Brodick Castle, Standing Stones (with snow-covered peaks of the northern granite - Goat Fell - in the background)


Standing stones may have been used for human sacrifices and fertility rituals, as well as burriel grounds from as early as 3000BC. The earliest circles were probably made by setting upright huge stones left behind by melting glaciers at the end of the Ice Age.

Upon leaving Brodick Castle, you will find standing stones by the large beech hedge. There are three monalyth stones situated together and they are about 4500 years old. The stones are made of red sandstone, and do not form part of a circle.

In the late 19th-century a cist was found, containing a skeleton and earthenware pots. This skeleton is now in the museum on the Isle of Arran. There are also several other standing stones in various places on the Island.

SCRAN ID: 000-000-258-615-C; National Trust for Scotland