Alternative Names Midmar Church; Midmar Graveyard; Christchurch
Site type RECUMBENT STONE CIRCLE
Canmore ID 18001
Site Number NJ60NE 3
NGR NJ 69940 06493
Council ABERDEENSHIRE
Parish MIDMAR
Former Region GRAMPIAN
Former District GORDON
Former County ABERDEENSHIRE

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Treasured Places - HLF funded

The recumbent stone circle at Midmar Kirk probably dates from the Bronze Age and consists of eight stones making up an incomplete ring measuring 17m in diameter.
The recumbent stone on the south west side is flanked by two pillar stones, the tallest pair in the ring.

Midmar Kirk was deliberately built in close proximity to the circle, the result of an 18th century belief that the monument was a Druid religious structure - Druidism at this time was thought to be an offshoot of Christianity. It has now been incorporated into the landscaped grounds of the graveyard.

Information from RCAHMS (SC, AW) 29 August 2007

An image of this site has been nominated as one of Scotland's favourite archive images. For more information about the project visit http://www.treasuredplaces.org.uk

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Archaeological Notes

NJ60NE 3 69940 06493

(NJ 6995 0648) Stone Circle (NR)
OS 6" map, (1959)

This Recumbent Stone Circle probably consisted originally of seven stones besides the flanking pillars of the recumbent stone. The latter is very broad, 4 feet (1.2m) at its widest and 14 3/4 feet (4.5m) in length. The remaining stones give a diameter to the circle of 55 feet (16.8m). Maclagan (1875) gives the diameter as 52ft (15.9m) but otherwise her plan is identical to that of Coles (1900).
F R Coles 1900; C Maclagan 1875.

A recumbent stone circle consisting of a recumbent stone, two 'flankers' and five others, with a diameter of c.17.0m. There is no trace of a central cairn, the area being utilsed as ornamental lawn.
Resurveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (RL) 7 February 1968.

This landscaped and re-arranged recumbent stone circle (17.3m in diameter) still impresses the traveller with two splendid flankers (each 2.5m tall) which have been matched and shaped into two enormous canine teeth. The great recumbent is 4.5m long and weighs 20 tons. It is likely that at least one stone (on the NNW) has been re-erected and the ring-cairn tidied away, probably when the graveyard was laid out around the circle in 1914.
I A G Shepherd 1986.

Scheduled as Christchurch, stone circle and standing stone... the remains of a recumbent stone circle.
Information from Historic Scotland, scheduling document dated 19 November 2003.

Notes and Activities

REFERENCE

Notes This Recumbent Stone Circle probably consisted originally of seven stones besides the flanking pillars of the recumbent stone. The latter is very broad, 4 feet (1.2m) at its widest and 14 3/4 feet (4.5m) in length. The remaining stones give a diameter to the circle of 55 feet (16.8m). Maclagan (1875) gives the diameter as 52ft (15.9m) but otherwise her plan is identical to that of Coles (1900).
F R Coles 1900; C Maclagan 1875.

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FIELD VISIT

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1875	ANTIQUARIAN OBSERVATION

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July 1902

FIELD VISIT

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1926	FIELD VISIT

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1930 to 1930

PHOTOGRAPHIC RECORD

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7 February 1968

FIELD VISIT

Notes A recumbent stone circle consisting of a recumbent stone, two 'flankers' and five others, with a diameter of c.17.0m. There is no trace of a central cairn, the area being utilsed as ornamental lawn.
Resurveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (RL)

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1976	PHOTOGRAPHIC RECORD

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1977	FIELD VISIT

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1980 to 1981

FIELD VISIT

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1986

REFERENCE

Notes This landscaped and re-arranged recumbent stone circle (17.3m in diameter) still impresses the traveller with two splendid flankers (each 2.5m tall) which have been matched and shaped into two enormous canine teeth. The great recumbent is 4.5m long and weighs 20 tons. It is likely that at least one stone (on the NNW) has been re-erected and the ring-cairn tidied away, probably when the graveyard was laid out around the circle in 1914.
I A G Shepherd 1986.

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1997	AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY

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16 April 1998

MEASURED SURVEY

Project Strath Don Survey

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16 April 1998

FIELD VISIT

Project Recumbent Stone Circles

Notes This is one of the best-known recumbent stone circles, standing encircled by a gravel path in the burial-ground beside Midmar Kirk. It is set upon the leading edge of a slight terrace facing southwards opposite the towering north flank of the Hill of Fare. Measuring 17m in diameter, the ring originally comprised about eleven stones, of which the recumbent setting and five orthostats remain, though one of the latter has been re-erected (8). The recumbent boulder (2), which measures 4.4m in length by up to 1.05m in height, is situated on the SW side of the ring and rests upon at least three support stones. Its relatively even summit has been carefully levelled, but is disfigured by graffiti; this includes some sets of initials, at least one date (1864) and several symbols akin to mason’s marks, though their large size preclude them from being genuinely medieval. Of the two flankers (1 & 3), which are 2.45m and 2.35m high respectively, the western is the more slender, but both present a similar profile to the SW, appearing to arch over the ends of the recumbent. These are the tallest stones in the ring, while the shortest of the other orthostats is on the ENE (6). The two on the southern arc of the circle (4 & 5), however, are not consistently graded in height, nor are there sufficient stones in place to determine whether the spacing of the ring closed up from S to N. In this respect the NNW orthostat (8), which has not only been repaired but also re-erected, is probably not standing in its original position. The manicured remains of a cairn form a scarp 0.3m high around the southern arc of the ring, extending about 1m outside the recumbent setting and the southernmost orthostat (4); the graded surface behind the setting suggests that a substantial body of cairn material may survive beneath the grass and gravel, though it is difficult to determine its original form and extent. If the two earthfast stones behind the W flanker and a third behind its companion on the E are kerbstones, then the setting was probably incorporated into the kerb of a cairn standing within the interior, while the scarp extending beyond the setting and the southernmost orthostat suggest the presence of on an encircling platform of cairn material.
Visited by RCAHMS (JRS, ATW, IGP and KHJM) 16 April 1998

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1999	AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY

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23 April 2002

PHOTOGRAPHIC SURVEY

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5 November 2004

AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY

Project 2004 RCAHMS Aerial Survey

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Books and References

Barnatt, J (1989) Stone circles of Britain: taxonomic and distributional analyses and a catalogue of sites in England, Scotland and Wales, Brit Archaeol Rep, BAR British, vol.215 2v. Oxford
Page(s): 293 Held at RCAHMS P.81

Browne, G F (1921) On some antiquities in the neighbourhood of Dunecht House, Aberdeenshire, Cambridge
Page(s): 43, 60-3 pl ix-x Held at RCAHMS E.2.1.BRO

Burl, H A W (1973a) 'The recumbent stone circles of North-East Scotland', Proc Soc Antiq Scot, vol.102
Page(s): 60, 63, 69, 78

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