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67-455: Tomnaverie stone circle is a recumbent stone circle set on the top of a small hill in lowland northeast Scotland. Construction started from about 2500 BC, in the Bronze Age , to produce a monument of thirteen granite stones including a massive 6.5-ton recumbent stone lying on its side along the southwest of the circle's perimeter. Within the 17-metre (56 ft) circle are kerb stones encircling

134-805: A ring cairn and the stones are graded in size so that the smallest faces the recumbent. Over 70 recumbent circles have been definitively identified in Aberdeenshire in the 2011 book Great Crowns of Stone: The Recumbent Stone Circles of Scotland , published by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland . Aubrey Burl and Clive Ruggles had previously suggested that there were up to 99 recumbent stone circles in an area of Aberdeenshire spanning about 80 km (50 mi) north to south by 50 km (31 mi) east to west. They are clustered in areas characterised by low hills, away from

201-491: A lighter colour than its attendant stones. It has two cup marks , one on its top and the other on its outer face. Depending on how it is measured, the orientation of the recumbent stone, looking out of the circle, is 236°–240° (southwest by west). Regarding the flankers, the eastern one is 1.80 metres (5 ft 11 in) high and weighs 2.5 metric tons (2.8 short tons) and the western is 1.9 metres (6 ft 3 in) high and weighs 3.5 metric tons (3.9 short tons). Apart from

268-486: A low 15-metre (49 ft) ring cairn but the cairn itself no longer exists. By 1930 Tomnaverie had fallen into a very dilapidated state, in good measure because it had been encroached on by a neighbouring quarry. Only four stones were still standing and many of the others were missing. In that year the monument was put into state guardianship but this merely stopped the destruction and made for no improvements. In 1999 an archaeological excavation commenced investigating how

335-411: A national survey in his "Enquiry into the principles of Œconomy" and this was taken up in 1781 by David Erskine , Earl of Buchan . However, by the time this came to fruition in 1792, it had been overtaken by the work of Sir John Sinclair of Ulbster . Sir John Sinclair of Ulbster had studied German state surveys and wished to use what he called for the first time these "statistical" methods to measure

402-408: A polygonal cairn and the rubble had been extended further outward to make a roughly level platform over the summit of the hill. In the area of the central cairn the stones Coles thought were an inner kerb turned out to be merely incidental rocks cleared from the fields. The cairn was indeed in the shape of a hollow ring with a central court left clear of stones but no inner kerb had been needed because

469-486: A rather different form, with the recumbent being small and placed in an isolated position on the southwest side while the two tallest stones, known as portals , stand opposite on the northeast side. It is highly likely that the recumbent stone circles of northeast Scotland and south-west Ireland are related, given how similar they are, but the geographical distance between them – several hundred kilometers of mountain terrain, bogs and sea – has prompted debate about how exactly

536-501: A ring of standing stones rising in height from the northeast to the southwest. The cairns have burial chambers in the interior, each one reached by a passageway that leads in from the southwest side. An analysis published by Burl in 1981 revealed that the tomb passages all lay within the arc of the moon during its eighteen-and-a-half year cycle. However, they could not have been used for observations as their sightlines were too restricted. The cairns fell into disuse after about 2500 BC, but

603-510: A series of documentary publications, related in subject matter though published at different times, covering life in Scotland in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. The Old (or First) Statistical Account of Scotland was published between 1791 and 1799 by Sir John Sinclair of Ulbster . The New (or Second) Statistical Account of Scotland published under the auspices of the General Assembly of

670-425: A similar order of construction was found. There remains some doubt whether the stages of construction took place over a "relatively short duration" or whether they took "many generations". It does not seem the monument was primarily for burials. An archaeoastronomical theory has been that the alignment of these circles was for viewing astronomical events from within the circle. Because it had previously been thought

737-428: A single family. Transporting the massive recumbents was a different matter; the fifty-ton recumbent at Old Keig was transported from six miles away and may have required over 200 people to drag it to its final resting place. Strichen stone circle provided a unique opportunity to test how the recumbents might have been transported. It was incorrectly restored in the 19th century by Lord Lovat, so between 1979 and 1983 it

