Carse Farm I

This four-poster circle is close to the edge of a field on the S side of the B846 Aberfeldy-Tummel Bridge road. When it was visited in 1907 by Coles, only 3 of the stones were standing, with the SW stone lying between the two N stones. An excavation in 1964 found the hole for the prostrate stone, and it was re-erected. Also discovered, by the NE stone, was a pit containing cremated bone, charcoal and blackened earth, and a collared urn with “incised geometric ornamentation.”

The NE stone seems to have been particularly significant. Not only is there the burial associated with it, but on its top surface are 17 cup marks (the SE stone has 3 similarly-positioned cup marks, but these are more difficult to make out). The NE stone is also aligned NE-SW with the ancient church at Dull about half a kilometre across the road. On this line, in the field to the SW of Dull church, is a cup-marked rock.

The cup marks are also on the same NE-SW axis, with the cup-marks graded in size, with the largest to the NE (pointing to the church) and the smallest to the SW (pointing to the stone circle). With a little imagination (and the help of an OS map) this line can be extended to the summit of Weem Hill to the NE, and the mouth of the River Tay as it flows into Loch Tay to the SW.

SW stone – 1.8m in length, now re-erected
NE stone – 1.2m tall
NW stone – 1.4m tall
SE stone – 1.5m tall
four-poster rectangle dimensions – 3.9m x 2.7m, WSW-ENE