Machrie Moor Standing Stones

Six stone circles are visible on the moor immediately east of the derelict Moss Farm. Some circles are formed of granite boulders, while others are built of tall red sandstone pillars. The moor is covered with other prehistoric remains, including standing stones, burial cairns and cists. Several hut circles can also be seen as low rings of turf-covered stone.

The six stone circles are situated below a prominent notch on the skyline to the northeast where Machrie Glen divides into two steep-sided valleys. At the summer solstice the notch is intersected by the sun at sunrise, and this may explain why the circles were sited in this location.

The stone circles were recorded in 1861 by James Bryce, and numbered 1 to 5. Five other monuments in the area were numbered 6 to 10, and when subsequently a further stone circle was discovered almost completely submerged in peat in 1978, it was numbered Machrie Moor 11. Around 1 kilometer to the west is the remains of the Moss Farm Road Stone Circle, (Machrie Moor 10).

The stones date from the Bronze Age and can be found on Machrie Moor. The most distinguishable of the circles consists of three upright red sandstone pillars, the tallest of which is just over 18 feet high. Many of the other stones within the circle have fallen and two of the granite boulders within the circle have been carved into millstones still in situ. The other tall pillar closer to the abandoned farmstead, looks like a solitary standing stone but is part of a larger circle, the stones of which have been removed or lie buried. The second most interesting circle is a double ring of squat granite boulders called Fingal’s Cauldron Seat. The outer circle is egg shaped but the inner ring of eight stones forms an almost perfect circle. When this circle was excavated a ruined cist was found but it did not contain any traces of burial.