Raich

This cairn is situated in improved pasture at the rear of a narrow terrace on an E-facing slope overlooking Glen Dronach. It is rectangular on plan and measures 4.3m from NW to SE by 3.7m transversely. It is delimited on the S, E and N by three tall orthostats measuring from 1m to 1.28m in height, but the fourth on the W is missing. Although the E orthostat is the tallest, that on the N may have been decapitated and it is not certain that these stones were graded in height. In between them are large kerbstones – two on the SW, two on the SE and two on the NE - their configuration suggesting that the NE and SW sides of the cairn were constrained by four kerbstones, while the NW and SE sides were constrained by only three. The interior is filled with stones and boulders which rise 0.3 above the tallest of the orthostats. Many have been scratched by the plough and evidently result from field clearance. They completely obscure the make-up of the cairn.

The Rev. William Dingwall reported at the end of the 18th century that there were ‘the vestiges of several Druidical temples in the parish’ (Stat Acct, xii, 179*, 288), although neither he nor a later Minister of the parish, the Reverend James Cordiner (NSA 12, Aberdeenshire, 601), specifically refer to Raich. However, the cairn was duly noted as a ‘Stone Circle’ by the Ordnance Survey in 1867, who planned the three orthostats (Banffshire & Aberdeenshire 1872, Sheet XXII. 13) and described the monument as ‘a few irregularly placed stones: some standing on their ends, and some lying; supposed to have been a Druidical Temple’ (Name Book, Aberdeenshire, No. 31, p 38). Although Frederick Coles provided the first detailed plan (Coles 1903, 125-7), this emphasises the supposed circularity of the ‘very distinct and sharply defined mound’ upon which he perceived it to stand, as much as the stones themselves. His quotation of a diameter using the N and S stones suggests that he did not properly conceive of it as a rectangle, possibly on account of its similarity to Sheithen (NJ83SE 6) and less so to South Ythsie (NJ83SE 12), which he had plotted the previous year and which he believed to be analogous. James Ritchie’s photograph of April 1906 (HES AB2549), taken from the same perspective as Coles’ sketch, shows that the cairn was then much as it is today, while confirming the presence of the stony mound which is now wholly obscured by the clearance. Alexander Keiller also recognised its likeness to Sheithen (Keiller 1928, 12-13), commenting ‘that here we are not dealing with circles at all, although they have invariably hitherto been so described’. He thought they might be ‘the chambers of large cairns, of which nothing else now remains’ – a theory that has not met with acceptance (Keiller 1934, 4-5). Aubrey Burl, having classified the monument initially in terms of the stone setting, noted its internal cairn (Burl 1976, 353). Later he suggested that it could perhaps be best understood as a ‘hybrid’, possessing features in common with both Recumbent Stone Circles and Four-Posters (Burl 1988, 14-17, 96-7; 1995, 106; 1996, 196; 2000, 422) – a ‘transitional ring’ the evolution of which could have been driven by social change in the Bronze Age. This relationship with four-posters was accepted by John Barnatt (Barnatt 1989, 139, 299), but although small megalithic monuments are now recognised as a characteristic of the later Bronze Age in North-East Scotland, Raich may owe little or nothing to recumbent stone circles. However, as the earlier commentators have noted, its use of large kerbstones and orthostats does invite comparison with Sheithen.

Visited by HES, Survey and Recording (ATW, AMcC, KLG), 15 November 2018

HES surveyed Raich four poster stone circle with plane-table and alidade on 15 November 2018 at a scale of 1:50. GNSS data was also collected to record sections across the site. The resultant plan and sections were redrawn in vector graphics software..

The classification, location and period of this site record have been reviewed as part of record revision work carried out by HES Designations.

Visited by HES Designations R McDonald), 16 May 2022