Aldourie

NH53NE 4 5999 3587.

(NH 5999 3587) Stone Circle (NAT) (NH 6000 3587) Site of Stone Circle (NR) OS 6"map, Inverness-shire, 2nd ed., (1905)

This site is marked on the 1870 edition of the 6-inch O.S. map as "Stone Circle (Removed from east to west side of fence)". There are eighteen stones, either boulders or split slabs, set in a circle evenly spaced except on the south-west side where the largest stone, a pointed slab 4ft 10ins high, is flanked by two small contiguous stones. In the centre lies a large flat stone. This arrangement is obviously artificial, and the stones may well come from a dismembered Clava-type tomb. It is possible that the tallest stone is in situ and it could well be one of the monoliths at such a site.

A S Henshall 1963, visited 21 April 1958

The stone circle is as described above; it measures 14.5m NE-SW x 10.0m NW-SE. See GP: AO/62/114/1. There is no evidence of a stone circle at the site at NH 60003587 shown on the O.S. map. Published 25" survey.

Visited by OS (EGC) 20 March 1962

'In Durris (ie. Dores) at the North end of Loch-Ness is a Druid temple of three concentric circles: in all of these druidical circles there was an altar stone at the centre, but that at Dirris is taken away, and near the centre is a hollowed stone, which either was a laver to wash in, or a bason(sic) to receive the blood of the sacrifice.'

T Pennent 1769

The above description, prior to the moving of the stones, seems to confirm Henshall's suggestion that this was originally a Clava-type structure, and most probably a ring-cairn.

Information from R B Gourlay (Highland Regional Archaeologist to OS 18 March 1987