Stone Circles of Britain and Ireland Quiz

Answer: Machrie Moor

A collection of prehistoric monuments including "Fingal's Cauldron Seat" . One of the most important sites of its kind in all of Britain. The stones were erected over a long period of time, and cannot be considered as a single, cohesive monument.

Answer: Ring of Brodgar

Begun around the year 2500 BCE. Composed of an outer ditch, or henge, 340 feet across, and measuring 3 metres deep and 5 metres wide, with access causeways in the south-west and north-east of the henge.

Answer: Callanish

A Prehistoric complex of stone avenues and lines radiating from a central circle, built around 3,000 BC on land that had already been farmed. Callanish consists of a stone circle with a double line or avenue of stones leading away to the north. Single lines of stones lead away to the other four points of the compass.

Answer: Stones of Stenness

Four upright stones up to 6m in height in a circle that originally held 12 stones. The interior was a large hearth. The stones were encircled by a large ditch and bank, the form of which has been lost over time by ploughing.

Answer: Ballynoe

Large site which appears as a circle of over 50 close, upright stones, some as much as six feet tall make up this elliptical ring. The stones of the outer circle are nearly all composed of local Silurian grit, but a few are granite erratics.

Answer: Drombeg

Stones spanning 9.3 metres (31 ft) in diameter, of which 13 survive. The most westerly stone (1.9m long) is the long recumbent and has two egg shaped cup-marks, one with a ring around it. A "Cork-Kerry type" stone circle, it is flanked by a pair of 1.8m high axial portal stones, which provide a south-west axis, and orient the monument in the direction of the setting sun during the midwinter solstice.

Answer: Maughanby

Dates back to the early Bronze Age around 1500BC. One of the largest in north-western Europe. 'Long Meg' is a single sandstone monolith located outside of the circle which may have acted as a prehistoric sundial casting a shadow onto the circle of stones to the North East.

Answer: Stanton Drew

Made up of three interrelated stone circles. The Great Circle is 26 upright stones and has a circumference of 355 metres. Archaeological surveys conducted in 1997 show that the remaining circles were once part of a much larger site which may have extended from the Cove as far as the Neolithic burial site known as Hautville Quoit - a distance of 825 metres.

Answer: Avebury

The complex comprises the main circles, cove, two ceremonial avenues and numerous barrows, tumuli's and other earthworks. It's important to modern pagans as a religious site, and is also infamous for strange lights and demon myths. Many people point out that the arrangement of the avenues and the stone circles creates a distinctive serpentine shape.

The megaliths at Avebury are well known for their complex patterns made from generations of rare lichens. A recent survey noted 32 species on a single Sarsen stone.

Answer: Stonehenge

Arguably Britain's most important ancient monument, it's certainly one of the UK's most important tourist destinations. Archaeologists and historians believe it was constructed between 3000 BC and 2000 BC. There have been many theories as to why the site was abandoned from around 1800 BC. They range from tribal conflicts to sickness and mass depopulation.