Tomnaverie Stone Circle

Tomnaverie is a recumbent stone circle, a kind of monument found only in north-east Scotland. There are about 100 of them.

They’re defined by a large stone laid on its side (the recumbent). The recumbent is flanked by two upright stones, usually on the south or south-west of the circle.

Monuments like Tomnaverie may have been used for astronomical observation. The midsummer moon would have been framed by the recumbent stone.

It's also possible that they were intended to frame sacred features in the landscape features. Tomnaverie has a spectacular view of Lochnagar!

Tomnaverie has a complicated history of use, which stretches from about 2500 BC to the 1600s.

The site seems to have been first used for cremation pyres, leading to the build up of a low mound. Carbon dating has revealed a charcoal-rich pit under the stones. It was used about 4,500 years ago.

This was followed by construction of a low cairn, which is still visible within the stone circle. At a later date, the cairn was enclosed by the recumbent stone circle.

There's evidence that human bones were cremated here in about in about 1000 BC. The circle was used again much later, at some point between the 1400s and 1600s, when there was burning on the summit and a pit dug into the centre of the circle.

Beside the stone circle you'll find some much more modern history in the form of an underground Royal Observer Corps (ROC) post.

It was built in 1960 and was in use until 1991 as one of a network of observation bunkers set up during the Cold War. From here, the ROC would monitor and report on the effects of nuclear weapons.

SInce 2005, both the ROC bunker and the stone circle have been in state care. The form a thought-provoking pair of very different monuments, both used at very different points in history for very different types of "observation".