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How and why the ancients enchanted Great Britain and Brittany

The Archaeology of People: Dimensions of Neolithic Life, Whittle

The Archaeology of People: Dimensions of Neolithic Life, Whittle

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<< Our Photo Pages >> Machrie Moor 2 - Stone Circle in Scotland in Isle of Arran

Submitted by kelpie on Monday, 08 December 2008  Page Views: 16075

Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Machrie Moor 2
Country: Scotland County: Isle of Arran Type: Stone Circle
Nearest Town: Brodick  Nearest Village: Blackwaterfoot
Map Ref: NR91143242  Landranger Map Number: 68
Latitude: 55.540654N  Longitude: 5.311817W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
4 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
5 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
3 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
4

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I have visited· I would like to visit

PAB jimstone macd would like to visit

drolaf visited on 10th May 2023 - their rating: Cond: 2 Amb: 5 Access: 3 three 'Stennes' like stones remain. other stones are either fallen, or otherwise dismantled. More of a square than a circle? Two millstones at the SE.

bishop_pam visited on 27th Apr 2023 - their rating: Cond: 5 Amb: 5 Access: 3

Greengirl visited on 2nd Mar 2020 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 5 Access: 3 Easy to find, small car park at the beginning of the walk, which is along farm tracks (can be muddy). Be prepared to walk about 2km to reach all sites.

Catrinm visited on 2nd Sep 2019 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 4 Access: 3 Followed the Old Stones route to get to all the machrie moor circles which was very helpful

AstroGeologist visited on 9th Aug 2018 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 4 MM2 : This is the EIGHTH site you encounter when heading East from the Beach at Machrie. From the car park 'Machrie Moor 2' (3 Menhirs & 2 Millstones) is 2.1km away Originally this Stone Circle had 7 or 8 Red Sandstone Menhirs. Now only 3 remain standing. The tallest of which is 4.9m high Excavations by J.Bryce in 1861 uncovered a Cist (90cm long, 55cm wide and 65cm deep) in the centre of the circle, containing an inhumation, and accompanied by an Irish tripartite bowl, and four Flint Flakes. A second smaller Cist was found not far from the Menhir in the NE arc, but he didn't find anything inside it. There are two millstones, of a different rock type to the other stones, in the south-east arc, and look to be from a later date. *Getting There ; Get the '322 bus' to Blackwaterfoot from the Ferry terminal at Brodick. It takes approx 45 minutes. From Blackwaterfoot you can go directly to the Moor by following the A841 road which is a 5.5km walk (It took me about an hour on the way back) Or you can take the scenic route which is 8.5km. The long way follow's the beach to Drumadoon Point, and then onto the Doon Hillfort, after exploring the Fort you walk along the beach path to Kings Caves (These part's of the journey are covered in log visits for these sites) From the Caves you can go along the shore to Machrie Bay (which would have been shorter) but instead l followed the trail path up Torr Righ Mor (137m) and around the Pine forests on Torr Righ Beag (109m) until l reached to visitors car park. From here it's a 15 minute walk to the visitors car park at Machrie Moor. This is the 8th site you encounter when coming from the car park.

SandyG visited on 22nd Aug 2017 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 5 Access: 3

Andy B visited on 25th Aug 2016 - their rating: Cond: 5 Amb: 5 Access: 2

sirius_b visited on 7th Jul 2016 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 5 Access: 2

jeffrep visited on 2nd Jun 2013 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 5 Access: 2

Richard13 visited on 1st Oct 2005 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 5 Access: 3

BolshieBoris visited on 1st Aug 1996 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 5 Access: 2

MegalithJunkie visited - their rating: Amb: 5

Ogham Bladup ukvegan DrewParsons AngieLake tyrianterror tom_bullock maddy kelpie have visited here

Average ratings for this site from all visit loggers: Condition: 3.73 Ambience: 4.83 Access: 2.73

Machrie Moor 2
Machrie Moor 2 submitted by DrewParsons : October 2006 (Vote or comment on this photo)
Stone Circle in Arran. These fantastic tall pillars dominated the moorland.

