I happened upon this stone circle when I’d come to find nearby Culsh Earth House. Thought to have been built around 5,000 years ago, this is one of several stone circles unique to the north-east of Scotland as it has a recumbent stone. Framed by the recumbent stone the stones flanking either side, the focus of this circle seems to have been Lochnagar, the prominent mountain 20 miles(32km) south-west of here. The Neolithic people who built this circle would have used it to mark the movement of the Moon throughout the year. They undoubtedly linked the landscape and the stars with their spiritual life and would have revered this site as a place of worship. Set upon this wee hill at the centre of these flatlands known as ‘the Howe’, it’s likely that other communities and their stone circles would also have been visible from here.

The centre of this particular circle, surrounded by kerb stones, is known to have been used for cremation pyres. A mound of charcoal, burnt soil and bone was excavated from the centre here in the 1990’s.