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The Great U of StemsterStanding Stones
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Achavanich Circle damaged by lay-byJohn O'Groat Journal A BUNGLING roads boss unwittingly ordered the destruction of part of a 4000-year-old ancient monument near Lybster... continues... |
Posted by Rhiannon28th March 2003ce Edited 30th June 2004ce |
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Visited 3rd July 2021 High up the northern fastness of Scotland, nearly as far north as you can get on the British mainland, the windswept bleakness and sense of isolation makes a visit to a site up here take on an extra poignancy. So close to the main A9, and the town of Thurso, Achavanich is an easy place to visit if you’re in these parts. On our regular trips up to Orkney the sight of the small brown signpost signalling the turn off the main road, often enticing us to stop and visit if we had time to kill before the ferry, became as it were a touchstone, an indication that we were almost ‘home’. Today the weather is mild, and blue skies emerge through scudding clouds. A walk round the stones, looking down towards the loch of Stemster, and the stones feel like nowhere else. The side on alignment of the orthostats is puzzling and must have some purpose behind it, but the stones aren’t telling and the place remains as enigmatic as ever. It’s nice to see how over the years the site has become better kempt, my first time here over 20 years ago, involved clambering over a fence, and trying to make out the stones amongst the overgrown spiky grasses which thronged the site. Now a smart but small layby, along with some unobtrusive information boards make visitors feel welcome. There is even a gate now to access the chambered cairn which sits nearby overlooking the site. We spend some time with the stones, a couple of campervans turning up and providing a few more visitors, and things just feel a bit otherworldly here. It’s soon time to make our way off to get the ferry, and Achavanich has provided a fine reminder of some of the megalithic riches that can be found in Caithness. |
Posted by Ravenfeather12th July 2021ce |
| 03/08/2016 - After a visit to Broubster, a similar stone setting, a few days earlier we thought a pop in to say hello to the Great U was needed. I love this site. Lots of stones, interesting shape and just a brilliant middle of nowhere feel to the place. One that's always worth another look. Not sure I've been at this time of year before. Loved the wild flowers and grasses growing around and over the stones. Colours of yellow and green against the grey of the stones looked so nice in the sunshine. A must see site. |
Posted by thelonious8th August 2016ce |
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Visited 24.7.14 Directions: Sign posted. Approximately 1 mile off the A9. Parking space next to stones. Visiting the Great U involved a fairly long detour off our planned route but this was a site I was very keen to visit. I wasn’t disappointed. The stones are surrounded by miles of bleak moorland with hills in the distance. There are three information boards. This is an excellent site and has a feeling of remoteness about it. The stones are quite large and the grass around them not too overgrown. It is odd how the stones are ‘side on’ instead of the normal ‘front facing’ – there must have been a reason why they set the stones up this way? If you happen to be heading up the east coast of Scotland try to make time to visit the Great U. It is a most interesting place. |
Posted by CARL 15th August 2014ce |
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Whereas the site has always been within a fenced area, overgrown and neglected and with a landowner who didn't want people to enter the site I am happy to report that it is now a delight to visit. The grass has been cut back, and the fences have been repositioned. There is now no fence between the site and the layby/parking place. If you want to visit the immediately adjacent chambered tomb, though, be prepared to climb a (nice, new, shiny) fence and risk the wrath of the land owner. |
Posted by Lianachan 1st June 2007ce |
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Enroute back from John O'Groats, Moth suggested we call in here despite the HIDEOUS weather and the fact it was getting late. I was persuaded that it was a good idea largely because it is next to the road, and actually only about 2ks from the main A9. I was expecting a horseshoe, or a squashed circle in some way, open at one end, but what greeted me was most unexpected. Imagine two parallel lines of stones with a semicircle connecting them at one end, the other end left open and you have it! 'Great U' is a very accurate description of this site. The rhythm of the stones is surprisingly complete and regular. Oddly, the playing card shaped stones stand narrow side on to the centre rather than broad side. I have never seen this before. Oh and it's HUGE! My God, if you could get here in good weather, it would be unbelievable! As it was, we got cold, wet and windchilled within seconds. Moth climbed up to a nearby cairn to try to get a 'long shot', but could see nothing the mizzle was so thick. This place KICKS ASS! |
Posted by Jane29th June 2004ce Edited 30th June 2004ce |
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These stones are very close to the road from Achavanich to Lybster and ¼ mile S. of Loch Stemster. The stones set out in an incomplete oval measure 225 ft. long by about 100ft wide. About 40 stones set upright averaging 5 feet in height and made of Caithness flagstone look as if they may have formed a complete oval but there is no evidence for this. Probably about one third of the original stones are missing. Set about 8 feet apart the broadest sides are towards each other. A cist is to be found at the most northern stone. The monument is probably Bronze Age. |
Posted by Bill 23rd January 2002ce Edited 30th June 2004ce |
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ND 1567 3035 Near Ballachly Farm, about 5 miles distant, is the Ballachly Burial Grounds, where part of the adjoining land is known as Croit Trolla, or the Croft of Trolla. Trolla is another version of the name Trollhaena, the norse name for Triduana. Some authors think the Orkneyinga Saga is talking of Croit Trolla as the resting place of Triduana's bones in the story of King Harold's blindness being cured (instead of the more well known, but far flung resting place at Restalrig). In medieval times it was common for a single bone to have a home as a holy relic with healing powers away from the main grave site. Or for the story of such to spring up, in the case of made up saints, who were used over and over to obsfucate similar pagan customs in a variety of areas. Triduana was one of the saints removed from the saints lists in the sixties because of the lack of evidence she actually existed as the christian nun of the stories. http://www.scotlandsplaces.gov.uk/search_item/index.php?service=RCAHMS&id=8134 has more on Croit Trolla, as found in RCAHMS |
Posted by Branwen 28th December 2009ce Edited 28th December 2009ce |
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Caithness Field Club BulletinLink to Caithness Field Club Bulletin from 2004 Achavanich - A Re-assessment by Leslie J Myatt |
Posted by thelonious 5th October 2011ce |
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