Destroyed twice and rebuilt twice, Strichen is less a fixed ancient monument than a 250-year argument about where its stones truly belong.
On a hillside close to the crumbling walls of Strichen House stands a ring of stones that has been knocked down, rebuilt, turned into a garden ornament, felled by falling trees, and dug up again by archaeologists — and still nobody is entirely certain every stone sits where the original builders put it. Seven uprights now stand alongside a long recumbent slab and its two flanking stones, arranged in the recumbent stone circle style found across this corner of north-east Scotland, where a horizontal block laid on its side, rather than a standing pillar, forms the ring’s focal point.
The recumbent itself is substantial — about 2.6 metres long and over a metre tall — and points south-south-east, a consistent orientation shared by circles of this type. But the ring around it has had a far less settled history than the stone itself. Famous visitors came to marvel at what they took for a druidical temple, a tenant farmer tore it down, a laird ordered it rebuilt in the wrong spot, tuberculosis patients took their tea beside it, and twentieth-century archaeologists spent three years trying to work out which stones had moved and which had not.
What follows is drawn from published sources, with each claim labelled by how firmly it is established.
History
In 1758 James Boswell visited the circle with his father, and in 1773 he returned with Samuel Johnson, who wanted to see what he called a 'Druid's Temple'. Four stones were still standing at the time, though Johnson reportedly found the surrounding woods more impressive than the ring itself.
Around 1830 a tenant farmer completely destroyed the ring, prompting the landowner Thomas Alexander Fraser of nearby Strichen House to compel him to rebuild it. The stones went back up in the wrong location, inside a ring bank where an Iron Age timber building had once stood, and the reconstruction was refashioned into an ornamental folly of six standing stones.
By 1956 the surveyor Alexander Thom had recorded the circle in its six-stone folly form, by which time the enclosure served as a tea garden for tuberculosis patients convalescing at Strichen House. The house itself closed in 1958, and within a few years the trees planted around the stones were felled, destroying the circle for a second time during the 1960s.
A local council appeal to restore the monument led to a major excavation between 1979 and 1982, directed by the prehistorian Aubrey Burl together with Philip Abramson and Iain Hampsher-Monk. Their dig recovered hammer stones, rubbing stones and fragments of beaker pottery, and established that although the recumbent slab had always stood in its correct place, the rest of the ring had not.
The archaeologist Adam Welfare later questioned the accuracy of the 1982 rebuilding, noting that the smallest upright had been re-erected on the north-north-west side of the ring rather than the north-north-east position typical of these monuments. Volunteer labourers during the restoration found the most practical way to shift the heavy orthostats was to slide them over logs bedded with dry straw.
By 2003 one of the stones re-erected during the 1982 restoration had fallen over again, a small but telling sign of just how many times this circle has had to be pieced back together since Boswell and Johnson first came to see it two and a half centuries earlier.
People
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James Boswell
Visited the circle in 1758 with his father and returned with Samuel Johnson in 1773.
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Samuel Johnson
Travelled to see the circle in 1773 out of interest in what he termed a ‘Druid’s Temple’.
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Thomas Alexander Fraser
Owner of Strichen House and its land who compelled the tenant farmer to rebuild the destroyed circle around 1830.
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Alexander Thom
Surveyed and produced a plan of the six-stone circle in 1956.
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Aubrey Burl
Initiated the 1979–82 restoration excavation, whose work established that the recumbent and flankers originally stood on the circle’s southern side.
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Philip Abramson
Completed the Strichen restoration project with Iain Hampsher-Monk after Burl’s initial fieldwork, re-erecting the stones in sockets identified by the excavation.
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Iain Hampsher-Monk
Co-authored the 2006 published account of the 1979–82 excavation, which documented the Early Iron Age timber circle and roundhouse-like structure within the earlier monument.
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Adam Welfare
Questioned the accuracy of the 1982 restoration, noting the smallest orthostat stands on the wrong side of the ring.
Cultural influences
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Recumbent stone circles
Strichen belongs to Aberdeenshire’s recumbent stone-circle tradition, though repeated destruction and restoration have altered its present layout.
Connections
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Recumbent stone circles of north-east Scotland
Strichen belongs to this regional class of monument, sharing the distinctive arrangement of a horizontal recumbent slab flanked by two uprights within the ring.
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Strichen House
The circle stands on a hill close to the ruins of this mansion, whose owner ordered its 19th-century rebuilding and whose grounds later served as a tea garden around the stones.
Discovery & excavation
Following a local council appeal to restore the monument after its second destruction, excavations directed by Aubrey Burl with Philip Abramson and Iain Hampsher-Monk took place between 1979 and 1982. The dig recovered hammer stones, rubbing stones and beaker pottery fragments, and showed that the recumbent stone had remained in its original position even though the rest of the ring had shifted.
What to look for
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The recumbent and its flankers
A long recumbent slab around 2.6 metres in length and over a metre tall lies on the south-south-east side of the ring, flanked by two upright stones — the classic arrangement of a recumbent stone circle.
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Seven standing orthostats
Seven upright stones complete the ring alongside the recumbent and its flankers, though not all are believed to stand in their original prehistoric positions.
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The ring bank
The circle sits within a ring bank that originally enclosed an Iron Age timber building, a separate and later structure into which the stones were mistakenly rebuilt around 1830.
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A fallen stone
One of the orthostats re-erected during the 1979–1982 restoration was found to have toppled again by 2003.
What is said
Folklore and tradition, recorded as what is said — not as established fact.
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The 'Druid's Temple'
Samuel Johnson travelled to see the circle in 1773 in the belief that it was what he called a 'Druid's Temple', reflecting the 18th-century assumption that stone circles were built by druids.
Plan your visit
- Location
- 57.5804°N · 2.1074°W
- Access
- Open access
- Terrain
- Moderate walking
- Time needed
- About 30 minutes
- What survives
- Rebuilt and restored stone circle; the site has been reconstructed more than once.
Opening & admission
There is no admission charge — check the managing body's site for any visiting guidance before travelling.
- Stands on a hill near the ruins of Strichen House, reachable in open countryside
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Questions people ask
- What is a recumbent stone circle?
- A type of stone circle, found mainly in north-east Scotland, where a large stone is laid on its side between two upright flanking stones rather than standing like the rest of the ring.
- Why has Strichen stone circle been destroyed twice?
- A tenant farmer demolished it around 1830, and felling of the surrounding trees destroyed it again in the 1960s; both times it was later rebuilt.
- Is the circle standing in its original position?
- Only the recumbent stone is confirmed to be in its original spot; excavation showed the rest of the ring was rebuilt in the wrong place after 1830.
- Who excavated Strichen stone circle?
- Aubrey Burl, Philip Abramson and Iain Hampsher-Monk led excavations between 1979 and 1982, funded after a local council appeal.
- Did Samuel Johnson visit the circle?
- Yes, in 1773, accompanying James Boswell, out of curiosity to see what he called a 'Druid's Temple'.
Sources
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