Regional sacred-site guide
Sacred sites in Scotland
Explore 134 sacred places in Scotland, United Kingdom, with a regional map and links to detailed site guides.
Traditions in Scotland
Site types in Scotland
Showing 1-48 of 134 sites in this regional guide
Achnabreck Rock Art Sites
Lochgilphead, Scotland, United Kingdom
On a series of natural rock outcrops in a forest above Kilmartin Glen, the most extensive prehistoric carvings in Scotland lie open to the sky....
Arbroath Abbey
Arbroath, Scotland, United Kingdom
Arbroath Abbey stands in Scotland as a major monastic site. At Arbroath Abbey, Christian monastic tradition provides the public sacred context....
Arthur's Seat
Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
Arthur’s Seat is the volcanic high point of Holyrood Park in Edinburgh, Scotland....
Auchagallon Curved Cairn
Machrie, Scotland, United Kingdom
On the west coast of the Isle of Arran, on a shelf of hillside above Machrie Bay, fifteen upright stones form a circle around the remains of a Bronze Age burial cairn....
Auchencar Standing Stone
Machrie, Scotland, United Kingdom
On the west coast of the Isle of Arran, where the coastal road runs between the mountains and the sea, a tall blade of red sandstone rises from a sheep field near...
Backies Broch
Golspie, Scotland, United Kingdom
On a rocky hillock above the village of Golspie, the remains of Backies Broch look out over the Moray Firth and the North Sea....
Ballygowan Rock Art
Kilmartin, Scotland, United Kingdom
On a natural rock outcrop above Kilmartin Glen, more than seventy cup and ring marks dimple a surface that has not changed in five thousand years....
Ballymeanoch Neolithic site, Kilmartin Glen
Kilmartin, Scotland, United Kingdom
In Kilmartin Glen, where more than 350 ancient monuments cluster within six miles of a quiet village, Ballymeanoch holds its ground with particular intensity....
Baluachraig Cup and Ring Marks
Kilmartin, Scotland, United Kingdom
On exposed rock outcrops in Kilmartin Glen, Neolithic hands pecked cup-shaped hollows and concentric rings into the stone some five thousand years ago....
Banks Chambered Tomb
South Ronaldsay, Scotland, United Kingdom
On the windswept southern tip of South Ronaldsay, a Neolithic community quarried a tomb from solid bedrock and used it for three centuries to bury their dead....
Barpa Langass
Lochmaddy, Scotland, United Kingdom
On the western flank of Ben Langass, a massive dome of stone rises from the moorland of North Uist....
Blackhammer Chambered Cairn
Rousay, Scotland, United Kingdom
On Rousay's southern coast, a short walk from the road, Blackhammer Chambered Cairn sits beneath its modern protective shelter....
Broch of Borwick
Sandwick, Scotland, United Kingdom
The Broch of Borwick stands on a crumbling headland above the Atlantic on Orkney's west coast, a stone tower built around 500 BC and occupied for over a thousand years....
Broch of Burrian
North Ronaldsay, Scotland, United Kingdom
At the southernmost tip of North Ronaldsay, Orkney's most remote inhabited island, the remains of an Iron Age broch stand on a low rocky promontory....
Broch of Clickimin
Lerwick, Scotland, United Kingdom
On a small islet in Clickimin Loch, within walking distance of Lerwick, stands a broch complex spanning nearly 2,000 years of continuous habitation....
Broch of Gurness
Evie, Scotland, United Kingdom
The Broch of Gurness rises from a rocky promontory on Orkney's northwest coast, overlooking the turbulent waters of Eynhallow Sound....
Broch of Mousa
Mousa, Scotland, United Kingdom
On the small, uninhabited island of Mousa in Shetland, a stone tower has stood for over two thousand years almost exactly as its builders left it....
Brora Pictish Cairn
Brora, Scotland, United Kingdom
On the hills above the coastal town of Brora in Sutherland, a cairn attributed to the Pictish period stands as one of the least-documented monuments in a landscape dense...
Brough of Birsay
Birsay, Scotland, United Kingdom
The Brough of Birsay rises from the sea off the northwest coast of Orkney, reachable only when the tide withdraws....
Brough of Deerness Chapel
Deerness, Scotland, United Kingdom
On the eastern tip of Orkney's Mainland, a grass-topped promontory rises from the North Sea, connected to the land by a narrow neck of eroded rock....
Bruan Broch
Lybster, Scotland, United Kingdom
On a low rise beside the A99 in Scotland's far north, a grass-covered mound conceals the remains of an Iron Age broch....
Burraland Broch
Trondra, Scotland, United Kingdom
On the eastern coast of Mainland Shetland, the ruins of Burraland Broch stand on a promontory above Mousa Sound....
Burroughston Broch
Shapinsay, Scotland, United Kingdom
At the northeastern corner of Shapinsay, far from the island's small settlement, Burroughston Broch stands on a hillock above the sea....
Cairn of Get
Ulbster, Scotland, United Kingdom
On a windswept hillside in Scotland's far north, a stone chamber has held its silence for over five thousand years....
Cairnpapple Hill
Bathgate, Scotland, United Kingdom
Cairnpapple Hill is a nationally or regionally important prehistoric place in Scotland....
