Sunnyside

NJ71NW 2 c. 743 156

A stone of diorite shaped like the quadrant of a circle, the stone sock for a plough and a hammer head of hard quartz, the last two found by the Rev James Peter, came from ground, sloping gently to the southwest, named Sunnyside, in the parish of Kemnay. In the vicinity is a very copious and celebrated spring and a series of small mounds in one of which were found an inverted urn containing bones. The stone implements were given to the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland (NMAS). (No accession numbers found.)

J Peter 1882.

According to Kemnay Bazaar Book, published in June 1896, Wreaton at NJ 7422 1545, was known as Sunnyside since before that date. From the topographical description in Peter (1882) the "mounds" would seem to have been in the vicinity of the well at NJ 7438 1568, but no trace of them is now visible.

There is no local knowledge of either the mounds or of any finds from the area.

Visited by OS (GHP) 20 March 1964.

(Location amended to NJ c. 743 156). The exact findspots of a number of stone objects from Sunnyside, Kemnay, has never been established and their present whereabouts are unknown. The reference to a series of small mounds, in one of which an inverted urn containing bones was found (Peter 1882, 437 footnote) probably indicates that there was a group of small cairns here, but no trace of any now survives and the urn has been lost.

Information from RCAHMS (JRS), 17 December 1997.