AN ancient stone circle may have been built on the scene of a large lightning strike, according to academics from St Andrews University.

Evidence was found on the Isle of Lewis as part of the Calanais Virtual Reconstruction Project – featuring researchers from the University of Bradford and social enterprise Urras nan Tursachan.

READ MORE: Dunbar welcomes John Muir bear sculpture by Andy Scott

While studying the Tursachan Calanais stone circle, the team looked at nearby satellite sites, finding a “star-shaped magnetic anomaly” at what they dubbed site XI – which housed a circle of standing stones.

The circle could show the links between the everyday lives of the inhabitants of the island thousands of years ago and the natural environment, if nearby residents built the circle after the “massive” strike.

However, the researchers could not rule out the possibility of the stones being struck by the lightning after they were built.