Hill Of Logie

NJ92NE 7 centred 977 297.

A group of round hut sites which, from surface examination, appear to be similar to those discovered in the sands of Forvie (NK02NW 2 - Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age Settlement) is situated on the lower slopes of the Hill of Logie (NJ 978 298) on the S bank of the Ythan about 1 mile downstream from Ellon.

'At various times in the past prehistoric objects have been picked up from fields below this site - including glass beads dated to be early centuries AD'.

W Kirk 1956.

Centred at NJ 977 297 is a settlement of three circular, stone-walled huts (A-C). No wall faces can be seen and the diameters are given between wall centres.

Hut 'A' measuring about 14.5m in diameter, is bounded by a wall spread about 2.5m all round with a discontinuous line of stones around its top suggesting a wall of similar construction to the huts of the settlement NK02NW 2. There is no apparent entrance.

'B' measures about 8.5m in diameter. The wall is spread to about 2.5m all round and there is mutilated entrance in the NW.

'C' measures about 9.0m in diameter. The wall is spread about 2.5m all round and there is no apparent entrance. Attached to the NNE side is a circular annexe measuring about 5.0m in diameter with a wall spread to about 2.0m all round, also with no apparent entrance.

In the area between the huts there are a few stone clearance heaps, probably from associated cultivation plots. To the NNW of huts 'A' and 'C' is an area of rig and furrow.

No further information regarding finds.

Surveyed at 1/2500.

Extent of stone clearance delineated.

Visited by OS (RL) 2 September 1970.

Air photography (AAS/94/07/G16/1-4) has recorded hut-circles and a field-system.

NMRS, MS/712/21.

Hill of Logie, cairns. Air photographs: AAS/97/04/G8/10 and AAS/97/04/CT.

NMRS, MS/712/29.

(Location cited as NJ 9775 2972 and name as Hill of Logie: nominated as Site of Regional Significance). Air photography has recorded a settlement and field-system on a rise at an altitude of 25m OD; at least four hut-circles can be identified among the stone clearance-heaps.

[Air photographic imagery listed].

NMRS, MS/712/35, visited 24 November 1987.

Hut Circles & Field System [NR]

OS 1:10,000 map, 1992.

(Classification changed to Hut-circles; Barbed-and-Tanged, Flint Arrowhead; Flints; Lazy-Beds). A group of four hut-circles are situated on a low rise about 180m SE of Logie House (NJ92NE 43):

1. NJ 9771 2978 (OS Hut-circle 'A') This hut-circle is situated on the NW side of the rise and measures 11.5m in diameter within a wall reduced to a grass-grown stony bank up to 3.5m in thickness and 0.3m in height. Several inner and outer facing-stones are visible, and on the S the wall is partly overlain by a spread of stones. The entrance is not visible. A plot of lazy-bed cultivation stretches away to the NE from the E side of the hut-circle (see below).

2. NJ 9780 2958 (OS Hut circle 'B') This hut-circle, which is situated about 200m SSE of (1), measures 6.7m in diameter within a wall reduced to a grass-grown stony bank up to 2.8m in thickness and 0.3m in height. A length of the outer face and a few inner facing stones are visible on the E, and here the wall is about 1m thick. The entrance is not visible, possibly on account of the damage caused by vehicles passing from S to N across the site. A slight hollow in the surface of the turf around the hut-circle has probably been caused by livestock.

3. NJ 9776 2982 (OS Hut circle 'C') This hut-circle is situated on the NNW flank of the rise about 45m NE of hut-circle (1). It measures 7.8m in diameter within a grass-grown stony bank 1.8m in thickness and 0.3m in height. A gap in the bank on the S may mark the position of the entrance.

4. NJ 9770 2977. A fourth hut circle, which lies immediately WSW of (1), measures 5.5m in diameter within a grass-grown stony bank up to 1.4m in thickness and 0.35m in height.

The lazy-beds (denoted as rig-and-furrow in earlier accounts) adjacent to the first hut-circle are overlain by the drystone wall that divides the unimproved ground on which the hut-circles are situated from the improved pasture to the N.

Mrs. M. Bruce of Logie House has a fine barbed-and-tanged flint arrowhead which she found on 25 January 1997 while examining the course of a new path (NJ 9774 2984) on the N edge of the area of rough pasture. Mrs Bruce has amassed an extensive collection of finds from the farm, most of which were retrieved from the Hill of Logie or from the gravel terrace between the house (NJ 9759 2996) and the River Ythan immediately to the N. These items include a leaf-shaped flint arrowhead, which was found on the nearby river terrace. A collection of flints previously amassed by Mrs Bruce was lost in a fire that destroyed Logie House some years ago.

Other finds from this general area, including arrowheads and stone axe-heads, formed part of the Patey collection. This was supposedly donated to Marischal College Museum, Aberdeen (Godsman 1958, 19), but no record of them exists there.

Visited by RCAHMS (ATW, JRS), 28 January 1997.

J Godsman 1958.