Easter Pitcorthie Standing Stone

You’ll find this standing stone not in a field but on Standing Stone Walk, in a setted green space in the Pitcorthie housing estate. Historic Environment Scotland schedules it as a massive angular sandstone block, about 1.6 metres high and up to 1.6 metres by 1.1 metres wide. Standing stones of this kind, HES says, generally date from 2500 to 1500 BC. It originally stood on the crest of slightly rising ground; its original packing is now hidden by the modern setting.

In 1972 the stone was set in a pavement of granite setts as a feature of what was then a new estate. It was first scheduled in 1939, and the scheduling has since been amended so that a wide enough area is protected, including the setted pavement, which can’t be maintained or removed without risk to the stone and any deposits around it. HES notes that although the setting has been compromised, the ground around the stone has escaped the deep ploughing that often affects rural monuments, and may still preserve burials or other evidence.

It’s a scheduled monument in everyday surroundings, which is part of its interest. You can walk right up to it from the street. There are no opening hours. Don’t climb it, and don’t disturb the setts. If you live in Pitcorthie, this is the oldest thing in the neighbourhood; if you’re visiting, it’s a short detour south-east of the centre, a prehistoric stone that the 20th-century streets were laid around rather than the other way up.