Monument record MHG7194 - Cairn, Kinsteary

Area around the cairn mound being cleared of trees following house build in field to S. Cairn distinct mound on natural hillock with panoramic views to N. Large free standing stones at the E end and then "stone row" to E of this. But further large stones in field boundary to SW of cairn. Remains of possibly trial trenching visible. Area to E of the cairn mound although badly disturbed by plasnt machinery seems to have suspiciously large areas of stone in places, possibly indicating further structures in this area. Photos - HAW 3/2004

NB stone row now recorded separately - HAW 5/2003

NH95SW 3 9312 5486.
Stone Circles (NR) Stone Coffin found AD 1903 (NAT) OS 6" map (1959)

A cairn described as being surrounded by a "ditch and vallum and with a stone row extending from it in a SE direction". Cairn excavated in 1903 by Young and found to contain a cist.
Previous to excavation the cairn was a grass-grown mound surrounded by a ring of stones but digging showed the mound was only partly artificial composed of round stones, the base being a natural sandbank in which the unpaved cist 2' 5" by 1' 6" wide, was found. It was full of sand the there was no burial or grave goods.
The stone alignment consists of six conglomerate boulders, 7ft high and 27ft apart, except where one is missing, which Young speculates may have been double.
No description is given of the 'ditch and vallum' but the plan suggests that the 'vallum' may have been secondary.
H W Young 1904; Scot Antiq 1902

A mutilated and overgrown cairn, c13m diameter and c 2m high, with three kerb stones on the SE side. It stands eccentrically on a sub-circular platform measuring c 21m NNW to SSE, by c 18m tranversely and c 0.3m in height but is destroyed in the E by quarrying. At only one point is there any suggestion of the 'vallum' noted by Young, where there are traces of a bank for about 3m on the rim of the platform, but there is no trace of a ditch. This is almost certainly a Wessex-type bell-cairn.
Of the six stones (A-F) of the stone row only 'B' and 'C' remains upright, measuring respectively 1.3m and 1m in height. There is no evidence to support Young's theory of a double row.
Resurveyed at 1/2500 (by OS (RD) 26 November 1965)
Visited by OS (RL) 7 January 1971.