Back in the Neolithic period the hottest designer of stone circles in Scotland was Callan McAllan. From the Solway Firth to the Orkneys no village was complete until it had a circle designed and built by McAllan and his team.
One day a village in the islands decided they needed a circle, so they called in McAllan. He came in, surveyed the site and came up with a design that everyone agreed was brilliant. Then he presented his fee - 100 copper torcs.
The village couldn't afford this, but a local spoke up claiming he could erect the circle for half that cost. So McAllan left and the local got to work. True to his word he got the entire thing finished to McAllan's design before the winter solstice and collected his fee of 50 copper torcs, which he used to retire and build a longhouse.
So, from that day, when visitors came to the village and saw the very impressive stone circle they'd ask "Is that a Callan McAllan?" and the locals would reply "Well, it's certainly Callan-
ish"
(I am so sorry
)