Note: Machrie Moor is category finalist in The Times newspaper for Best Open Space (Britain), see comment
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Machrie Moor 2
Machrie Moor 2 submitted by ukvegan : Machrie Moor on an amazing summer evening with wonderful light on the hills (5 comments - Vote or comment on this photo)

Machrie Moor 2
Machrie Moor 2 submitted by Greengirl : With megalithic Jess (1 comment - Vote or comment on this photo)

Machrie Moor 2
Machrie Moor 2 submitted by megalithicmatt : Millstones in the foreground. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Machrie Moor 2
Machrie Moor 2 submitted by Ogham : A wonderful summers day on the moor. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Machrie Moor 2
Machrie Moor 2 submitted by SandyG : View from south west. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Machrie Moor 2
Machrie Moor 2 submitted by ainsloch : A brooding sky over Machrie Moor

Machrie Moor 2
Machrie Moor 2 submitted by Bladup : Machrie Moor. This Original Artwork in a glass frame is £49.99 + Postage (Just whatever it costs), and is 29 and a half cm x 20 cm. A limited (to a 100) edition print in a 8" x 10" glass frame would be £19.99 + £2.90 postage, E-mail me at paul.blades@rocketmail.com if interested.

Machrie Moor 2
Machrie Moor 2 submitted by zelda_m : Machrie Moor standing stones, Isle of Arran

Machrie Moor 2
Machrie Moor 2 submitted by Energyman : An aerial view of local midday. The two stones are aligned exactly N-S (1 comment)

Machrie Moor 2
Machrie Moor 2 submitted by scottish-prints : The three remaining standing stones with a blue sky, taken May 2007.

Machrie Moor 2
Machrie Moor 2 submitted by jeffrep : At Machrie Moor 2, three standing stones survive of an original seven or eight in the formerly 45 foot diameter circle. The tallest stone is some 18 feet in height. The Machrie Moor Stone Circles are located at the end of a 1-1/2 mile track that is off of the A841 (some 200 yards south of the bridge where the main road crosses the Machrie Water) and three miles north of Blackwaterfoot in the ...

Machrie Moor 2
Machrie Moor 2 submitted by DrewParsons : Photographed on a fine day in October 2006

Machrie Moor 2
Machrie Moor 2 submitted by Tom_Bullock : Machrie Moor at Sunrise (3 comments)

Machrie Moor 2
Machrie Moor 2 submitted by Antonine : 2008

Machrie Moor 2
Machrie Moor 2 submitted by Greengirl : Machrie Moor 2 (1 comment)

Machrie Moor 2
Machrie Moor 2 submitted by Ogham : A good site to visit, so much to see.

Machrie Moor 2
Machrie Moor 2 submitted by ericgrindle : Arran, Machrie Moor - 3 Machrie Moor 2 Machrie Moor on Arran is a complex of Stone Circles. The walk from the car park takes you on a 5K walk Chambered Cairns and Standing Stones. There are six Stone Circles in the complex, a complex dominated by the stark moorland setting. We visited the site on a rainy day with low cloud and mist covering the hill tops and high fells, it does add atmosphere...

Machrie Moor 2
Machrie Moor 2 submitted by Bladup : Machrie Moor 2.

Machrie Moor 2
Machrie Moor 2 submitted by Bladup : Machrie Moor.

Machrie Moor 2
Machrie Moor 2 submitted by DrewParsons : What a beautiful island and with such lovely sites to visit. Machrie Moor 2 photographed in October 2009

Machrie Moor 2
Machrie Moor 2 submitted by thrip : Machrie Moor 2. May 2006

Machrie Moor 2
Machrie Moor 2 submitted by AngieLake : Machrie Moor 2. Looking approx west (left here) to north west across circle. (Small fallen stone near right recorded as N of centre of circle.) June 2002.

Machrie Moor 2
Machrie Moor 2 submitted by AngieLake : Looking approx. ESE across the impressive circle of Machrie Moor 2, in June 2002. To far right is a granite stone from the circle, which had been worked into a millstone during the 18th century. It's neighbour was fashioned in the same way. I recorded that the small stone lying at left was N in the circle. (1 comment)

Machrie Moor 2
Machrie Moor 2 submitted by tyrianterror : tyrianterror, Bealtaine 1985 at Machrie Moor, Arran (7 comments)