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804-459: Is more precise than that of the Clava cairns; whereas the cairns encompass the entire arc of the moon, the orientation of most of the recumbent stones focuses on a much shorter arc. The degree of precision is limited, however, and the circles were clearly not observatories nor meant for precise knowledge of the moon's movements. Most recumbent stone circles seem to have encircled a cairn and typically it

871-552: Is not known. This recumbent stone circle is situated at the top of a small hill about 1 kilometre (0.6 mi) south of Tarland in Aberdeenshire. There is a visitors' car park from where it is a short uphill walk to the monument. The 178-metre (584 ft) hill is of granite, barely covered by thin soil. The area, called the Howe of Cromar , is surrounded by hills and mountains, most notably Lochnagar about 30 kilometres (19 mi) to

938-685: The Moderator of the General Assembly , the Rev Robert Wallace organised the distribution of questionnaires, aimed at finding out how to devise a scheme for the support of the widows and orphans of clergy. This work helped to develop actuarial methods, and explains the involvement of a society for ministers’ widows and orphans in later work. The Rev Alexander Webster produced a population census of Scotland in 1755, based to some extent on Wallace's work. In 1767, Sir James Denham-Steuart suggested

1005-526: The 1620s and 1630s, using the network of about 900 ministers of the established Church of Scotland . The time and resources involved, not to mention the troubled times of the Civil Wars , led to limited results. However, the Geographer Royal for Scotland , Sir Robert Sibbald took this forward between 1684 and the early 1690s. Sir Robert circulated some "General Queries" to parish ministers, but again this

1072-438: The 16th or 17th century AD a pit was dug in the middle of the cairn and the excavation found cremated bone here also. The sockets of four of the missing uprights were found by the excavation – at the southeast (5), east-northeast (8), north-northwest (12), and under a fallen slab at the northeast (9). Orthostat 8 was found buried beside its socket and orthostat 5 was found in the quarry itself. This stone had fallen before 1870 and

1139-710: The 17th century that people believed of the Easter Aquhorthies recumbent stone circle that "Pagan priests of old dwelt in that place" and that the Priests caused earth to be brought from other adjacent places upon peoples backs to Auchinchorthie, for making the Soile thereof deeper, which is given for the reason why this parcell of land (though surrounded by heath and moss on all sides) is better and more fertile than other places thereabout. First Statistical Account of Scotland The Statistical Accounts of Scotland are

1206-454: The Church of Scotland between 1834 and 1845. These first two Statistical Accounts of Scotland are among the finest European contemporary records of life during the agricultural and industrial revolutions . A Third Statistical Account of Scotland was published between 1951 and 1992. Attempts at getting an accurate picture of the geography, people and economy of Scotland had been attempted in

1273-511: The Clergy , with the blessing of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland , took Sir John's work further. It was to be more modern (including maps for each county) and was to draw upon the specialist knowledge of local doctors and schoolmasters. It very self-consciously set out not to produce a new statistical account, but a statistical account of a new country – one that the revolutions mentioned above had changed rapidly. It was, however, very much

1340-480: The beams of moonlight. It may have been seen as "moonstone", serving to draw down the influence of the moon into the desired spot and imbue the ceremony with its radiance. The recumbent stone circles of Scotland have been linked to an earlier type of monument erected around 3000 BC, the Clava cairns near Inverness . The type example of the monument is the three circular cairns at Balnuaran of Clava, which are surrounded by

1407-453: The cairn would have been built after the circle. This has made it doubtful that astronomical observations could have been made from within the circle or that the circle had been intended to have any precise orientation. A recumbent stone circle is a type of stone circle constructed in the early Bronze Age . The identifying feature is that the largest stone (the recumbent) is always laid horizontally, with its long axis generally aligned with

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1474-578: The cairn, faced on its perimeter with the kerb, to extend outwards in this direction in preparation for positioning the recumbent setting. At the northeast of the circle six fragments of Beaker pottery were found beneath the outer platform by the base of the kerb and radiocarbon dating of charcoal from under the cairn beneath the original position of the recumbent indicated around 2500–2450 BC, early Bronze Age . Also, fragments of late Bronze Age plain pottery and worked stones, including six flint blades, were unearthed. Few traces were found of people living in

