Gask
Cup Marked Stone (Prehistoric), Stone Circle (Neolithic) - (Bronze Age)
Site Name Gask
Classification Cup Marked Stone (Prehistoric), Stone Circle (Neolithic) - (Bronze Age)
Alternative Name(s) Springhill
Canmore ID 19369
Site Number NJ80NW 9
NGR NJ 8018 0638
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/19369
- Council Aberdeenshire
- Parish Skene
- Former Region Grampian
- Former District Gordon
- Former County Aberdeenshire
NJ80NW 9 8018 0638.
(NJ 8018 0638) Stone Circle (NR) (Remains of)
OS 6" map (1901)
Standing Stones (NR)
OS 6" map (1919)
On the top of the ridge between the Skene and Echt roads, about ten miles west of Aberdeen, there are two upright granite pillars, the remains of a stone circle probably about 50 feet in diameter.
The southern stone is 6ft 8ins (2m) high, 2ft 9 ins (0.83m) broad and between 1ft 4 ins and 2ft 3 ins (0.4 and 0.69m) thick.
The northern stone is 6ft 3 ins (1.9m) high, up to 3ft (0.9m) wide and 1ft to 2ft 3 ins (0.3 to 0.69m) thick. On its southern side are eight plain cups and there is one rather doubtful cup and ring on the northern side, near the top.
J Ritchie 1919
The remains of this stone circle are fully described above.
Visited by OS (WDJ) 3 November 1961.
(Name cited as Springhill).
NMRS, MS/712/74.
This stone circle has been reduced to a single stone, which stands in a field about 500m NNW of Springhill farmsteading (NJ80NW 70.00). When the Ordnance Survey last visited this stone circle in 1961 a second stone stood about 16m to the NW. The remaining stone is a granite pillar that measures 0.7m from N to S by 0.65m transversely at ground level and stands to a height of 2.05m. It has a naturally bevelled top with facets on the N and S. The other stone now stands adjacent to the W side of a field wall about 30m W of its original position, where it was moved some years ago. Though recorded by the OS as being 6ft 3ins (1.9m) high, the granite pillar now measures 1.75m in height by 0.93m from N to S and up to 0.6m transversely. At ground level the stone is an isosceles triangle in section with its apex pointing S. Of the eight cupmarks recorded by Ritchie, at least five can be seen on the E face at the NE angle. Now no more than roughly circular depressions, they measure about 50mm in diameter and 10mm in depth.
A third stone, not previously recorded, has been set up adjacent to the E side of the dyke a further 19.5m to the S. It is a granite slab which measures 1.45m from N to S by 0.45m transversely and 2.1m in height.
Visited by RCAHMS (JRS), 15 April 1998.
Field Visit (22 July 1999)
A single standing stone marks the site of this stone circle, which was first recorded on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Aberdeenshire 1869, sheet lxxiv). By then, it had already been reduced to two stones standing some 18m apart, but some time after 1976 (see photographs by Meek) the NW stone was removed. This stone now stands on the field dyke about 30m W of its original position, but only 5 of the eight cupmarks recorded on it by Ritchie in 1919 can now be identified. On the E side of the dyke, a further 19.5m to the S, a third granite slab has been erected. Measuring 1.45m from N to S by 0.45m transversely at ground level by 2.1m in height, it bears several plough scars on its W face and has evidently been ploughed up.
Visited by RCAHMS (ATW,ARG) 22 July 1999
Measured Survey (22 July 1999)
RCAHMS surveyed the remains of Gask stone circle on 22 July 1999 with plane table and alidade producing a plan at a scale of 1:250. The survey drawing was later used as the basis for an illustration redrawn in vector graphics software at the same scale.
