Port Charlotte Chambered Tomb View all content for Port Charlotte

From Cultoon we headed south to the beautiful village of Portnahaven before heading north east towards Port Charlotte. Just the the south of the village pull in the campsite. Whoever constructed the football pitch, campsite and restaurant should congratulated on doing a cracking job. Good to see some children taking interest in the site when we arrived, as soon as I started looking and taking photographs they asked questions, Aberdeenshire kids from Insch, very intelligent :-) The site does seem to be looked after slightly better than in the past and it was litter free. Canmore Description This chambered cairn is situated in a field at the edge of the raised beach 750m SW of Port Charlotte; the chamber and much of the cairn were excavated between 1976 and 1979, and the following account makes use of the interim report and further information supplied by the excavators (Peirpoint and Harrington 1978). The cairn, which is aligned NNE and SSW, measures 22m in breadth and is now about the same length, but the SSW end has been destroyed, and it would originally have been much longer. The chamber, at the NNE end, is entered from the centre of a concave facade of which only the stump of one stone and a fallen second stone now remain. Immediately in front of the entrance there was a pit, some 0.6m deep, from the bottom of which charcoal provided a radiocarbon date of ad 90+- (HAR-2405), but this may have been a result of contamination. The large slab in front of the entrance has been erected as if to form a portal stone. The sill-stone, only part of which is shown on plan (RCAHMS plan A), is 0.8m long, 0.23m thick and 1.16m high, and was held in position by two jamb-stones; the septal stone is 0.9m long, 0.96m high and 0.15m thick. The second compartment (1.5m long and 1.3m broad) comprises two massive side-slabs up to 0.9m high supported from behind by large slabs, which can be seen protruding through the cairn material. The third compartment has been destroyed, and the fourth is now represented only by the W side-slab. The missing slabs appear to have been removed for use as culvert-covers in the last century, but the slots from which they had been removed were discovered in the course of excavation. Now I liked this site, tremendous views to Kintra and Bowmore as well as the nearby hills, which hopefully will see my feet reasonably soon. Visited 1/8/2018.

Posted by drewbhoy 8th February 2019ce

Comments (8)
Thanks for the campsite plug Drew, I feel a jaunt thataway coming on this summer, touch wood :)	Posted by spencer 9th February 2019ce
Great campsite at Kintra as well, we rented a dog friendly cottage at Cragabus, heading Uist this summer :-) (If you want details get in touch)	Posted by drewbhoy 9th February 2019ce
Cheers..never been to Islay (would LOVE to go to Colonsay). Other arf and I've just scored an old Toyota spacewagon thingy in good nick with new MOT for £200 off her mate, going to turn into improv campervan and head off to the West and North Coasts asap. Coming up to 63: time for fun - life's too short	Posted by spencer 9th February 2019ce
Sounding excellent :-)	Posted by drewbhoy 27th February 2019ce
Well enjoy your spacewagon, I have just clocked up 45k in my van (Fiat Ducato camper) over the last 4 1/2 years following the megalithic trail from Sweden down to Portugal, best thing I ever bought, as you say life is too short	Posted by costaexpress 28th February 2019ce
Cheers - gotta get the thing fettled first, prob £1k+ (and pleeez let there not be cracks in the cylinder head otherwise it's scrappies)... but really wanna get some NoS stoning done this year. Lovely to have someone who's prepared to go tramping in the heather too : )	Posted by spencer 28th February 2019ce
Dodge the Kintra site. I wouldn't stay there again. We found it expensive (£1 for a tomato 15 years ago, hasn't changed recently- or maybe it has?), unfriendly, couldn't-care-less etc. Also VERY open to the frequent strong winds even when pitched tight, down among the dunes. Though you can just drive down and park there for a spectacular walk across the rocks there at low tide. https://binged.it/2tKItBq I watched (and filmed) a pod of nasty BIG Dolphins playing catch with a baby seal there. It is a spectacular spot... to visit for a few hours. Here is very good too. Not far at all. https://goo.gl/maps/1GC8wmKBJTL2 Beautiful walk past Cragabus (great road and path etc right out to the Mull of Oa and back). Watched Sea Otters eating Octopus and Lobster on the shore when we returned via the shore line to Port Ellen (quite near the square lighthouse). Here. https://binged.it/2tJ8QHA	Posted by Howburn Digger 1st March 2019ce
We walked out to Oa as well, great walk on a sunny day! As for Kintra, it was very very busy, seems a fair plug.	Posted by drewbhoy 2nd March 2019ce
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