Field Visit
Date 22 September 1943
Event ID 963983
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/963983
Cairn and Alignment, Kinsteary Lodge.
This monument, or group of remains, stands at the E end of the strip of trees that bounds the Kinsteary policies on the N, and close to the point where this strip joins the road from Auldearn to Moyness. The strip occupies a line of glacial hillocks, which terminates near this point; the surrounding land is cultivated. The remains consist of a cairn and an alignment of large boulders running in a general direction from WNW to ESE. The cairn, which is largely covered with woodland humus, appears to consist principally of small boulders with a few angular slabs. It measures 43 ft in diameter, stands 5 ft to 6 ft high, and shows two or three stones on its SE margin which might be part of a peristalith; though probably only one is undisturbed.
The alignment measures 250ft in total length from the margin of the cairn. The stone nearest to the cairn, Stone A, is 11ft out from the margin, but may not be in its original position as it shows some signs of having fallen towards the SW. As it now stands it is 3ft 3in high, 6ft 10in wide and 3ft 4in thick. Stone B, 25ft from Stone A, is 4ft 1in high, 5ft 1in wide and 2ft thick; and Stone C, 29ft further out, is 3ft 2in high, 4ft 1in wide and 2 ft 3in thick. Between Stones C and D there is a gap of 96 ft and Stone D is evidently displaced; the true height, not the exposed height, of the latter can however be measured as 5ft 3in, and its width and thickness are 3ft and 2ft respectively. Some displaced fragments of broken stone, not shown on the plan, lie close to Stone D. From Stone D to Stone E is 38 ft, and the latter measures 3ft 9in by 4ft 6in by 4ft 1in. The outermost stone of the alignment, Stone F, is 43ft from Stone E and 6ft NE of the general line of the remainder; it measures 3ft 8in by 4ft by 4ft 2in.
Visited by RCAHMS (VG Childe, A Graham) 22 September 1943.
