Niddrie Standing Stone

Nearest town:
Musselburgh (4km ENE)
OS reference:
NT299712
OS sheet:
66
Latitude:
55° 55' 43.17 N
Longitude:
3° 7' 19.37 W
Added to TMA by

Images

Image of Niddrie Standing Stone by Martin

20/12/01-you can just make out some of the cupmarkings at the base of the stone on the left hand side

Martin
Martin Jan 11, 2002

Articles

Niddrie Standing Stone

Niddrie Standing Stone Rediscovered!

Martin
Martin Dec 21, 2001

I made a field visit to this site yesterday in the hope that this stone had not been destroyed in the process of the modern houses been built here- and found it- 26 years after the OS reported it gone! Contacted the RCAHMS as their database states that no trace of this stone can now be found;

Yesterday I took the opportunity to try and find Niddrie House Standing
Stone (NMRS Number: NT27SE 199). I noted from the CANMORE database that the
last entry for this stone states;
‘No trace in an area of modern housing development’- OS report August 1975.
However, as fate would have it, I missed the bus stop and when turning into
the terminus, noticed the stone next to the pavement. It appears that the
map co-ords on the database are wrong- NT298715- I think it should be NT2987
7125 (using 1:25000 scale, not GPS unfortunately). I also had another set of
co-ords for this stone from Adam McLeans book ‘The Standing Stones of the
Lothians’- however these were also slightly west.
The stone now stands at the corner of Greendykes Road and Niddrie House
Avenue, just a couple of metres from the main road and behind a utilities
buildings (electricity?) and just outside a small burial ground. The
dimensions on CANMORE are approx correct and I noticed the cupmarkings on
the right at the base of the stone- certainly at least one of them looks
natural, but there were around 5 others which looked classically megalithic.
I hope the above information is of some use.

The RCAHMS replied;
Thank you very much for taking the time to contact us about the Niddrie standing stone. We are delighted to hear that it is still visible and we will update the information in the database early in the New Year.

Niddrie Standing Stone

Martin
Martin Dec 28, 2001

Niddrie House Standing Stone
Thursday 20/12/01
Ha! Found it! I had two sets of map co-ordinates for this stone and as it happens, both of them were wrong. One set from the RCAHMS site (from the OS originally) is actually north of here, the other set from Adam McLeans ‘Standing Stones of the Lothians’ is east of this spot. The hand of fate had a say in me finding this stone- I missed my bus stop- I was originally going to check out the OS co-ordinate area to the north of here. However, I stayed on the bus and as it turned left into its terminus I caught a glimpse of the Niddrie House Standing Stone! As it turns out, the description in the ‘Standing Stones of the Lothians’ was not bad, but the stone is now no longer in the burial ground. Within sight of Arthurs Seat and in the shadow of a yew tree, it sits next to the pavement just behind a utilities hut. It’s almost been overgrown by ivy and brambles which is no bad thing as the conspicuous stones in the graveyard have almost all been smashed and/or covered in paint. The stone itself is about 4 foot tall, about the same wide but only about 1 and a half foot thick- it appears to be aligned approximately N/S. It’s really weathered and has great grooves running down it. Yes- there are cup marks on it (it’s a conglomerate stone) but at the bottom right of the stone there are about five cup marks which look classically megalithic to me. So- here it hides in a corner of Niddire, slowly disappearing under vegetation, dog shit and litter. But, as I said, it’s mebbe for the best that it blends in to its surroundings.
The OS-nil, TKnow-one!

Directions
Take the number 21 bus from Princes Street heading south towards Craigmillar and Niddrie. Get off at the terminus after it turns off left from Greendykes Road into Niddrie House Avenue. The stone is just off the pavement next to the fenced-off burial ground to the left of the school. It sits behind some sort of utilities buildings (electricity?).

Miscellaneous

Niddrie Standing Stone
Standing Stone / Menhir
Martin
Martin Dec 12, 2001

This site was visited by the OS in 1975 and ‘no trace in an area of modern housing development’ was reported. However, it was still in situ in 1929- where is it now? A field visit (hopefully soon) will determine if it has truly disappeared. From the RCAHMS website;
‘This stone, which formerly stood at an unspecified spot E of Craigmillar (NT 28 71 ) was, in 1921, used as a gatepost as the entrance to a private churchyard c. 300 m WNW of Niddrie House. A block of conglomerate, it measures 1.0 m by 0.5 m at base and stood 1.5 m high with numerous, apparently natural, cup-marks scattered over its surface’.

Sites within 20km of Niddrie Standing Stone

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