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Binghill

Recumbent Stone Circle (Neolithic) - (Bronze Age)

Site Name Binghill

Classification Recumbent Stone Circle (Neolithic) - (Bronze Age)

Alternative Name(s) Binghill House

Canmore ID 19377

Site Number NJ80SE 16

NGR NJ 8552 0237

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/19377

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
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Administrative Areas

  • Council Aberdeen, City Of
  • Parish Peterculter
  • Former Region Grampian
  • Former District City Of Aberdeen
  • Former County Aberdeenshire

Archaeology Notes

NJ80SE 16 8552 0237.

(NJ 8552 0237) Stone Circle (NR).

OS 6" map (1902)

The arrangement of the remaining stones of the Binghill Stone Circle suggests an original diameter of about 34 feet although some of the stones have been moved. The recumbent stone and three others, only, are still standing, all between 2ft 8 ins and 4ft 2 ins high.

There was a concentric inner stone setting, 11 feet inwards from the recumbent stone, and, between the two circles, a small circular setting 4ft in diameter.

F R Coles 1901.

(Formerly entered as NJ80NE 8 at cited location NJ c. 87 08). An urn found in Newhills parish is held in Marischal College under accession number 230.

NMRS, MS/712/75.

J Cruickshank 1934.

The remains of this stone circle are as described above. Many of the fallen stones are difficult to locate as the area is thickly overgrown and wooded.

Visited by OS (WDJ) 20 November 1961

Listed as stone circle. 'Destroyed or unrecognisable'.

H Burl 1976

On level ground in a deciduous plantation about 220m WSW of Binghill house, there is a recumbent stone circle surrounding a ring-cairn. The circle measures about 9.2m in diameter, but only two stones (one on the N, the other on the NNE) and the recumbent (on the SSE) remain in situ, two other stones (on the E) and the two flankers lie prostrate. The ring-cairn measures 7.6m in diameter over a boulder kerb and the inner area is about 2.4m in diameter internally.

Visited by RCAHMS (JBS), 9 November 1984.

This recumbent stone circle is situated in beech woodland to the W of Binghill House. It now comprises a circle of eight stones about 10m in diameter, within which there is a ring-cairn some 7.2m in diameter. The recumbent setting is on the SSW, though its flankers are now also prostrate. The recumbent measures 2.25m in length from ESE to WNW by 0.8m in thickness and about 1.15m in height. The W flanker measures 1.9m in length by 0.97m in breadth and at least 0.35m in thickness, the E flanker 1.9m by 0.8m and at least 0.3m in thickness. Of the other five surviving stones, two on the N are still upright, but three around the E have fallen. The upright stone on the NNW measures 0.9m in breadth by 0.5m in thickness at ground-level and 1.25m in height, while its counterpart on the NNE is a squarish block measuring 0.7m by 0.55m and 1m in height. Several kerb-stones are visible on the W and SE of the central court of the ring cairn.

Visited by RCAHMS (JRS, ATW), 26 February 1997.

Activities

Field Visit (10 November 1998)

Shrouded in leaf litter within the wooded policies of Binghill House, this small recumbent stone circle measures 11.3m in diameter and encloses a low cairn. Formerly comprising at least ten stones, only seven now remain, of which the flankers (1 & 3) and two orthostats are fallen (4 & 5). The recumbent (2) stands on the SSW and is a small block commensurate with the size of the circle. It measures about 2.3m in length by almost 1.2m in height, with its even summit sloping down towards the E. Of the two flankers (1 & 3), the eastern is the more slender; each measures a little over 1.9m in length and comparison of the lengths of the other fallen orthostats on the SE suggests that the circle was originally graded to reduce in height northwards to the small upright stone on the N (6). The interior encloses a heavily-robbed cairn measuring about 8m in diameter by 0.2m in height over a kerb of large boulders, eight of which remain in place. One of those in place, immediately N of the E flanker, is notably larger than those elsewhere, while one of possibly two displaced kerbstones lies between it and the flanker’s socket, a position suggesting that the kerb of the cairn once turned outwards to embrace the recumbent setting. The other displaced kerbstone now lies on the ESE margin of the ring (A). A circular area some 3m in diameter at the centre of the cairn has previously been identified as a central court (see below), but it may be no more than a pit sunk into the body of the mound.

Shrouded in leaf litter within the wooded policies of Binghill House, this small recumbent stone circle measures 11.3m in diameter and encloses a low cairn. Formerly comprising at least ten stones, only seven now remain, of which the flankers (1 & 3) and two orthostats are fallen (4 & 5). The recumbent (2) stands on the SSW and is a small block commensurate with the size of the circle. It measures about 2.3m in length by almost 1.2m in height, with its even summit sloping down towards the E. Of the two flankers (1 & 3), the eastern is the more slender; each measures a little over 1.9m in length and comparison of the lengths of the other fallen orthostats on the SE suggests that the circle was originally graded to reduce in height northwards to the small upright stone on the N (6). The interior encloses a heavily-robbed cairn measuring about 8m in diameter by 0.2m in height over a kerb of large boulders, eight of which remain in place. One of those in place, immediately N of the E flanker, is notably larger than those elsewhere, while one of possibly two displaced kerbstones lies between it and the flanker’s socket, a position suggesting that the kerb of the cairn once turned outwards to embrace the recumbent setting. The other displaced kerbstone now lies on the ESE margin of the ring (A). A circular area some 3m in diameter at the centre of the cairn has previously been identified as a central court (see below), but it may be no more than a pit sunk into the body of the mound.

Visited by RCAHMS (ATW, IGP, KHJM) 10 November 1998

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