Broomend of Crichie

Broomend of Crichie is a henge, a ceremonial enclosure with a bank outside a ditch dating from the late third millennium BC. It is one of a very small number known from the north-east of Scotland.

The remains of the henge consist of a flat area surrounded by a ditch within an encircling bank. The ditch is crossed N and S by earthen embankments. Within the ditch there was originally a concentric circle of six stones with cremation burials at the bases. In the centre, burnt bones overlay a conical pit within which was a cist containing both inhumation and cremation. Other cremations and urns were found within the circle.

Today, just 2 of the stones survive together with a more recent Pictish symbol stone that erected near the centre in modern times after being removed from a bank (50 yds to the N) which was being quarried for railway ballast. The symbol stone bears well-preserved examples of the so-called elephant symbol, and a crescent and V-rod.