The Little Findowie standing stone is part of a much-disturbed site. Standing on a cultivated river terrace above the River Braan, it protrudes from a pile of other stones, including some filed clearance, arranged in a line E-W. A few metres to the S is another pile of stones aligned the same way. The two lines converge slightly to the E. Some of the stones in the N line are buried flush with the ground. Given this alignment, and the translation of name, Stones of Worship, it is easy to see why this was seen as the possible remains of a chapel. However, the stones are so irregular in shape that they obviously didn't come from a building.
It has been suggested that the stones could be the remains of a circle, with only one remaining standing. Certainly there are several other stones of a similar size and shape in the piles, and this would appear to be a more likely origin than the chapel theory. But if a circle had been destroyed at a time of cultivation, would the remains have been arranged in two parallel piles pointing E-W? Interestingly, considering the E-W alignment, Meikle Findowie stone circle is 1.5km due E of Little Findowie, and to the W is a notch in the hills created at Glen Fender.
It is for this reason that I believe the stones at Little Findowie are the remains of two stone rows, related in some way to the circle at Meikle Findowie, and perhaps aligned with the setting sun in Glen Fender.
Directions - Leave Perth heading north (for Inverness) on the A9. At Dunkeld, turn left onto the A822 (sign-posted Crieff), and continue along this road. After approximately 6km you will pass through the village of Trochry. After a further 2.5km is the farm track to Little Findowie (the second farm track on the left after Trochry). The track is sign-posted footpath to Glenshee as well as to Little Findowie. Park sensibly on the main road, and walk down the track, crossing the River Braan, and turn left almost immediately afterwards (with the path to Glenshee going straight on past the cottage). About 500m up this track to the left, opposite a wooded area on the right, is the field containing the standing stone. It is quite obvious, protruding from a pile of other large stones.
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Posted by BigSweetie
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