Balbirnie Stone Circle

Now located on Tofthill, 1½ miles (2.3 km) northeast of Glenrothes town centre in Fife, the Balbirnie Stone Circle was excavated before being relocated a short distance to the southeast of its original location during works to widen the A92 Trunk Road in 1970. The excavation revealed a large cairn containing three complete and two disturbed cists. An earlier excavation had been undertaken in the 1880s. The monument once comprised ten stones, arranged in an ellipse, 15m (49 feet) at its widest. Two stones were removed in the 18th C., but the remaining eight have been re-erected around a square stone pavement which has been suggested as a place where corpses lay during the funeral ceremonies which took place here. A stone forming one of the cists show an impressive collection of cup and ring marks. These cists contained cremated remains and artefacts including food vessels, a flint knife and jet beads. The site is thought to represent three phases of use, from the Late Neolithic (around 2800 BC) to the end of the second millennium BC.

This circle was part of an ancient ceremonial complex which includes the Balfarg Henge situated a quarter-mile (0.4 km) to the west northwest. Balbirnie House lies a half-mile (0.8 km) to the southeast.


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