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Remains of a possible Four-Poster stone circle and site of a cairn which overlaid it. During the 19th century a 'very large cairn' was gradually removed to make room for a corn-yard. Two very large stones remain upright at the site. Warden, although he does not mention any cairn, adds that two other stones had been removed, and the four, when entire, would have formed a circle. He records that the northeast stone was 2m tall and the southwest stone 2.7m tall and that the stones were about 12.2m away from each other.Some time before 1857 the tallest of the surviving stones was blown over in a gale. A clay urn, containing ashes, was found beneath it. Subsequently during further quarrying, a small piece of sandstone, circa 45cm square and incised with two concentric circles and other marks was discovered. It had probably split off from one of the stones of the circle, probably the lower, eastern, one. It was drawn and published by Simpson in 1865. This fragment was kept at Pitscandly mansion, but is now lost, despite a thorough search of the grounds of Pitscandly House and enquiries with the owners and staff by the OS in 1958. When surveyed by Thom the cairn material had been completely removed, exposing the full length of the surviving stones, the stump of the southeast stone and a prostrate stone which had been buried beneath the cairn material, possibly the missing stone from the northwest corner. This lay between the southeast and southwest stones. The northeast stone's full height is 2.4m and the southwest stone is 3.7m tall. The two standing stones and the stump are on the circumference of a circle 16.3m diameter, an exceptional size, containing circa 280 square metres. A watching-brief was carried out by SUAT Ltd in July 1998, but no archaeological features were identified and no finds were recovered.
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Historic Environment Records (HER) 
Angus
HER -
NO45SE0008 - BLACKGATE OF PITSCANDLIE