Field Visit
Date 17 August 1942
Event ID 978598
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/978598
Stone Circle, Cairn and Standing Stones, near Fowlis Wester.
The group of monuments covered by this description stands about three quarters of a mile NNW of Fowlis Wester, on a broad ridge of moorland which descends in an ENE direction towards the Belmaduthy-Fowlis Wester road from a high point indicated by a closed contour at 800 foot. The main group, which extends some 130 ft from W to E, consists of a stone circle, a denuded cairn believed to have been excavated by Mrs H Nugent Young, and two standing stones one of which is now prostrate while some 200 yds further E and a little to the N of the crest of the ridge there lies another large slab which no doubt was once erect. The general disposition of all but the last-named can be seen from the sketch-plan.
Stone Circle: The stone circle may originally have been about 27 ft in diameter, but the facts that none of the stones is upright, that the pair at the N side are split fragments, probably displaced, and that the two shown in the NE segment are probably not true components of the ring make accurate reconstruction of the plan impossible. The two largest slabs, which are on the W side measure 6’6” and 6’ in length respectively; the other principal stones measure from 3ft to 5ft in length.
Standing Stone: About 20ft from the E side circle lies a slab which has evidently once been erect, and which seems to have fallen southwards from its original stance. It measures 7ft 6in in length, 5ft 8in in breadth, and 2ft in thickness.
Cairn: The cairn lies some 46 ft from the fallen stone and 60ft from the circle., It is now reduced to its peristalith, the interior of which is filled with a layer of large irregular blocks. The diameter over the peristalith is 17 ft. Outside this some stony material seems to underlie the turf for a further radial distance of about 5 ft, and there are also some outlying stones, probably displace from the cairn. At least nine stones of the peristalith are in position and measure from 3 ft to 5ft 6in in length; on the SW there is a gap and on the NW some disturbance seems to have taken place.
Standing Stone: Some 43 ft NE of the cairn is the upright standing stone. It measures 6ft in height, 5ft in breadth, and 2ft 8in in thickness. Its major axis is approximately NE and SW.
Standing Stone: The remaining stone now fallen, the position of which has been stated above, measures 7 ft. 6 in. in length , 4 ft. 8 in. in breadth, and more than 1ft. 6 in. in thickness.
Visited by RCAHMS (VGC and AG) 17 August 1942.
