Fantastic. The whole Kilmartin Valley is such a fantastic place. It rained, rained and rained again. But despite this I had a great day (soaked to the skin) and I can't rate this place highly enough. I hope to visit again when (hopefully) the weather will be better! Stayed all day but only managed to see some of the sites as there are so many. The Great X is just one of the wonderful things to see. If you are anywhere near this part of Scotland, allow at least a day of your holidays to enjot this very special place. So far, my favourite place in Scotland. For me this is on par with Avebury in England. Fantastic.
We visited this site in Feb. 2000. We just wandered around this valley floor all day - you need loads of time for all the jewels that the people left us here. The great X is one of them. We wandered and wondered round this unique monument.
The overall alignment of this whole monument is approximately the same as the cairn cemetry, the valley and the river. I cant say any more - it's like much of this valley - a beautiful mystery.
If there were ritual processions north up this glen - which seems almost certain - this seems to be the place where eveything starts to get 'focused down' a bit, as the valley floor starts to narrow approaching the linear cemetery of cairns. However, the 'X' is aligned roughly NE-SW, and doesn't line up with the cairns as you might expect.
It is perhaps surprising that although the other sites in Kilmartin had lots of people visiting (despite the weather) there was no one here. I parked in the lane near the house (also a B+B) and took the short walk up the little path which runs alongside the house. I had read about the axe head carvings and spent ages laying on my belly with my head in the cist trying to spot them. I was jusy about to give up when I noticed the other cist - and there they were (3 of them if I remember correctly) quite easy to spot once your eyes adjust. The first, and so far only, axe head carvings I have seen. Well worth a visit.
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