Built c. 4000 BC, destroyed 1960, re-built 1979

Another recumbent stone circle I am afraid. This one lies above the attractive village of Strichen, home of Scotland's First Minister, Alex Salmond.

The circle has the virtue of being relatively small and situated in an open landscape and consequently I have managed to get it all in the photograph. It is also complete, although much restored after a checkered history in recent times, as described recorded in the Aberdeenshire Archaeology Service Sites and Monuments Record --

"The circle was built from grey granite stones of local origin. All of them except the recumbent and its 2 flankers were pulled down by a tenant farmer in 1830. Mr Fraser, later Lord Lovat, the then landowner ordered them to be replaced, but this was done wrongly and the circle was re-erected in the wrong place to the South of the recumbent. A landscaped earthen bank was built around this new ring. In 1960 more agricultural "improvement" resulted in every one of the stones being removed. The recumbent and flankers were replaced but then taken away again during tree-felling operations in 1965. An excavation led by by Aubrey Burl in 1979 revealed that the original situation of the circle was immediately to the North although the recumbent and its flankers were in their prehistoric location. Quartz, flints and sherds of prehistoric pottery were discovered during the excavation. A cremation lay within the prehistoric bank to the NE of the recumbent. Several hammer stones and rubbing stones were found along with a cup and ring marked stone which was buried in a small stone-lined pit on the N periphery of the central area. After excavation the stones were replaced once again, this time in their original positions and the circle reconstructed."

The building behind the recumbent stone, best seen zoomified, is a 19th doocot belonging to the now ruined Strichen House.