Machrie Moor recreated down under
Retired engineer Graham Kinnear, who was born in Lamlash but who now resides in rural Wollombi in New South Wales, Australia, has continued with his admiration of all things Arran by constructing a homage to the Machrie Moor stone circles on his 100acre property.
Having previously appeared in the Banner pages after constructing a nine-tonne replica of the Machrie postbox, Graham continued with the theme and has now finished construction on an eight stone henge just 50 metres from his Arran postbox.
Graham said: ‘I have always been intrigued by the long forgotten cleverness behind the Neolithic stone circles at Machrie Moor. The Machrie Moor standing stones will still have some of their secrets hidden away. Undoubtedly, they brought great prestige and power to some people in the dim and distant past, allowing them to forecast the future lengthening and shortening of the days and many more things.
‘They stand as a monument to stone age ingenuity, reflecting many earlier generations of stellar observation and perhaps even calculation. Perhaps they were a lot more advanced than we care to think. As a gesture of admiration to that Neolithic society, and inspired by the Machrie Moor standing stones, I thought this would be my salute to the Neolithic people.’
The henge, which is not just an arrangement of standing stones, is aligned for winter and summer solstices and sits high up in the rainforest hills. The project, now Graham’s second Arran related one in two years, is undoubtedly not his last as Graham enigmatically alludes: ‘The threads of time going back ten thousand years on Arran still fascinate me, what next for that retired mad engineer from Lamlash?’