Tomnaverie, stone circle

Tomnaverie is a Bronze Age recumbent stone circle standing on a small hill about one kilometre south of Tarland in Aberdeenshire. The circle measures seventeen metres across and contains thirteen granite stones, including a massive six-and-a-half-ton recumbent stone laid on its side along the southwest edge. A low ring cairn once filled the centre but has since disappeared, leaving only the surrounding kerb stones. The site sits on a constructed stone platform up to twenty-four metres wide and sixty centimetres high. From the hilltop there are wide views over the surrounding Howe of Cromar and distant mountains like Lochnagar thirty kilometres to the southwest. The circle is one of over seventy recumbent stone circles found in lowland Aberdeenshire, built by early Bronze Age people around 2500 BC. Excavations in 1999 and 2000 showed the cairn was constructed first to prepare the ground before the circle was added in a planned alignment. This discovery challenged earlier ideas that the cairn was built after the circle. The recumbent stone and its two flankers are the tallest in the circle, with the eastern flanker standing at 1.8 metres and the western at 1.9 metres. The remaining stones grade down in height towards the north-northeast, where the shortest stone appears to have had its top broken off. Visitors reach the circle by a short uphill walk from a car park near the hill’s base. The recumbent stone is a lighter-coloured granite block marked with two cup marks, one on top and one on its outer face. The kerb stones around the former cairn turn outward in the southwest to meet the sides of the recumbent setting. The circle now stands with only two stones missing, after restoration work following the excavation. The thin soil and exposed granite of the hilltop contrast with the lush surrounding landscape, making the circle a striking feature against the rolling hills.