The Modern Antiquarian. Stone Circles, Ancient Sites, Neolithic Monuments, Ancient Monuments, Prehistoric Sites, Megalithic MysteriesThe Modern Antiquarian

Fieldnotes by stubbo

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Beacharr (Chambered Cairn)

Easyish to find with an OS map just follow the track from the white cottage on the Campbeltown road (with convenient parking space).
The cairn and menhir are seperated by an unclimable fence (d'oh!), necessitating a walk to the bottom of the hill by the farm again.
The cairn is almost destroyed but the cist holds a slight depression which affords much-needed shelter in the wind and rain that invariable batters the coast of Kintyre.
The stone is a beauty perched on top of its pre-glacial cliff face. Tall and imposing, it is one of a number of similar examples to be seen along the west-coast road (another is a couple of miles south on the other side of Muasdale). Although aligned with the cairn, the overwelming impression I get about this lithic finger is that it is simply a marker of territory, placed, as is the associated barrow, on the prominant hilltop. Its effect now when first glimpsed at 50 mph must by similar to that intended by it's erectors four millenia ago - an impossing, majesterial statement of perminance.

Achnabreck (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art)

Easy to find as are all the Kilmartin sites - just watch your cars suspension on the forest track.
There's a dedicated car park with picnic benches and great views to the west.
Luckily, the main rock is far enough away from the carpark (400m) to give some sense of isolation. The site is fenced off and I don't think it's ok to just jump over it, as a previous poster has suggested - these carvings have survived for millenia because they have not been trampled on by thousands of boot-shod tourists still warm from the interiors of their metallic-painted MPVs.
The top of the outcrop is not visible to someone of normal stature but the first slab encountered is breath-taking in its scale and intricacy. As mentioned, a recent shower of rain can really help you to see the carvings.
Menhir-visiting mutt, Denis, appreciated the treck through the forest and had a good wee up a number of the surrounding fence-posts.

Templewood (Stone Circle)

J C is right, this site and those in the immeadiate vacinity have a slightly sanitised feel about them with neatly manicured lawn and colourful signposts. (Not a complaint - merely an observation - if all ancient sites were protected and displayed as well as those in the Kilmartin area we'd have no worries).
Between brilliant shafts of light and ruinous downpours, the overwelming feeling in the valley is one of place - the surrounding hillscape being as important as the megaliths themselves.
No place for Dogs, though (because of the sheep). My famous menhir mongrel, Denis the Rottweiller had to stay in the carpark on the far side of the Great X as we visited Templewood and the Barrows. He was really looking forward to taking a pee on another neolithic construction.
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