Hut Circle: OS Grid Reference – NO 09997 56964
Getting Here
From Kirkmichael to the Balnabroich standing stone, take the same directions as if you’re heading up to the Balnabroich hut circle (9). Just over 20 yards NNW of it, on the other side of the faint footpath that takes you to the Grey Cairn, look closely at the ground and you’ll see a broken oval of stones in the grasses.
Archaeology & History
This can be difficult to see in poor light, and I found it easier to look at from above, closer to the Grey Cairn.
It’s one of the twenty (known) hut circles in this archaeologically rich neck o’ the woods. Nothing special to look at, but it is perhaps 4000 years old! This one seems to have been listed by Christian MacLagan (1875) as her hut circle no.12 and which she described briefly, telling that “the central chamber of this circle is 36 feet in diameter, and the surrounding wall is 15 feet broad.” Much of the walling would seem to have been stripped away considerably since MacLagan’s time. The faded remains of its entrance can be seen on its southwestern side.
References:
- Coutts, Herbert, Ancient Monuments of Tayside, Dundee Museum 1970.
- Harris, Judith, “A Preliminary Survey of Hut-circles and Field Systems in SE Perthshire”, in Proceedings Society Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 114, 1984.
- MacLagan, Christian, The Hill Forts, Stone Circles and other Structural Remains of Ancient Scotland, Edmonston & Douglas: Edinburgh 1875.
- Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland, North-East Perth: An Archaeological Landscape, HMSO: Edinburgh 1990.
- Stuart, John, “Account of Excavations in Groups of Cairns, Stone Circles and Hut Circles on Balnabroch, Parish of Kirkmichael, Perthshire,” in Proceedings Society Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 6, 1865.
- Thorneycroft, Wallace, “Observations on Hut Circles near the Eastern Border of Perthshire, north of Blairgowrie,” in Proceedings Society Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 67, 1933.
Acknowledgements: Huge thanks for use of the Ordnance Survey map in this site profile, reproduced with the kind permission of the National Library of Scotland.
© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian
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