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Backhill Of Drachlaw
Stone Circle (Neolithic) - (Bronze Age)
Site Name Backhill Of Drachlaw
Classification Stone Circle (Neolithic) - (Bronze Age)
Alternative Name(s) Backhill Of Drachlaw, East Circle
Canmore ID 18325
Site Number NJ64NE 6
NGR NJ 6729 4633
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/18325
- Council Aberdeenshire
- Parish Inverkeithny
- Former Region Grampian
- Former District Banff And Buchan
- Former County Banffshire
NJ64NE 6 6729 4633
(NJ 6729 4633) Stone Circle (NR)
OS 6" map, Banffshire, 2nd ed., (1905).
Not to be confused with Carlin Stone or Cairn Riv, possible stone circle (NJ 6744 4659) or stone circle (NJ 6709 4630) at Backhill of Drachlaw, for which see NJ64NE 4 and NJ64NE 5 respectively.
Backhill of Drachlaw, East Circle. This is a small circle, diameter 28 ft, devoid of a Recumbent Stone, consisting of 6 very large massive stones. The interior is level and smooth. Stones are from 2ft 7ins to 4 ft 10ins high. The stone 'E' has broken and the top half has fallen forward. No tampering with the stones or ploughing within the enclosure was found.
F R Coles 1903.
As described above.
Resurveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (WDJ) 7 September 1964.
Resurveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (RL) 4 September 1967.
Scheduled as Backhill of Drachlaw, stone circle.
Information from Historic Scotland, scheduling document dated 9 November 2000.
Field Visit (19 July 2005)
This setting of six stones lies in an improved pasture field and has been enclosed recently with a post and wire fence. The stones are arranged in two opposed arcs, both of three stones, on the circumference of a circle measuring 7.5m in diameter. The stones are all large blocks containing white quartz pebbles, with the exception of that on the SE, which incorporates a thin band of quartz. This stone, 0.86m high, would have been the tallest of the setting, but it is now broken and the detached fragment lies immediately adjacent. There is some indication for the grading in height of the stones, the three forming the S arc being taller than those on the N, and in both arcs the central stone is the smallest of the three. The irregular spacing of the stones is also repeated in both arcs, the gaps to the E of the central stones being wider than the equivalent gaps on the W. Cattle have rubbed against the stones on the S arc, wearing hollows around their bases.
Visited by RCAHMS (ATW,ARG) 19 July 2005
Measured Survey (19 July 2005)
RCAHMS surveyed Backhill of Drachlaw stone circle on 19 July 2005 with plane table and alidade producing a plan at a scale of 1:100. The survey drawing was later used as the basis for an illustration, produced in ink and finished in vector graphics software, that was published at a scale of 1:250.
