Field Visit
Date 17 June 1925
Event ID 1099091
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1099091
Cairn and Stone Circle, Balbirnie.
At the southern end of a small wood on the east side of the main road from Kirkcaldy to Falkland, about 180 yards south of Balbirnie Lodge, are the remains of a large circular cairn and of the setting of standing stones by which it was once surrounded [SC 1110928]. The spot is about 300 feet above sea-level. The circle, which has had a diameter of some 48 feet, has been composed of sandstone boulders. Four of these are still in place, but one other on the south-east has been slightly displaced, while against the stone on the north-east lie two large boulders, which apparently have been transferred to this position. Any other stones that may once have existed have been removed or destroyed. The greatest height above ground of any of those that survive is 5 feet 6 inches, while one, which rises no more than 2 feet, measures in circumference as much as 9 feet 9 inches at the base. The cairn itself seems to have been broken into at two points. No record of these excavations appears to be extant, but a number of fragments of cinerary urns from the site are preserved in the National Museum. These indicate that, as might have been inferred from its general character, the monument was sepulchral and dates from the Bronze Age. The monument is not marked in Gothic letters on the O.S. map (xix S.E).
RCAHMS 1933, visited 17 June 1925.
