Fuaran A'ghille

A pair of standing stones is situated in moorland on the leading edge of a SE-facing terrace 95m NW of the A890 public road and some 205m E of a communications mast. The terrace drops steeply to the valley floor from where the stones can be seen on the horizon and the site has open views from the NE to the SW, but especially to the SE where the main valley (Glen Carron) meets the gully carrying the Allt Ghargain off the opposite side of the valley. The route of an old track shown on the 1st edition of the OS map (Ross and Cromarty 1881, Sheet XCV) runs SW and NE just 5m NW of the stones. The western stone, which is orientated roughly E and W, measures 1.6m high, 0.6m broad at its base (tapering to 0.22m at the top) and 0.18m thick. The eastern stone, which stands 3.5m to the ESE and is 1.68m in height, measures 0.54m from NE to SW at its base (tapering to 0.22m at the top) by 0.26m.

These stones appear to be a relatively recent addition to the landscape. Both are of psammite and possibly originate from the exposed crag about 35m to the SE, which was created during road improvements about 15 years ago. A number of rounded boulders to the NW and NE of the setting appear to be simply erratics, while probing suggests the peat around the setting is up to 0.5m deep. Further, the stones do not appear on any OS maps despite their proximity to the road and they show very little sign of weathering and only a limited growth of lichen or moss. Finally, despite being clearly visible on aerial photographs taken in 2005, they cannot be detected on others taken in 1946 and 1988 (National Collection of Aerial Photography, CPE/UK/Scot/0192/1079; ASS/62688/0079).

Visited by HES Survey and Recording (GFG) 30 October 2017.