In the Life of St. Columba it is recorded that he visited King Bridei in Pictland in around the year 565 AD and taking a white stone pebble from the River Ness he blessed it and any water it came into contact with would cure sick people.
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Examples of 'charm-stones' or 'cold-stones' are held at National Museum of Rural Life, Kittochside, near East Kilbride, and the example set in the Lochbuy or Lochbuie Brooch is in the British Museum.