1541-413: The central cairns had been built after, maybe long after, the circle there would have been a space inside for people to congregate. Following Bradley's discovery that in this case, and others, the cairn predated the circle, it is now according to Ruggles "difficult, if not impossible, to observe the moon in the way we have described". There remains the idea that the alignment with Lochnagar on the far horizon

1608-673: The child of the "Old Statistical Account". Indeed, the Rev Dr John Robertson , the Minister responsible for of the new account for Cambuslang , was the former assistant to the writer of the old account . Following a grant of some £8,000 from the Nuffield Foundation in 1947, the Third Statistical Account was initiated, and followed a similar parish format to the earlier accounts. The first volume, covering Ayrshire ,

1675-452: The circle had been constructed. Also, so far as possible, the monument would be returned closer to its original condition. This was very successful and the stone circle is now only missing two standing stones. The excavation showed the cairn seems to have been constructed so as to prepare the way for the circle to be added in a pre-arranged alignment – this has since been demonstrated for other recumbent circles. It had previously been expected

1742-461: The circle was ever intentional. The diameters of the Scottish circles range from 18.2 m (60 ft) to 24.4 m (80 ft). They are typified by the presence of a massive recumbent stone, averaging 24 tons in weight, lying between the circle's two tallest stones, known as flankers . The recumbents were carefully positioned by the circle builders and generally appear on the southwest side of

1809-459: The circle, with their bases supported (in some cases on mounds) so that their tops are level. The other stones in the circle taper off sequentially so that the smallest are to be found opposite the recumbent. The recumbent and its flankers were evidently seen as the most important elements of the circle; in a number of cases the remaining stones were added later, and in some cases were apparently never added at all. Irish recumbent stone circles take

1876-433: The cremated remains of human bones (sometimes those of young children). However, they were not funerary monuments in the ordinary sense; the remains appear to have been merely "tokens" representing a few individuals and a small portion of the bodies. It is possible that they may have been used to lend sanctity to the sites. The builders also scattered crushed quartz around the recumbents, which would have refracted and reflected

1943-769: The eve of both the Industrial Revolution and the French Revolution . In 1790, Sir John sent structured questionnaires to over 900 parish ministers, covering the whole country. This contained 160 questions in 4 sections, namely There were follow up questions in Appendices – six new questions in 1790 and four more in 1791. The general response was excellent, though the length and quality of submissions varied greatly, as can be seen by comparing those for two East Lothian parishes: Whittingehame (19 pages with detailed tables) and Stenton (2 pages of minimal information). Since

2010-416: The flankers and some large kerb stones were removed – those that had run beside the recumbent inside the circle. The orthostats seem to have been positioned in pairs to face each other at right angles to the axis through the recumbent. After the construction of the platform, cairn and stone circle, little seems to have happened until around 1000 BC from when there is again evidence of cremated bone fragments. In

2077-549: The immediate area of the circle – few artefacts were found – although by the Bronze Age the Howe of Cromar area had been partially cleared for cultivation. Field-walking by the archaeologists discovered as many as 29 cup-marked rocks in the general vicinity. Once the ring cairn had been built the circle was constructed on top of the pre-prepared platform in a way that showed the cairn and platform had been deliberately designed to accommodate

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2144-565: The lapse of time between the fieldwork and publication. One account, the parish of Livingston in West Lothian, was revised twice and all three versions appear in the published volume. The account for the parish of Currie went missing by the time the Midlothian volume was put together and the book appears without it. Although the project was more secular than before, sections of the accounts continued to focus on religious life, and several of

2211-451: The lunar astronomical tradition reflected in their structures appears to have been transferred east to the Neolithic farmers of central Aberdeenshire. The gradation in height of the stone rings at Clava is replicated in the recumbent stone circles which appeared across Aberdeenshire during the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age, from around 2700–2000 BC. Their alignment with the southern moon

2278-561: The moon would make a closer approach in which it would appear to be "framed" between the two flanking stones above the recumbent; this was presumably a peak time for ceremonies. The nature of the ceremonies is unknown, but Burl suggests that "the rites enacted in the rings were closely connected with the flourishing and dying of plants, crops, animals and human beings in the short-lived world of four thousand years ago." The interiors of some excavated recumbent stone circles have been found to contain pits filled with charcoal, sherds of pottery and

