Nether Dumeath
Recumbent Stone Circle (Neolithic) - (Bronze Age)
Site Name Nether Dumeath
Classification Recumbent Stone Circle (Neolithic) - (Bronze Age)
Canmore ID 17280
Site Number NJ43NW 7
NGR NJ 4253 3786
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/17280
- Council Aberdeenshire
- Parish Glass
- Former Region Grampian
- Former District Gordon
- Former County Aberdeenshire
NJ43NW 7 4253 3786.
(NJ 4253 3786) Stone Circle (NR) (Remains of)
OS 6" map, Aberdeenshire, 2nd ed., (1902)
A stone circle, 40 yards in circumference, comprising six stones, two erect and four recumbent, and marked by drill holes. Four had been previously removed, but the remainder were also broken by blasting and removed at the time of writing.
F R Coles 1906.
On a false crest, in a pasture field, the mutilated remains of a recumbent stone circle, c. 10.0m diameter. Seven stones remain including the recumbent stone and its westerly flanker, both of which are prostrate. Of the remaining 5 stones only 2 are erect, but both lean considerably. Drill holes were noted on one of the stones. Piles of cairn-like rubble stones lie both within the circle and immediately outside on the E, but no other trace of a cairn be seen within the circle.
Re-surveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (RL) 9 September 1967.
Field Visit (4 May 2005)
The remains of this recumbent stone circle lie within a fenced enclosure near the leading edge of a terrace low down on the NE flank of the Hill of Dumeath due S of Nether Dumeath. A relatively compact monument measuring about 11m in diameter, in 1870 it was said to have comprised twelve stones (Name Book, Banffshire, No. 15, p 7), but of the six stones that now remain, four are prostrate, including the recumbent setting, and of the other two one is leaning so heavily that it can barely be counted upright (4). The recumbent (2), which lies on the S, is a roughly rectangular slab on plan and measures 2.75m in length by 2.1m in breadth. It has fallen onto its face, and its W end has probably been dragged round to the SE to lie on the lip of a well-developed lynchet formed where cultivation on the lower side of the circle has cut into the slope. The summit of the slab, now its SE edge, appears to have been uneven. Immediately to the NW a shallow pit can be seen, partly filled with field-cleared stones and fragments of the cut up E flanker (3); the foot of the W flanker (1), which has probably toppled forwards, overhangs the SW edge of this pit, and there is a circular shot-hole in its upper face; measuring some 2.8m in length, its shape suggests that it would have appeared to curve over the W end of the recumbent when the setting was intact. The positions of the two orthostats on the ENE (4) and W (6) allow the diameter of the ring to be projected with some confidence, indicating that the prostrate orthostsat on the WNW (5 ) is probably lying close to its original position; there are two shot-holes in its upturned face. Most of the stones of the circle are probably schists, but whereas the recumbent and at least one of the flankers are light grey in colour, the two orthostats still in their sockets (4 & 6) are green; both have their smoother sides facing outwards. Despite some uncertainty arising from the extensive damage, the sizes of the remaining stones indicate that they were graded to reduce in height from S to N. The interior is obscured by field-clearance, amongst which are several pieces of quartz. In addition, a large white quartz boulder is visible at the SW edge of the pit behind the recumbent.
Visited by RCAHMS (ATW and KHJM) 4 May 2005
Measured Survey (4 May 2005)
RCAHMS surveyed the remains of Nether Dumeath recumbent stone circle on 4 May 2005 with plane table and alidade producing a plan and section at a scale of 1:100. The plan and section were used as the basis for an illustration, produced in ink and finished in vector graphics software, that was published at a scale of 1:250 (Welfare 2011, 406).
