Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Farmer cleared after ancient monument near Angus destroyed by mistake

Andrew Simpson was found not guilty at Forfar Sheriff Court.
Andrew Simpson was found not guilty at Forfar Sheriff Court.

A farmer has been acquitted of allegations he was at fault for damage caused to ancient stone circles in Angus during a tree-felling project on his land.

Landowner Andrew Simpson was found not guilty of four charges alleging he was to blame for damage caused to registered stone circles at Baldovie Wood, near Kirriemuir.

Prosecutors had alleged that he caused damage to two stone circles and three monoliths with mechanical works and then tried to repair it by replacing the stones after being told he should not do so.

At Forfar Sheriff Court, grain and Aberdeen-Angus beef farmer Simpson was found not guilty of all charges, which date back to contracted work carried out between December 1 2018 and February 18 2019, by Sheriff Jillian Martin-Brown.

Stones uprooted

The 82-year-old had accepted the stones had been damaged but explained he had gone to the furthest lengths possible to protect them.

Having bought the 430-acre Greenmyre Farm in July 2016, Simpson later applied for a tree-felling licence from the Forestry Commission.

He was given a map which highlighted two protected stone circles.

This matched a conveyancing email he had received upon purchasing the land, which gave rough locations for the circles.

He explained that before work began, he visited the site and identified what he thought were the stones.

Simpson marked what he thought were the stones.

He marked 20-metre buffer zones around them so his employees would not disturb them.

However, the stones Simpson picked out were not the protected artefacts.

The charge alleged one stones was pulled from its original position and the other completely removed.

Ancient stones

The two stone circles and three monoliths at the site are thought to date from the late Neolithic or Bronze Age, the late third or second millennium BC.

The monument is recorded by Historic Environment Scotland and was first scheduled in 1937 in a site described as having high archaeological potential in the prehistoric landscape of Strathmore.

Andrew Simpson.

It was revealed in court the three monoliths were not on Simpson’s land.

The court was told one of the two stone circles had a tree growing out of it and the other was partially underground.

These stones were disturbed during the work.

Steps taken

Simpson, whose business is headquartered at Parbroath Farm near Cupar, explained he has 50 years experience in farming and has worked in Australia.

Giving evidence, Simpson, of Blacklunans in northeast Perthshire, told his solicitor Brian Bell he has 10 farms across Scotland and welcomes thousands of visitors to his chalet accommodation each year.

He said tourists are drawn towards historic points of interest.

“Anything, a point of interest today, makes a farmer money.

“We do what we can to enhance and protect monuments.

“I applied for a felling licence.

“The wood had reached a stage of maturity and it needed to be opened out for the forest floor, so people can see flora and fauna that grows there.

“On this particular occasion, Mike (Strachan, Forestry Commission Scotland operations officer) gave me a map and said, “these are protected monuments.

“He said don’t go anywhere near that.

“We marked posts 20-metres around monuments so that we were aware we didn’t need to go there.

“There was two large stones sticking out the ground, probably three feet or a metre, and they looked like historic stones.

“I took it that that was the two monuments.”

Not guilty

Simpson was also alleged to have caused further damage without reasonable excuse after instructing the backfilling of the track between February 19 and April 15 in 2019, having been advised not to carry out further works.

He was also acquitted of this charge

Sheriff Martin-Brown said: “It is clear to me that Mr Simpson did not act recklessly.

“He applied for a licence and got a map from the Forestry Commission.

“The fact that he misidentified the stones was not because he was reckless.

“He identified stones that appeared relatively prominent.”

Speaking after the trial, Simpson explained he could have faced up to a £50,000 fine if convicted.

“This is a case which should never have been prosecuted,” he told The Courier.

“This is quite an important case.”