2345-492: The most similar monuments are the axial stone circles of southwest Ireland. Recumbent stone circles generally enclosed a low ring cairn , though over the millennia these have often disappeared. They may have been a development from the Clava cairns found nearby in Inverness-shire and axial stone circles may have followed the design. Whilst cremated remains have been found at some sites, the precise function of these circles

2412-454: The mountains and alongside patches of fertile and well-drained soil, which would indicate that they were built by local farmers. They were normally constructed on sloping hillsides, aligned towards the southern moon. A few sites were deliberately levelled before construction of the circle; one, at Berrybrae, was built on an artificial clay platform. However recent excavation at Tomnaverie stone circle has suggested that no accurate alignment of

2479-545: The parish accounts were still written by Church of Scotland ministers. The tone of the comments in the 'Way of Life' often appear surprisingly judgmental to a modern reader, and there can be ill-concealed exasperation with the behaviour of working-class parishioners. For example, again and again, spending on football pools is denounced, as are other ways of spending money and leisure time. Judgmentalism turns to plain insult in remarks like 'The people of Dura Den can be extremely ignorant' (Parish of Kemback , Fife) and 'Singing in

2546-529: The perimeter of the ring between the south and southwest. A flanker stone stands each side of the recumbent and these are typically the tallest stones in the circle, with the smallest being situated on the northeastern aspect. The rest of the circle is usually composed of between six and ten orthostats graded by size. The builders tended to select a site which was on a level spur of a hill with excellent views to other landmarks. Over seventy of these circles are found in lowland Aberdeenshire in northeast Scotland –

2613-530: The project took over forty years to complete, with a gap of more than a decade following the publication of Edinburgh in 1966. It was not until 1992 that the last volume, The County of Roxburgh , was published, under the auspices of the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations . Another consequence of this delay was that the later volumes covered administrative divisions which no longer existed. Several parish accounts had to be revised or rewritten due to

2680-400: The quantum of happiness that existed in the nation and find ways of improving this. In this he was a remarkable example of Enlightenment idealism at work. He stressed the empirical ideal of that age by lauding its anxious attention to the facts and he set about completing the work left unachieved by the previous attempt mentioned above. The results are crucial to an understanding of Scotland on

2747-399: The quarry last summer" with the landowner Lord Aberdeen . Keillor also got the monument made a scheduled monument in 1927 and taken into official state guardianship in 1930. State care meant little more than erecting a fence and keeping the grass cut. With Aubrey Burl in 1995 writing "Tomnaverie, ... a once fine recumbent stone circle, is a wreck ... its stones are now a jumble", Tomnaverie

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2814-403: The quarry wall was right next to the west of the circle, extending from northwest to southwest, so the workers in the quarry had possibly tipped the recumbent over onto its inside face and into the circle to avoid the risk of it falling into the quarry. Both flankers had been pulled vertically from their sockets and had fallen over outwards from the circle. The western one had then slipped down into

2881-399: The quarry. There were still traces of the ring cairn but at the centre of it nothing was evident. The excavation took place over the 1999 and 2000 seasons, not so much to carry out a complete excavation, but with the purpose of establishing the chronological history of the structure. It started with an accurate and detailed photogrammetric survey. The remit also included advising on how

2948-432: The recumbent and flankers, originally there were ten other stones but two of these, both to the northwest, are now missing. A stone to the southeast is light grey in colour whereas the others, and the flankers, are pale red. The ring reduces in height from the flankers to those at the opposite side of the ring and the spaces between the stones also become reduced. The shortest stone is at the north-northeast, not quite opposite

3015-694: The recumbent stone circles of Aberdeenshire do not appear to have been intended to overshadow or overawe other more modest works. Even considering their geographical clustering, they are also well-spread out. Clive Ruggles and Aubrey Burl suggest that this indicates that they were constructed to serve as local ritual centres for groups of subsistence farmers each inhabiting territories of about 10 sq mi (26 km ), living on an egalitarian basis without powerful leaders and possibly numbering no more than about twenty or thirty people per group. The circle builders left no records, but their works were remarked upon and to some extent mythologised in historic times by

3082-412: The recumbent stone, framed between the flankers. Scotland's recumbent stone circles have an average diameter of about 20 m (66 ft), so a recumbent stone that was 3.7 m (12 ft) long would have given an observer an arc of vision of around 10 degrees. This would have given the worshippers about an hour during which the moon would pass over the stone. About every eighteen and a half years,

3149-416: The recumbent, but it appears as if its top has been broken off. The circle is located on a constructed platform of stones up to 24 metres (79 ft) across and 0.6 metres (2 ft 0 in) high. On top of this there is a 15-metre (49 ft) polygonal cairn surrounded by a granite kerb of slabs and blocks. In the southwest, rather than continuing as a rough circle, the kerb turns outwards so as to meet

3216-605: The region's later inhabitants. The 16th century Aberdonian historian Hector Boece wrote that in the times of King Mainus ... huge stones were assembled in a ring and the biggest of them was stretched out on the south side to serve for an altar ... In proof of the fact to this day there stand these mighty stones gathered together into circles 'the old temples of the gods' they are commonly called – and whoso sees them will assuredly marvel by what mechanical craft or by what bodily strength stones of such bulk have been collected to one spot. The English antiquarian John Aubrey recorded in

3283-603: The relationship came about. It is possible that rather than there being direct communication between the two locations, the ideas underlying recumbent stone circles were transmitted by a single influential person or group of people who – for whatever reason – left one location and perhaps settled in the other. Because of the differences in design they are now more commonly called Cork–Kerry or axial stone circles . Recumbent stone circles are believed by some archaeologists such as Aubrey Burl to have been designed for ritualistic astronomical purposes. The moon would have appeared above

3350-762: The response by the Rev Dr James Meek for the Parish of Cambuslang in Lanarkshire ). The finished volumes were published in Edinburgh by William Creech . As mentioned above, early attempts at producing an accurate statistical account of Scotland were related to schemes to support the widows and orphans of the clergy. In 1832 the Committee for the Society for the Sons and Daughters of

3417-664: The sides of the recumbent setting. [REDACTED] In 1792 the First Statistical Account of Scotland reported: About a mile and a half west of the manor is to be seen the remains of a Druidical temple. The place is called Tamnaverie which signifies the Hill of Worship; but there is nothing to be seen but a few large stones, some of them standing upright, others fallen down, without any appearance of figures or inscription. In 1852 John Stuart wrote of "two circles of large erect stones", which puzzled Frederick Coles in 1905 who

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3484-404: The slope to the top of the hill held the boulders in place. An outer kerb was uncovered which had originally been continuous although only 19 stones still remained in place. Seven radial lines of boulders were found lying like spokes dividing the cairn into segments. Where the ground was sloping steeply down to the southwest, terraces of turf and soil had been created, supported by boulders, to allow

3551-425: The southwest, and Morven and Clachnaben . The circle is 17 metres (56 ft) across with the recumbent stone and its adjacent flankers looking southwest. The recumbent is a granite block 3.2 by 1 by 1.15 metres (10.5 ft × 3.3 ft × 3.8 ft) (length x thickness x height) and weighing 6.5 metric tons (7.2 short tons). The granite is intruded with quartz so as a whole this massive stone has

3618-429: The stone circle could eventually be displayed for the public. With the turf and surface soil removed it became clear that the interior of the circle was much better preserved than had been expected. The excavation showed that the hilltop had first been used for pyres and eventually this created a mound of burnt residues, including cremated human bones. This mound had later been surrounded with rubble and boulders to form

3685-427: The stone circle. Moreover, the radial lines laid down before the uprights apparently tended to point to the places where the orthostats were later sited. The recumbent had been laid in a shallow hollow, supported with chock stones, and the orthostats had been lowered into sockets dug into the platform. Probably at the same time, the kerb of the cairn was reconfigured to turn outwards over the extended cairn to connect with

3752-434: The survey was not complete, Sir John sent out Statistical Missionaries in 1796 . The project was finished by June 1799, though much had already been published, and Sir John was able to lay before the General Assembly a detailed portrait of the nation. Taken as a whole, the reports are of inestimable historical value. Some are excellently written by ministers who were themselves meticulous Enlightenment scholars (see for example

