Region : Dumfries & Galloway Home
District : Nithsdale Map
Town or village : Dumfries List
Grid Reference : NX 947 794 Glossary
Period :   2nd millennium BC  Bibliography
Twelve Apostles

STONE CIRCLE
Twelve Apostles image

 
With its maximum diameter of 88m Twelve Apostles is the largest stone circle in mainland Scotland and one of the largest in Great Britain. It lies a few kilometres north of Dumfries, and is cut in two by a modern field boundary.
Until 1837 there were twelve stones out of a probable 18 originals, but now only eleven of them survive, five still standing. Only four boulders are of local stone.
The tallest upright stone is 1.9m high, but the largest block is a slab 3.2m long and 2.3m wide lying prostrate in the south-west sector of the ring. Many white quartz pebbles were found within the circle.