This was the last climb and stop to very long but wonderful day in the hills of the Mearns. Another list has been drawn up so back I'll be. Head south on the A92 until the first tarred road north east, go past Balandro farm and take the first right then next left stopping at the end of the road at Boghead farm.
Like the Carlin Stone, near Turriff, the recumbent has two small flankers, plus the remains of a kerb. Remnants of the cairn can seen by the small rise behind the recumbent and the appearence of lots of cairn material. Quite why there is an argument about this place and Millplough is beyond me. It is an obvious RSC placed in a stunning location with tremendous all round views especially out to the North Sea.
Anyway that's this day finished, no accidents, no falling into lochs so back to the car and on to Glasgow and a meeting with some unfriendly wolves, on the pitch at any rate.
On the summit of the nearest hill to the sea, except one, bordering with the parish of Cyrus, and commanding an extensive prospect, stands a rough stone, in the circumference of a stony circle, commonly called the Cloach stone. It is more than a foot thick, measure 8 feet along the ground, and rises nearly 6 above its surface, in an inclined direction towards the north.
As there is no place in the neighbourhood, except one at the South corner of the parish, close by the shore, where stones of the same quality are found, it appears to have been brought from thence, not without considerable difficulty, the intervening space being a pretty steep ascent of more than a mile. It would seem therefore to have been erected for some useful purpose, perhaps with a view to perpetuate some memorable event.
Tradition says, a battle was fought near this place, and the number of flint heads of arrows, found on the side of the hill where it stands, affords some reason to credit this report. Between this and the coast, a great quantity of human bones has been dug up, in the course of improving the land, for nearly the space of a mile along the rising ground above Johnshaven. The bottom and sides of the graves, containing these bones, were all lined with rough stones.
The writer then admits that although lots of bodies could result from a battle, no-one would probably dig them all careful graves. From volume 15 of the Statistical Account of Scotland (1793).
The Canmore record has this as a recumbent stone circle (and that sounds like an impressive recumbent stone, and it's flanked by upright pillar stones) but also seems to waver also with categorising it as a special sort of cairn: "one of a group in the area which have well-built kerbs and an associated large stone."
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