Sunhoney Stone Circle View all content for Sunhoney

(visited 30 June 00) These were the first Aberdeenshire stones we visited that stand on private land, and we set ourselves a good and decent precedent by knocking first to ask. We found that not only does this invariably lead to a friend granting of permission, but it means that when you're at the stones you can really get into it instead of always looking over your shoulder for the angry farmer coming to hassle you. It also means that the landowner comes to know that people into the stones are considerate and polite, so it'll help future visitors too. But there was nobody in, so we asked at the house nextdoor, who said that the landowners are fine about visitors as long as they obey the Golden Rule of Walking on Farmland: SHUT THE GATE BEHIND YOU! We crossed a field of ripening wheat and came into the circular grove of trees that surrounds the circle. The woman down at the Corrieburn house said 'but there's really nothing to see up there'. Ha! This is such a beautiful place, a luscious warmth radiates through the site, and not just because of the lurid glowing pink colour of the stones. On the crest of a small hill, this has a classic stone circle Centre Of The Landscape vibe. Barmekin Hill looms massively down behind the smallest stone, as much a horizon focal point as Mither Tap at East Aquhorthies. Barmekin Hill is a classic sacred hill shape, and has the same shape and name as The Barmkyn, a hill on which Old eig and Druidstones are aligned. The fallen and broken recumbent stone is a sad sight, but it is still in better condition than most of the RSCs, and with the outer circle of trees and the landscape-central feeling, this is as bright and enchanting a place as you could see anywhere. (NB In the Modern Antiquarian's gazetteer entry for Sunhoney (page 393), the directions say that by their 1994ce trip Sunhoney Farm had been renamed Corrieburn Farm, but they didn't find out why. In fact, Sunhoney Farm is still Sunhoney Farm, and the sign up the track to Corrieburn is for entry round the back to the new house nextdoor).

Posted by Merrick 7th August 2000ce

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