands on a pedestal TreatyStoneLimerickIreland.jpg
The Treaty Stone in Limerick stands on a pedestal
The Minnigaff loupin-on stone. Loupin on stone.jpg
The Minnigaff loupin-on stone.

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References

  1. Tam O'Crustan
  2. Gordon, Anne (1988). To move with the times : the story of transport and travel in Scotland. Aberdeen : The University Press. ISBN   0-08-035080-1. Page 114
  3. Martin, Daniel (2016). Upper Clydesdale. A History and Guide Edinburgh : The Birlinn Press. ISBN   9781780273976. Page 124
  4. Gordon, Anne (1988). To move with the times : the story of transport and travel in Scotland. Aberdeen : The University Press. ISBN   0-08-035080-1. Page 114
  5. 1 2 3 4 Book of the British Countryside. Pub. London : Drive Publications, (1973). p. 302.
  6. Loupin-on stane
  7. 1 2 Mertoun Kirk.
  8. 1 2 Mounting a horse or pony from a mounting block.
  9. 1 2 Tam O'Crustan accessed 19 October 2007
  10. Strawhorn, John and Boyd, William (1951). The Third Statistical Account of Scotland. Ayrshire. Pub.
  11. Gordon, Anne (1988). To move with the times : the story of transport and travel in Scotland. Aberdeen : The University Press. ISBN   0-08-035080-1. Page 109
  12. 1 2 The History of East Kilbride
  13. 1 2 Historic Environment Scotland. "Edinburgh, Old Church Lane, Duddingston Parish Church (52220)". Canmore . Retrieved 29 October 2021.
  14. The Youth's magazine, or Evangelical miscellany, pub. 1863, page 87, accessed 21 October 2007
  15. Historic Environment Scotland. "Eskdalemuir, 'stone Avenue' (67246)". Canmore . Retrieved 29 October 2021.
  16. Historic Environment Scotland. "Wolfcleuchhead, 'loupin' Stone' (53002)". Canmore . Retrieved 29 October 2021.
  17. Loupin' on stane Archived 2007-10-25 at the Wayback Machine
  18. Chalmers, Francis Edit. (1903), Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland. Pub. The Caxton Pub. Co., London. Vol.2. P. 931.
  19. Town Trail
  20. Maidens. Archived 2007-10-25 at the Wayback Machine
  21. Oxnam. Archived 2011-10-02 at the Wayback Machine
  22. "Ross Priory". Archived from the original on 2007-12-25. Retrieved 2007-10-19.
  23. Historic Environment Scotland. "Rossie, Village And Market Cross (30655)". Canmore . Retrieved 29 October 2021.
  24. Historic England. "Mounting block at right hand of numbers 26-30 (even), Welsh Row (1263706)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 21 October 2007.
  25. "an irregular rough hewn block of limestone which once served as a mounting block for horses." The Treaty Stone National Inventory of Architectural Heritage website, accessed 23 October 2007
  26. MacGibbon, T. and Ross, D. (1887-92). The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth centuries, 5v, Edinburgh, Vol. 3, P. 502.
  27. Westwood, Jennifer (1985), Albion. A Guide to Legendary Britain. London: Grafton Books. ISBN   0-246-11789-3. p. 241.
  28. "Nevern. Accessed : 2010-04-01". Archived from the original on 2003-04-26. Retrieved 2010-04-01.
  29. Walt Whitman House. Accessed : 2017-10-23.