Callanish 4 Stone Circle
Callanish, Scotland, United Kingdom
On rising ground above Loch Ceann Hulabhig, five standing stones of Lewisian gneiss form a quiet oval around a small burial cairn....
Callanish II Stone Circle
Callanish, Scotland, United Kingdom
On a low ridge overlooking East Loch Roag, five standing stones and two fallen slabs trace an ellipse that once held ten uprights around a central cairn....
Callanish Standing Stone Circle
Callanish, Scotland, United Kingdom
On the Atlantic edge of Lewis, thirteen standing stones form a circle older than the main phase of Stonehenge....
Callanish Stone Circle 8
Callanish, Scotland, United Kingdom
On the southern coast of Great Bernera, three standing stones and one fallen companion form a semicircle at the edge of a sheer cliff above Loch Roag....
Callanish Stone Circle III
Callanish, Scotland, United Kingdom
On a low ridge southeast of the main Callanish Stones, a double concentric ring of Lewisian gneiss has stood for nearly five thousand years....
Camster Cairns
Lybster, Scotland, United Kingdom
On the windswept peatlands of Caithness, two stone cairns rise from the heather as they have for over five thousand years....
Camster Cairns - The Long Cairn
Part of Camster Cairns
Lybster, Scotland, United Kingdom
Camster Long rises from the open peatland of Caithness like a stone vessel set down on the moor and forgotten by all but the wind....
Camster Cairns - The Round Cairn
Part of Camster Cairns
Lybster, Scotland, United Kingdom
On the peatlands of Caithness, a circular mound of grey stone rises from the heather....
Carn Liath Broch
Golspie, Scotland, United Kingdom
Where the A9 hugs the coast between Golspie and Brora, a circular stone tower rises from a low headland overlooking the North Sea....
Carrol Broch
Brora, Scotland, United Kingdom
Above Loch Brora in Sutherland, where the strath opens between hills of heather and birch, the ruins of Carrol Broch stand on a raised clearing surrounded by forest....
Clava Cairns
Inverness, Scotland, United Kingdom
Set in a woodland clearing near Inverness, the Clava Cairns stand as monuments to Bronze Age beliefs about death and rebirth....
Corrimony Cairn
Drumnadrochit, Scotland, United Kingdom
Hidden in a quiet Highland glen, Corrimony Chambered Cairn has kept watch over its buried dead for four thousand years....
Croft Moraig Stone Circle, Aberfeldy
Aberfeldy, Scotland, United Kingdom
On the shores of Loch Tay, three concentric rings of stone mark a place held sacred for five millennia....
Culswick Broch
Walls, Scotland, United Kingdom
On a conical hilltop above the western coast of Shetland, the walls of Culswick Broch still stand in local red granite, warm-coloured and resolute after two thousand years....
Cuween Hill Chambered Cairn
Kirkwall, Scotland, United Kingdom
On Cuween Hill, a few miles west of Kirkwall on Mainland Orkney, a low passage leads into the earth and opens into a chambered tomb five thousand years old....
Dornoch Cathedral
Dornoch, Scotland, United Kingdom
Dornoch Cathedral is a nationally or regionally important cathedral place in Scotland....
Dryburgh Abbey
Dryburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
Dryburgh Abbey stands in Scotland as a major monastic site. At Dryburgh Abbey, Christian monastic tradition provides the public sacred context....
Dun Beag, Struan, Isle of Skye, Scotland
Struan, Scotland, United Kingdom
On a windswept hilltop above Struan, the dry-stone walls of Dun Beag have stood for over two thousand years....
Dun Carloway Broch
Carloway, Scotland, United Kingdom
On a rocky knoll above East Loch Roag, the walls of Dun Carloway Broch still rise nine metres without mortar....
Dunadd sacred hill, Lochgilphead, Scotland
Bridgend, Scotland, United Kingdom
A rocky crag rises from the ancient Great Moss at the mouth of Kilmartin Glen. On its summit, a footprint carved into living rock marks the place where the Gaelic kings of...
Dunamuck North Stone Row
Kilmartin, Scotland, United Kingdom
On the flat ground west of the River Add, where Kilmartin Glen opens into moorland and rough pasture, Dunamuck North Stone Row stands in quiet witness....
Dunamuck South Stone Row
Kilmichael Glassary, Scotland, United Kingdom
On level ground beside the River Add, two massive stone slabs stand where Bronze Age hands raised them four thousand years ago....
Dunbeath Broch
Dunbeath, Scotland, United Kingdom
Where the Dunbeath Water meets the Houstry Burn in the strath of Caithness, a drystone tower has stood for over two thousand years....
Showing 1-48 of 134 sites
Key questions
Scotland sacred-site questions
- How many sacred sites are listed in Scotland?
- This regional guide currently includes 134 sacred sites in Scotland, United Kingdom.
- Which traditions are represented in Scotland?
- The most represented traditions in the current guide include Celtic and Prehistoric, Christianity, Anglican or historic Western Christian tradition, Christian monastic tradition, Prehistoric ritual and funerary traditions, Christian pilgrimage tradition, Buddhism, Gaelic Folklore / Christian Heritage.
- Can I view Scotland sacred sites on a map?
- Yes. Switch to map view to compare the listed places, then open a site page for coordinates and visiting context.