Archaeology Notes

Event ID 668896

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/668896

NJ60NW 1 6250 0928

(NJ 6250 0928) Old Kirk of Tough

Stone Circle (NR)

OS 6" map, (1959)

The recumbent stone circle, known as the 'Auld Kirk o' Tough', consisted, about 1875, of its recumbent stone and both flankers on a circle of seven upright stones and the space for an eighth, with a diameter of 75 feet. Within was an unbroken stone kerb 45 feet in diameter within which was another kerb 13 feet in diameter, the interior of which was very stony. By 1900 all but one stone had been removed to adjacent dykes and of the outer stone kerb there only remained a more or less circular ridge, enclosing a hollow, wholly overgrown with heather. A good many apparently earthfast blocks still defined the circumference and small stones lay scattered all over it but nothing remained of the inner kerb. The single stone remaining on the southern arc, where there was a curious straight contour, may be the one remaining flanker of the recumbent stone.

C Maclagan 1875; F R Coles 1900.

The Old Kirk of Tough is as described and illustrated by Coles (1900) being a level area, 25.0m in diameter, scarped out of a gentle S slope,and surrounded by an uneven bank of earth and stones, 3.0m wide and 0.3m high, which is presumbaly outcast from the robbing.

It bears no relationship to Maclagan's (1875) plan, and only one standing stone of the circle remains.

Name still known locally.

Re-surveyed at 1/2500.

Visited by OS (NKB) 7 February 1968.

Scheduled as 'Old Kirk of Tough, standing stone 165m N of Forkins of Midmar...'

Information from Historic Scotland, scheduling document dated 7 February 2008.