Archaeology Notes
Event ID 837723
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Archaeology Notes
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/837723
NJ71NE 27 7957 1544.
For stone circles at Broomend of Crichie (NJ 7792 1967), Fullerton (NJ 7839 1797), Cairnhall (NJ 7850 1759) and Castle Hill, Kintore (NJ 7939 1634), see NJ71NE 6, NJ71NE 14, NJ71NE 17, NJ71NE 32.00 respectively.
(NJ 7957 1544) Stone Circle (NR) (Remains of)
OS 6" map, (1938)
The circle is 24 feet (7.3m) in diameter, and is surrounded by a trench about 12 feet (3.65m) wide. Six of the stones still remain and, until recently there was a flat stone, supported by smaller stones, at the centre. Excavations have revealed a total of four cremation burials (three of which were covered by inverted urns, two containing small fragments of bronze) at the bases of three of the surrounding stones and a possible burial at the base of each of two other stones.
Around the central stone were found three more cremation burials and a deposit of charcoal and black mould. Each of the burials was in a small pit, each covered by a stone.
A Watt 1864.
Only two stones of the circle remains. One 4 feet 10 inches (1.47m) high, stands to the east of the centre of the circle and the other, which may have been one of the surrounding six stones, lies to the SW. A flat stone at the centre may have been the one referred to above. Other stones lying about may be quarry debris.
F R Coles 1901; C E Dalyrymple 1884.
One of the cinerary urns, a cordoned Food Vessel and two of the bronze fragments were presented to the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland (NMAS) in 1856, and fragments of other urns were presented in 1873. Accession nos. EP 5 and 6.
Proc Soc Antiq Scot 1859; 1875; J Abercromby 1912; NMAS 1892.
This monument is situated on a southern slope near the foot of Tuach Hill, It consists of a circular platform surrounded by a ditch and a slight outer bank on all but the northern segment. The central area now only contains one earth-fast stone and is littered with large and small boulders.
The outer bank has been encroached on by a modern field wall, and by an earlier field bank on the west and east sides. This may account for a break in the south-east.
Surveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (NKB) 18 March 1964.
(Scheduled as Tuach Hill, stone circle and enclosure 130m SW of Gallow Top). The monument comprises a scoop in the SW facing hillside, overlooking a long burial mound, bounded by an enclosing ditch with an external bank. Within the enclosed area are the remains of a stone circle or setting; only one stone is now upright. The enclosed area measures 7.3m across within the ditch, which is c. 3.6m wide.
Information from Historic Scotland, scheduling document dated 29 August 1996.
(Classification amended to: Stone Circle; Ring-ditch; Cremations; Cinerary Urns; Food Vessel; Bronze Blade). The remains of an enclosure containing a stone setting or circle are situated at the foot of the SW flank of Tuach Hill, overlooking the Tuach Burn some 300m N of the Mid Mill long barrow (NJ71NE 31). The enclosure is oval on plan and measures 11m from E to W by 8m transversely within a ditch up to 5m in breadth and 0.9m in depth. The external bank, which extends around the southern or lower half of the of the enclosure, is best preserved on the W, where it is up to 3.5m in thickness and 0.3m in height. Elsewhere it has been obscured by the construction of an old field bank and a drystone wall.
The only erect stone stands on the E side of the interior. It measures 1.55m from E to W by 1.2m transversely at ground-level and rises to a pointed top at a height of 1.5m. The stump of what may be another standing stone is situated immediately to its W, while a stone with a heavily fractured face lies 3.4m SSW. The latter measures 1.25 in length from E to W by 0.9m in breadth and 0.85m in thickness. Another stone that may have once formed part of the setting now lies on the inner scarp of the ditch on the SW. It measures 1.6m in length.
According to Watt the stone setting once comprised a circle of six stones, but by the time Coles surveyed the site only one remained erect, and it cannot be reconciled with any of those shown on Watt's plan. Coles considered that the other stones scattered on and around the site were likely to be debris from quarry working higher up the hill to the N.
Visited by RCAHMS (JRS), 21 November 1996.
A Watt 1864; F R Coles 1901.
NJ 797 155 A watching brief was maintained in April 2005 during the excavation for a new cable trench to the telecom mast on Tauch Hill. Two small cinerary urns (NJ71NE 27) were found near the summit of the hill in 1864, while an area of rig and furrow lies to the W of the site. A 50m trench, c 1m deep and 800-900mm wide, ran up the southern flank of the hill to the telecom unit. No archaeological features or finds were evident.
Report to be lodged with Aberdeenshire SMR and NMRS.
Sponsor: SSE Power Distribution.
