Cowiemuir

Nearest town:
Buckie (5km ENE)
OS reference:
NJ370631
OS sheet:
28
Latitude:
57° 39' 12.51 N
Longitude:
3° 3' 20.78 W
Added to TMA by

Images

Image of Cowiemuir (Cairn(s)) by stolinskie

The bridge under the road. This isn’t the best pic, but you can see larger stones being used as infill on both sides, no doubt from the circle

Image credit: stolinskie
stolinskie
stolinskie Feb 16, 2026
Image of Cowiemuir (Cairn(s)) by stolinskie

The route I took is marked in red. I would not recommend it. Next time, I would park at the spot then walk round to the gate.

Image credit: stolinskie
stolinskie
stolinskie Feb 16, 2026

Articles

Cowiemuir

stolinskie
stolinskie Feb 16, 2026

Visited February 2026

After reading the previous reports from Drew and Carl about the demon undergrowth at this site, I was prepared for battle, although the indefatigable Jamie Swanson had commented recently on facebook that he had done a bit of pruning.

I passed the possible site of the stone circle, then turned left and parked in a little layby which seems to be mostly used nowadays for dumping trash. I considered walking back along the road then headed into the woods instead, where I quickly found myself trapped between gorse and fallen trees. My heroic expedition continued for about 15 minutes (see map image), until I got to a field which was full of sheep watching me. I thought I could see the bit of gorse I needed to get to, but I then heard a burn, so I went to look at that. There is quite a substantial bridge over the burn for the road (see pic), and I imagine that is where the majority of the stone circle went.

I turned around after my bridge discovery and the sheep had moved closer as a block. I def now could see where I thought the circle was, a gorsey area on a rise next to the road, so instead of heading towards it I retreated back through the woods to find the road. From the road you can see the sea, and combined with the burn the spot makes sense as opposed to being a place in the middle of nowhere next to a trash recycling plant.

I walked round by road only to discover there’s a gate right next to the site and even more than that you can actually see two big rocks in the gorse from the road! Thanks Jamie S. for revealing them. The two big stones looked lovely but I didn’t go any closer, having fulfilled my gorse quote for the day already. I would recommend parkign where I parked but walking round strictly by road. I did see a treecreeper though.

Leaving the site I went on to Lower Tynet farm, where they have a fully automated 24 hour shop! Kinda like FEBO in the Netherlands!! So if you are driving on the nearby A road, remember you can always get eggs or milk there, no matter what the time.

Cowiemuir

C
CARL Aug 13, 2014

Failed visited 26.7.14

Didn’t see it – couldn’t get anywhere near it.

The area is completely covered by head height gorse and vegetation.

Winter visit required for this one.

Cowiemuir

drewbhoy
drewbhoy Apr 13, 2011

This site is a tragedy and a severe disappointment after Davie’s Castle Fort and the unexpected Upper Auchenreath. If there are any standing stones then I didn’t find them. I looked everywhere with jabbies and whins taking full revenge on my legs. What is left is a badly mutilated cairn with stones possibly buried underneath a pile of vegetation. Still it must have been a nice place in its day with nice views west to the Black Isle and north, to the Moray Firth. I’ll go back and look in winter maybe something will turn up apart from me.

Continue up the road, north, from Upper Auchenreath. Turn west at the crossroads and go about 100 yards, the cairn is on the other side of the road.

Visited 12/4/2011.

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