stolinskie

Before the marsh, out of which it rises, was drained, the Herne Burn, for great part of the year, was a tiny rivulet; now, it scarcely amounts even to this. Its course is through a deep and narrow ravine, forming part of the boundary of the parishes of Turriff and
Inverkeithny, and of the shires of Aberdeen and Banff, — as well as of the district or thanedom of Buchan.

Ascending the ravine, and then holding in a direction ~ almost due south by the compass for about a quarter of a mile, and near the apex of the hill of Drachlaw, we
reach the Caerlin-ring, or, as it is locally termed, the Cairn-riv stone, which marks the boundary of the district at this point. This stone approaches in shape
to a triangular prism—its broadest side being about eight, and each of the other two sides about six feet, and its height upwards of eight feet.

It stands at a short distance from the public road from Turriff to Inverkeithny, on a piece of uncultivated ground on the Backhill of Drachlaw, being one of the stones of a large Druidical circle of about thirty-six yards in diameter.

It is placed in the south side of the circumference. From this point the boundary of the district runs in a southwesterly direction to the Hare-stone, on the farm of Feith-hill, about two miles and a half from Drachlaw.

This stone had also been part of-a Druidical circle, and is now nearly all that remains of it: it projects above ground about three feet. From the Hare-stone of Feithhill, the boundary proceeds in nearly the same southwesterly direction for about a mile, when it reaches the Woof, or Oof-stone, on the hill of Monduff, which indicates not only the limit of the district, but also that of the parishes of Forgue and Inverkeithny, the shires of Banff and Aberdeen, and the estates of Cluny, Gerriesford, and Drumblair, which all meet at this point.

p6 of ‘Buchan’ by John Pratt (1859) ia800906.us.archive.org/24/items/buchan00prat/buchan00prat.pdf

‘Banffshire Advertiser’ 3 November 1887: “No one, now-a-days, believes these circles were the work of the Druids, but burial circles, which formerly passed under this name, may be traced at Greencairn in the parish of Bellie, at Pattenbringan and Corriedoun in Rathven (the latter now destroyed), at Ley in Fordyce, and at Bankhead in Boyndie”.

Mara Menzies tells a story about dancing giants and the famous Ring of Brodgar – mapofstories.scot/the-story-of-the-ring-of-brogdar/

Jackie Ross tells the humorous tale of Jock the Giant of the hill of Bennachie, and how he once got scunnered with the monks in the cloister down at Monymusk, Aberdeenshire.

mapofstories.scot/the-story-of-jock-and-the-monks/

I wonder if the stone referred to is Tombeg, seems like the closest option

The logical spot to park to go see the dun is at the layby on the A9 at
NH 76570 83716, opposite Morangie distillery.

Beside the layby is an ENORMOUS erratic, which has sunk down into a hollow so far I don’t think you can see it when driving north, although you can when driving south. It is inscribed with a dedication to Walter Scott and is known as the Big Stone of Morangie.

The Tain museum website gives three folk tales about the stone –

1 Two giants, one on Struy and the other on Tarbat Ness, were throwing a large stone to each other when one of them got tired and the stone fell half way and landed at Morangie.

2 “When Glenmorangie Distillery was being built in 1843, one of the masons engaged on the work was wont to repair to this stone at the dinner hour to eat his ‘piece’, and at the same time occupy himself in commemorating one to whose memory, no doubt, he was deeply attached”

3 “As far as I can remember, he said the lady was passing through Tain when she heard of the death of Sir Walter Scott & being a great admirer of the novelist asked & obtained permission from Major Rose’s father, who owned Tarlogie at that time, to have the inscription cut on the stone.” Other, relatively reliable sources, identify the lady as a Miss Lindsay who “had published a book on ‘Boulders’ or some such subject” and state that it was carved by a mason working on a bridge nearby.

Source – tainmuseum.org.uk/article.php?id=199