The Lang Stane: Aberdeen’s Ancient Stone Among the Shops
At a glance
| What | Tall granite standing stone, probably a medieval boundary stone |
| Height | About 1.8 m |
| Where | Alcove at 10 Langstane Place, just off Union Street, Aberdeen |
| First mapped | Paterson’s map of Aberdeen, 1746 |
| Origin | Possibly a stone from a lost prehistoric circle (unproven) |
| Entry | Free, in the street |
Why it matters
Thousands of people walk down Langstane Place in the centre of Aberdeen every day, and very few look into the alcove at number 10. Standing in it is the Lang Stane, Scots for the long stone, a tall slab of granite about 1.8 metres high that has given its name to the street. It has been here, or very close, since at least 1746, and it may be much older than anything else in the city centre.
What we know
The stone appears on Paterson’s map of Aberdeen of 1746, drawn before Langstane Place or Union Street existed, standing roughly where it is today. The word “LANGSTANE” was cut into its face around 1850. Most historians think it served as a march stone, one of the stones that marked the boundaries of the burgh’s lands, and it was presumably moved a little when Union Street and the streets around it were laid out in the early 19th century. Some accounts also connect it with the 1571 battle at Craibstone on the city’s outskirts, but there is no firm evidence.
Was it part of a stone circle?
The interesting question is where it came from before that. Its base is shaped to a point, rather like the keel of a boat, which is common on the stones of Aberdeenshire’s recumbent stone circles because it made them easier to set upright in the ground. In the 1960s the Aberdeen historian Fenton Wyness suggested it came from a lost circle somewhere nearby. Canmore records it only as a possible prehistoric standing stone, and nobody has found any trace of the circle. It remains a good theory without proof.
It would not be unique. Many stones from destroyed circles were reused as gateposts, boundary markers and building stone. At Inverurie, the Brandsbutt Stone probably began in a prehistoric circle before the Picts carved it.
Finding it
The stone stands in a recess in the wall at 10 Langstane Place, a street running parallel to Union Street on its south side, near the west end. It is free to see at any time, and the alcove is easy to walk past without noticing.
From Aberdeen
To see a stone circle still standing, drive 30 minutes north-west to East Aquhorthies near Inverurie, the most complete recumbent circle in Scotland. The city’s turbulent past is close by too: the Gordon–Forbes feud that began at Rhynie ended in a second fight at Craibstone in November 1571, and in 1562 Mary Queen of Scots’ army broke the Earl of Huntly on the Hill of Fare at Corrichie. South down the coast, Dunnottar Castle sits on its sea stack beyond Stonehaven; north, the dunes of Balmedie run for miles. For the wider area see our guide to Aberdeenshire and the North-East, and for more stones with a story see our guide to the famous stones of Scotland.
Sources
- Canmore — Aberdeen, Langstane Place, Lang Stane (site 20073).
- G. & W. Paterson, map of Aberdeen (1746).
- Fenton Wyness, writings on old Aberdeen (1960s).