The Four Stones, Cuff Hill

by Roger Griffith
  • The Four Stones of Lochlands Hill
  • Glacial erratic stone near Lang Green
  • The Lang Green area on Lochlands Hill
  • The Cuff Hill Rocking Stone

In a field known as the Lang Green above The Cuff Farm four massive boulders once stood, set in an almost square arrangement, and known locally as The Four Stones (NS 3790 5503).

These  megaliths on Lochlands Hill probably once formed a 'Four Poster' stone circle, about 16 feet across. The two northern most boulders were much larger than the other two. As is usually the case, the sides almost exactly faced north, south, east, and west.

When the spot was examined circa 1820  human bones were found within, together with several flints.

As stated, the two stones on the north side were larger, nearly double the size of the other two. The NW angle stones being 3ft 9ins high, central girth 12ft 4ins, and that at the NE angle being 4ft 8ins high, 11ft in girth. The other two stones were already partly overtured in Victorian times.

No appearance of the old tumulus or cairn over or within the four stones remained on the ground when the area was examined in 1876.

In the 1950s the square was recorded as 3.5m across. The NE sub-triangular megalith was 1.3m in height and 3.0m in circumference. The SW one was 0.6m high and 0.8 by 0.8m. The NW subrectangular stone was 1.0m high and 3.6m in circumference. The fourth stone measured 1.5 by 0.8m and 0.3m high and was in a fallen position.

In around 1973 the then farmer is recorded as having moved the slighter SW and SE stones and placed them against the NW and NW stones, which remained in situ and stable. No socket holes, soil discoloration, or finds were noted at the time, and no finds are recorded from this general area.

No stones are located at the spot in 2011. Fortunately photographs of the site have survived. Other large and unrelated boulders have lain for some years in a nearby windbreak. Glacial erratic stones are quite common in the area, such as the Cuff Hill Rocking Stone.

Investigation of Scottish four poster stone circles has typically produced charcoal, bones and cremations in cists or pits, suggesting a funerary role and dated to the Bronze Age (2,500 to 800BC).


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