Monument record MAB27747 - AIKEY BRAE STONE CIRCLE, PARKHOUSE HILL

Remains of a recumbent stone circle, the most intact recumbent stone circle in Buchan, with five erect stones including the recumbent and east flanker, five fallen stones including the west flanker.

Remains of a recumbent stone circle, the most intact recumbent stone circle in Buchan, with five erect stones including the recumbent and east flanker, five fallen stones including the west flanker. The site is also known as Parkhouse. The stones are set upon a circular bank of small stones and earth circa 14.4 m in diameter, 1.92 m in width and 0.76 m in height, and with kerbs formed by slab-like stones on the inner and outer faces. Below the surface, the interior is made up, at least partially, of a mass of small boulders. Most of the stones of the circle are of granite although the fallen west flanker and recumbent are of whinstone. The recumbent is estimated to weigh 21.5 tons.

The circle's interior is slightly dished, perhaps the result of excavations by Charles Dalrymple some time before 1881. The circle itself consisted of 10 stones, five of which have fallen over. A historical comment states that: 'Outside the circle within a few feet to the west and south are pits apparently faced with small stones, and at a distance of 45 feet to north east of the circle is a heap of stones, possibly a cairn'. The alleged cairn to the north east is probably stones robbed from the circle and the pits to the west and south minor quarrying or tree holes, those on the west being in an old field bank.

Orthostats 8 and 9 had been inserted into the ring-bank on the west which in this sector measures between 1 m and 1.5 m in thickness over its kerbs. Elsewhere the ring-bank is spread up to 2.9 m thick and 0.4 m high, though 44 kerbstones are still visible in their original positions and others lie displaced around the edge of the slightly dished interior. The kerbstones were set in trenches cut into the sub-soil and probably alternated in colour from red to white. The ring-bank was made up of angular rock fragments and may have been divided transversely by other slabs. Apart from the fallen orthostat on the north and a scatter of smaller blocks, the interior is featureless. Radiocarbon dates of circa 1100-1000 BC were obtained from the outer kerb trench.

Period Notes
AA-49296, Charcoal 2865 +/- 50 BP; 1211-908 cal BC (at 2 sigma Oxcal 4.2 - run 17/06/13); AA-49297, charcoal 2855 +/- 45 BP: 1209-901 cal BC (at 2 sigma Oxcal 4.2 - run 17/06/13)

STUART, J, 1856, SCULPTURED STONES OF SCOTLAND, PART 1 xxii (Bibliographic reference). SAB1800.

PRATT, J. B., 1858, BUCHAN: A TOPOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION, 106 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1410.

PETER, J, 1885, PSAS 19(1884-85) 370-378, 374-76 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1415.

SPENCE, J, 1890, T BUCHAN F C 1(1889-90), 28-30 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1808.

MACGIBBON, T, 1896, ECCLESIASTICAL ARCHITECTURE OF SCOTLAND 1, 374-6 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1141.

COLES, FR, 1904, STONE CIRCLES OF THE NORTH-EAST OF SCOTLAND IN PSAS 38(1903-04) 256-305, 266-70 (Bibliographic reference). SAB261.

KEILLER, A, 1928, FINAL REPORT UPON SUCH OF THE MEGALITHIC MOMUMENTS OF ABERDEENSHIRE AS HAVE BEEN SCHEDULED AS ANCIENT MONUMENTS, 16-17 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1031.

MOW, 1961, A M'S SCOT, 7 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1166.

MOW, 1961, A M'S SCOT, 7 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1166.

SHEPHERD, IAG, 1986, EXPLORING SCOTLAND'S HERITAGE: GRAMPIAN, 146 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1633.

SHEPHERD, I, 1996, ABERDEEN AND NORTH-EAST SCOTLAND (2ND ED), p. 160-1 (Bibliographic reference). SAB4829.

BRADLEY, R., 2002, AIKEY BRAE, p12 (Bibliographic reference). SAB2281.

EXCAVATION

BRADLEY, R, 2002, EXCAVATIONS AT RECUMBENT STONE CIRCLES AND RELATED SITES IN ABERDEENSHIRE 2001: INTERIM REPORT, Interim excav rep (Bibliographic reference). SAB3763.

BRADLEY, R, 2005, THE MOON AND THE BONFIRE: AN INVESTIGATION OF THREE STONE CIRCLES IN NORTH-EAST SCOTLAND (Bibliographic reference). SAB3813.

Apr 10 1997 , AAS/97/04/CT12-15,18-9,44, AAS/97/04/CT12-15,18-9,44 (Air-oblique Photograph). SAB16709.

Apr 10 1997 , AAS/97/04/G8/17,18, AAS/97/04/G8/17,18 (Air-oblique Photograph). SAB16708.

Aug 3 2021 , AAS-GR-21-08-032 - 035, AAS-GR-21-08-032 - 035 (Ground Photograph). SAB35857.

Aug 18 2017 , AAS-GR-17-08-038 - 042, AAS-GR-17-08-038 - 042 (Ground Photograph). SAB35526.

Dec 16 2013 , AAS-GR-13-12-035 - 086, AAS-GR-13-12-035 - 086 (Ground Photograph). SAB35201.

Jan 1 1976 , AAS/GR/76/CT193, AAS/GR/76/CT193 (Ground Photograph). SAB32630.

Jan 1 1976 , AAS/GR/83/CT02, AAS/GR/83/CT02 (Ground Photograph). SAB32599.

Jan 1 1991 , AAS/GR/91/CT93-95, AAS/GR/91/CT93-95 (Ground Photograph). SAB32837.

Jan 1 1994 , AAS/GR/94/CT165-71,174-75, AAS/GR/94/CT165-71,174-75 (Ground Photograph). SAB32905.

Jul 13 2015 , AAS/GR/15/07/144-151, AAS/GR/15/07/144-151 (Ground Photograph). SAB33946.

Jul 13 2015 , AAS-GR-15-07-657 - 666, AAS-GR-15-07-657 - 666 (Ground Photograph). SAB35908.

Jul 20 2004 , AAS-GR-04-07-007 - 012, AAS-GR-04-07-007 - 012 (Ground Photograph). SAB35718.

Mar 1 2011 , AAS/2011/2/DG3424-33, AAS/2011/2/DG3424-33 (Air-oblique Photograph). SAB13512.

Mar 17 2005 , AAS/05/01/G1/3-5, AAS/05/01/G1/3-5 (Air-oblique Photograph). SAB33971.

Mar 17 2005 , AAS/05/1/CT44-55, AAS/05/1/CT44-55 (Air-oblique Photograph). SAB12557.

Mar 18 1994 , LY 10-25, LY 10-25 (Ground Photograph). SAB33339.

May 9 2018 , AAS-GR-18-05-028 - 032, AAS-GR-18-05-028 - 032 (Ground Photograph). SAB35492.

May 18 2015 , ABS-GR-15-05-057 - 059, ABS-GR-15-05-057 - 059 (Ground Photograph). SAB20821.

Author unknown, n.d., BUCHAN OBSERVER, 16/09/86 (Bibliographic reference). SAB113.

Oct 2 1991 , LD 14-18, LD 14-18 (Ground Photograph). SAB33879.

Oct 14 1984 , DC 26-34, DC 26-34 (Ground Photograph). SAB12291.

Oct 14 1984 , DD 10-12, DD 10-12 (Ground Photograph). SAB12292.

Sep 8 2006 , DG0791-822, DG0791-822 (Ground Photograph). SAB18769.

Record last edited

Mar 23 2026 1:18PM