Balfarg Henge and Balbirnie Stone circle now sit in the midst of a housing estate separated by the A92. The site must have been an important ceremonial site during the Neolithic period.
Built between two waterways by the ‘Markinch Gap’, collectively these sites are the biggest concentration of prehistoric ceremonial monuments in Fife and suggest a landscape revered as sacred over generations. Elsewhere modern ploughing has removed similar sites, such as at Ravenshall near Dunshalt and Navitie Hill by Ballingry where cropmarks have revealed henges and timber structures during aerial surveys. These ritualised places were clearly invested with profound religious meanings. They reflect evolving perceptions of the natural world and the transformation of people’s relationship with landscape, religious beliefs and social hierarchies.
The Henge, which was thoroughly excavated from 1977 – 1978 during road widening, dates from around 3200BC, and was built in two phases.