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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 63m ESE 106° Machrie Moor 1.* Stone Circle (NR91203240)
 63m ESE 106° Machrie Moor 11 Timber Circle (NR912324)
 80m E 87° Machrie Moor 6* Stone Circle (NR91223242)
 133m W 280° Machrie Moor 3* Stone Circle (NR91013245)
 152m WSW 244° Machrie Moor 4* Stone Circle (NR91003236)
 268m WSW 252° Machrie Moor 5* Stone Circle (NR90883235)
 392m W 260° Moss farm chambered cairn* Chambered Cairn (NR90753237)
 512m W 281° Moss Farm Stone* Standing Stone (Menhir) (NR90643254)
 560m W 262° Tormore 2* Chambered Cairn (NR90583237)
 774m E 80° Ballymichael Bridge* Stone Circle (NR91913252)
 1.1km W 279° Machrie Moor 10* Stone Circle (NR90063265)
 1.3km E 95° Shiskine* Stone Circle (NR92443225)
 1.6km SSW 209° Tormore 1 Chambered Cairn (NR90313106)
 1.7km W 267° Tormore Farm Chambered Cairn (NR89453242)
 2.0km SE 125° Ballymichael Standing Stones* Standing Stones (NR92723119)
 2.0km SE 130° Uaigh Finnach* Standing Stone (Menhir) (NR9261631040)
 2.1km WNW 303° Machriewaterfoot Standing Stone* Standing Stone (Menhir) (NR89453363)
 2.1km N 354° Cnoc Na Ceille* Standing Stone (Menhir) (NR9101034553)
 2.7km N 351° Machrie Burn* Stone Circle (NR90843511)
 2.9km NW 318° Auchagallon* Stone Circle (NR89293464)
 3.1km WSW 238° Kings Cave* Cave or Rock Shelter (NR88443092)
 3.1km SSW 209° Torbeg Cursus* Cursus (NR8950329741)
 3.8km ESE 121° Clauchan Glen Standing Stone (Menhir) (NR94283029)
 3.9km SW 217° Drumadoon Hillfort* Hillfort
 4.0km SW 215° Drummadoon Standing Stone* Standing Stone (Menhir) (NR8865629273)
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Stone Journals - journeys to the mysterious standing stones of Europe by Patrick Ford

 Stone Journals - journeys to the mysterious standing stones of Europe by Patrick Ford

Web Links for Machrie Moor 2

Stone Pages Tour by Arosio and Meozzi

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STILE by Clive Ruggles
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"Machrie Moor 2" | Login/Create an Account | 9 News and Comments
  
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Re: Machrie Moor 2 Interesting dowsing results in 2002 by AngieLake on Thursday, 05 March 2020
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Just in case anyone is interested (after reading the info board which Greengirl posted up today), this dowsing plan was one of my favourites and may be quite relevant to the positions of posts during the wooden post phase. I've copied and pasted the comment underneath it, and one would need to scroll right down the pictures on this site page using the blue highlighted 'click here' to see our entire collection [after the first 25 photos].

"Machrie Moor 2, as dowsed for ritual movement (poss dance pattern?), in June 2002.
I don't intend to make a habit of posting dowsing plans, but due to what I have just found out about Machrie Moor 1, and its original timber circles and central horse-shoe setting, IF this circle DID originally have a similar set-up, maybe I was picking up on the very earliest ritual moves [pre-stone circle]? Also, Machrie Moor 1 (photos and plan to follow), had a large post outside to the north, and this Circle 2's movements had a diversion out of the circle to north, briefly.
"First, during the Neolithic period, several timber circles were erected on the moor in the general area where some of the stone circles now lie." [From http://www.castlekirk.co.uk/history.html]"

https://www.megalithic.co.uk/modules.php?op=modload&name=a312&file=index&do=showpic&pid=42526
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The Archaeological Investigation of a Prehistoric Landscape: Excavations 1978-81 by Andy B on Thursday, 31 January 2019
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The Archaeological Investigation of a Prehistoric Landscape: Excavations on Arran 1978-81 STAR MONOGRAPH 2 Edited by John Barber

