Upper and lower Lagmore Stone Circles near Ballindalloch

While travelling down the picturesque A95, it's hard not to notice the many ancient sites dotted around the landscape. There are many standing stones/stone circles/monoliths on this route and this article covers upper and lower stone circles at Lagmore, a short distance from the Bridge of Avon, and Ballindalloch Castle.

While not as impressive as the stones elsewhere in Scotland (ie the Calanais Stones), they are still interesting sites worthy of a little explore if you are interested in the many ancient sites peppered around the country. The sites are unmarked on Google maps but I will mark them on the map at the foot of this article.

Lower Lagmore stone circle (Lagmore East)

This fascinating site can be seen directly from the A95 in a field. There is a small parking place on the route up to the Ballindalloch Distillery, or there is a small car park at the distillery itself. The site is inaccessible (unless you loup the fence) but it can be seen fairly well by walking the perimeter.

Five stones can be seen here, with the largest being a very interestingly shaped split stone. Only three of the standing stones remain upright. The northeastern stone is covered in cupping marks. Originally these stones would have formed a surrounding stone circle of around 30 metres and surrounded a circular cairn of similar types of cairns at Clava Cairns. This site could be up to 3300 years old as it was dated to the early bronze age.

Upper Lagmore stone circle (Lagmore West)

This stone circle is situated higher up on the hill to the west and overlooks lower lagmore stone circle. Again these are the remains of an early bronze age Clava passage grave cairn with an outer circle of five stones, with only four still upright. The cairn has an entrance on its south side to a central chamber with two stones marking the entrance. The interior is about 11ft in diameter.

Conclusion

As previously mentioned, these circle stones are not as impressive as some sites in Scotland, but if you are heading down the A95 why not stop for a wee look and breathe in the history of our bronze age ancestors.

Drone photography by John Luckwell.