Clach na Tiompan


Site type: stone circle

Parish: Monzievaird and Strowan

County: Perthshire

Grid reference: NN 8301 3281

Lat / long: 56.47287645, -3.899542423

Alternative names: Clach na Tiom-pan; Clach na Trom Pan

The historic map is an Ordnance Survey map from 1919 to 1947, and is provided by the National Library of Scotland

At a quick glance, one standing stone and some cairn material is all that remains of the Clach na Tiompan stone circle. Considerable damage was apparently done to the neighbouring chambered cairn when the road (on either side of which the cairn and circle sit) was driven through Glen Almond in the 19th century, and it was probably at this time that most of the circle was destroyed. The circle was originally a four-poster, enclosing a low cairn at the centre.

Excavation in 1954 revealed the stump of a second stone, and the holes belonging to the remaining two. The cairn was found to be made up of boulders, amongst which were found more than one hundred quartz pebbles. At the centre of the cairn there was evidence of burning, with pieces of wood and charcoal. The cairn material extends to a diameter of about 6.0m, spreading beyond the edge of the circle. One of the missing stones was found lying 5.0m to the S.

remaining stone - 1.3m tall

Four-poster with 3 sides of 3.1m and the NW side 2.5m in length

References (books)

  • A Guide to the Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany
  • Aubrey Burl
  • London and New Haven, 1976

  • Megalithic Sites in Britain
  • Alexander Thom
  • Oxford, 1967

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    created Friday, May 14th, 2010 at 4:19 pm, last updated Wednesday, March 30th, 2011 at 10:27 pm