Callanish quarry / fallen stone circle

By John MacLean, 09/08/11:

Well worth a visit, after seeing the main standing stone circles at and near Callanish, is the set of stones on the hills (often called Na Dromannan or Druim nan Eun) to the east of Callanish village (waterproof footwear advisable). This consists of a number of large stones, some broken, measuring up to 10 feet in length. Some of the packing stones used to erect them on the bedrock are still in place.

                                               

The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS) describes the stones as being part of a fallen circle and it is thought by some that this rocky exposed knoll was where the stones of the circles still standing today were quarried and prepared.

       Excavation of this stone circle involved the removal of a covering blanket of peat and revealed that the circle comprised an outer ring of seventeen stones and an inner ring of five. Though at least two of the stones are missing, all of them had fallen, having been quarried on site and no more than chocked upright with packing stones directly onto the bedrock. The packing stones, fallen monoliths, some of which are broken, and the outcrops from which they were quarried remain exposed. (RCAHMS, 2009)