The Gray Stone Of Clochforbie
Recumbent Stone Circle (Neolithic) - (Bronze Age)
Site Name The Gray Stone Of Clochforbie
Classification Recumbent Stone Circle (Neolithic) - (Bronze Age)
Alternative Name(s) Clochforbie, Gray Stone
Canmore ID 19227
Site Number NJ75NE 1
NGR NJ 7968 5863
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/19227
- Council Aberdeenshire
- Parish King Edward
- Former Region Grampian
- Former District Banff And Buchan
- Former County Aberdeenshire
NJ75NE 1 7968 5863.
(NJ 7968 5863) Gray Stone (NR) (Remains of Stone Circle)
OS 6" map, (1959)
A rough whinstone boulder, 12ft long x 2ft 10ins broad x 3ft 3ins high, known as the Gray Stone, is situated 4 miles due south of Gardenstown, within a few feet of the Clochforbie road (the construction of which must have caused the demolition of the accompanying circle).
Judging by its horizontal position, compass bearing and large size, it is the Recumbent stone, of a stone circle. No other stones, or circular area, are however, apparent.
F R Coles 1904; A Keiller 1934.
The Gray Stone is as described above. A stone wedge 1.4m long can be seen underneath the S end of the stone suggesting that it is the Recumbent stone of a stone circle. No other stones could, however, be seen in the vicinity.
Re-surveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (NKB) 9 February 1965.
Field Visit (2 April 2004)
The site of this recumbent stone circle is marked by a single large boulder, which lies close to the NE boundary of an arable field on the WSW shoulder of the low hill overlooking Nether Clochforbie. The overall shape of the boulder, which is an irregular pentagon in plan measuring 3.65m in length, is typical of recumbents, but it has fallen onto its back so that what was its relatively flat summit now faces NE, and its keeled base SW. A stone sleeper wedged beneath its SE end may be one of the original packing stones, though probably not in its original position (below). Of the rest of the circle there is little trace, but a barely perceptible plateau stretching back beneath the road to the NE of the recumbent and small fragments of white quartz in the ploughsoil possibly indicate the former presence of an internal cairn.
Visited by RCAHMS (ATW and KHJM) 2 April 2004
Measured Survey (2 April 2004)
RCAHMS surveyed the remains of The Gray Stone of Clochforbie recumbent stone circle on 2 April 2004 with plane table and alidade producing a plan of the site and elevation of the recumbent at a scale of 1:100. The plan 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, 369).
