<< Our Photo Pages >> Balbirnie - Stone Circle in Scotland in Fife
Submitted by Nick on Tuesday, 05 November 2002 Page Views: 22097
Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Balbirnie Alternative Name: Druid's Circle; BalfargCountry: Scotland
NOTE: This site is 1.4 km away from the location you searched for.
County: Fife Type: Stone Circle
Nearest Town: Glenrothes
Map Ref: NO2858702969 Landranger Map Number: 59
Latitude: 56.213918N Longitude: 3.152982W
Condition:
5 | Perfect |
4 | Almost Perfect |
3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
0 | No data. |
-1 | Completely destroyed |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
4 | Short walk on a footpath |
3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
2 | A long walk |
1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
0 | No data. |
5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
0 | no data |
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I have visited· I would like to visit
SumDoood would like to visit
vyvbon visited on 23rd Sep 2023 - their rating: Access: 4
Anne T visited on 1st Nov 2018 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 5 Balbirnie Stone Circle: It was a good job we had the SatNav and the GPS, which took us almost to the spot. As this was right next to a modern housing estate, we found layby to park in about 100m metres away in Tofthill and walked back to the stone circle, which has a footpath running to its eastern side. Nicely preserved stone circle with cists with an information board and a recreated rock art panel.
We took a few minutes to spot the rock art panel, but realised it had fallen over slightly, so wasn't very visible. I did my best to photograph it in situ.
SandyG visited on 19th Apr 2014 - their rating: Cond: -1 Amb: 2 Access: 5 This site is a reconstruction of a site that originally stood nearby.
BolshieBoris visited on 1st Oct 1996 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 4 Access: 3
hamish have visited here
Average ratings for this site from all visit loggers: Condition: 2 Ambience: 3.33 Access: 4.25
From the A92 running north from Glenrothes, turn east onto the un-numbered road for Star and Kennoway. 100m along this road is a sign for the Balbirnie housing development, turn in here and about 150m/200m along, where the road curves right, you will see the circle just below you. Park up in the housing development itself and walk back.
The site itself dates from c3000 B.C., and used to be located 125m to the north west of where it stands at present. It was always known locally as the "Druid's Circle", and had to be relocated when the A92 was widened. It was excavated during 1970-71 by Historic Scotland, and there is a good information board at the site.
Ten stones stood here originally, of which eight are left. Later in its history, some burials took place within the circle, and one of the burial cists has a stone marked with cup and cup-and-ring marks (now replaced with a concrete replica). Several finds were made during excavations, amongst them being cremated bones, a beaker, a flint knife and a jet button. All of these are now in the Royal Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh. A fine site, and well worth a visit.
The Northern Antiquarian (TNA) website has details of both cup-and-ring marked stones, Balbirnie Carving (01) at grid reference NO 28587 02966, and Balbirnie Carving (02) at grid reference NO 2850 0304. Further notes on the stone circle can be found at: Canmore ID 29980 and on TNA's entry for Balbirnie Stone Circle, Markinch, Fife.
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