Quarry Wood

NJ16SE 4 1858 6306.

(NJ 1858 6306) Earthwork (NR).

OS 6" map, Morayshire, 2nd ed., (1969)

A 'Danish Camp' of internal diameter about 44 yards and circular in form with a ditch and parapet all round. The parapet is aobut 4ft high by 3ft thick; the ditch 3ft deep by 3ft broad cut out of the subsoil. The top of the parapet is elevated between 2 and 3ft above the ground in its immediate vicinity.

Name Book 1871; C Maclagan 1875.

At NJ 1858 6306, commanding a wide view to the S from about 360ft OD on the S crest of Quarrywood Hill, is a Class I henge. It is overgrown with scrub and partly planted with conifers, but is generally well-preserved. Constructed at the brink of a S-facing slope it comprises a slightly oval, near level area, measuring 47.0m E-W by 43.0m transversely, surrounded by a segmented ditch cut into the subsoil, averaging 3.0m wide and 0.8m deep, with the excavated earth and stones forming a bank of similar porportions on its outer tip. The entrance in the W on a magnetic bearing of 284 degrees, is well defined by a causeway across the ditch 4.0m wide, corresponding to a break in the bank 3.0m wide. For about 11.0m S of the entrance the ditch has been cut through a stony area and there is a gap of about 2.0m where it has been presumably too difficult to dig and left uncompleted. In this section are two boulders, one seeming to revet the inner edge of the bank, but probably naturally placed. Around the N arc of the ditch are three similar breaks. There may be others less well defined, particularly in the SE, but the vegetation prevents an accurate assessment, and tree uprooting could be the cause.

In the SSW arc of the interior are two rough boulders on edge which may be the remnants of a circle of stone.

(a) is 1.0m high by 1.3m long by 1.0m wide;

(b) is 0.9m high by 1.2m by 0.9m.

Immediately inside the S side of the entrance, the top of another stone protrudes through the soil, but this may be naturally placed. 4.0m to the S of it is a hollow, about 3.0m in diameter and 0.7m deep, containing two boulders, one oval and the other triangular in shape. This appears to be a quarry-hole dug in an attempt to remove the boulders of which one would originally have protruded through the soil in a similar fashion to (c). Two other boulders (e) and (f) are also probably naturally placed;

(e) has been quarried around in anticipation of removal. Much smaller, loose stones occur in parts of the interior, but deep heather makes it uncertain whether these are naturally or art- ificially placed. Immediately outside the henge in the S are several out-crops and boulders, one or two of which have also been quarried around to facilitate removal.

In Elgin Museum is a flat axe mould (NJ16SE 8), which was picked up on the surface within the henge. (Information from I Keillar, Secretary of Elgin Society)

Resurveyed at 1/2500 and 1/500.

Visited by OS (A A) 4 February 1972.

Quarrywood, henge. Air photographs: AAS/97/06/G9/26, AAS/97/06/G10/1-3 and AAS/97/06/CT.

NMRS, MS/712/29.

A contour survey and photographic record of the henge and surrounding clearing was carried out by Headland Archaeology Ltd in February 1997 to assist in the management and interpretation of the monument by Forest Enterprise. A contour interval of 0.2m was used.

The henge is situated on the edge of a steep S-facing slope, and is sub-oval on plan measuring 47m internally and 59m externally from E-W by 42m and 54m respectively transversely. The well-preserved bank and ditch measure between 2 and 3m thick and up to 0.5m high and between 2 and 4m broad and up to 0.8m deep respectively. Both are broken by a causeway 4m wide on the W and the bottom of the ditch is uneven, segments of different depths being separated by low thresholds.

Identifiable features within the interior comprise:

1. two boulders in the SW sector,

2. three boulders situated within hollows (possibly dug during attempts to remove them by quarrying) in the NW sector,

3. a previously-unrecorded length of curving bank (6m long, 1m broad and 0.5m high) situated just N of the centre of the interior.

Sponsor: Historic Scotland.

NMRS, MS/899/28.

NJ 1858 6306 A contour survey of Quarrywood henge was undertaken by Headland Archaeology Ltd to assist in the management and interpretation of the site by Forest Enterprise. The henge is sub-oval E-W and measures 42 x 47m internally and 54 x 59m externally. It was previously covered by trees but now lies in a clearing in the forest.

Sponsor: Historic Scotland 1997