Aikey Brae

Aikey Brae is a recumbent stone circle on Parkhouse Hill near Old Deer in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The recumbent stone, weighing a massive 21.5 tonnes, is one of the largest in Aberdeenshire. Intriguingly, it has been laid horizontally, with its long axis aligned with the perimeter of the ring between the south and southwest. This is typical of recumbent stone circles, a type of stone circle constructed in the early Bronze Age. A flanker stone stands on either side of the recumbent, these being the tallest stones in the circle, with the smallest being situated on the northeastern aspect.

The circle, which is between 15 and 16.5 metres wide, is surrounded by a ring bank, a feature common to many such sites. Over seventy of these circles are found in lowland Aberdeenshire in northeast Scotland – the most similar monuments were the axial stone circles of southwest Ireland. Recumbent stone circles generally enclosed a low ring cairn, though over the millennia these have often disappeared. However, excavations carried out by Chris Ball and Richard Bradley in 2001 revealed more about this site, such as the fact that the site was built over an extended period.

The strong resemblance of Aikey Brae to other Buchan circles implies that it is part of a larger network, although its exact purpose remains a mystery.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons