Carn Liath, Kensaleyre

Nearest town:
Uig (12km NW)
OS reference:
NG420513
OS sheet:
23
Latitude:
57° 28' 42.28 N
Longitude:
6° 18' 16.39 W
Added to TMA by

Images

Image of Carn Liath, Kensaleyre (Chambered Cairn) by Nucleus

Zoom shot of Carn Liath from our holiday accommodation on Skye Bridge Cottage
Visited 26th May 2015

Image credit: Uwe Häberle 05/2015
Nucleus
Nucleus Dec 23, 2019
Image of Carn Liath, Kensaleyre (Chambered Cairn) by drewbhoy

The River Haultin has taken a fair change in direction.

Image credit: drew/A/B
drewbhoy
drewbhoy Jul 30, 2019
Image of Carn Liath, Kensaleyre (Chambered Cairn) by drewbhoy

On top of the cairn, Loch Eyre in front, the River Haultin left.

Image credit: drew/A/B
drewbhoy
drewbhoy Jul 30, 2019
Image of Carn Liath, Kensaleyre (Chambered Cairn) by drewbhoy

Looking north with the Snizort cairn featured to the left of the foto.

Image credit: drew/A/B
drewbhoy
drewbhoy Jul 30, 2019
Image of Carn Liath, Kensaleyre (Chambered Cairn) by drewbhoy

Looking north into Loch Eyre and over two more cairns.

Image credit: drew/A/B
drewbhoy
drewbhoy Jul 30, 2019
Image of Carn Liath, Kensaleyre (Chambered Cairn) by GLADMAN

Note the bridge carrying the A87 across the River Haultin. The best access from the road would appear to be to the immediate left of this.....

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Jun 11, 2017
Image of Carn Liath, Kensaleyre (Chambered Cairn) by GLADMAN

This massive chambered cairn sits beside the River Haultin as it meanders toward Loch Eyre... looking from a’top the cairn.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Jun 11, 2017
Image of Carn Liath, Kensaleyre (Chambered Cairn) by GLADMAN

The sheer size of the monument is not really apparent until the traveller gets up close and personal. Yeah, it’s a monster. But a nice monster. As in Monsters Inc... as opposed to Giger’s misanthropic alien.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Jun 11, 2017
Image of Carn Liath, Kensaleyre (Chambered Cairn) by GLADMAN

In my experience this massive, forgotten stone pile is up there with Scotland’s finest.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Jun 11, 2017

Articles

Carn Liath, Kensaleyre

drewbhoy
drewbhoy Jul 31, 2019

We parked nearer the church close to the sheep pens and a gate which conveniently opened into the area containing the three cairns. With a change of clothes and boots I was ready for jumping across some ditches and burns to head straight south to Carn Liath.

A massive chamber cairn, almost 25 wide by 5m tall, it has been slightly robbed by the dry steen dykers and some workmen looking for a lintel. These workmen also found a cist on the North East side containg bones. Maybe bones from the battle of 1539? Glorious all round views especially to the north with Loch Eyre and two more cairns.

Stunning site.

Visited 19/7/2019.

Carn Liath, Kensaleyre

C
CARL Aug 21, 2013

Visited 29.7.13

We parked in the parking area opposite the turning for Keistle.
The Cairn is easily seen from the road as a large mound of stones covered in heather.

I headed in a straight line for the Cairn – big mistake!
The ground was very, very boggy and it was very hard going. The grass and heather was up to my chest and on more than one occasion I stepped straight into deep, mucky black water.
Luckily I was wearing my new boots for the first time and am pleased to report they passed their first test with flying colours – my feet stayed dry – for a change!

If visiting this Cairn make sure to approach from the left hand side as the ground in this direction was a lot drier.

I eventually reached my target and what an impressive Cairn this is.
From the top you can appreciate its location and the surrounding fields of purple heather was very pretty to look at – although not good to walk through!

This site is definitely worth stopping off for when in the area.
If it has been raining at all make sure you wear your boots.

