Description
The monument comprises a group of prehistoric remains in the SW part of Gruids Wood. These have been scheduled since 1935, but the mapping of the original scheduling was grossly inadequate. This rescheduling corrects the earlier deficiencies.
The monument comprises the remains of a stone circle, at least two cairns and two hut circles, one with a surrounding enclosure. The remains of the stone circle, three stones set in an arc, are presently almost completely obscured by growing and fallen timber. They lie just to the N of the cairn described next. The cairn is bell-shaped in profile, 12.1m across and up to 1.8m high, although only 1.2m of this height appears to be manmade, as the cairn lies on the edge of a dip. Another mound some 180m S by E may be a similar cairn, but it is too obscured to be certain. Some 240m to the NE of the first cairn is a second cairn, measuring 15m E-W by 11m and standing just over 1m high. About 240m S by E from the first cairn is a hut circle about 12m across. It has been ploughed, but is still clearly visible. Finally, a second hut circle lies 250m W of the first cairn, with an enclosure around it. The hut circle is about 14m N-S by 18m E-W overall, within a relatively well-preserved oval enclosure about 200m NNE-SSW by 165m NW-SE. The enclosure appears much later than the hut circle, and may be a medieval or later rebuild of an earlier boundary.
The area to be scheduled falls into 4 parts, as marked in red on the accompanying map extract:
1. an area c.118m in diameter around the remains of the stone circle and the first cairn, roughly centred on the mid-point between the two;
2. an area c.53m in diameter around the second cairn;
3. an area c.55m in diameter around the first hut circle; and
4. a large sub-oval area, some 220m NNE-SSW by 175m NW-SE, around the second hut circle and enclosure.