3819-463: Was a ring cairn , as distinct from a Clava cairn. In some instances, in particular at Tomnaverie stone circle , the cairn was built before the circle according to an overall design. This discovery places doubt on any intent to produce an accurate alignment for the circle. Usually all superficial trace of the cairns has disappeared over the millennia. The circles are of fairly modest dimensions and Burl theorised that they could have been constructed by

3886-423: Was alarmed about the condition of the circle and feared it would collapse even further. By 1916 one of the orthostats had fallen into the quarry and had then disappeared, and the archaeologist James Ritchie feared for the remaining stones. In 1926 when there were only four stones still standing Alexander Keiller succeeded in getting the quarrying stopped after what he wrote was the "hectic riot which I created in

3953-444: Was chosen as the site for a major archaeological excavation in 1999 and 2000 led by Richard Bradley . Not only was the site to be closely investigated but also, so far as possible, it would subsequently be restored to something more like its original condition with its stones re-erected in their original sockets. Apart from general deterioration over the millennia, the quarrying operations had led directly to serious damage. The face of

4020-423: Was fully excavated and correctly restored by a team led by Burl, Ian Hampsher-Monk and Philip Abramson. The restoration required the team to move some of the stones, and it was found that the most efficient non-mechanical means of doing so was to drag the stones along a slippery path of wet straw using logs as a kind of sledge. Unlike the more grandiose Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments found elsewhere in Scotland,

4087-532: Was intentional but Henty remarks that the recumbent gets in the way of a view of the mountain from the opposite side of the circle. 57°07′11″N 2°50′54″W  /  57.11972°N 2.84833°W  / 57.11972; -2.84833 Recumbent stone circle Over 70 recumbent circles have been definitively identified in Aberdeenshire. They are believed to be linked to the Clava cairns in Inverness-shire which were constructed slightly earlier (around 3000 BC). Recumbent stone circles typically enclose

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4154-451: Was landscaped. When viewed from across the circle the recumbent, now restored to its original position, confirms Burl and Ruggles’ observation that the alignment points to the mountain Lochnagar . It is also the position where the full moon sets at midsummer at a time of minor lunar standstill though by 2013 Bradley was doubting the significance of this. The excavation showed that the circle

4221-404: Was missing in 1904 and yet it was found unbroken in 1999. These three stones, and the two flankers, were lifted by crane and lowered into their sockets which fitted well. The stone at the west (13) could not be found. The recumbent was turned and lifted back into place by crane. In its original position the recumbent was again precisely level. In 2003 part of the quarry was back-filled and the area

4288-482: Was not sure whether this meant two separate circles or one monument of two concentric rings. Coles discovered the circle smothered in broom shrubbery and with a quarry encroaching to within a metre (3 feet) of one of the standing stones. Despite the difficulties he surveyed the monument and found the recumbent stone to be aligned at 245°, much further round to the west that he had found with other circles. There were merely indications of two concentric rings of stones. He

4355-533: Was of the early Bronze Age in date – about 2500 BC. This had previously been thought likely but not certain. What was not expected was that the stone circle was built after the cairn. Moreover the circle's eventual construction had been preconceived in the building of the cairn. In recent years there have been theories that people could have assembled within the circle to make astronomical observations and celebrations – this now seems most unlikely. Two more excavations were carried out subsequently on other stone circles and

4422-460: Was published in 1951. Ultimately it was more rigorous and wide-ranging than either of its predecessors, covering industry , transport , culture and demographics . Volume editors ensured a more generic approach than before, but even so the spirit of the originals was retained, even if idiosyncrasies remained. The scale of the project, ongoing difficulties with funding and finding publishers (which included Collins and Oliver & Boyd) meant that

4489-526: Was the unsettled time of the Glorious Revolution and, though progress was made, the results provided a very incomplete picture of the nation. The General Assembly proposed a "Geographical Description of Scotland" and took some action on this between 1720 and 1744, again during troubled times for the country, latterly involving the Jacobite rebellion under Bonnie Prince Charlie . Nonetheless, during 1743,

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