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As will be readily seen from the ground-plan, the space across from Stone B to Stone E is unusually great. It measures within these Stones 115 feet, and therefore constitutes a Circle of outstandingly great diameter, the largest yet measured in the north-east of Scotland. the measurement is taken, not from the inner faces, but from the centres of the opposite Stones, we obtain the diameter of 120 feet. The circumference of this Circle, when perfect, would therefore have been 362 feet. The heights and characteristics of the Stones are :

Fig. 30. Innes Mill Circle; from the West.

Stone A, 6 feet; red granite, the top ridged.
B, 4 feet 10 inches; red granite, top ridged.

C (fallen), 3 feet 10 inches long; of red granite.

The distances between the Stones as they now stand, centre to centre,

If the two Stones, C and D, now prostrate, were placed at the points on the north-east arc marked with a short cross, and the interspacing were equal, we should then have a complete Circle of eleven Stones, leaving a space for a Recumbent Stone of, let us say, 12 feet in length. That this great Circle probably possessed a Recumbent Stone is borne out by the disposition of its stones: the shortest being on the north and northeast arcs, and the taller and much more massive ones towards the south. And there is corroboration of this in the words used by the minister of Urquhart : "Near Innes House are nine tall stones in a circle, two of them at the entrance to the 'altar.'"

1

The Rev. James Morrison, in referring to Stone Circles in Moray,2 says, "The largest remaining one, called the Nine Stanes, is incomplete and rude, the stones being just huge unshapen boulders, standing about 6 feet in height. The ground within the Circle has been examined, but there were no traces of graves." But there may have been evidence of burials notwithstanding.3

Two illustrations (figs. 29 and 30) show this fine Circle; the view from the south-east taken from the best point, in order to show clearly its great breadth. In the other, the view from the west, the two fallen stones on the north-east are not shown.4

No. 23. Bogton Mill, Lhanbryd.-The remains here stand on the 1 N.S.A., vol. xiii. 2 Trans. Inverness Sc. Society, vol. ii., p. 44.

In a communication to our Proceedings (vol. ix., p. 256) the same writer records that "about half a mile to the north of these [i.e. the Nine Stanes] there were, thirty years ago [circa 1840], several upright stones of the same character and size, which were broken up and carted away to build cattle sheds."

4

✦ Through the kindly proffered help of Mr John Geddie, several inquiries of mine connected with this Circle were most promptly answered by his brother, Mr T. Geddie, Mr Taylor and Mr Brown, all zealously interested in the megalithic antiquities of this part of Urquhart and Speymouth. "One of the Stones," writes Mr T. Geddie, 66 was taken away to be built into a new steading at Viewfield. Mr Brown thinks this was prior to the building of the Innesmill steading, which dates from 1843. No sooner had the Stone been deposited in the 'toon,' however, than uncanny signs and omens began to manifest themselves, and it was resolved to get rid of it. While it was being taken back to its original position, the horse stuck or fell when taking a somewhat steep little brae, and the Stone was taken no further, but buried where it was. The spot is about 80 or 100 yards from the Circle. Mr Brown says that, from

north bank of the mill stream, a quarter of a mile S.E. from the railway station at Lhanbryd, and over 2 miles S.S.W. of the Innesmill Stones. The height above sea-level is 150 feet.

Two Stones only remain, situated as shown in the ground-plan (fig. 31); and, from the manner in which their broader sides face the north and west, we may safely conclude that the area enclosed by the other lost Stones is in that direction. The Stones stand 49 feet apart. The

Fig. 31. Remains of Circle at Bogton Mill; Ground-Plan.

more southerly one is 5 feet in height, and is oblong at the base, where its girth is 13 feet 5 inches. Its rectangularity and bulk continue almost to the top. It is of grey granite mixed with very large crystals of white quartz. The other Stone, which is of similar mineral composition, stands 5 feet 8 inches above ground, and at the base it measures in girth 13 feet 10 inches; at a height of 3 feet 3, the girth lessens to 12 feet 8 inches. Views of these Stones are appended in the illustrations (figs. 32, 33).

information supplied by his father and by Mr Anderson of Viewfield, he believes that he would have no difficulty in bringing it to light again.

'One circumstance Mr Brown mentioned which, I think, is worth recording, viz., that a great many flint arrowheads were formerly found within and around the Circle; but they have been too well hunted, and are now rather rare."

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Fig. 32. Remains of Circle at Bogton Mill.

Fig 33. Remains of Circle at Bogton Mill.

It is recorded by Rev. James Morrison that this circle " was destroyed in 1810, to aid in the erection of a bridge."

I must here record the fact that on the Bogton Mill site there yet remain, in addition to the two erect Stones, four other Stones belonging to the Circle. These, however, were at the date of my visit hidden by the growth of turnips. The Stones are prostrate, and deeply sunk into the ground, which, as the name implies, is probably composed of peat.

For these details I am indebted to the courtesy of Mr A. Geddie of Speymouth School, who kindly sent me a measured plan of the present positions of the fallen Stones in relation to the two still erect monoliths -which clearly proved that at some unrecorded date the Stones had been moved out of the Circle and left lying as they now are.

No. 24. Haerstanes, Lhanbryd.—This site is shown on the map at a point three-quarters of a mile S.S.W. of the last Stones, at about 160 feet above sea-level. On the farm, we heard long-handed-down tradition of the Circle, and the site was, but rather vaguely, pointed out. The only allusion I can find in print is the following, by the Rev. James Morrison :-"We have remains of two so-called Druid Circles, and during the last half-century three others have been swept away. of these was in horse-shoe form and was called the Haer Stanes." 2

One

44.

1 "Arch. Finds in the East of Moray," in Trans. Inverness Sc. Society, vol. ii., p. 2 With regard to this word, the following notes may be of interest. The name Haer Stane, occasionally, as in the present instance, misspelt Hair on the map, also occurs in connection with Stone Circles at Feith Hill, Inverkeithney, near Premnay in Insch, at Stirling Hill, Cruden, at Kirkurd, Peeblesshire, and at Ancrum, Roxburghshire. In connection with Cairns, there are Haer Cairn (where cists and urns were found), near Marcus Lodge, Forfarshire; Hare Cairn, 1000 feet high, site of a tumulus, in Southdean, Roxburghshire; Haer Cairn, where a stone cist was found, at Morganston, Bendochy, Perthshire; the Haer Cairns, a group of six, on the Moor of Gormack, Bendochy. The name Haer Law or Hare Law occurs at Rattray, Perthshire, Eddleston, Peeblesshire (with a kist-vaen on it), at Maxton, Roxburghshire, at Ferry-Port-on-Craig, Fife and Kinross, and at Auchterderran; also on Gladsmuir and at Garvald, Haddingtonshire, the last with a fort on its summit, which is 1200 feet high. We have the word, probably, in still another form, viz. Hairny Law, in Morebattle, Roxburghshire, with a tumulus on it; while Hare Stane occurs on the Boroughmuir, Edinburgh, and Harestane Hill, with the Whitestone Cairn on it, is in Garvald parish.