After today’s visit, I can add a bit more information to the West circle history [when I googled it, TMA was the top authority according to AI which shows what a bright future we are careering towards].
As you leave the road to go down to the farm, you pass a bungalow on your right, then there is the farmhouse, then there is the steading. The man in the farmhouse answered a knock and said that he owns the field with the Backhill of Drachlaw stone circle in it. Then there’s the steading which is still owned by Mr Sutton, who Drewbhoy met, he wasn’t in at the time of my visit. The various stones which have been found recently have now been erected in a rough circle next to the ones in the dyke, see photos. The farmer added there had been people down surveying last week, so perhaps that was Hysteric Scotland.
It’s notable that there are so many ancient monuments in such a small area – Cairn Riv, West of Drachlaw, Backhill of Dracklaw and the Shielmuir stone in immediate proximity, then nearby Newton Of Fortrie and Milnbank/Hill Of Laithers, plus a little bit further away RSCs such as Pitglassie, Mains of Hatton and Corrydown. The venerable Pratt said back in 1901 that Cairn Riv marks a former boundary between Banffshire and Aberdeenshire, and Turriff and Inverkeithny. That makes sense when you go down the hill to the Deveron, it is indeed a natural border.
I have to say after today’s visit and seeing that the stones in Backhill, West and Cairn Riv all have seams of quartz, I wonder if they were originally all parts of one megacircle. Also if they were marking a boundary, surely something should have been up on the top of Drachlaw Hill, perhaps the Drach Law itself, now ploughed out?
Final comment, in today’s light, Cairn Riv seemed more like an erratic to worship than a former recumbent, with an excellent face on its side.
Still has its little flanker, the other used to be at a gate near the roadside. Gate and stone now both removed. However, rumours of dumped stones in nearby woods have been mentioned.