Midmar Kirk

Also known as:
Christchurch
Nearest town:
Banchory (10km S)
OS reference:
NJ699064
OS sheet:
38
Latitude:
57° 8' 51.1 N
Longitude:
2° 29' 51.04 W

Images

Image of Midmar Kirk (Stone Circle) by postman

They should make a site page all of its own for this one.

Image credit: Chris Bickerton
postman
postman Aug 20, 2017
Image of Midmar Kirk (Stone Circle) by postman

Surely this tall impressive stone should have a site page of it’s own, within this one.

Image credit: Chris Bickerton
postman
postman Aug 20, 2017
Image of Midmar Kirk (Stone Circle) by Nucleus

One of the most impressing recumbent and its flankers
Visited June 2011

Image credit: Uwe Häberle 06/2011
Nucleus
Nucleus Jun 28, 2011
Image of Midmar Kirk (Stone Circle) by Chris

A possible second outlier, just south of the Balblair stone? The standing stone is in the background.

Chris
Chris Sep 17, 2006
Image of Midmar Kirk (Stone Circle) by Chris

Suspicious rubble in the woods around the outlier. Remains of a cairn? You feel there is more to be found in this scrub.

Chris
Chris Aug 29, 2006
Image of Midmar Kirk (Stone Circle) by greywether

The recumbent and flankers from inside the circle. The recumbent, at 4.5m, is amongst the longest.

greywether
greywether Mar 23, 2005
Image of Midmar Kirk (Stone Circle) by greywether

The “western outlier” – 1.3m high but described by Canmore as a cattle rubbing stone.

greywether
greywether Mar 23, 2005
Image of Midmar Kirk (Stone Circle) by Moth

Another pic of Matthew’s mum’s stone. Hope you don’t mind me posting it Matthew – it’s so beautiful....

Image credit: Tim Clark
Moth
Moth Aug 29, 2003

Articles

Midmar Kirk

postman
postman Aug 27, 2017

No field notes for seven and a half years, I reckon I can think of something to say.
I haven’t been here for well over a decade, before even my getting a digital camera, I got the big orange book saw what things were like in Aberdeenshire and came more or less straight away, spurred on by absurdly perfect sites with wonderful names like Sunhoney, Balgorkar and Midmar Kirk, being a massive Star Trek fan I’m drawn to anything with Kirk in it’s name. So here I am again, a place so splendid I could be on the bridge of the Enterprise, the kids have elected to stay in the car, my only company is my dog Mia, some birds, mine own thoughts and a host of dead people .
Even without Burls help I can tell that at least one of the stones is in the wrong place, but I don’t really care much at all, because the recumbent and flankers are the best in the world, argue with me I dare you, they are just mind blowing, perhaps they’re even responsible for my entire state of being, I was normal once you know.
Cope likened it to the top of Batman’s cowl, I think, I wont liken it to anything except stone setting precision madness, I like it a lot.
What can I say about the churchyard in which it now finds itself, it’s better than a barbed wire encased field that’s for sure, it’s quiet, peaceful, thought provoking, and lovely, are the grave stones too close? perhaps, but that is possibly inescapable in a place like this.
I keep reminding myself to go and look for the tall slender standing stone, about thirty yards north of the church in the trees, one of the few places better to find a prehistoric site than a churchyard is in some woods, these are nice woods, small, but nice.
Upon my return to home, I look on here and find that someone has described Midmar kirk thus.....How can a stone circle feel, well, ‘creepy’? Just superimpose one nihilistic death cult and all its paraphernalia, that’s how. Sorry, can’t feel ‘respect’ for something that shows no respect itself. And I must make a comment of my own, Respect? at least the stone circle is still here, that’s fairly respectful, isn’t it? and calling Christianity nihilistic is a bit like saying that Tim Vine doesn’t know any jokes, perhaps he’s unsure what nihilistic means, sure, some religions have made mistakes in the past, who hasn’t? no one and nothing is perfect. But those recumbent and flankers show an inkling of what perfection may look like.

Midmar Kirk

Vicster
Vicster Feb 28, 2010

When I first started dragging Mark around the country in search of stones, one of the first places we visited was Rudston Monolith; a site that took my breath away with the huge phallic stone stood alongside the wee church. Here at Midmar I again felt that thrill of seeing the ancient with the relatively new, side by side and seemingly in some kind of harmony. The grave stones are a little too close but this didn’t seem too intrusive to me. I just marvel at the fact that any of this site remains.

Midmar Kirk

fitzcoraldo
fitzcoraldo Dec 6, 2006

I found Midmar to be a bit of an odd place. The circle is smaller than I expected. I didn’t hang around here too long. All in all I found the whole experience here a little un-nerving.
The mortuary in the hospital where I used to work was painted in exactly the same shade of blue as the Kirk.

Midmar Kirk

Chris
Chris Sep 17, 2006

My 4th visit and I can’t believe I never noticed the graffitti on the recumbent! (Seems I’m not alone)

I can’t make out much, looks like 1864, some initials and....? Its right on the top, near the right flanker (from inside the circle). Anyone who can decipher it better, let me know.

Also in the woods near the northern Balblair stone I found a suspiciously long stone lying in the grass, just to the south of the menhir. Could be a gatepost, and after a day in the field you do start to see megaliths everywhere, but it raised my suspicions.

I do like this site, and I guess we should be grateful that it still remains-especially after visiting Kinellar Kirkyard earlier in the day.

