Old Harestanes

Nearest town:
Biggar (10km SW)
OS reference:
NT124443
OS sheet:
72
Latitude:
55° 41' 2.91 N
Longitude:
3° 23' 36.29 W
Added to TMA by

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Old Harestanes

postman
postman Sep 27, 2018

This is my first time at the Old Harestanes, it’s been on the list for ages, so it’s high on the list of today’s must see’s. The reason it’s taken so long to get here is it’s on private property, in fact it’s at the back of someones back yard. Some door knocking and mild smiling is the order of the day here.
Eric and myself approached with some trepidation, which door should we knock on, being who I am I always go for the door with a letter box in it, you can’t go far wrong there.
I knocked on the inner door of the porch, on the west side of the house. Twice. An old man came to the door, I asked him if he had a stone circle on his property, and could we have a look, pretty please, smile, think happy thought’s. He said we do, it’s over there, he pointed. We couldn’t see it, but he clearly wasn’t going to show us so we said thank you very much and walked off behind his house. It’s not a big garden, it was quickly found.

Hob said from RCAHMS “No comparable monument exists in Peeblesshire, but one near Penmaenmawr, Caernarvonshire, dateable to the Middle Bronze Age, is strikingly similar.” where on earth is that then? Penmaenmawr isn’t in Caernarvonshire is it? They don’t mean Circle 275 do they? I cant agree with that. RCAHMS also says theres four stones in the circle, looks more like five, with a little intruder.

It’s in someones garden, did I say that, I thought it would be good living next door to Balbirnie, but this ol’ feller has one all to himself. Just imagine having an actual stone circle that has appeared in books and stuff, in your garden.
Brilliant.
So, there are six stones, one is tiny, and I think an intruder to the true stones. Five actual large stones form what’s left of the circle, which was never large. On the floor inside the circle is a raised area, it could be an overgrown getting buried stone, as its in a garden I didn’t go digging. There may have been some lithic movement.

Not the best location to see a ruined stone circle, but glad to have gotten to see it anyway, hopefully the words Old Harestanes will now begin to move into the back of my mind, and settle down with all the other names. Funny thing about names of ancient sites, I think I can remember all their names, yet not an idea who that boy my son hangs round with is.

Miscellaneous

Old Harestanes
Stone Circle
C
CARL Jul 25, 2017

Drive by 25.7.17

Directions:
Just south of the junction of the A72 / A701. Signposted Kirkurd.

The circle is not visible from the road. It must be in the garden behind the house. There is a field which runs along the side of the house which I would guess you could peep over the hedge to espy the stones? However, this was not something I had time to try – it would also have been rather obvious!

Miscellaneous

Old Harestanes
Stone Circle
Hob
Hob Nov 16, 2004

The following dredged out of RCAHMS:

“This stone circle consists of four large conglomerate boulders, varying from 2’-4’ in height, and a fifth broken off at ground level, arranged on the circumference of a circle 10’ in internal diameter. A sixth stone, 5’ E of the truncated one, has probably been broken off the latter and moved to its present position in recent times. A thin sandstone slab protruding through the turf outside the NE arc of the circle is not earthfast, and is unlikely to have formed part of the monument. No comparable monument exists in Peeblesshire, but one near Penmaenmawr, Caernarvonshire, dateable to the Middle Bronze Age, is strikingly similar.”
(Information from R W Feachem notebook 1955-7, i, 68)

Link

Old Harestanes
Stone Circle
G
GaryB Sep 15, 2005
Ancient Stones

An entry from Ancient Stones, an online database that covers most of the standing stones, stone circles and other stones found in South East Scotland. Each entry includes details, directions, photograph, folklore, parking and field notes on each location.

Topics

Missing the point... 21
B
Branwen
Jun 2010

Sites within 20km of Old Harestanes

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