The easiest fieldnotes ever. Underneath the memorial, in Huntly Square, are last two stones of a stone circle. Enter Huntly from the roundabout ,on the A97, George V avenue which leads to Gordon Street and the square. The Picts took advantage but their markings have been beaten by natural causes.
"The Standing Stones of Strathbogie are two low stones at the rear of the Duke Of Richmond in The Square, are all that remain of a six-stone circle with a diameter of around 50 feet. The circle was clearly once a well-known landmark, as a court was held here in 1557 and in 1594 it was the rendezvous for the Earls of Argyll, Huntly and Errol before the Battle of Glenlivet. One stone bore a Pictish 'horseshoe' but this has now faded away.
The fountain, decorated with owls, is supposedly above a secret tunnel that leads to the castle; this is possibly a memory of the old well that once stood nearby."
We hear from Huntly, that on the morning of the 2d of February current, being the Marquis of Huntly's birth-day, the inhabitants [..] and tenants in that neighbourhood, to the number of two thousand and upwards [assembled at Huntly Lodge] where the healths of the day was liberally drank, with many cheers. His Lordship soon after set off to Gordon Castle, when the people marched back to Huntly, and erected large bonfires on the streets, which continued burning throughout the day. [..and] continued blazing for the night, and the old Standing Stones of Huntly were twenty times washed over with good Highland whiskey.
From the pages of the Caledonian Mercury, Sat. Feb 11th, 1804.
CANMORE says that the two standing stones set into the Square in Huntly are the remains of the "Standing Stanes of Strathbogie", which were 6 stones in a 50ft diameter (probably recumbent) circle.
Grinsell (in 'Folklore of Prehistoric Sites in Britain) mentions a Court being held at the stones (the circle?) in 1557.
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