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Argyll and Bute

Nether Largie Standing Stones

Five tall stones in Kilmartin Glen raised some 3,200 years ago, thought to mark the rising and setting of the moon.

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The Nether Largie Standing Stones stand in a field on the floor of Kilmartin Glen, five great slabs set in a line from north-east to south-west: a pair at each end and the largest stone alone between them, the tallest reaching 2.85 metres.

Visited and photographed by Simon Hird

They were raised about 3,200 years ago, and the most widely held idea is that together they formed a lunar observatory, marking where the moon rises and sets at points in its long cycle; alignments with the sun have been found too.

Look closely at the central stone and you will find 23 cup marks, small round hollows pecked into the rock, three of them ringed, and there are three more on one of the southern pair. The carvings are some 1,500 years older than the setting itself, so the stones seem to have been taken from a place already sacred and reused. They are reached by a wooden path across the boggy edge of the field from a car park on the B8025, and Temple Wood stone circle is a few minutes away.

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Before you go

Park at the large car park on the east side of the B8025, south of its junction with the A816, and follow the wooden path across the field.

The stones are open at any time and free.

Open
Any time; free.
Parking
Car park on the B8025, south of the A816.
Path
A wooden path across the field.

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Did you know

A tall standing stone flanked by two smaller stones in a grass field, hills in the distance
Did you know

A lunar observatory.

The stones are thought to mark where the moon rises and sets at certain points in its cycle.

A lichen-covered standing stone in a grass field, with more stones of the circle visible behind it
Did you know

Twenty-three cups.

The central stone carries 23 cup marks, three of them with rings around them.

Two weathered standing stones in a grass field, more stones of the circle set further back
Did you know

Older carvings, reused.

The cup and ring marks are some 1,500 years older than the setting, so the stones may have come from an earlier sacred place.

Standing stones set in a grassy field, hills and trees stretching to the horizon
Did you know

Nearly three metres.

The tallest of the five stones stands 2.85 metres high.

A wooden boardwalk winding through a field of long grass towards distant hills
Did you know

A path over the bog.

A wooden path carries you over the boggy edge of the field to the stones.

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Where it is

Kilmartin Glen, south of Kilmartin.

Close byIn Kilmartin Glen.
  1. Standing stones in a frosted field in Kilmartin Glen.Kilmartin GlenOne of Scotland's richest prehistoric landscapes, with more than 800 monuments within six miles of Kilmartin and a museum to explain them.1 mile 2 min by road
  2. Kilmartin church and its churchyard.Kilmartin StonesMedieval West Highland grave slabs of warriors, swords and interlace in the churchyard at Kilmartin.1 mile 2 min by road
  3. Carnasserie CastleCarnasserie CastleThe Renaissance tower house of John Carswell, first Protestant Bishop of the Isles, at the head of Kilmartin Glen.2 miles 3 min by road
  4. Dunadd FortDunadd FortThe rock of the Gaelic kings of Dál Riata in Kilmartin Glen, with footprints carved for the making of kings.3 miles 6 min by road
  5. Duntrune CastleDuntrune CastleThought to be Scotland's oldest continuously occupied castle, on a rock above Loch Crinan, home of the Malcolms since 1792.4 miles 12 min by road
  6. The overgrown stone walls of Kilmory Oib among bright green bracken and trees.Kilmory Oib TownshipThe ruins of a township of at least seventeen buildings in Knapdale Forest, with an early Christian cross-marked stone.6 miles 8 min by road
Directions
Cup and ring carvings etched into weathered rock, cracks running across the surfaceAttractionsAchnabreck Rock Art6.1 miles
The covered deck of the Tayvallich Café, picnic tables looking out over the bay.RestaurantsTayvallich Café11 miles
A path between azaleas and rhododendrons in flower.AttractionsArduaine Garden11 miles

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Stay nearby

Places to stay near the stones, and when each is next free.

The Hollies, Argyll and ButeThe Hollies
  • Sleeps 18
  • In Tighnabruaich
  • 18 miles from Nether Largie
Check datesTimber cabin with copper roof beside a loch, shaded by oak treesUisge Bothy
  • Sleeps 2
  • In Oban
  • 20 miles from Nether Largie
Check datesBlack timber-clad cabin with corrugated roof and stove flue, set among trees and long grassBeatha
  • Sleeps 2
  • In Oban
  • 20 miles from Nether Largie
Check datesA landscape view of the whitewashed cottage in low evening sun, its blue doors, lit lamps and teak chairs, smoke rising from the chimney.Fern Cottage
  • Sleeps 4
  • In Croggan
  • 20 miles from Nether Largie
Check datesPlaces to stayEvery stay in Argyll and ButeAll our places to stay nearby, to search by date and by who is coming.See them all
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Read on

What we have written about it, the collections it is in and more in Argyll and Bute.

From the magazineKilmartin GlenArticleNether Largie Standing StonesCollectionStanding Stones in Scotland Worth Seeing
More in Argyll and Bute

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For further reading, before you go. The details on this page were checked on .