Bolam Cairn Cairn(s) View all content for Bolam Cairn

Bronze age round cairn, mostly soil, with some kerbstones still in place. 11m diameter, i.5m at it's highest, with a whopping hole, resulting from antiquarian excavation. There's a stone in the middle of the hole, which looks like a standard 'Am I a gatepost or not?" kinda thing, with a gatepost type squared socket, and what might, at a stretch, be a worn cup mark to muddy the issue. About 20m to the SSW, there's another stone, about 1.5m tall. Not a gatepost, I'd say, but been used as a rubbing post. It's not as weathered as the stone at the Poind, but it's possibly harder stone. It is more weathered than other stones in buildings, walls, gateposts etc in the vicinity. Both the cairn and the stone are in a ridge and furrow field to the south of Bolam Church. There's a handy bridleway down the edge of the field. The cairn is confirmed as BA, but the SMR entry mentions the 'subsequent re-use' in reference to the gatepost. I'm not sure what they mean the cairn has been re-used as. A gatepost holder? For a single gatepost? The nearby standing stone is not mentioned at all. So any thoughts of prehistoric provenance for the stone must remain purely speculative.

Posted by Hob 17th May 2004ce

Comments (1)
I trust this is near to Bolam Lake. If it is, some thirty yards or so, to the North, beyond a five-foot drystone wall, there are three perfectly formed barrows in a triptych formation to each other. At the time I discovered them, the barrows were 'guarded' by a group of cows which came pretty close to hemming me into their herd. I moved slowly away and vaulted back over the wall towards the picnic tables. I have not been back.	Posted by Noggin the Nog 11th September 2010ce
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