After leaving Backhill of Drachlaw it was a given to cross the field to the north to view Carn Riv, the Carlin Stone. My only excuse for posting is that I've added a nice sunny image of the stone for you to enjoy.
Things certainly weren't as nice as they look. I could barely keep the camera steady as a gale-force wind swept over the field.
This huge stone stands just a field away from the Backhill of Drachlaw circle. Like those stones it has large veins of white quartz running through it, making a thick stripe around the bulk of the rock. Rather than being placed as an outlier to the neighbouring circle it is suggested that the Carlin Stone could itself have been the recumbent of a circle, although the sheer size makes this seem unlikely. There have, however, been Bronze age finds around the stone which would seem to back up the RSC idea.
Greywether's comments could well be correct as local legend and rumour has tales of circle(s) being destroyed in the area. Sheilburn has only stone left and the Carlin Stone has it's remains. The stone at the Hill of Laithers also merits a mention. (Why was Backhill left alone?) Some reckon that the stones are in a wall at the Mill of Laithers. Just recently I found the standing stone at Newton of Fortrie. (July 09)
Coles (PSAS 37) writing of this site in the early 20th century records a conversation with the tenant farmer who stated that there was "in his father's time, several great stones - none nearly so huge as the Carlin, however - in a Circle, within which was a very low mound or cairn ... At various times ... these blocks ... had been removed, the mound of stones carried away for dykes .... "
This would add further support to this stone being the recumbent of a largely destroyed RSC.
This book section has a good description of the Carlin Stone and an excellent drawing of the stone from the year 1903. Other context of the page features various megaliths in northeast Scotland.
A huge stone, 8 feet high and 9 feet long is thought to be the last remnant of a long destroyed circle. It is thought that this site was one of a series encircling the Hill of Drachlaw.
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