Field Visit
Date 2 July 1998
Event ID 635168
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/635168
This recumbent stone circle is situated in the saddle between Candle Hill and Roup Law, a position that looks SW across the valley of the Gadie Burn to the N slopes of Bennachie. The circle falls on a march that doubles as the boundary between two fields of improved pasture and is crossed by both a tumbled stone dyke and two wire fences. Originally comprising at least thirteen stones and measuring overall about 25m from NE to SW by 27m transversely, nine remained on the day of the survey in July 1998, made up of the recumbent (2), its E flanker (3) and seven orthostats (4–10); since then an additional stone has been set up within the circle adjacent to the S side of the march (not shown on the plan). The recumbent (2), which stands on the SW, is a modest slab with an even summit and measures about 2.45m in length by 1.95m in height. The W flanker is missing, but the E flanker (3) remains standing, a slender pillar 2.8m high slumped against the recumbent; its foot is aligned with the leading edge of the recumbent, and it rises into a point which appears to turn outwards, giving the setting a distinctive and immediately recognisable silhouette. Of the seven surviving orthostats, three are erect (5, 8 & 10), two have fallen close to their original positions (6 & 9) and two are displaced (4 & 7). Both the last two have been cut down, the one lying on the line of the kerb of the internal cairn on the S of the ring (4) exhibiting a shot-hole on one edge. Despite the damage to the circle, the heights of the flanker and the three orthostats that remain upright indicate that the circle was probably graded, reducing in height, though not spacing, from SW to NE. The flat-topped cairn within its interior is about 0.6m high and has measured about 22m in diameter over a graded kerb, though the present outline of the mound is heavily distorted on the NE and W by stone robbing. Nevertheless, at least twenty earthfast stones of the kerb are visible, principally on the N and S; they increase in size towards the recumbent setting, where the last two surviving on the E are massive boulders roughly 1m high. These two stones diverge from the projected line of the kerb to meet the recumbent setting, though whether this is a deliberate reconfiguration of an earlier line cannot be determined without excavation. A large kerbstone immediately E of the displaced orthostat on the S (4) exhibits two shallow cupmarks on its outer face. Among the irregularities in the surface of the cairn there is a lozenge-shaped depression extending from the centre towards the recumbent and traversed by the tumbled stone dyke. Measuring 10m from NE to SW by 3m transversely and 0.6m deep, this probably marks the position of one of the excavations made in about 1855 by Charles Dalrymple.
Visited by RCAHMS (ATW, IGP and KHJM) 2 July 1998
