A recumbent stone circle with a ring cairn and a separate burial cairn preserves a rare ceremonial and funerary group above the Dee.
Quick facts
- Date
- Late Neolithic or Bronze Age; later prehistoric burial cairn
- Architect / designer
- Prehistoric communities; individual builders unknown
- Type
- Scheduled recumbent stone circle, ring cairn and burial cairn
- Designation
- Scheduled monument (SM11177)
- OS grid reference
- NJ 85522 02378
Architecture, archaeology and continuing use
The principal monument combines an enclosing ring of stones with a massive recumbent stone and flanking uprights around a low cairn. Nearby, a separate cairn adds another focus for burial and remembrance.
Its story
Prehistoric communities created the stone setting and internal cairn during the later Neolithic or Bronze Age. The nearby burial cairn indicates repeated ceremonial attention to the same elevated landscape.
Why it is included
Scheduling protects a regionally distinctive monument type and buried deposits that may reveal construction sequence, cremation practices, material culture and how people organised views and movement around sacred ground.
What to notice
- The recumbent stone lying between taller flankers.
- Surviving stones tracing the circle.
- The spatial relationship between ring cairn and separate burial mound.
Reading the surroundings
Do not cross fields or approach livestock without the landholder’s permission. Never climb or move stones, light fires, dig or metal detect; observe only from lawful routes and leave gates and crops undisturbed.
Timeline
- Late Neolithic Communities began creating ceremonial stone and cairn traditions across north-east Scotland.
- Bronze Age Burial and commemoration added further meaning to the Binghill landscape.
- 2005 Scheduling protected both the recumbent circle complex and neighbouring cairn.
What we know — and what remains uncertain
Vegetation and agricultural conditions affect visibility, while the exact dates and relationship of the two monuments remain archaeological questions.
Sources & further reading
- Historic Environment Scotland: Binghill House Stone Circle and Cairn, SM11177 — Current designation status, mapped location, date, fabric and architectural or archaeological interest.
- Trove designation: SM11177 — Parallel national record identity and archival context.
Location
OS grid reference NJ 85522 02378 · Location confidence: High: the current national designation supplies an exact mapped National Grid Reference; the public text separately states access and any current-use uncertainty. · Select the marker to open its satellite view in Google Maps. On desktop, drag Pegman (the yellow figure) onto a blue road. On mobile, turn on the Street View layer and tap a blue road. Other photo markers may be user-contributed.
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