Clach Na Tiompan
Four Poster Stone Circle (Bronze Age)
Site Name Clach Na Tiompan
Classification Four Poster Stone Circle (Bronze Age)
Alternative Name(s) Clach Na Trom Pan; Clach Na Tiom-pan; Glen Almond; River Almond
Canmore ID 25564
Site Number NN83SW 2
NGR NN 83008 32825
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/25564
- Council Perth And Kinross
- Parish Monzievaird And Strowan
- Former Region Tayside
- Former District Perth And Kinross
- Former County Perthshire
NN83SW 2 8301 3281
See also NN83SW 1.
(NN 8301 3284) Stone Circle (NR)
(Remains of)
OS 6" map (1901)
A small circle of standing stones enclosing a cairn was excavated in 1954. One stone, 4'3" high and the stump of another remain. Holes for two others were found. No dating evidence was recovered. It has a degenerate and composite appearance, and, if in the Bronze Age, gives the impression of being late in that period.
A S Henshall and M E C Stewart 1956
The remains of this feature are generally as described and planned, the two surviving stones in situ standing 5.0m apart whilst a third lies to the S. Within and around the stones is a low spread rubble mound c.6.0m in diameter. From the remains and excavation plan it seems certain that this is the remains of a four poster.
Surveyed at 1:10,000.
Visited by OS (RD) 20 November 1970
Four poster, dateable to c.1600 BC. As described in previous field report.
Surveyed at 1:10,000.
Visited by OS (JP) 7 October 1975.
Scheduled (with NN83SW 1) as 'Clach na Tiompan, long cairn, standing stone and cairn... a chambered cairn of prehistoric date, visible as a stony mound, and the remains of a small circle of standing stones enclosing a small cairn'.
Information from Historic Scotland, scheduling document dated 4 February 2003.
Publication Account (1987)
None of the small number of chambered cairns in Tayside is well preserved or readily accessible, but the location and unusual length of the cairn at Clach na Tiompan make it an interesting site to visit. Situated on a terrace some 15 m above the north bank of the River Almond, the cairn must have formed the centre of the religious life of a small farming community. Some sense of the duration of this activity is given by the fact that the long cairn is almost certainly a structure of several periods, because four burial chambers have been incorporated into its small length,although their sequence of building is a matter of conjecture.
The cairn, aligned north-west and south-east is some 57 m long and up to 11.5 m broad at its south-east end. The best-preserved chamber was found near this end; the main compartment was composed of four large slabs and a capstone with two small compartments leading from an impressive facade of upright slabs on the south-west The final blocking of the entrance was still in position, as shown on the photograph, with six slabs carefully wedged into position to prevent access to the tomb. No burial remains were discovered, as the tomb had been rifled perhaps when the road was built in the last century.
About 43 m to the south of the long cairn (on the south side of the road), a standing stone and the stump of a second are the remains of one of the distinctive 'four-poster' settings of Perth shire; excavation revealed the positions of the missing two stones.
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Fife and Tayside’, (1987).
