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Midmar Kirk

Midmar Church; Midmar Graveyard    Banchory, Aberdeenshire


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The circle from the graveyard to the south.
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Looking from the east.
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Looking from the southeast.
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A closer view of the recumbent and flankers from the south. The tapered recumbent has been chocked up at the western end so that the top of the stone is horizontal.
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The recumbent and flankers from the north.
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A full view of the circle from the north.
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A view from the west.
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Burl politely says that this circle has been "interfered with". That is, landscaped and probably rearranged.

Nevertheless it is an impressive site with its 20 ton recumbent stone, 15 feet in length and four feet wide. The flankers, looking like huge canine teeth, stand over eight feet tall. This is not their natural shape - they were dressed to look like they do.

Five other stones stand around a fifty-foot circle, but these do not seem to be in their original positions. Recumbent stone circles are usually graded in height from the flankers away to the north east. This one does not conform to this pattern; they were probably moved when the circle was landscaped in 1914.

Recumbent circles commonly face the point of the major lunar standstill. That would be obscured by the hills and so this circle faces the minor lunar standstill.


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