Gourdon
Long Cairn (Neolithic)
Site Name Gourdon
Classification Long Cairn (Neolithic)
Alternative Name(s) Gourdon Hill; Bikmane Hill; War Woof; Gourdon Cairn
Canmore ID 36841
Site Number NO87SW 14
NGR NO 81800 70650
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/36841
- Council Aberdeenshire
- Parish Benholm
- Former Region Grampian
- Former District Kincardine And Deeside
- Former County Kincardineshire
NO87SW 14 81800 70650.
(NO 8180 7065) Long Cairn (NR)
OS 1:10000 map (1973)
A long cairn, once called the 'War Woof' (J G Callendar 1924), composed of small rounded boulders and angular stones with some earth, covered with turf and whins. It measures 155ft long by 40ft wide at the ENE end and 25ft at the WSW end; it still stands up to 9ft in height though much robbed. There is no sign of a chamber.
A S Henshall 1963
A long cairn, generally as described, measuring 46.0m in length, 14.0m wide and 1.7 m high at the NE end, and 8.0m wide and 1.0 m high at the SW end.
Revised at 1:2500.
Visited by OS (NKB) 20 December 1967
Air photograph: AAS/97/11/CT.
NMRS, MS/712/29.
This long cairn is situated in arable ground on the crest of a high ridge at an altitude of 136m OD.
Air photography: AAS(A)/87/02/S2/14-15 and 17-20.
Also noted by RCAHMS (Marginal Lands Survey).
NMRS, MS/712/36.
Field Visit (3 May 1957)
This site was included within the RCAHMS Marginal Land Survey (1950-1962), an unpublished rescue project. Site descriptions, organised by county, are available to view online - see the searchable PDF in 'Digital Items'. These vary from short notes, to lengthy and full descriptions. Contemporary plane-table surveys and inked drawings, where available, can be viewed online in most cases - see 'Digital Images'. The original typecripts, notebooks and drawings can also be viewed in the RCAHMS search room.
Information from RCAHMS (GFG) 19 July 2013.
Field Visit (March 1982)
Gourdon (KNC 3) NO 818 706 NO87SW 14
On the summit of Gourdon Hill there is a long cairn, which measures 46m in length and tapers from 14m in breadth at the ENE end (where it is about 2.5m high) to 8m at the WSW end.
RCAHMS 1982, visited March 1982
(Name Book, Kincardine, No. 4, p.16; Callander 1924, 23-4; Henshall 1963, 400)
Publication Account (1986)
This long cairn, now turf-covered, is conspicuously sited at 13 m OD on a hilltop overlooking the sea. It is oriented ENE-WSW and is 46 m long and 14 m wide at the east end. The east end is the higher 0.7 m) and, like the west end, is rounded in plan; the cairn material includes rounded boulders and some earth.
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Grampian’, (1986).
Publication Account (1996)
This long cairn, now turf-covered, is conspicuously sited at 136m OD on a hilltop overlooking the sea. It is oriented ENE-WSW and is 46m long and 14m wide at the east end. The east end is the higher (1.7m) and, like the west end, is rounded in plan; the cairn material includes rounded boulders and some earth.
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Aberdeen and North-East Scotland’, (1996).