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Visited: February 24, 2012.
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.
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Visited: February 24, 2012.
After visiting Corrydown Stone Circle, I decided to make the most of the sunshine by heading for Backhill of Drachlaw.
Parking off the road opposite the Carlin Stone, I found that access from the road near the farm was rendered tricky by a double barbed wire fence. I managed to hop over this, but an easier approach would be via the gate at Cairn Riv then follow the field boundary round (as I did on the return).
Backhill of Drachlaw is like no other Stone Circle I've seen, composed as it is of several unusually 'pebbly' stones. But a great place to visit.
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Visited: February 24, 2012.
The Mains of Hatton stone circle has in the past tended to be hard to spot. It lies near the crest of a hill and cannot normally be seen from the road. Last year I recall spending a considerable time following tractor tracks through waist high crops trying to find it.
This should be a problem no more. A giant Wind Turbine (which wasn't there last summer) has now sprung up on the south side of the road, on Cushnie Farm, thoughtfully(?) positioned exactly opposite the Circle. Indeed, standing under the turbine, it was just possible to see the tops of the fenceposts surrounding the circle.
The circle itself is a poor remnant that has been much disturbed, but the recumbent and pillars still raise a defiant profile in the February sunshine.
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Visited: February 24, 2012
I had tried to visit this Stone Circle remnant last year but ended up completely baffled by the 'missing path' reported by other observers. But, as I found out later, the path is still there.
Anyway, turning left from the B992 at the Cushnie sign, just before Auchterless (heading north), I visited the Mains of Hatton Circle before turning right at the following crossroads, past Pitglassie, to park at the end of the metalled road leading to Uppermill Farm. I walked to Uppermill, crossed the field to the right, and then the stream. This is a 'trenched' stream, and the far bank is in many places a daunting vertical obstacle. However, after searching a while, I found a place where it proved possible to step over the stream.
Now I started to contour, anticlockwise, around the hill—and within a few paces, there was the 'missing' path. Everything was easy now: just follow this path round the hill to the ruined Corrydown farmhouse, and the field gate appeared immediately adjacent.
All that remained was to follow the field margin for about 200 metres, and there were the recumbent and fallen pillars of Corrydown Stone Circle. Eveything is enclosed by a fence, and a number of the other circle stones, partly buried, can still be seen.
This is the best time to see remnant circles such as Corrydown. From early summer onwards their fallen stones become buried in a tangle of weeds and grasses and can be hard to view. In late winter, the previous years growth has collapsed and they are seen much more to advantage.
Finally, for the return to Uppermill, I steadfastly followed the path till I arrived at a rusted gate, with the Uppermill Burn ahead. Close inspection
revealed that the path actually continued across the burn, which was culverted for several metres. This covered section was somewhat disguised by a growth of saplings on top of it, but this was no obstacle to progress. There now followed a walk over a grassy stretch behind the farm buildings on the south side of the approach road, two gates to cross, and I was back at the start of my walk.
The mystery of the disappearing path is this: the path shown heading south from Upperhill (on the OS map) is now closed off by a gate (see photo), and what used to be the first 100 metres of the path has been grassed over (perhaps deliberately, to discourage walkers?). Just pass through the gate and follow the field edge on your left, along the grass behind the buildings, till you reach the stream. The clump of saplings indicates where you can cross. Step over the old rusted gate ahead, and you are on the path, which takes you almost all the way to the circle
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January 14, 2012
On a brilliant cold and frosty morning blessed with non-stop sunshine, I visited Cairnfauld (Crossroads) stone circle, just off the A957, 2 km south of the River Dee. With the aid of a monopod to hold my camera 3 metres above my head, it was possible to obtain this expansive view showing the 4 stones that remain visible.
At the extreme left of the photo is the north stone. In the centre foreground is the southwest stone, with, prostrate beside it, the displaced west stone that used to stand on the arc of the circle, a short distance off camera, to the left of the scene.
Photographs on the RCAHMS page show the latter, in situ, around a century ago.
http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/36695/details/cairnfauld/
Buried in the consumption dyke, on the other side of the gate, can be seen the south stone, leaning over at an angle. Farther along the dyke, presumably buried within it, is the fifth stone shown in Cole's sketch. The dyke has clearly gained hugely in field clearance during the 20th century and I had no luck tracing the 5th stone. If there, it is now buried under boulders that have been heaped on top of it, somewhere close to the prominent tree growing out of the dyke.
This was the first time I had visited so early in the year, when crops and vegetation no longer obscured much of the scene.
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January 14, 2012
On a fantastic, sunny, cloudless, frosty morning, I decided on the spur of the moment to take a trip out and visit the stone circles around the village of Banchory. In particular, following the revelations in Great Crowns of Stone, I was keen to visit the remaining stones of the long-destroyed Tilquhillie Stone Circle.
Apparently, this was situated somewhere in one of the two fields southeast of Tilquhillie Castle (itself just over 2 km SE of Banchory). In a dyke running northeast-southwest between the two fields is a huge block known as the Druid Stone, now believed to be the recumbent stone of the former circle.
The second stone, a putative flanker, stands in a gap in a dyke close to the castle. Standing in front of the gate to the castle you will find a field gate to your left. Enter the field, take a few steps, then turn to your right. You will see the dyke just a few metres ahead, as in the photograph.
For more details about the history of this circle, see the RCAHMS link below.
