Whitestone Cairn
Cairn (Prehistoric), Cairn (Modern), Sheepfold (Modern)
Site Name Whitestone Cairn
Classification Cairn (Prehistoric), Cairn (Modern), Sheepfold (Modern)
Alternative Name(s) Harestone Hill, 'pykit Stane', Pyket Stane
Canmore ID 56177
Site Number NT56SE 3
NGR NT 56820 62317
NGR Description Centre
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/56177
- Council East Lothian
- Parish Garvald And Bara
- Former Region Lothian
- Former District East Lothian
- Former County East Lothian
NT56SE 3 56818 62316
(NT 5682 6231) Whitestone Cairn (NR)
OS 6" map (1957).
A 16th century document defining the boundary between the lands owned by Lord Hay of Yester and those belonging to Haddington Nunnery refers to 'the standand stane utherwayis callit Pykit stane' as a mark on that boundary. On topographic evidence, Waterston equates the 'Pykit Stane' with Whitestone Cairn, and suggests that originally there was a standing stone here, later made up to a cairn to make it more visible from afar. However, a similar cairn of loose stones, also named the Pyket Stane, marks the united marches of Stobo, Broughton and Kirkurd in Peebleshire, (Pyked Stane - round cairn: NT14SW 36).
C C Harvey and J MacLeod 1930; R Waterston 1952.
Whitestone Cairn, on the summit of Harestone Hill (1650ft OD), is circular, measuring 43ft in diameter and 3 1/2ft high. Its SE side has been robbed to build an adjacent sheep stell and a surveyors' cairn has been erected on top of the original structure. The central part, however, does not seem to have been disturbed.
RCAHMS 1924, visited 1913; R W Feachem 1963.
A cairn as described by the RCAHMS. It measures 12.5m in diameter and stands 2.0m high.
Surveyed at 1/10,000.
Visited by OS (BS) 2 April 1979
Whitestone Cairn [NAT]
OS (GIS) masterMap, May 2010.
Field Visit (15 May 1913)
On the summit of Harestone Hill, at an elevation of over 1500 feet above sea-level, is a circular cairn of stones measuring 43 feet in diameter and rising 3 ½ feet in height at the centre. Although the cairn on the south-eastern side has been despoiled of material to build an adjacent sheep stell and also a surveyor's cairn on the top of the original structure, the central part does not seem to have been disturbed. Without excavation it is impossible to say whether the cairn is sepulchral in character.
RCAHMS 1924, visited 15 May 1913.
Note (31 January 2020)
The location, classification and period of this site have been reviewed.
