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Tombeg
Recumbent Stone Circle (Bronze Age), Rubbing Stone (19th Century), Standing Stone (Bronze Age), Stone Circle (Bronze Age)
Site Name Tombeg
Classification Recumbent Stone Circle (Bronze Age), Rubbing Stone (19th Century), Standing Stone (Bronze Age), Stone Circle (Bronze Age)
Canmore ID 18064
Site Number NJ61SE 2
NGR NJ 6793 1426
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/18064
- Council Aberdeenshire
- Parish Monymusk
- Former Region Grampian
- Former District Gordon
- Former County Aberdeenshire
NJ61SE 2 6793 1426
(Area centred: NJ 678 142). A standing stone, said to be the remains of a stone circle, stands in a small plantation west of Tombeg farmhouse. It is 4 1/2 feet high, 2 1/2 feet broad and up to 18 inches thick. A smaller stone lies flat on the ground 24 feet to the south but it is doubtful if it formed part of the circle. A tradition suggests that stones from this farm were used to build Monymusk church.
J Ritchie 1917.
At NJ 6793 1426, a standing stone, as described. No trace of a stone circle in an overgrown area of surface quarrying.
Surveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (RL) 5 February 1968.
This granite standing stone is situated in thin woodland about 80m WSW of the farmhouse at Tombeg farmsteading (NJ61SE 40.00). It measures 0.85m in breadth by 0.45m in thickness at ground-level and rises to a pointed top at a height of 1.3m. A jumper-hole has been drilled into the N face of the stone about 0.2m above ground-level.
Visited by RCAHMS (JRS), 23 October 1996.
Scheduled as 'Tombeg, standing stone 90m W of...'
Information from Historic Scotland, scheduling document dated 13 March 2008.
Field Visit (6 October 2015)
Both John Henderson (1907) and James Ritchie (1917) refer to the remains of a stone circle at Tombeg, the latter maintaining that this standing stone is the sole survivor of the ring. However, no stone circle is shown at this location on either the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map, or on the earlier plans of the Monymusk estate prepared by Alexander Ogg (1846) and George Brown (1774). Nevertheless, when viewed in profile from the east, this stone bears a remarkable resemblance to an orthostat shown standing in front of the partly demolished remains of an hitherto unlocated recumbent stone circle depicted in an oil painting by James Cassie dated to 1859 (Welfare 2011, 553).
The back of the board on which this is painted bears an old typed label with the title 'Standing Stones near Bennachie'; and this ridge with Mither Tap to the right in the composition, forms the backdrop to the remains of the ring in the left foreground. Although the view is consistent with the location of Tombeg, the ridge and its foothills have been dramatically pulled forward by the artist for emphasis. The surviving orthostat is shown in its present position following its reprieve from destruction by gunpowder and its re-erection for use as a cattle-rubbing stone in front of the despoiled recumbent setting, which was evidently orientated SE. The latter, with the rest of the recumbent stone circle was probably destroyed soon after the painting was made. The OS surveyors were unaware of its former presence and so failed to map its site. Ritchie observed a second stone, some 7.3m south of the orthostat, but he doubted whether this formed part of the ring and it has not been noted since. It is uncertain whether a large, partly covered stone tipping over the edge of the pit 14m NNW of the orthostat could be part of the broken-up recumbent, but this seems unlikely.
A plan was taken to show the relationship between the standing stone, the east end of the pit (NJ61SE 56) and the whin mill to its north (NJ61SE 40.1).
Visited by HES (ATW and AMcC), 6 October 2015.
Measured Survey (6 October 2015)
HES surveyed the stone circle at Tombeg with plane-table and alidade on 6 October 2015 at a scale of 1:100. The resultant plan was redrawn in vector graphics software.