Survey and excavation were undertaken to inform decision making about the management of the cultural resources around the Machriewater/Blackwater catchment, then under threat from afforestation. Mesolithic spreads, Neolithic settlement sites and field systems, extensive Beaker Period, Later Bronze Age and Iron Age landscapes of hut groups, clearance cairns, burial cairns, field banks and agricultural remains, together with Dark Age fields, all form part of the palimpsest of sites within the research area. Pedological processes like podzolisation, gleying and peat formation have caused geochemical changes in virtually all of the soil contexts of these sites and this aspect of the human interaction with the landscape is considered in some detail.

http://www.aocarchaeology.com/publications/arran/

PDF Download
https://www.dropbox.com/s/euim8cs3nhsee29/The%20Archaeological%20Investigation%20of%20a%20Prehistoric%20Landscape%20-%20Arran%201978-1981_opt.pdf?dl=0
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Machrie Moor, Scotland Category finalist: Best Open Space (Britain) by Andy B on Monday, 08 December 2008
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There is no car park at Machrie Moor, very little signage but plenty of weather. The rain is lashing down as I park up by a farmer's gate, cross the road and be thankful I'm in the company of David Aitcheson, a man who knows these moors.

With access only by foot, there are few people out at Machrie at any time - still fewer today, just a handful of brilliant yellow or red waterproofs permeating the mist and moisture of the peaty west side of the Isle of Arran.

As Machrie's nominator Jennifer Ratty says: "If Machrie Moor was iin the south of England, it would have a vast car park, heritage centre and hordes of visitors."

On her visit, she saw eagles, red deer and, off the west coast, dolphins and basking sharks.

But the real reason for visiting is that Machrie also has six closely grouped stone circles and a wealth of other Bronze Age and neolithic sites - some 60 prehistoric monuments including standing stones and cairns now within eyesight. "If you are here of a summer's afternoon, there is often no-one else about. It's glorious," says David, breezily.

We start the walk down a track called the Moss Farm road. The farm is now derelict, its decaying outhouses in keeping with the area. Two families now own the land, but 80 per cent is designated as Sites of Special Scientific Interest and is mainly under the care of the Forestry Commission.

The first hunter gatherers arrived at Machrie around 6,500 years ago: the first farmer some 3,500 years ago. The Moor was abandoned as a settlement at the end of the Bronze Age but evidence of the period is stll widespread.

The farmers built the chamber cairns where their ancestors were buried or cremated, and one is on the track. David then plunges off the track to point out the remains of hut circles - impossible to have found otherwise. Then it is onto the Moor itself, and the series of stone circles.

More at
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/holiday_type/green_travel/article5198997.ece
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    Re: Machrie Moor, Scotland Category finalist: Best Open Space (Britain) by Andy B on Thursday, 29 September 2016
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    2016 update: there is now a reasonable size car park at Machrie Moor, nothing overwhelming, and just off the 'main' road
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Re: Machrie Moor 2 by tyrianterror on Sunday, 24 June 2007
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In the process up uploading another pic of the remains of this Machrie Moor circle, so adding to the 'done to death' tactics.Pic's from 1985 when I visited the site first time amongst a pile of pagans for Bealtaine when we had a festival there .
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Re: Machrie Moor 2 by Anonymous on Monday, 26 January 2004
a stunningly powerfull site,remember to wear good footwear.look in surrounding fields for more.Very small parking site nearby.Large hand shaped stone feals warm even on coldest days.
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Re: Machrie Moor 2 by Anonymous on Saturday, 01 November 2003
This is the grouping of three stone menhirs at Machrie Moor. They've probably been submitted to death here but thought you all might enjoy this new view. We got rained on this day but it added to the forboding ambiance. It cleared enough for us to get some great shots of the stones.

MotleyCool
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Re: Machrie Moor 2 by Anonymous on Saturday, 28 June 2003
I visited Machrie Moor in May 2003 on a dull
overcast and wet day. I found the site
breathtaking. Devoid of any traffic or human
sounds. The backdrop of the mountains and the
cries of curlews make this a very special place
indeed. Recommended to anyone in need of some
quiet contemplation or a spiritual lift.

Adrian Knight
[ Reply to This ]

Re: Machrie Moor 2 by Anonymous on Monday, 05 August 2002
My first visit to Scotland, and my first experience with standing stones. The ones at Machrie Moor were gorgeous, with the mountains above and the sea air blowing gently. I was totally stunned, even after seeing pictures of them the entire preceeding week. A brilliant, enduring monument to the early peoples of this island.
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