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Loanend
Cup Marked Stone (Prehistoric), Recumbent Stone Circle (Neolithic) - (Bronze Age)
Site Name Loanend
Classification Cup Marked Stone (Prehistoric), Recumbent Stone Circle (Neolithic) - (Bronze Age)
Alternative Name(s) Hawk Hill
Canmore ID 18190
Site Number NJ62SW 1
NGR NJ 6049 2421
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/18190
- Council Aberdeenshire
- Parish Premnay
- Former Region Grampian
- Former District Gordon
- Former County Aberdeenshire
NJ62SW 1 6049 2421
For nearby discovery of 'urn', see NJ62SW 21..
(NJ 6049 2421) Standing Stones (NR)
OS 6" map, (1959)
The remaining two stones of a recumbent stone circle, three of whose stones were removed by the farmer about 1847. The granite recumbent stone, the more westerly of the two survivors, measures 14' (4.26m) in maximum length, 6' 4" (1.93m) in maximum height and 2' 7" (0.79m) in maximum thickness. On the summit near the middle is a shallow scooped hollow 3' 6" (1.07m) long and 15" (381mm) apart each about 1 1/2" (38mm) wide. The two pillar stones are said to have sunk into the sand, about the beginning of the 19th century, and to be buried. The other stone is a smaller, broadish, oblong block.
Name Book 1867; F R Coles 1901.
The scant remains of a recumbent stone circle, mainly as described and planned by Coles (1901).
The E stone measures 1.5m high and 1.4m x 0.6m.
Revised at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (ISS) 7 August 1973.
Listed as a recumbent stone circle by Burl (1973).
H A W Burl 1973.
No change to previous field report.
Revised at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (JM) 17 August 1976.
All that now remains of this recumbent stone circle, which lies immediately S of the summit of Hawk Hill about 160m N of Loanend farmsteading (NJ62SW 104), is the recumbent stone on the SW and one of the uprights of the circle on the SSE. The recumbent stone is a massive slab of granite, which measures 4.1m in length by 0.9m in thickness and 2.27m in height. The other stone, which is situated 15m to the E of the recumbent, measures 1.35m in breadth by 0.65m in thickness and 1.65m in height.
Visited by RCAHMS (JRS), 6 November 1996.
At the W end of the recumbent, just below a pronounced bulge, two cupmarks are still visible, while another possible cupmark is situated near the centre of the recumbent's external face.
Information from RCAHMS (ARG), 16 July 2008
Field Visit (10 June 1999)
Only the recumbent and a single orthostat remain of this stone circle, standing in improved pasture immediately N of a small coniferous plantation a short distance SE of the summit of Hawk Hill. The recumbent (2), situated on the SW, is a massive boulder measuring 4.15m in length by up to 2.25m in height, but it tapers downwards into its base, which is largely free of soil and now appears to rest precariously upon some cobbles, with only a few small packing-stones pinning it upright. Its summit is uneven (pace Ruggles and Burl 1985, 49), rising into a pronounced dome towards its NW end, and bears two cupmarks near the mid-point; there is also a possible cupmark near the centre of its outer face. Both flankers are missing, but the shape of the recumbent would have dictated the use of blocking stones to complete the façade. The sole remaining orthostat (4) stands 1.6m high on the SE. The circle probably measures about 25m in diameter and the uneven interior is delineated on the NE by a low scarp that is likely to coincide with its perimeter.
Visited by RCAHMS (ATW and KHJM) 10 June 1999
Measured Survey (10 June 1999)
RCAHMS surveyed the remains of Loanend recumbent stone circle on 10 June 1999 with plane table and alidade producing a plan and section of the site and elevation of the recumbent stone at a scale of 1:100. The survey drawing was checked on-site on 30 March 2000. The plan, section and elevation 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, 382).
