Guidebest
Cairn (Period Unassigned), Stone Circle (Neolithic) - (Bronze Age)
Site Name Guidebest
Classification Cairn (Period Unassigned), Stone Circle (Neolithic) - (Bronze Age)
Alternative Name(s) Latheronwheel Burn; Newlands Of Leodebest
Canmore ID 8114
Site Number ND13NE 3
NGR ND 1802 3510
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/8114
- Council Highland
- Parish Latheron
- Former Region Highland
- Former District Caithness
- Former County Caithness
ND13NE 3 1802 3510
(ND 1802 3510) Stone Circle (NR)
OS 1:10,000 map, (1976)
A stone circle, about 190ft in diameter, stands on the edge of the Burn of Latheronwheel. Eight stones (seven standing) remains and probably five are missing. The stones are up to 4ft 9ins in height, 3ft in breadth and 2ft in thickness.
RCAHMS 1911, visited 1910.
Generally as described by the RCAHMS.
There are three large earthfast stones some 20m S of the circle, one of which bears a marked resemblance to the fallen stone of the circle, but whether they are associated is now impossible to determine.
Resurveyed at 1:2500.
Visited by OS (R L) 9 May 1967.
A large open ring, comparable to the ceremonial circles of the south, with its tallest stone, 1.5m high, on the W. A cairn lies just S of the ring and another possible cairn small and overgrown, lies to the NE of the ring's centre.
H A W Burl 1976.
The stone circle is as described and planned by the RCAHMS (1911). The southernmost stone is reduced to a stump with the broken-off fragment lying beside it. The alleged 'possible cairn' within the ringis probably early-modern stone clearance in common with one or two similar mounds in the neighbourhood. The other cairn noted by Burl (1976), however, would appear to be an antiquity. It lies 4.0m outside the S arc of the ring, on the N end of a slight ridge. It is heather and turf-covered, measuring approximately 10.5m in diameter by 0.4m high; the top is slightly depressed. The cairn reveals some medium to small water-worn stones. Two significant stones are an earthfast upright slab 5.0m SW of the cairn, measuring 0.5m along the broad face, aligned NE-SW, by 0.2 to 0.3m thick and 0.4m high. The other, a semi-recumbent slab 11.0m NW of the last-mentioned stone, measures 1.0m long by 0.7m broad and 0.4m thick. Two other stones were noted in this vicinity, but they are loose. Surveyed at 1:10,000.
Visited by OS (J M) 8 November 1982.
Scheduled as Guidebest, stone circle, Latheronwheel Burn.
Information from Historic Scotland, scheduling document dated 13 December 2000.