Site Name: Escart
Alternative Name(s):
Monument Type: Standing Stones
Council: Argyll and Bute
Parish: Kilcalmonell
Map Sheet: NR86NW
Grid Reference: 184600, 666740
Canmore Number: 39335
Non-Statutory Register Code: I
WoSASPIN 3925
NR86NW 2 8460 6674.
(NR 8464 6678) Stone Circle (NR) (Remains of)
OS 6" map (1924)
An alignment of 5 standing stones is situated immediately SE of Escart farmhouse. Stone A measures 1.0m x 0.3m at base and rises to a height of 2.85m. Stone B is 3.3m high, and 1.3m x 0.4m at base. Stone C, which has been tilted NE by a tree, is 2.44m high and 0.7 x 0.4m at base. Stone D measures 1.0m x 0.5m at its foot, and 2.06m high. Only part of stone E survives, the top having been broken off when the tree beside C was felled. It now measures 0.8m x 0.25m at base by 1.12m high; originally, it would have been at least 1.5m.
There is some evidence to suggest that there were formerly more stones in the group. A has a charge-hole near the foot of its N face as if it had been prepared for demolition, and the long interval between B and C suggests that a stone may have been removed when the steading wall was built. It may be also be significant that several massive boulders are now incorporated in the lowest course of the wall, and that a drain leading from the NW end of the byre is covered by some very large slabs. RCAHMS 1971, visited 1963
The standing stones are as described by RCAHMS.
Resurveyed at 1:2500.
Visited by OS (DWR) 27 June 1973
Five standing stones as described by the RCAHMS.
Surveyed at 1/10,000.
Visited by OS (BS) 10 March 1977
Said to be a 2nd millenium BC lunar observatory.
A Thom and A S Thom 1979
Thom, A S , 'Megalithic lunar observatories: an assessment of 42 lunar alignments', in Ruggles, C L N and Whittle, A W R (eds.), 'Astronomy and society in Britain during the period 4000-1500 BC', Brit Archaeol Rep, Vol 88, pp.13-61. Oxford.(1981)
Thom and Thom, A and A S , 'The standing stones in Argyllshire', Glasgow Archaeol J, Vol 6, 1979, pp.5-10.(1979)
Thom, A , Megalithic lunar observatories. Oxford.(1971)
Ruggles, C L N , Megalithic astronomy: a new archaeological and statistical study of 300 western Scottish sites, Brit Archaeol Rep, Vol 123, Oxford.(1984)
RCAHMS , The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. Argyll: an inventory of the ancient monuments, Vol 1: Kintyre. Edinburgh.(1971)