Balnacraig
Recumbent Stone Circle (Neolithic) - (Bronze Age)
Site Name Balnacraig
Classification Recumbent Stone Circle (Neolithic) - (Bronze Age)
Canmore ID 18024
Site Number NJ60SW 5
NGR NJ 6033 0353
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/18024
- Council Aberdeenshire
- Parish Lumphanan
- Former Region Grampian
- Former District Kincardine And Deeside
- Former County Aberdeenshire
NJ60SW 5 6033 0353.
(NJ 6033 0353) Stone Circle (NR) (Remains of)
OS 6" map, Aberdeenshire, 2nd ed., (1901)
Stone Circle (NR)
OS 6" map, (1959)
A dilapidated recumbent stone circle with an original diameter of about 45 feet. The recumbent stone faces SW and is 10ft long, 4 1/2ft high and up to 3ft thick. The flanking pillars have gone and all the stones of the circle except six earth-fast stones set close together on the west side, three of which remain erect. The most northwesterly stone is 5 3/4ft high, 3 1/4ft broad and 1 1/2ft thick. The recumbent stone has six cup marks on its outer face, though four are very shallow and lichen grown. Nothing is known locally of any finds.
J Ritchie 1918; 1919.
All that remains of this recumbent stone circle within a walled copse are the recumbent stone with cup marks as described by Ritchie (1918; 1919), and two standing stones. There is much cairn material scattered within the copse, but insufficient remains to define the perimeter. Revised at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (NKB) 7 February 1968.
Field Visit (10 June 2003)
Largely situated within a small plantation of Scots Pine, this heavily-robbed recumbent stone circle lies to the rear of a natural terrace near the S foot of Balnacraig Hill. Possibly measuring as much as 29m in overall diameter, the circle formerly extended into the field on the S and E, and of an original complement of perhaps thirteen or fourteen stones, only the recumbent (2) and three orthostats (4–6), now remain, one of which is fallen (4). The recumbent (2), which stands on the SW, is a rough boulder with an uneven summit and measures 3.05m in length by 1.4m in height; a possible support stone lies displaced to its rear. There are two cupmarks near the centre of the recumbent’s face and another two smaller, shallower examples a little further to the W. Both flankers are missing, but together with the recumbent they evidently formed a flattened façade on this side of the circle. The two remaining orthostats (5 & 6) measure about 1.15m and 1.5m in height respectively; in addition to the fallen stone on the NNW (4), a possible displaced orthostat (A) lies partly buried beneath the field-clearance on the ESE of the plantation. The internal cairn is reduced to little more than a spread of cairn material on the W side of the interior and a short run of at least eight kerbstones behind the recumbent. The projected line of the kerb passes close behind the recumbent, and the possible doubling of the kerb at this point may indicate two periods of construction, the second a subtle realignment to incorporate the setting into the kerb of the cairn.
Visited by RCAHMS (ATW and KHJM) 10 June 2003
Measured Survey (10 June 2003)
RCAHMS surveyed Balnacraig recumbent stone circle on 10 June 2003 with plane table and alidade producing a plan and section of the site and an elevation of the recumbent stone a scale of 1:100. The plan was redrawn in ink and used as the basis for an illustration produced in vector graphics software for publication at a scale of 1:250 (Welfare 2011, 297).
