HY23591895 coming from Skaill Church just before the Skara Brae turning. Standing stone 1.2x0.4x0.1m, round-edged prostrate stone across front 1.0x0.4m.
Latest Fieldnotes
October 20, 2004
October 14, 2004
I counted 18 definite cup marks on this rock. CANMORE says there are 21 so I need my eyes fixing.
Half of it is missing, but this would be a big circle if complete – 55 metres across. Eight stones are still here. Maybe seven stones missing. The tallest stone is about 1.5 metres tall.
In a beautiful spot in a hollow by a burn (which is in danger of undermining the stones on the western arc).
Three fairly small stones – CANMORE thinks one of them might just be a random boulder rather than part of a setting with the two definite megaliths.
The stones are near the road and in a very empty bit of flat moor, but they’re low enough to be easily missed when the heather is thick.
“Small stones in flat featureless moor” sounds pretty dull, but it’s a lovely site!
This stone row is just a few hundred yards from the Grey Cairns of Camster. According to CANMORE there are actually six rows here but they’re disappearing under the peat. I found two of the rows. A couple of stones are maybe a metre proud of the peat. Others have only a few centimetres showing.
Don’t go hunting in wet weather or you may get sucked into the bog and never seen again!!
New paths and fences have been put around this area this year. One result of which is that the outlying stone (between the X and Temple Wood and the Nether Largie South cairn) is in the same field as the main stone setting and so is more readily accessible than in the past.
A footpath runs right beside this impressive hill fort on the south west edge of Bodmin Moor. The views are fantastic and the fort itself is in good condition despite cattle roaming all over it and large badger setts nearby.
If you take the road northwest through Dervaig to the end then head almost exactly north for a couple of miles along the private track (but public footpath) you get to these four stones. A few yards off the track, but very easy to spot. Three of the stones are fallen, and one of those is under the turf. The one that stands is a bit shy of 3 metres tall. The largest fallen stone is a metre longer.
As with almost anywhere on Mull, fantastic views!
This stone is on the headland above Calgary Bay and very obvious from the road that leads to Caliach Point. Over 2.5 metres tall and 4 metres around.
The field is owned by the chap who lives at the house just to the west of the stone. Very friendly and helpful he was, too.
Added bonuses: great views out to sea, and it’s one of the best places in Britain to see golden eagles.
October 13, 2004
Almost didn’t visit this one as it involved a bit of a detour on the way home. Glad I did though.
Nothing spectacular. Just a nice little Clyde cairn with a sketchy axial and two well-defined lateral chambers.
Access. Easy. Park opposite house in large passing place. One gate. Gentle climb.
Visited 27 September 2004
This was a disappointing chambered cairn. What I had read had led me to expect that more would be visible.
All that you can now see of what was the longest chamber in Kintyre are a few stones poking through the grass.
The standing stone is a beauty though especially when viewed in atmospheric misty weather. Just a fraction over 5m high.
Access. There is a parking area at the foot of the track up to the farm. Steep but short climb. One fence.
Visited 27 September 2004
Two standing stones plus one fallen one. They may originally have been part of a stone circle.
The taller standing stone is 1.4m high.
Access. Drive past Clochkeil Farm and park at the point where the road to the beach turns off to the left. Walk NW towards the stones which are hidden in a dip. No obstacles apart from cattle grids.
Visited 27 September 2004
A well-preserved and spectacularly-situated dun.
Signposted from car park opposite.
Probably the best chambered cairn in Kintyre.
A fully developed E-facing Clyde cairn with a good facade, an axial chamber and three lateral chambers all in reasonable nick.
It sits in a wide forestry clearing and, as usual at this time of the year, was covered with bracken which not only takes away the line of the cairn but also means the chambers cannot be seen as a group.
Access. Off a forest road which is also a cycle path but not generally open to traffic. As I visited it on a holiday weekend when there was no tree clearing, I was able to drive most of the way – which is just as well as it’s an 8 mile round trip from the car park at NR780278.
From the car park, you can visit Kildonan Bay dun and about 1.5 miles along the forest road is Ardnacross I chambered cairn.
Visited 26 September 2004
The quite substantial remains of two chambers of this Clyde cairn can be seen in a forestry clearing.
No cairn or facade remains but it is possible that the chamber to the N (orientated just E of N) is the axial chamber and that to the S is a lateral chamber entered from the W.
The cairn is on the way to the more interesting Gort na H-Ulaidhe. See access details there.
As you reach the location of the cairn along the forest road, you will come to the start of a young plantation on the right. Head right up a rough vehicle track at this point to where the ground levels out. The cairn is in a clearing to the left and should be visible from here.
Visited 26 September 2004
A not-very-interesting stone with supposedly 29 cup marks near Ardnacross I.
Visited 26 September 2004
October 12, 2004
There are a number of good chambered cairns on Kintrye worth seeking out – but this isn’t one of them. It’s near the road but that’s the best that can be said for it.
Very ruined and in deep bracken in the summer, it has half a facade and about one eighth of a chamber which, unusually, faces W.
