Loupin' Stanes And Girdle Stanes

Now I know that some of you clamour for a stone circle, so hold on to your breeches as we recently found two stone circles within a short walk of each other called the Loupin' Stanes and the Girdle Stanes.

Loupin' Stanes

We'll start you off with the Loupin' Stanes as these are the closest to the parking. Just follow the little finger post for two minutes and you'll end up smack bang in the middle of the stone circle.

The Loupin' Stanes is a cool little oval stone circle made up of 12 stones (we counted), set on a raised platform. There are two chunky stones that stand out from the rest and are thought to form an entrance which we read is a pretty common feature in stone circles across this part of Scotland.

We got the tape measure out and discovered it's radius was around 11.5 metres at its widest point.

A bit of Googling told us that the name Loupin' Stones came from local lads and lasses 'louping' (leaping) from one entrance stone to another. That's a canny jump as they are around 2.5 metres apart! The game soon stopped after a broken leg and maybe this was when the Bronze Age people brought in Health And Safety regulations!

Girdle Stanes

From here, if you follow the path next to the River Esk for around 650 metres in a SW direction, you will find yourself at another fine stone circle called the Girdle Stanes.

You can see from our aerial photo that this is actually a semi-circular stone circle with a wadge of the stones probably washed away by the River Esk.

The original diameter would have been 39 metres and probably had between 40-45 stones. However in its current reduced state there are only 26 stones remaining.

Both the Loupin' Stanes and Girdle Stanes are believed to have been built during the Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age, so getting my abacus out, that puts them roughly between 2500 BC and 1500 BC.

We also read there is a remains of an avenue linking the two stone circles. There were certainly some stones alongside the path between the two, but difficult to see anything clearly.

You can also get a nifty view of the Girdle Stones from the road too.

Lots more to explore in this area, so make sure you nip back later on.