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November 1, 2011
A day of brilliant—and warm—sunshine tempted me to pay another visit to Frendraught Stone Circle, this time from Forgue. Parking at the village hall, up the road sighnposted to Forgue School, I first visited the nearby Church in its ever so picturesque setting.
After the road reaches the school, it continues straight ahead as a forestry track. About a kiliometre on, just as you start to descend from the highest point of the path, cross the fence on the left (with the barbed wire on top thoughtfully covered by a length of rubber hose), to make for Raich Stone Circle. This is about 500 metres on, basically following the same path that leads from Raich Farm, but from the opposite direction.
A flight of steps on the right leads to a gate in the dyke, and the stone circle is just a short distance into the field. It was pleasant to find that the circle was free from the tussocks of long grass and weeds that so often tend to hide it from view. Perhaps the landowner has been tidying it up.
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You can drive directly to the Bogcoup junction, taking the estate road from NJ627422. I found Drewbhoy's description confusing, perhaps because there is now a sizeable plantation of young conifirs screening the mature forest.
I followed the track (on foot) northwards, just past the edge of the field and through a gate on the left. This led to a tunnel of debranched trees that followed the field edge northwestwards. At the end of the tunnel, follow the field edge for a short distance (southwest) and, after just 50 metres or so, look out for a small plantation of much younger trees in a clearing to your right. Walk straight through the plantation for a couple of minutes until you arrive at a fence, with the wide forestry road beyond.
Cross the fence and follow the road leftward for 100 metres. The road now turns sharply left at right angles, following the plantation boundary. Continue for another 100 metres, and you will see the remains of Frendraught Stone Circle on the very edge of the forest on your right hand side.
An alternative path starts in the village of Forgue. Take the road signposted to Forgue School and park in the village hall car park. Walk up to the school where the road continues as a forest track. After 2 km, this track takes you to the same gate as mentioned above.
One bonus of this route is that you can make a short diversion along the way to visit Raich Stone Circle.
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Traces of two of the Melgum stone circles (or ring cairns?) can still be seen, though they are ruinous and barely recognisable.
To reach them, take the road from Tarland that heads northwest towards Millhead. A few yards past the final house, there is a track on the left leading to Melgum Lodge: there is space to park at the junction.
Follow this unmetalled road (little more than a track) westwards, noting the Waulkmill Standing Stone, sole remnant of a former stone circle, on the way. Continue till you arrive at the boundary with the woodland on your right, at the end of the field, then follow the field boundary north (right) to a gate at the far side. Through the gate, turn west (left) and continue to the end of this second field. The stone circles can be seen over the fence, to the south.
Warning: don't attempt to cross fences and make directly for the circles, as this area of woodland is inhabited by a herd of cattle, including a bull!
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Drewbhoy's note and splendid winter images of a possible unrecorded stone circle remnant at Newton of Wardhouse fired my imagination.
In particular, I wondered if further evidence might lie beneath the snow, and decided to investigate.
The location was easily established through BING Maps (Google Maps lack high definition imagery at this location) which clearly show the huge recumbent lying in an area of rough pasture surrounded by gorse scrub, just north of west from Newton Farm.
Sadly, no further stones were in evidence, but the site gives breathtaking views towards both Dunnnideer and Tap O'Noth, and is well worth visiting on a clear summer day.
The recumbent stone (if that is what it is) certainly faces the southwest arc of a putative stone circle while the other prostrate stone is pointed at one end and rounded at the other as with many typical flanking pillars.
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April 27, 2011
I set off to visit Candle Hill on a brilliant day of cloudless sunshine. If the site were as bad as reported below, then at least the views towards Bennachie and Dunnideer Hill should be worth seeing. I can only say that I was most pleasantly surprised. There seems to have been recent activity removing the worst of the gorse from the hill and the site of the stone circle was reached with ease.
My second surprise was that the circle is almost complete - though all but one of the stones are prostrate. My first sighting was from the north, of the single standing stone, and the prostrate recumbent and flankers beyond. But from the west flanker, four large stones marked out the western arc of the circle. Only the 3rd stone was prominent; the other three were covered with moss and other vegetation and almost completely buried: they stood only a couple of centimetres proud of the ground. Then came the upright stone, and beyond it another large earthfast stone, again, only just breaking the surface. Finally, there was an obvious 'absentee' between this and the east flanker.
So there are nine stones still visible, and in place (eight prostrate), with only one member of an assumed 10-stone circle actually missing.
Because of the large central mound, it is not possible to see all the stones in context. An aerial close-up from a helicopter would be illuminating and show the true nature of the circle.
A good day out, with much more to see than I ever imagined. My photograph is a panorama, showing clearly the recumbent and flankers, the central mound, and the upright northern stone.
Access: There is now a gate in the wall surrounding the hilltop. From the road, make uphill towards the prominent lone Scots Pine tree, follow the wall for a few yards to the right, and you are there. Through the gate, keep following the wall and you will see the large upright stone after 50 yards or so.
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A keen hillwalker most of my life, my interest was restricted when the need arose to care for an ageing parent.
With limited opportunities to travel far from home, I 'discovered' the world of stone circles, mainly in my native Aberdeenshire.
This provided the ideal opportunity for short walks of just a few hours duration, and resulted in me visiting many places of interest that I had never considered previously.
Website:
My Stone Circle Pages
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