Publication Account
Date 1986
Event ID 1017334
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1017334
This recumbent stone circle, at 85m OD, on a false crest below the summit of a rounded Buchan hill, reflects in its history of decay the landscape changes of the past two and a half centuries. When Dr Johnson visited it in 1773, the 'druidical circle' was in woodland; approximately 20 years later a tenant farmer pulled the stones down but was forced to re-erect them by order of the landowner. Recent excavation demonstrated that the circle was re-created to the south of the original site so that the recumbent appeared, anomalously, on the north arc of the new circle. This 're-creation' was itself bulldozed away in 1965. In 1979-83 the circle was excavated and restored in its original position; a visit is now a rewarding,prehistoric, experience.
StIichen is a typical Buchan recumbent stone circle, with the stones sitting on a slight bank which forms a flattened circle, shorter north to south (12.1m by 11m). The recumbent is oriented on the extreme southern moon. One evocative discovery of the excavation was that the bank had been liberally covered with quartzite flakes, broken on site on an anvil stone.
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Grampian’, (1986).
