Archaeology Notes

Event ID 687946

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/687946

NO33NW 7 3460 3928.

(NO 3456 3927) Stone (NR) (Remains of Druidical Altar) (NAT)

OS 6" map, Forfarshire, 2nd ed., (1926)

The Witches Stone, c.4' high, the largest and only survivor of several upright stones which were 'considered to have been used by the Druids as a place of worship.' The other stones were used for wall-building.

Name Book 1860.

On a small knoll known as 'Greenfield Knowe' formerly stood 2 boulder-like Standing Stones. These were removed when the Sanitorium was built in 1903. One stone is lost but the other was re-erected about 25 yards from its original position. The 2 stones were locally known as 'The Spittal Stones', which may denote the former existence of a religious establishment here, although there is no evidence of this on record.

A Hutcheson 1905.

This stone, and another close by, are cup-marked. The first (upright) measures 5' x 2' x 3'6" in height; the other (recumbent) is 7'6" x 5' x 2'6" in thickness. The latter has 15 cups varying from 2"-3" diameter, one with a single ring carved on the sloping face at the south end of the stone. These stones appear to be a natural formation, and not a cromlech or rocking-stone. 160 yards to the west is a second group of stones - one with sculptures (NO33NW 9).

J R Allen 1881.

There is no trace of a mound or a standing stone at NO 3457 3927, but at NO 3460 8928 a large boulder embedded in the ground is probably the stone which was re-erected. To the immediate east of this boulder are three slab-like stones embedded in the ground but they are probably natural. No cup-marks were noticed on any of these stones nor was the name "Spittal Stanes" confirmed.

Revised at 1/2500.

Visited by OS (W D J) 11 December 1967.