Latest Fieldnotes

On the B8007 single track Salen/Ardnamurchan Point road. There is parking close by.

Clyde chambered tomb of which the two chamber entrance stones and a stone from the facade are currently the most prominent features.

Small Hill fort with a large white recumbent stone in the centre.
This is a very different type of stone from that which is found in the immediate vicinity. There’s a hollow just next to the stone, possibly it was underground at some point, but I can’t see how it could be a glacial erratic, as the stratum it seems to come from is nearly at sea level, well below the height of the Tal-y-fan. So my instant response to seeing it was to think that someone had gone through a lot of bother to drag it up here. Mind, I’m no geologist and could be totally wrong about this. There are also cavalry tripping stones in the main entrance, that I am sure of.

The site has a clear view of the Conwy estuary and the Great Orme, but is still nicely tucked away from sight from the immediate locale. In retrospect, how I wish I’d tarried longer. The white stone of Caer Bach can be blamed for all of the posts I’ve clagged this website up with, it was the one that sent me looking for an online version of tma in the first place.

In a clearing next to a forestry track just off the A714. Easy parking.

Under excavation when I visited it late one day in August 2003. See link to interim excavation reports.

In September 2003, the heather had been burnt away making the stones more visible. Two new images added – the most complete arc of the circle and the stone setting which may be the one Burl is quoted in Canmore as saying may be related to Four Posters.

Take the track to the W signposted to the cemetery off the B842 about 2.5 miles N of the Carradale junction. This is easily driveable until the signpost to the L for the “Toothie Stane” after which it becomes a little rougher. You may wish to park at the sign.

The site is a Clyde chambered cairn excavated in the early 50s. The main stones of the chamber and the two portal stones are visible. The N portal is nearly 3m high and is known as Carragh an Talaidh (Pillar of the Soothing) or the Toothie Stane- see Folklore.

This famous site is said to be able to determine the dates of winter and summer solstices – see the Megalithic Sites link for a full description.

Access to the site is by the track off the A83 at NR730527. There is limited parking here but ample about 0.25 mile further south where the road crosses the Ballochroy Burn. The people in the Balochroy bungalow near this parking point do not own the land on which the stones stand but they thought getting permission was unnecessary.

Sunday 7/12/03
Just over one hour of climbing up the Red Bull XC you reach the summit of Minch Moor at 567 metres. The beautiful climb up on singletrack gives way to an eye watering swooping bermy descent down to the Southern Upland Way, where, just over the other side of the Minch, the Cheese Well gurgles away. The sun has yet to reach this part of the hill and it’s still frosty and very nippy. This is a fairly lonely and isolated spot, but the stunning scenery all around and the atmosphere here gives this place a, well, just one of those feelings- it’s very hard to describe. There are two natural springs here- the flowing and gurgling one and a small pool which trickles. A small path from the SUW leads to the springs and two stones- one shaped like an old grave stone which is inscribed with “Cheese Well”. The other is kite shaped with a fab thistle carved into it with “Cheese Well"and “1965”. The sound of the water is mesmerising. I have no cheese for the wee folk, so I leave them a fizzy cola bottle instead hoping for a safe passage across their moor!

By a forest walk with parking.

Ring cairn 14.3m in diameter surrounding unusual setting of three standing stones and a slab. The latter was examined following damage in 1988 but no definitive burial evidence was found.

Clava cairn with stone circle of which five stones remain standing.

Park on A95 and walk down drive to Ballindalloch Castle (open to the public).

Clava cairn passage grave with surrounding stone circle of which four standing stones remain.

Park on the minor road running S from the A95 then climb the hill.

Once at the site, the remains of Lower Lagmore (NJ180359) can be seen to the E.

The last time I visited The Spiral Stone (October 2003) I couldn’t see anything carved on it either, but I knew I had photographed it a few years previously, and now realise that the spiral carving is very low down on the stone. I think you also need the right sort of light. I have posted my photo of the spiral carving from several years ago so that you will know why the stone is so called!

See notes for Drannandow.