Midmar Kirk

Jane
Jane Jul 30, 2006

It always makes me smile to see an ancient monument survive in context like this: a churchyard. Ha! Neatly tended lawns and regimented lines of graves and in the middle of it all… a stone circle! What pleasure! The flankers look as if they are triumphal raised arms as if the christians never existed.

Some of the modern graves are a bit too close to the circle for my liking, but it is easy to block them out of your mind and concentrate on those big pink stones.

This one is strawberries and cream!

Midmar Kirk

greywether
greywether Mar 23, 2005

I’d been here several times but I’d never looked at the outlier stones.

The north one, in the woods just up from the car park, is a beauty. The west one, disappointingly, is described by Canmore as a cattle rubbing stone.

Visited 20 March 2005

Midmar Kirk

M
Matthew Feb 12, 2001

Midmar is where my Mother Anne was buried in 1991 and the gravestone was added a couple of years later. My mother had a deep connedction with stone circles and during my childhood we were taken to scores of sites all over Scotland. When she died my father thought of Midmar and had remembered visiting it with her. The sculpture, based on the Indian/Celtic/Universal Tree of Life was commisioned by a local artist and took a long time to get and “feel” right (you can’t rush the creative process). My mum was born in India to Anglo Indian parents and was a very spiritual person and believe it or not a Christian. I remember though before she died she wrote and told me she was reading a book on Celtic Spirituality “just what I need” she said “no guilt , just a clear, pure, message”. I hope that here stone at Midmar gives joy to the visitors there- she would have approved i am sure. By the way, I am thrilled that this site exists, Julian and had the chance to read through some of your book which is excellent.

All the best Matthew

Midmar Kirk

Chris
Chris Oct 16, 2000

Don’t worry about the manicured nature of the site, everything about this circle still feels right (on), and despite their best efforts, everything in the curchyard is secondary to this fine RSC.

The outlier in the wood to the north, is a magnificent 8ft scarlet phallus, of such proudness it’s enough to make your eyes water!

Midmar Kirk

Merrick
Merrick Aug 7, 2000

Like Rudston Monolith in Yorkshire, this circle is actually *in* a churchyard (Christian assimilation of older religions can be so hilariously obvious sometimes). The Gordon District Council have, as at East Aquhorthies, signposted the place and done a decent info board. The board suggests that the stones have been moved (probably during the building of the church at the end of the 18th century), as the stone opposite the recumbent isn’t the smallest and (it says) the recumbent and eastern flanker are out of line with the circle as it stands. Unlike East Aquhorthies, the recumbent stone faces downhill.

The Modern Antiquarian mentions the western outlier stone in the field opposite the churchyard gates, but there’s also another stone two and half metres high north-north-west of the circle. A pinkish stone like those at Sunhoney, it stands among the strip of trees along the right hand side of the lane as you carry on up the hill past the church, on the crest of the hill about 60 metres from the churchyard. It’s leaning at 30 degrees in boggy ground, so who knows how long it’ll stand. I’m told it’s the last of an alignment of stones that once stood here.

Back in the churchyard, to the north of the stones is the outrageously pagan gravestone of one Anne Rochford – a stone slab fronted by a beautiful stylised tree made of copper-gold wire, with great little details of metal spider, mouse and lizard. Just the woman’s name and the years of her birth and death, not a Christian word or symbol in sight. Nice one Anne! Despite being right next to a church, the site does somehow retain a very pagan vibe, and I suspect we’re not the only ones who think so – there were discreet decorative ribbons tied on several trees.

(visited 30 June 00)

Midmar Kirk

G
Gazza Jul 4, 2000

On a trail of superb sites (Sunhoney etc), this was a real mind-blower of a visit. Parking by the small church, I noticed a small stone in the field opposite, probably a rubbing post as it was small and pretty central, but this is Aberdeenshire... stones everywhere ! Anyway, on into the churchyard, and at first I wasn’t sure if it was the right place. Then, I was literally knocked over by these beauties. They stand proud around a manicured lawn, looking like they have been rearranged by the Christians, which is a double edged sword – it’s good that they didn’t just remove them as most short-sighted christians would have, but it’s a pity they couldn’t get someone like Aubrey Burl to help them lay them out RIGHT ... i’m sure some were even upside-down. The recumbent and flankers are amazing, the recumbent enormous and dead flat, the flankers curve inwards like a huge pair of canine teeth from a long-dead animal. I was here for ages, just staring at them – they are just totally mesmerising. Even good little christians visiting the church seem to like them, which is a good sign for their future. And if this wasn’t enough, there is a large thin stone in the wood next to the church, which anywhere else would be headline news but in Aberdeenshire just gets a passing mention.

Folklore

Midmar Kirk
Stone Circle
drewbhoy
drewbhoy Mar 27, 2009

During my visit to Midmar Kirk RSC I happened to enter the church. Two ladies were organising flowers for a funeral to be held the next day. To be polite I said hello and asked if they knew anything about the circle. Surprisingly I was told that two of the missing stones from the circle are to be found in the foundations of the kirk.

The tall and superb stone 100 meters north is called Balblair, which the ladies also said had once been part of a circle.

Visited September 08.

Topics

moon over midmar 13
tuesday
tuesday
Jun 2007

Sites within 20km of Midmar Kirk

Like all websites everywhere, we use cookies.