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

Cairnholy

Chambered Cairn

Fieldnotes

Friday 17/5/19: A rather pleasant early evening, after several gruelling hours on M6 we were heading towards Newton Stewart for an overnight stay before catching ferry to Northern Island. Spotted a brown heritage sign pointing towards Cairn Holy and pulled into a lovely woodland parking area. Started to walk the half mile uphill - the woodland was full of spring flowers, the birds were singing, we passed some cairn like stone in a field and a clear flowing spring. Then something happened - the earth tilted ever so slightly, the clouds parted and everything became infused with golden light. We rounded the curve in the lane not really knowing what to expect - before us stood a very fine neolithic chambered tomb, the grassy mound of which was covered in daisies.
The was a solitary man standing by the quite tall stones of the tomb. Initially we thought he was performing some sort of ritual but he was in fact doing some calculations. He came over and introduced himself as Joseph and it turned out he was very knowledgeable about Cairn Holy. He happily pointed out the various solar alignments for different times of the year. And that the low front stone appeared to mimic the distant Isle of Man. We left him for a bit and walked up to Cairn Holy II about 150 metres at a higher point up the lane. Another magnificent chambered tomb though slightly smaller than the first one. The notice board here mentioned spiral rock art so we went back to Joseph who showed one example of a very eroded spiral.
That evening this was one of the most peaceful places I have ever been to, as we reluctantly left to continue our journey it felt as if the ancient gods were smiling on us.
tjj Posted by tjj
27th May 2019ce
Edited 27th May 2019ce

Comments (1)

I'm very jealous of you getting to this, sounds like you had a brilliant visit. thesweetcheat Posted by thesweetcheat
28th May 2019ce
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