Two standing stones 2.2 and 2.0m high

To be honest, there’s not a lot to see here but the trip may be worth it by also taking in the Auld Wives’ Lifts – a natural rock formation which looks like a dolmen. Look out for the many carved heads on the “capstone”. The Lifts are to the left of the track up to the cairn.

Best parking is near Blairskaith Quarry. Ask permission at North Blochairn.

Saturday 29/11/03
After being in the car again for far too short a time to dry off at all, it’s back out into the downpour and head up to a house called Warrior’s Rest- at the corner of which is a standing stone. I head up the farm drive and about to go through the garden gate when the front door of the cottage is opened by a friendly face- I ask if its okay to have a look at the stone and take some pics- ‘aye no problem- have you seen the other two stones just up the road- they’re worth a  look’- cool. This stone is right at the corner of the house. It’s just over 1.5 metres high and leans slightly to the south. It has a very phallic air to it. The top is pointed and the east facing of the stone is smoothed to a ridge up and down the length of the stone. I have a good look over the stone and two small cupmarks catch my eye- these are just to the right of the ridge of the east face, approximately 2 cm in diameter and form and angle of approximately 45 degrees. I have a look through the CANMORE notes, but am surprised to find no mention of these- hmmmmmm. From this stone, the Yarrow Stone and the Glebe Stone are visible to the west- I head towards the latter….

Park on the B821 near where it is crossed by the West Highland Way and follow the Way north.

These stones have been described as the remains of a facade of a chambered tomb.

Saturday 29/11/03
Between the stone at Warrior’s Rest and the Yarrow Stone stands this monolith in a field of sheep. By now I’m soaked through, my CANMORE notes are rapidly turning to paper mache, my OS map is wringing and my camera is in danger of shorting due to the condensation and rain! This is a massive stone- biggest of the three in this area. It’s about 1.3 metres high, almost the same wide and about 40 cm thick. Around the base of the stone are many small stones and boulders which look like field clearance. Towards the bottom of the eastern side are two cup-like marks- one of which is natural, one of which is classically man-made looking. To the ENE I can see a monlolith through the rain, to the WSW another….

Saturday 29/11/03
It’s absolutely tipping it down. Not just heavy rain, but a really soaking down pour and it’s been at it for most of the morning. I park at the end of a farm drive that takes you from the A708 up the farm of Whitefeild. Donning goretex layers, stuffing notebooks and maps well out of the rain and sealing my camera in a zip-lock bag I venture out of the warm dry confines of my car. In my infinite wisdom I have forgotten waterproof troos so after about two minutes my combats are uncomfortably soaking. I was planning to head up to the farm building to ask permission to have a look at this stone, but it’s on the way up the track, next to the road and has a rather well tended wooden fence around it so I guess it’s okay to look (plus I’m wet enough as it is!). The stone is around 1.5 metres high by about 40 cm thick whinstone block. Legend has it that this stone was erected to mark the grave of two British Christian Chieftains. There was, at one time, a Latin inscription on the eastern face, however, most traces of that have been washed away over time- you can just about make out some lines if you squint hard enough. I get the feeling that this is a Christianised standing stone, due to the fact that it was under the ground until the 19th Century, that there was meant to be around twenty large cairns on the same moor and that there are two other significant standing stones 500 metres and 750 metres to the ENE of here.

Two standing stones 1.4 and 1.0m high.

For access, see Glenvoidean.

Ruined Clyde tomb. A two-part chamber and portal stones opening on the E are visible.

Wonderful views down the Kyles of Bute to Arran.

For more detail, see accompanying photographs.

Visited 7 March 2004

2m high stone on the E side of a kerbed cairn containing another sloping stone 1.1m high.

Ruined Clyde cairn by side of road – with difficult parking.

Ruined Clyde cairn by the edge of a playing field.

A large elipse (41x33m) where construction seems to have been abandoned with the stone holes built and the stones in place but not erected.

Signposted path in forest to 80m long barrow.

Large cup-and-ring marked boulder on the W side of the lane running past Newbigging. On the sharp bend in the lane – see Streetmap.