Dunnydeer

NJ62NW 8 61570 28527.

There are three standing stones near Dunideer House (NJ 61 28). They form the points of a right-angled triangle whose sides measure A-B 935 yds (855m), A-C 798 yds (730m), with a base B-C of 467 yds (427m). A and B are in direct line with the circle on Candle Hill (NJ62NE 7).

'A', 7ft (2.1m) high, stands about the middle of the field next but one E of the house, and together with two great squarish stones used as gate posts,and others in the dike, suggests a stone circle once stood in the locality.

B, on the NW of the house, is an irregular, ancient looking monolith about 3ft 8" (1.17m) high.

C on the NW of the house is 4ft (1.2m) high.

F R Coles 1902.

An upright stone at NJ 6157 2852 may be Coles (1902) stone 'A'. It is c. 2.2m high, c. 1.8m broad and c. 0.8m thick. Another eath-fast stone beside it on the N is c. 0.7m square and c. 0.6m high. No further evidence to support Coles suggestion that this 'standing' stone may be the remains of a stone circle. Stones B and C could not be found.

Visited by OS (RL) 11 March 1969.

This standing stone has been removed to the SW corner of an arable field which is situated on a gentle N-facing slope at an altitude of 165m OD.

NMRS, MS/712/58, visited 16 November 1977.

This standing stone, which formerly stood in an arable field 140m SE of the farmhouse at Dunnydeer (NJ62NW 69), now lies against the stone wall at the SW corner of the field. It was moved there over twenty-five years ago by the father-in-law of Mrs Mackie, the present owner of the farm. The stone is a large granite boulder which measures 2.2m in length by up to 1.4m in breadth and at least 1.1m in thickness. It may have been one of a number of cattle-rubbing stones that once stood on Dunnydeer Farm (see NJ62NW 140-41, 146-8, 151); like these other stones, it is first depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Aberdeenshire 1870, sheet XLIV).

Visited by RCAHMS (JRS), 31 July 2001.