Cairn Ennit

This cairn, which is situated on the east shoulder of a low ridge 750m west of Mains of Carnousie, lies in an area of ground formerly within the east margin of Whitehill Wood. It measures up to 17m across, but the centre was dug out before 1870 (Name Book, Banffshire, No. 13, p 53) and the rest is so heavily disturbed that it is not only difficult to differentiate the original cairn material from the field-cleared stones that have been added to it since, but those shown on a plan prepared by Alexander Thom are no longer immediately recognisable on the ground (Thom et al 1980, 234–5). On the south-west, however, well beyond the edge of the cairn, there is a huge erratic boulder which was first noted by Coles during a fleeting visit in 1902. Measuring 2.9m by 1.7m and 1.65m in height, this has itself been quarried and is now considerably smaller than the rough measurements of 3.5m in length by 2.4m in height given by Coles (1903a, 140); a shot-hole can be seen just below its summit and a shallow hollow in the ground to its north is probably the place from where the bulk of the boulder has been removed. Despite drawing a comparison with the Carlin Stone at Cairn Riv, which lies no more than 4km to the south, Coles did not include Cairn Ennit in any of his lists of recumbent stone circles. On the strength of this large erratic on its south-west, however, Coles’ view that Cairn Riv was a late form of recumbent stone circle has been transposed by Burl to embrace Cairn Ennit (Burl 1995, 111; 2000, 419, Knc 19), though Barnatt recognised that the relationship between the cairn and the erratic might be fortuitous (1989, 307–8, no. 6:105). The occasion of Coles’ visit was to record a stone circle shown on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map about 140m to the north of Cairn Ennit (Banffshire 1874, xvi); this has been removed since and its site dense plantation of conifers and it was only with some difficulty that he finally located what he believed to be its site. However, he almost certainly lost his bearings amongst the trees and bracken, for his plan showing seven stones lying in a rough circle about 9m across roughly conforms to a probably fortuitous collection of stones planned by Thom a mere 15m to the north of Cairn Ennit (Coles 1903a, 137–40; Thom et al 1980, 234–5). Visited 20 May 2005

A re-examination of what remains of this cairn has disclosed four earthfast kerbstones about 2.5m NNE of the large erratic. These equate with those shown on the SW arc in Thom's published plan, counting S from the stone marked '4' (Thom, Thom and Burl 1980, 234-5) and with those labelled L, K, J and I in his notebook (Ms430/26). Although one of these stones (K) lies just off the arc, the remainder suggest that the diameter of the cairn was not less than 20m. This can be compared with Thom's estimate of 84ft (25.5m), based upon 13 kerbstones covering the whole of the W half of the cairn and Coles' estimate of 80-90ft (24m-27.5m) (Coles 1902-3, 138-40). The interior of the cairn not only remains heavily overburdened with field clearance, but also dumps of earth and uprooted tree stumps. In addition, there is an open rubbish pit part-filled with metal refuse to the WSW of the cairn and about 9m NNW of the erratic. The erratic appears to have been incorporated in an old field bank running from E to W. This suggests that the shallow hollow immediately to its N did not result from its excavation (pace Welfare 2011, 501), but rather from exploratory digging.

Visited by HES, Survey and Recording (ATW and AMcC), 9 February 2017.

HES surveyed Cairn Ennit with plane-table and alidade on 9 February 2017 at a scale of 1:100. The site was revisited on 13 February 2018 to complete the survey and to record a section across the site with GNSS. The resultant plan and section were redrawn in vector graphics..

The survey of this cairn, which started in 2017, was completed early in 2018. Although one of Ritchie’s photographs of c. 1906 (SC681588) shows what might appear to be a line of four slabs beneath the trees behind and to the left of the great erratic block, they are situated on the cairn well within the arc of the outer kerb – one stone of which (J) is visible in the foreground.

Visited by HES, Survey and Recording (ATW, AMcC), 13 February 2018.