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Stony Hill
Cairn (Period Unassigned)
Site Name Stony Hill
Classification Cairn (Period Unassigned)
Canmore ID 16444
Site Number NJ25SW 4
NGR NJ 2492 5143
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/16444
- Council Moray
- Parish Rothes
- Former Region Grampian
- Former District Moray
- Former County Morayshire
NJ25SW 4 2492 5143.
(NJ 2492 5143) Stone Circle (NR)
OS 6"map, (1959)
All that now remains is the 'base of the circle... quite entire', but an old woman who lived near the site informed Smith (James Smith, Pitcraggie) that she could remember seeing a number of very large upright stones, which were subsequently removed by local people for mill-stones, door-posts, rollers etc.
From the interior of the circle Smith thought 'as many as 600 loads of stones were removed for the purpose of building dykes and filling drains. The stones were all burnt and mixed with bones, and were all loose so that it only required the lowest ones removed to make those above tumble down'.
Name Book 1871.
A robbed cairn, only a rim of turf-covered cairn material remaining around which a kerb of contiguous stones as edge is visible intermittently giving an overall diameter of about 15.5m. A gap in the SW indicates from where the cairn was robbed.
The cairn is situated within a field system (see NJ25SW 5)
Visited by OS (R L) 23 April 1971.
Field Visit (9 October 2020 - 5 November 2020)
NJ 24859 51300 (centred) A desk-based assessment and walkover survey were carried out in advance of a woodland planting and regeneration scheme at the Moss of Rothes. The walkover survey recorded 14 archaeological sites comprising 1 prehistoric kerbed cairn, 3 prehistoric hut circles, and 136 prehistoric clearance cairns forming 3 field systems; a post-medieval farmstead, enclosure, field dyke and field system including at least 14 clearance cairns; and 3 sites relating to the use of the landscape by the Rothes Estate including 15 grouse butts and an estate wall. (See Canmore ID: 16444; 16445; 156171; 70990 for some of these).
While some of these sites had previously been recorded on the Moray Historic Environment Record, they had not previously been recorded in any detail and the survey carried out in respect of this project provides a comprehensive overview of the archaeological features focused on a prominent ridge of ground running SE from the Moss of Stonyhill. In particular, a significant number of clearance cairns and mounds were recorded within the prehistoric and historic field systems, along with a second hut circle.
A possible third hut circle and associated field system comprising clearance cairns and mounds were recorded in the SW sector of the survey area, within the area defined for planting.
Although a significant number of archaeological features were recorded during the survey, especially on the ridge running SE from the Moss of Stonyhill, extensive stands of heather created some difficulties in identification. This was further compounded while recording the prehistoric features due to their partial burial below the peat and sediment cover.
Archive: Highland Council HER and NRHE (intended)
Funder: Cawdor Forestry Ltd
Steven Birch – West Coast Archaeological Services
(Source: DES Volume 21)