Lochorodale 1 is in the forest at NR659162 and was not visited.
Visited 25 September 2004
This is a bit of an enigma.
IronMan has posted it as a stone alignment. Canmore (with reservations) calls it a chambered cairn with the westward-facing large stones possibly being part of a facade.
The area behind the tall stones has accumulated some field clearance but plans from 30 years ago show two large prostrate (ie not groundfast) stones at right angles to the upright stones possibly enhancing the case for a chambered cairn. The area here also includes a large capstone-like stone.
The arguments against a chambered cairn are the W orientation (but see Lochorodale 2) and the fact that the upright stones are almost touching. But then you rarely get stones that close in a stone alignment.
You pays your money... It’s not a wonderful site and probably only worth a visit alongside Blasthill.
Access: Level and no obstacles. Down a track from Macharioch farm.
Visited 25 September 2004
This Clyde cairn is the nearest Scottish chambered cairn to Ireland (just over 20 miles as the crow flies) and Ireland is visible from the cairn (but not in the direction of its orientation). So it may not be surprising that it bears some resemblance to its Irish cousin the court cairn.
It has a deeply crescentic facade which doesn’t quite reach the long edges of the cairn – themselves lined with visible edging stones. However, to maintain its Clyde credentials, it has a lateral chamber in addition to the axial chamber.
The stones are quite low (maximum 0.7m) but it’s still an impressive site.
Access. Ask permission at Macharioch Farm not Blasthill. Access is from a track opposite Kilbride (NR718088).
Visited 25 September 2004
A return visit here to consider the site in the context of Clyde cairn development theory – see photo caption.
One point to add to the previous access notes is that the visitor-friendly signpost has now gone.
Visited 27 September 2004
I decided not to visit this one up close for reasons which may be obvious from the posted photo.
Anyway, it looks as if it’s been mucked about a bit with field clearance and the best views are probably from where the photo was taken which is the road to the S.
Visited 9 September 2004
This long cairn, unlike many in SW Scotland, has not been mucked about to build sheep pens or field walls. It is therefore a good, well-preserved and easily accessible example of this type of monument.
It sits in an elevated position (170m) near a stream in a forest clearing which to the W is currently new plantation – so the views SW to Bogrie Hill (432m) are maintained.
Surrounded at the time of my visit with chest-high bracken – not the best time to go there!
Access Park opposite Barr House (NX833923) where permission can be obtained. Walk NE up the track towards the loch shortly before which the cairn becomes visible on the right.
Visited 9 September 2004
The site at Ballyrenan has now been completely cleaned up. This was in no small part due to the approaches made by a ceratin prolific contirbutor to this site. The head gardener at the Baronscourt Estate had been instructed to clean it up about 2 weeks ago. The transformation is quite remarkable and it really does make you wonder why it was left to sit in almost complete obscutriy for the last 12 years (apparently the last time it was cleared). The site sits approx 10 metres from the road and is also bordered by a farm to the west. Access is extremely easy; a small stone wall, partly ruined and with a gap, allowing for access without having to climb anything. Apart from the complete transformation of this site, one thing that struck me was the almost unhindered views NNW – NNE, taking in the Sperrins. It almost feels like it was located with this in mind. To the East is Bessy Bell (Slieve Trim), which is primarily used for the timber industry, also owned and run by the local Estate. The gardener from the estate seems to be under the impression that there were originally 3 portal tombs here and that one was destroyed. There does appear to be many more stones under foot and lying in an almost random manner. There also appears to be a small long barrow (?) about 30 ft to the north of the stones, but located within the same enclosure. Probably nothing though somenone with more knowledge may be able to clarify this. For those who may have been disappointed with a vist in recent times, I would suggest returning. Will post some pics soon.
This site and Lochhill were two, originally featureless, long cairns which were excavated in the 70s and shown to have an interesting sequence of development built around a mortuary enclosure (see Miscellaneous).
The site sits in the middle of a forest but in a wide clearing.
Some of the features have been destroyed as part of the excavation process necessary to get down to the basal layers to identify the mortuary enclosure but the facade is still well defined.
The features in the central area are now largely covered in vegetation but three of the standing stones are still visible. Not sure about the fourth.
Not too easy a site to get to and not too spectacular to look at but, if you like that sort of thing, worth the trouble due to its rarity – especially as nothing remains to be seen at Lochhill.
Access Off a forest road but a long way in from the nearest public road. The alternative I adopted was to approach from the W.
Boreland Hill Cottages (NX922607) are holiday cottages which you can drive to if they are not occupied – ask permission at Boreland of Southwick farm. A track leads N then it’s E over an easy stream and some rough ground as you enter the forestry ride leading to the site.
It was interesting to visit this site after looking at possible protomegaliths at Cairnholy.
There is no sign of a cairn. The rectangular burial chamber has four pillars about 1.5m high arranged one at each corner like a four-poster bed.
A possible undeveloped protomegalith?
Visited 8 September 2004