Archaeology Notes

Event ID 669103

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/669103

NJ71SW 3 7150 1253

See also NJ71SW 4.

(NJ 7149 1252) Stone Circle (NR)

OS 6" map, (1959)

A stone circle of maximum diameter 76ft at Castle Fraser, or Balgorar (now West Mains) was said by Logan (1829) to have consisted originally of eleven stones, nine of which remained. His plan shows a small central circular mound, and a semi-circular one in front of the recumbent stone. Coles (1901) states that by 1900 seven stones from 4ft 9ins to 6ft 6ins high remained upright, and that five of the low set stones which originally composed the circumference of the 13ft diameter inner circle, were still in situ. The whole area of the great circle was paved with boulders at a depth of 6ins, under which, in the inner circle, were charcoal and burnt bones. Black mould or charcoal was also found under several of the large circle stones, and within it towards the south-east side were found two such deposits mixed with fragments of urns made of a thick and coarse paste.

J Logan 1829; F R Coles 1901; A S Henshall 1963.

A recumbent-stone-circle, in an arable field, comprising seven standing stones, three of which have now fallen, and a recumbent stone with two attendant pillars. There are faint traces of the central circular mound and the semi-circular one in front of the recumbent stone, mentioned by Logan (1829).

Re-surveyed at 1/2500.

Visited by OS (RD) 11 January 1965.

This stone circle is situated in arable ground which falls away to all sides, at an altitude of 130m OD.

Information from Aberdeenshire Archaeological Service, visited 18 October 1977.

NMRS, MS/712/19.

NJ 715 125 An assemblage of finds from Charles Elphinstone Dalrymple's 19th-century excavations at this site, long thought to be lost, were discovered in the Castle Fraser collection. The finds comprise three sherds of Late Bronze Age flat-rimmed ware, a large number of pieces of daub with wattle impressions, and two fragments of charcoal.

The original wrappings of the finds bear the excavation date - 3 September 1856. One wrapper is labelled 'bones', but a thorough search of the collection failed to turn up skeletal material.

Archive to be deposited in NTS SMR.

Sponsor: NTS.

S M Fraser 2003.