Matthew Magee released the first series of his podcast Stone Me last year after he’d caught the ancient history bug on a trip to Orkney a few summers ago. He took listeners on an adventure to the likes of the Ness of Brodgar and Ring of Brodgar in Orkney, the Stones of Calanais in Lewis and Machrie Moor in Arran, speaking with experts at each site in the hope of helping people to learn more about the wonders of Scotland’s stone circles . He has now begun releasing a second series which continues to have some focus on stones, but also branches out to some more unassuming Neolithic sites and others we’d likely not even notice unless someone told us about them.
This time, Magee ventures to the likes of Balfarg Henge in Glenrothes – a stone circle that sits in the middle of a housing estate – and Doon Hill in Dunbar, a hilltop where the remains of two timber halls were found through aerial photography, though nothing survives of them above ground today. The well-preserved Maeshowe tomb in Orkney – believed to be one of the finest pieces of stonework from the period – and the Cairn Holy chambered cairns in Dumfries and Galloway are also explored in the series. READ MORE: Islay: Archaeologists discover early medieval workshop on Scottish island Magee additionally visits a cursus monument near Biggar.
A cursus is a huge monument dug into the land, so it was almost invisible to Magee but for a slight indentation in the grass which had to be pointed out to him. Magee sai.