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Thirstone is a Bronze Age stone circle located in Lanarkshire, Scotland, approximately 1300 metres north-north-west of a point now obscured by time. The monument belongs to a tradition of ritual and ceremonial construction that flourished across Britain during the second millennium BC, when communities established stone circles as focal points for communal gatherings and seasonal observances.
The circle sits on bedrock formed from the Lanark Group, a geological sequence of sandstone and conglomerate deposited during the Early Devonian period over 400 million years ago. This varied geology would have provided Bronze Age builders with accessible stone suitable for monument construction. The interbedded nature of the underlying rocks reflects the ancient river and delta environments in which these sediments accumulated, long before human settlement transformed the landscape.
Today Thirstone is protected as a scheduled monument under Historic Environment Scotland's reference SM5094, recognising its significance as a rare surviving Bronze Age ceremonial structure in the region. Stone circles of this age remain important archaeological witnesses to prehistoric communities and their spiritual beliefs, though this particular example awaits fuller documentation of its standing stones and overall configuration.
Thirstone,stone circle 1300m NNW of is a scheduled monument protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM5094. View the official record →
Thirstone is a Bronze Age stone circle located in Lanarkshire, Scotland, approximately 1300 metres north-north-west of a point now obscured by time. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM5094.
Thirstone,stone circle 1300m NNW of dates from the bronze age period, and is classified as a stone circle. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Thirstone,stone circle 1300m NNW of is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, legally protected by Historic Environment Scotland — the body responsible for designating and safeguarding heritage sites in Scotland. The official designation reference is SM5094.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Netherton,cairn 800m SW of (3.2 km), Craighead, platform settlement 1200m WNW of (3.7 km), Craighead, barrow and cairn 820m NW of (3.9 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Thirstone,stone circle 1300m NNW of's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Thirstone,stone circle 1300m NNW of stands on Lanark Group, bedrock that formed in the Early Devonian. The rock here is sandstone and conglomerate, interbedded.