The Modern Antiquarian. Stone Circles, Ancient Sites, Neolithic Monuments, Ancient Monuments, Prehistoric Sites, Megalithic MysteriesThe Modern Antiquarian

Dunnydeer Farm

Stone Circle

Fieldnotes

(notes written on the stone in front of the recumbent, 1 July 00)

The Modern Antiquarian said this was an 'obscure' site, difficult to find, but we walked directly up the side of the field from the road, five minutes, straight to it. Here there's only the recumbent and its wobbly flankers but the great thing about RSCs is that's all you really need to get a real sense of what the circle was; it tells you where the rest of the circle was and what it was facing and what scale it was built on. And not only are these all you really need, but because they're the largest in the circle they're the most likely to still be in situ.

Regarding the missing stones, eighty metres beyond me to the south, just over the brow of the hill, is a big pile of mostly small stones. Field clearance? Cairn? There's rather a lot, perhaps enough to be a very old and collapsed building. Even if it is just the latter, it's distinctly possible that it would've been made of broken up circle stones. Halfway up from the road in the field wall twenty metres east of the standing stones there's a wire-fenced gateway, the gateposts being two smallish granite stones. You have to wonder.

The Dunnydeer recumbent is peaked in exactly the shape of the Hill of Christ's Kirk behind it (like that name doesn't give a hefty clue as to its sacred history!). From inside the circle you'd have Hill of Flinder on the right, Dunnideer on the left and the recumbent matching the horizon! Your whole field of vision would be sacred hills and stones with *you* feeling like the focus! Psychological genius at work here!
Posted by Merrick
7th August 2000ce

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