Carn Liath, Kensaleyre

GLADMAN
GLADMAN Jul 1, 2012

This is something else. Really, it is. Since I don’t know where to begin I’ll simply quote a part of the retrospectively sourced Canmore record: ‘Carn Liath, a chambered cairn of uncertain type, about 80’ in diameter with sides rising steeply to a height of about 18’.’ Yeah, that’s not a typo. 18 feet. Outside of Ireland – which, let’s face it, is a law unto itself.... truly away with the fairies, in the best possible way – the thought of stumbling upon such a virgin TMA site was unthinkable in the extreme. Never considered the possibility. However this is Skye. Clearly we need to do a lot more ‘work’ here, people!

Sitting upon the wondrous Dun Artreck this morning (incidentally another highly recommended site) the eye, glancing across the old 1:50K OS map – as it does – notes several ‘chambered cairns’ not mentioned upon my TMA notes. ‘Hey, guess it’s time for the ‘cherry-picker’ of sites to record some of the more mundane more-or-less-destroyed sites’, thinks I. One such monument indicated lies a little west of the A87 near the small settlement of Kensaleyre, the nomenclature a reference to Loch Eyre, south-eastern extension of the great Loch Snizort Beag. Now I’d passed by previously, coming ‘home’ – well, to my midge infested tent at Glen Brittle, anyway [seriously, an excellent campsite] – from Trotternish... and didn’t notice a thing. Duh! Today I cross the bridge across the River Haultin and park – self consciously and rather awkwardly (in character, I guess) – some way before a strikingly scary white chapel.... or church. There, looking west, sits an overgrown mound looming across barbed-wire. I check the map. Yeah, guess that’s it then. The barbed wired is high, rough ground beyond ensuring I must literally take my balls in my hands as I cross. The ground is certainly ‘undulating’... boggy also. However the relevance is lost as I draw closer and realise just how substantial this chambered cairn really is. Blimey! What’s more it appears, to all intents and purposes, intact. How can this be, a short distance from the A87? And upon a major tourist destination?

Truly gobsmacked, I clamber to the top. Surely a possee of enraged locals will swarm to intercept the interloper daring to violate the secret of Kensaleyre? But, of course, no retributive local throng materialises. Carn Liath is clearly forgotten, ignored. No HS information boards, no kissing gate access. But here we have (arguably) Skye’s finest chambered cairn.... without the need for the 8 mile walk to the magnificent Rubh an Dunain. The cairn is truly in the ‘Ireland’ class, sited where the River Haultin makes a final – and perhaps significant – meander before reaching Loch Eyre. Another look at the map discloses a hillfort upon Dun Cruin to the north-west, not to mention a number of standing stones and cairns in the vicinity. I sit upon the cairn and try to take in the moment... to appreciate what is but a fleeting hour or so in my life. There are so many questions, chief amongst them – perhaps – is what drove the people who erected this structure to do so? Dunno. But whatever the reason, it mattered. In a way I envy them.... to have such a certainty of purpose. Whereas I am but a swirling cauldron of... to be honest I don’t know what? Raw emotion dueling with the reluctant requirement to conform to a society that falls some way short of my expectations... you know, where most things don’t really seem to matter? Whatever, the on-going quest, the search for ‘meaning’ certainly appears to bring me nearer to that elusive mental state where the individual can perhaps begin to embrace altruism. An impossible dream, maybe. But places such as Carn Liath seem to amplify the attempt, by many degrees of magnitude. Yeah, perhaps it is all a fallacy.... self delusion. But, if so, is it not a noble one?

P.S. prospective visitors to this wonderful site should note that there appears to be a much easier access to the site just monument-side of the bridge... no need to risk the tender, sexy bits – be you male or female.

Folklore

Carn Liath, Kensaleyre
Chambered Cairn
drewbhoy
drewbhoy Jul 31, 2019

A piece of pasture land enclosed with an old dyke. the site of a bloody contest between the Macleods & Macdonalds, a large cairn situated close to the east of it is said to contain the bones of the slain. it is situated a little to the west of Kensaleyre Inn Property of Lord Macdonald It means Bloody Fold.

Revd. John Darroch & Revd A. Martin Angus MacPherson – Scotland’s Places

Sites within 20km of Carn Liath, Kensaleyre

Like all websites everywhere, we use cookies.