Midmar, Aberdeenshire, rich farming land in Scotland’s rural East. On first sight no particularly special place, no touch of holiness, not mythical or magical. It takes a second look to see what has been. This is a sacred place and has been for thousands of years.
Midmar Stone Circle
A stone circle dating back as far as the third millennium BC. Before Christ is the link that joins Midmar Stone Circle with two other sacred places that reference their existence to the birth of Christ as well: Midmar church, built in the late 18th century, and Midmar churchyard, established in the 20th century.
It is an immense time span, that links these sacred places.
sacred sites
Churches erected on the site of pre-historic places of worship is a phenomenon, which can often be seen in Scotland. A sacred place was the place to choose to replace the ancient belief with the new – Christianity. This “trick” worked and it worked fast because it made use of the magic that was already there, the new religion seemed to take its rightful place which made acceptance easier. After all, this is where the people have always worshipped. And so it worked though the centuries. In many places. Kilmore on the Isle of Skye was for example a place of worship for the Duids, then an early Celtic church dedicated to St. Mary and now there stands a modern church.
missionaries
Early monks christianised the pagans in what is now Scotland and England built churches where Picts and Romans had worshiped their Gods. What was sacred on one tribe or people was sacred to the next, sometimes for centuries, sometimes for millennia.
In Midmar, the stone circle, a ritual site thousands of years ago, was chosen to built the new church and a graveyard; standing stones and gravestones side by side.
Time seems of no importance here, irrelevant to the stones and this sacred place of worship. Here time changed nothing.
Graveyards of Scotland 