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Inschfield
Recumbent Stone Circle (Neolithic) - (Bronze Age)
Site Name Inschfield
Classification Recumbent Stone Circle (Neolithic) - (Bronze Age)
Alternative Name(s) Nether Boddam; Insch-field
Canmore ID 18167
Site Number NJ62NW 6
NGR NJ 6233 2934
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/18167
- Council Aberdeenshire
- Parish Insch
- Former Region Grampian
- Former District Gordon
- Former County Aberdeenshire
NJ62NW 6 6233 2934.
(NJ 6233 2934) Standing Stones (NR)
OS 6" map, (1959)
Only 3 stones remain of this stone circle; the recumbent, 13ft 5" (4.1m) long and partly fallen; the E pillar about 10ft high; and a standing stone about 4' 10" (1.47m) high in the NE arc.
Six stones are shown on the OS 25" map of 1868, giving a diameter of about 90ft (27.4m).
F R Coles 1902.
The remains of a recumbent stone circle, generally as described and planned by Coles (1902), except that the recumbent is now tumbled over and broken in two, and the stone in the NE arc is also fallen.
Resurveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (RL) 4 March 1969.
Scheduled as Inschfield, stone circle.
Information from Historic Scotland, scheduling document dated 9 October 2001.
Field Visit (24 June 1999)
The remains of this recumbent stone circle stand at the S end of a low ridge in an arable field midway between Inschfield and Nether Boddam. Only three stones now remain, comprising the recumbent and one of its flankers on the SW (2–3) and a single fallen orthostat on the NNE (4); lying on opposite sides of the ring, these indicate an overall diameter of about 23.5m. The slab forming the recumbent (2) has fallen onto its back and broken into two pieces, now lying with its even summit to the NE and its curved base to the SW; when whole it measured 4.15m in length by up to 2.4m in breadth. The surviving flanker (3) stands at the E end of the recumbent and rises to a point at a height of 2.85m; a smooth facet at its NE corner may have been used as a whetstone. The fallen orthostat on the NNE side of the ring (4), one of at least four still standing in 1876 (see below), is rather smaller than the flanker and measures 1.95m in length. The interior is still largely under cultivation, its only feature being a shallow hollow extending NE from the recumbent and roughly bounded to either side by plough scars. Pieces of quartz have been gathered up with the field-cleared stones dumped around the recumbent setting and the fallen orthostat.
Visited by RCAHMS (ATW and KHJM) 24 June 1999
Measured Survey (24 June 1999)
RCAHMS surveyed the remains of Inschfield recumbent stone circle on 24 June 1999 with plane table and alidade producing a plan and section of the site and elevation of the recumbent setting at a scale of 1:100. The survey drawing was checked on-site on 2 March 2000. The plan, section and elevation were redrawn in ink and used as the basis for an illustration produced in vector graphics software and published at a scale of 1:250 (Welfare 2011, 379).
