Home Site Map Avebury Stonehenge Glastonbury Hermitage Castle Rosslyn Chapel Callanais Machrie Moor Wayland's Smithy Aldworth Giants Doon Hill Uffington Crossraguel Abbey Castlerigg Cerne Abbas Tomnahurich Clava Cairns Kilmartin Dunadd Spynie Palace St Bees Priory Arbor Low Silbury Hill West Kennet Longbarrow St Moluag's Church Na Dromannan (The Ridges) Stone Circle, Calanais, Isle of Lewis According to a report in the Stornaway Gazette on 4 September 2003 'archaeologists from the University of Manchester have excavated a new stone circle in Calanais, Lewis, that is already widely acknowledged as being second only to Stonehenge.' A team of eight archaeologists have uncovered 12 new stones, which could be from a destroyed circle which was recorded in 1928 by the Royal Commission on Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. The new stone circle has a 30m diameter. The twelve stones vary from 2.5m to 4m in length and are made from Lewissian gneiss. One of the stones is covered in a layer of quartz. Quote 'the stones are of particular interest because of their unusual construction. Instead of being bedded in earth, they were situated on a rocky outcrop and were originally propped up by stones encircling their bases. As such, they were less stable and were found lying in the positions they fell - some of them broken'. Quote 'Dr Richards (Senior Lecturer in Archaeology, Manchester University) stressed that the discovery of the ancient stone circle was very exciting, particularly because the circle was built on the site of a quarry from which the stones probably came, and where the team has found a large monolith.' The stone circle is thought to be over 3000 years old and is older than Stonehenge. It is positioned close to the other four stone circles at Calanais. The exact number of stones in the circle is unknown but it is thought the outer circle could have 16 or 17.