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Tordarroch Cairn

Cup And Ring Marked Rock (Neolithic) - (Bronze Age), Ring Cairn (Neolithic) - (Bronze Age), Stone Circle (Neolithic) - (Bronze Age)

Site Name Tordarroch Cairn

Classification Cup And Ring Marked Rock (Neolithic) - (Bronze Age), Ring Cairn (Neolithic) - (Bronze Age), Stone Circle (Neolithic) - (Bronze Age)

Canmore ID 13211

Site Number NH63SE 3

NGR NH 68018 33495

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/13211

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
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Administrative Areas

  • Council Highland
  • Parish Daviot And Dunlichity
  • Former Region Highland
  • Former District Inverness
  • Former County Inverness-shire

Archaeology Notes

NH63SE 3 6801 3350.

(NH 6801 3350) Stone Circle {NR}

OS 6" map, Inverness, 2nd ed., (1905)

Tordarroch: A ring cairn now crossed by a drainage ditch on the E and a wall on the SW. Though greatly ruined it can be seen that the monument has been particularly impressive, covering a larger area and employing more massive stones than usual. Few of the stones remain standing, but many of them have fallen inwards or outwards and have not been disturbed, and the only considerable gap in the circle is on the north side. A large prone slab measuring 5 ft. by 6 ft. on the S.W. side opposite the tallest monolith is marked with thirty-three or thirty-four cup-marks. The slab appears to have fallen outwards from the kerb. If this is so the cupmarks must have faced inwards and been hidden by cairn material. The stone was already in its present position in 1881 before the wall which now crosses it had been built. The interior of the cairn has been removed and the ground is greatly disturbed. In 1879 five stones were visible in the centre.

There have been nine monoliths encircling the cairn; seven of the stones remain upright. One fallen stone remains over its original position to the NE and another stone was recorded by Fraser (J Fraser 1884) on the SW side, but it has since been removed. Many large stones lie about the site.

A S Henshall 1963, visited 8 April 1957; J Fraser 1884; W Jolly 1882.

The remains of this ring cairn are as described above.

Resurveyed at 1:2500.

Visited by OS (W D J) 10 September 1963.

Scheduled as 'Tordarroch, ring cairn 250m E of'.

Information from Historic Scotland, scheduling document dated 29 August 2007.

Activities

Field Visit (17 August 1943)

Stone Circle, Tordarroch, stands on low-lying level ground below the road to Farr. An outer ring of [?] free-standing stones 110' in diameter seems to stand on a low bank clearly visible on the S and W. Here there seems to be a shallow ditch between the bank and the inner circle. The latter, 67' in diameter, consists of close-set boulders on end, but many are missing or prostrate. The interior is grass-grown with a few exposed boulders not forming any certain plan.

Visited by RCAHMS (VGC), 17 August 1943.

Project (July 1989)

Pre-afforestation survey undertaken in Tordarroch, Davoit and Dunlichty, Inverness, commissioned by Historic Buildings and Monuments, Scottish Development department.

S T Driscoll, 1989.

Field Visit (5 November 1992)

This ring-cairn is situated in low-lying ground in the corner of an improved field. It measures 20m in diameter, within a kerb of stones up to 1.3m in height. The N arc has been destroyed and the centre of the cairn has been much disturbed and denuded of stone. On the SW there is a flat slab, whose upper surface measures 1.8m by 1.5m; it bears at least 36 cup-marks measuring up to 75mm across and 25mm deep, with one oblong cup measuring 100mm long by 75mm broad. Around the cairn, at a distance of 7m from it, there is a circle of monoliths; eight stones remain, one, on the WSW, having fallen. The tallest stone is on the SW, measuring 2.25m in height.

(USN93 212-13)

Visited by RCAHMS (SDB) 5 November 1992.

Note (22 November 2018)

Date Fieldwork Started: 22/11/2018

Compiled by: NOSAS

Location Notes: This panel can be found in a cairn which is located in an open flat area of both improved and rough grazing, in the middle of Strath Nairn. It is positioned between the River Nairn and the River Farnach which join approximately 1.5km downstream. The cairn itself is much damaged; the panel is positioned at the SW edge of the main kerbstones, which also form part of a line of stones which may once have been used as a field wall. There is a ring of standing stones around the cairn. At the time of recording the cairn was located at a place where three wire fences met, close to a gate.

Panel Notes: Lying flat on the ground, the panel is roughly circular in shape, and measures 1.6m in length by 1.4m in width. The rock is a medium grained schist. It has been carved with 44 cupmarks, two of which are joined by a channel. This channel roughly widens a natural crack which crosses the surface. In addition there is a short bar or elongated cup-mark about 9cm long.

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