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University Collections

Encyclopaedia of the North East

S - Simpson, Archibald to stone circle

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A large printed capital letter S with a portrait in a gilded frame, framed prints of buildings, some leaflets and some trinkets.

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Simpson, Archibald 
b 1790 Guestrow, Aberdeen d 1847 Bon Accord Sq., Aberdeen. 
Architect responsible for the design of many of the most important early 19th century buildings in the North East esp his native Aberdeen.

Grave goods. A miniature bronze cauldron covered with green rust and decorated with punched dots, and a small opaque blue glass object shaped like a lens.

Bronze model cauldron and glass object from a rich grave near the stone circle at Waulkmill, Tarland (1st - 3rd cent.)

ABDUA:15643, 15529

Pin heads. Six ball shaped black objects, smooth and glossy with some cracks, and holes on the bottoms, which are slightly flattened. They are about the size of a large marble.

Shale pin heads found as part of a hoard next to Crichie stone circle, Inverurie (6th cent.)

ABDUA:15645

Bead. A small, fat ring shaped bead made of greenish grey glass, with scratches and scuffs.

Merovingian glass bead from Castle Hill 'stone circle', Kintore (6th cent.)

ABDUA:15519

Flanged Axe Axe Axehead

Flanged bronze axe from circle at Tamnaverie, Coull (c1600 - 1000BC).

ABDUA:19651

Leaflets. Three leaflets with illustrations, diagrams, photographs and information about specific stone circles in Aberdeenshire.

Grampian Regional Council archaeology leaflets.

LEMUR:1000030

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stone circle n 
A circle of standing stones where ritual activities took place in antiquity 
Recumbent ~ 
A variant found only in North East Scotland where the largest block is laid on its edge at the south of the circle. 

The third millenium BC was a period of great social change in the British Isles. Certain parts of the country began to take on more of a regional identity, characterised by new types of monument... they point to the development of a more hierarchically based form of social organisation, with the basis of power and authority rooted in the ritual associated with the monuments...
Trevor Cowie 1988 Magic Metal

Portrait of Archibald Simpson. Oil painting of a young looking but balding white man with blue eyes and short wavy reddish brown hair, wearing a black coat and cravat, in an ornate gilded frame.

Portrait of Simpson by James Giles (1820-1837).

ABDUA:30559

Print of St. Andrew's Cathedral, Aberdeen. A print of the front of a cathedral with a large arched doorway, three large slightly pointed arch shaped windows with tracery, four decorative towers, crenelated roof lines and a cross at the peak of the central roof.

St Andrew's Cathedral as designed by Simpson (1822).

ABDUA:30291

Print of Marischal College, Aberdeen. Print of a large building, viewed from an archway looking into the courtyard of the building. It has a large square central tower from which wings with regular gothic windows and archways project sideways, then toward the viewer, then sideways again. At the corners are smaller octagonal towers with pointed domes. Gowned students wander the courtyard and stand under the arch along with a woman and child with umbrellas.

Marischal College as designed by Simpson (1825-34).

ABDUA:63587

S - Simpson, Archibald to stone circle