Images

Image of Sornach a’ Phobuill (Stone Circle) by postman

Now that’s lichen, or is it moss? either way it’s doing well.

Image credit: Chris Bickerton
Image of Sornach a’ Phobuill (Stone Circle) by postman

Less than half of the circle is intact, stones removed or below ground?

Image credit: Chris Bickerton
Image of Sornach a’ Phobuill (Stone Circle) by postman

Looking over the larger of the stones toward the surviving arc, Mia drinks from the sunken moat round the stone.

Image credit: Chris Bickerton

Articles

Sornach a’ Phobuill

From the western-most lower cairn up the hill I could see what looked like a white stone, it seemed to be in the right place and I had nothing else to go on so I went on over. Dodging as I went the large steps left in the ground where peat cutting has been done, I’ve got to say a little something about these, I’m not into it at all, they are everywhere, but everywhere, at first we thought the large bags of peat might be dumped rubbish but it didn’t take long to realise that these people are stripping the landscape and selling it, it’s their ground who am I say what they should do with it, but I don’t like it. Done.
The big white thing did indeed turn out to be a stone, I could see the stone delving deep through the clear clean looking water at it’s base, it was a deep moat, Mia the Jaques Rousel had a drink. The big stone was covered in long straggly lichen, or moss, either way it was doing well. From this stone I can see the rest of the circle, an arc of maybe ten or so stones, low, no higher than a foot and a half. Burl says they dug into the hill side and leveled the site before erecting this embanked stone circle, but it really doesn’t look like it, the large lichen covered stone is maybe six feet higher than it’s neighbours. The ten or so stones are on the western side, Burl says the eastern side is denuded, that’s the word he uses, it means stripped something of something, pretty vague, even more so as Greywether says the other side is maybe under the peat, that’s not the same as denuded, who to believe?
But then Burl goes on about playing card slabs on edge at the ENE and SE, didn’t see them, so I’m going with Greywether, for under the peat, in which case, come on you locals get that peat stripped and shipped we’ve a stone circle to find.

Sometimes I hate myself.

Sornach a’ Phobuill

Most of this large stone elipse (39.6 x 35.1m) probably sits under peat.

The largest stone to the E has been cleared of peat and, although flooded on our visit, there was at least as much stone visible below the peat as the 1.2m which stands above it.

From spacing, it has been estimated that there would have been about 50 stones originally.

It will have been intervisible with Pobull Fhinn – about 1.5 miles to the NE.

For access – see Craonaval North.

Visited 26 July 2004

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