Turn Left for Tyrebagger Stone Circle

Tyrebagger Recumbent Stone Circle is near Aberdeen, situated on the hill behind the airport and overlooking the Kirkhill Industrial Estate.

The search for Tyrebagger

So, when my family and I went seeking this circle we thought it would be easy to find. Yes. Well. Google maps took us close. Very close in fact. But there’s nowhere to stop a car and get out on the dual carriageway, so no possibility of taking the app’s advice to ‘walk the rest of the way to your destination’.

We turned to directions found on the internet which took us up the side of the industrial estate and into the woods. But the last instruction, to turn right along the line of trees… there was no right there. We ended up lost and peering over gates and up tracks and across fields. But then, Google maps pinpointed the exact location of the stones and we retraced our steps.

‘”It’s somewhere in that direction…”

“Just the other side of those trees…”

“But how can we get through there?”

Until:

pathe to Tyrebagger Stone Circle

A circle, found!

A pathway was spotted – it had been there after all, but on the LEFT – and it had a certain look and feel about it. It reminded me of the path into the often elusive Loudon Wood circle. Sure enough, moments later the stones came into view over a gate and field, silhouetted against a misty looking forest.

Tyrebagger Stone Circle across the field

Tyrebagger Stone Circle proved well worth the search.

Tyrebagger Stone Circle

It’s a beautiful circle, with unusually tall stones.

Leaning stones at Tyrebagger

Outlander

Sometimes when I post stone circle photos on social media, people ask if they are the stones from Outlander, and I explain that those are fictional stones. But these do look a little like the ones used in the TV show. (Inverness Outlanders found another site that may be even more like it and have photographed it in all seasons here.)

Tall stones at Tyrebagger

I had heard that, due to its close proximity to Aberdeen, Tyrebagger sometimes has a graffiti problem. This was not the case on the day we visited. The stones stood tall and unblemished against the blue sky.

The recumbent of Tyrebagger Stone Circle

I liked the trees too, grey and tall like the stones.

Stones and trees
The Mermaid and the Bear cover

Back in my own bookish territory, there are a couple of things to mention. The Fraserburgh Herald reported on THE MERMAID AND THE BEAR here, and the book has had its first ever review here on the Lost in a Good Book blog.

Let’s finish with one last look at Tyrebagger…

Tyrebagger Stone Circle

My Books

Sisters at the Edge of the World cover

Set in 1st century Scotland, SISTERS AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD includes the battle of Mons Graupius between the Romans and the Caledonian tribes. The book features a neurodivergent main character and some rather complicated romance!

“Ethereal and spellbinding….” Historical Novel Society

Amazon UK

Amazon Worldwide

See the press release here

Read the article Roman Aberdeenshire features in author’s new book from Grampian Online.

Cover of Ailish Sinclair's 'The Mermaid and the Bear'

Taking place mainly in a fictional castle, THE MERMAID AND THE BEAR blends an often overlooked period of history, the Scottish witchcraft accusations, in particular the 1597 Aberdeen witchcraft panic, with a love story.

See the press release here

Amazon UK

Amazon Worldwide

From the Press and Journal: New book by Fraserburgh author highlights horrific extent of witch trials in Scotland 

Fireflies and Chocolate by Ailish Sinclair, out 2021

FIREFLIES AND CHOCOLATE was inspired by the kidnapped children and young people of Aberdeen. The story follows the adventures of Elizabeth Manteith from the castle and her determined efforts to get back home. There’s love. There’s derring-dos on the high seas… And there’s chocolate!

See the publisher’s Press Release here

Amazon UK

Amazon Worldwide

“Filled with excitement and suspense…” Historical Novel Society

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60 Replies to “Turn Left for Tyrebagger Stone Circle”

  1. Thank you for sharing your photographs of Tyrebagger Stone Circle. I’ve always wanted to visit Aberdeen and the surrounding areas. I’ll need to be this on my bucket’s list.

  2. Wonderful!!! So glad you found them and shared. They do look like the Outlander TV stones, sure, but that they are real means so much for this SoCal reader.

  3. Almost worth that struggle to find them if it meant stumbling across them like this. Adds to their air of mystery that they were there, waiting quietly, just through the hedge

  4. Before I started reading your blog, I had no idea that stone circles of all sizes were scattered all over in unlikely places. They seem to be all sizes and conditions and must be protected in some way, yes? It’s nice to think they were all over the place and remain.

      1. I also liked the fact they seem t be different sizes and complexities–running the gamut from cathedral to country church. But there is something about their continued and often undisturbed existence that catches my imagination.

    1. There are a lot of them, 150 or so in the Grampian region alone. Some are protected by Historic Scotland, most are not and are on private land. Sadly, many have been destroyed.

  5. So glad you found it! Reminds me of earlier this week when my family was hunting for “The House of Fairies” in Great Smoky Mountains National Park (U.S.). We ended up having to ask for directions from a park employee.

    Love the pictures!

  6. Since I probably won’t get back to Scotland, your photos are sustenance. Also a bit sad because I won’t have the pleasure of smelling the air, soaking up the feeling of history that saturates the landscape and looking down on a placid loch. Please keep sending/tweeting photos.

  7. I’d like to think the stones get their revenge on the vandals by infesting them with all manner of vile parasites … for which there is no cure except defenestration.

      1. Hi, I did not explain much and still have this theory and there is a post now about it from that day I was in the geological landscape musing. I but can’t help thinking if a leads to b then c might not have been straight from a.

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