Images

Image of Mid Gleniron Round Cairn by GLADMAN

Three long cairns from a’top the round cairn.... right to left – Mid Gleniron I, II and the very denuded III surrounded by cows.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
Image of Mid Gleniron Round Cairn by GLADMAN

A fine round cairn... if you can outflank the bovine bodyguard.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone

Articles

Mid Gleniron Round Cairn

Sited upon rising ground on the opposite side of the farm track to Mid Gleniron long cairns I and II, this is a fine, apparently undisturbed round cairn.

Not sure if access is covered by any local agreement – I forgot to ask – but since the relevant field was teeming with frisky, young cows at the time of my visit, I thought it proper to ask regardless. Referred to as simply a ‘cairn’ upon the 1:25K OS map (which incidentally shows Mid Gleniron II in an incorrect position) I guess no-one knows whether this great stone pile conceals a chamber, cist, or indeed, anything at all – and thus it’s age relative to the long cairns. Having said that, its positioning overlooking, and therefore dominating, the three Neolithic cairns is perhaps indicative of the Bronze Age? Respecting, yet nevertheless assuming ‘ownership’ over what went before.

Climbing to the summit of the cairn, the panorama of the ritual landscape of Mid Gleniron farm is truly something special. And luckily cows can’t climb cairns... so soon lost interest in the intruder.

Miscellaneous

Mid Gleniron Round Cairn
Round Cairn

Despite it’s relative isolation in the modern world the complex of sites at Mid Gleniron indicates it must have been a hub of social activity. The well preserved Round Cairn overlooks three chambered cairns and numerous scattered clearance cairns. Excavation in the sixties revealed occupation of Mid Gleniron from the Neolithic Period. The chambered cairns were constructed in multiple stages implying a continuous population at Mid Gleniron.

Sites within 20km of Mid Gleniron Round Cairn