Allt Sgiathaig

Nearest town:
Ullapool (33km SSW)
OS reference:
NC2342325520
OS sheet:
15
Latitude:
58° 10' 59.7 N
Longitude:
5° 0' 12.82 W
Added to TMA by

Images

Image of Allt Sgiathaig (Chambered Cairn) by drewbhoy

Internal cairn, perhaps the remains of something, perhaps not.

Image credit: drew/A/B
drewbhoy
drewbhoy Nov 3, 2020
Image of Allt Sgiathaig (Chambered Cairn) by GLADMAN

The monument in its landscape setting immediately above the A894 looking toward Quinag (the mountain range). Spidean Coinich is the shapely peak.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN May 5, 2015
Image of Allt Sgiathaig (Chambered Cairn) by GLADMAN

A brief hiatus in the downpour.... sunburst looking across the chambered cairn (immediately left of the road) to distant Loch Assynt.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN May 5, 2015
Image of Allt Sgiathaig (Chambered Cairn) by GLADMAN

Retrospective looking from Spidean Coinich highlighting the (approx) locations of two of Assynt’s chambered cairns. The mountain possesses a striking profile with, to my mind, a direct association with the Ardvreck monument. As for the Allt Sgiathaig tomb... any thoughts?

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Jul 29, 2013
Image of Allt Sgiathaig (Chambered Cairn) by GLADMAN

To make a judgement as to whether the chamber was aligned upon Spidean Coinich I needed to work out which way it was facing. Unfortunately I couldn’t do that since the monument is badly damaged. It would be great if it is so aligned to match the Ardvreck chamber (literally) down the road.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Jun 8, 2013

Articles

Allt Sgiathaig

drewbhoy
drewbhoy Dec 26, 2020

We parked at the north entrance to Achmore Fram, which we would visit later, to climb the hill and approach Allt Sgiathaig from the east.

As Mr G and Carl suggest, the cairn has seen a fair amount of damage and it is a minor miracle that it still sits precariously perched above the A894. We made our way down to the road and back to our car.

However it can be spotted from the road from north and south, hopefully not by the driver but by the passenger.

Good wee site.

Visited 15/10/2020

Allt Sgiathaig

GLADMAN
GLADMAN Oct 1, 2013

How good is this? Although close by the busy A894 – and apparently damaged by its construction – the shattered remains of this chambered cairn literally rise above such an appalling indignity, according the visitor a wondrous perspective of what surely must have been an ancient route across the gloriously brutal, mountainous landscape of The Quinag. Perhaps not so ‘glorious’ to the sodden Neolithic traveller, perhaps, but full of inherent meaning nevertheless? The situation is dramatic, to say the least, the towering mountain mass, rising beyond the Allt Sgiathaig, sculptured by the greatest forces of all to form the enigmatic, strikingly elegant summit of Spidean Coinich. Not the highest of The Quinag, but suffice to say it catches the eye.

According to Assynt’s Hidden Lives Project [2009] the monument is:

“An uneven, sub-triangular grass covered cairn.... the W side has been completely truncated by the road. The cairn sits on a slope....3.5m high at the W and 1m high on the E.....Large stones are present on the top which are perhaps displaced lintels or capstones”.

Yeah, I’d concur with that. I also agree with Carl. The chambered cairn can not be seen from the road. Having said that, I approached from the steep hillside above, the monument presenting an iconic foreground image to such a desolately beautiful, watery landscape. Unfortunately the lack of internal detail within the cairn did not allow me to come to any firm conclusion regarding any correlation between alignment and the aforementioned Spidean Coinich... as I would suggest is reasonably obvious at the Ardvreck cairn down the road. But hey, despite the arrival of a pretty hostile rain front, I enjoyed myself here gazing down upon the camper vans heading for Kylesku, the mind drifting back to a much more serious ‘working over’ upon Spidean Coinich a decade ago. It’s good to return and gain a different perspective, to close the loop.

Ascending the A894 from Loch Assynt there are numerous parking spaces to be had before passing the track to Achmore Farm... should you be arriving by car, of course. As mentioned I climbed the hillside to the right and worked my way along. However if you’d rather stick to the tarmac – and why not? – look out for a solitary tree to your left... I think there was only the one. If located, the cairn lies, unseen, upon the steep rise to your right.

P.S – if your onward route happens to take you to Kylesku it is worth considering a boat trip along Loch Glencoul to see Eas-Coul-Aulin, Britain’s highest waterfall. As the local who took me said of his craft... “one careful owner... can’t speak for the other dozen, though!” Nice.

Allt Sgiathaig

C
CARL Jul 5, 2012

Visited 2.6.12

Directions:
Approx 2 miles north of Ardvreck castle on the right hand side of the A894.
The cairn sits on top of a steep rise and cannot be seen from the road.

We parked on the grass verge and I clambered up the short but very steep slope to the cairn.

There are 9 large stones forming a rough circle – 5 of the stones are in a group.
The cairn has clearly been dug into at some point in the past and is approx 2 metres high x 5 metres across. It has been cut in half by the road. There is lots of green lichen on the stones.

The cairn occupies a good spot and affords lovely views.It was really pretty when I visited with bluebells, fern and heather in abundance.

It is well worth stopping off for a look at the cairn but it does require a steep climb.

Sites within 20km of Allt Sgiathaig

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