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The Covenanter's Stone (Stone Circle)

Additional information on this possible site from Canmore.

NS 4775 5323. "The Covenanter's Stone": fallen stone circle (A W Millar). Seven recumbent stone slabs, 4ft 11ins to 5ft 7ins in length by 2ft to 3ft in maximum breadth, are arranged in a circle about 25ft in diameter, (if the arrangement were symmetrical, an eighth slab is missing). The site is immediately S of a massive Medieval land dyke, broken by the 18th century coach road and a later track which pass round the circle on opposite sites.
F Newall 1963

NS 4773 5333. The dimensions of these seven recumbent slabs are as given above, the largest being 1.8m long, 0.9m wide and 0.4m thick. Their present position - they lie in two parallel rows of three and four stones respectively - make it difficult to visualise them forming a circle; however, depending on the way each stone fell (if, indeed, they ever stood), they might suggest a stone circle of possible 8.0m diameter. The name "Covenanter's Stone" is known locally but no
reliable information was obtained. The "Medieval land dyke" noted by Newall is a field bank of no great age. The 18th century coach road appears to be no more than a hill-track.
Visited by OS (WDJ) 26 November 1964

Listed by Burl as of "uncertain status, including complex and misidentified sites".
H A W Burl 1976

Seven large recumbent slabs lie in a rough 'avenue' running approximately E-W. The long sides of the stones are at right angles to this line. The stones vary in size from about 1m by 1m up to 2.2m by 1m with an average of 1.4m in length. An eighth stone reputedly from the site was until recently used as a bridge over a burn about 1/2 mile away. The stones are unlikely to be lying in their exact original positions - at least one is known to have been slightly moved in the 1950s. Prior to the legendary usage by the Covenanters, the seven (or eight) stones may well have formed a standing circle. About 7m to the N lie two stony mounds in line, with their long axis SW-NE. Both are about 7.5m in length. A relationship with the seven stones adjacent should not be ruled out.
Sponsor: Renfrewshire Local History Forum, Archaeology Group
B Henry et al. 1994.

There is no evidence that this group of stones ever formed a stone circle. They form no coherent pattern or arrangement and they lie in a damp, peaty hollow.
Visited by RCAHMS (JRS) 29 February 2008.


http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/43038/details/moyne+moor/
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