Sowburn Rig Small Cairn Cemetery Cairn(s) View all content for Sowburn Rig Small Cairn Cemetery

Monday 3/5/04 I drive past this site (well, on the road waaaaaay above it) almost every day and finally get round to a visit. It's a long walk down from the road which climbs up the ridge of the Moorfoot Hills down to the peat moor. The views from here are stunning though- along the Moorfoot ridge, the complete skyline of the Pentland Hills, Berwick and Traprain Laws, Arthurs Seat and across the Firth of Forth to Fife- wow- what a final resting place. I follow the side of a new forest and trust my GPS to find the cemetery. At the end of the trees I start to notice circular patches of light green grass rising ever so slightly from the peat and short heather- just as well I visited at this time of the year otherwise the whole site would have been hidden in vegetation. There are apparently around 50 small cairns here, but I can only count about 30 or so- some of which I have to use my imagination! They only rise about 20 cm from the ground, but the largest is around 4 m in diameter. I guess most have sunk into the peat below. The whole site covers an area of 160 m NS by 70 m EW. Still- an impressive site with great views of some of the major archaeological and megalithic sites of the Lothians.

Posted by Martin 12th May 2004ce

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