The cairns are numerous, but are rapidly disappearing before the advance of improving agriculture, and are only to be found intact on the unreclaimed land. The first we will notice is a ruined one, in a field on Burnside of Rathven, a few hundred yards west of the farm house of Conage, on the road from Fochabers to Cullen. When complete it must have been of considerable dimensions, and probably marks the last resting place of some chief of Celtic or Scandinavian type. The centre portion has been reduced to the level of the surrounding field. It measures 133 feet from east to west, and 50 from north to south; and varies in height from 5 feet 3 inches to 8 feet 6 inches.
The local name is “Tarry Clearick,” which some translate as “Priest’s Cairn;” but this interpretation does not agree with the apparent antiquity of the cairn. Tradition says that it occupies the site of a battle between the Danes and Picts, and that the cairn itself is the grave of the chief who fell in the engagement.
Thomas D Wallace, writing in the Banffshire Advertiser, 24th May 1883.