Knockan

Nearest town:
Ullapool (18km SSW)
OS reference:
NC2042510400
OS sheet:
15
Latitude:
58° 2' 47.1 N
Longitude:
5° 2' 34.38 W
Added to TMA by

Sites within Knockan

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Images

Image of Knockan (Chambered Cairn) by drewbhoy

Taken from the very nearby long cairn. NC2051410453

Image credit: drew/A/B
drewbhoy
drewbhoy Dec 9, 2020
Image of Knockan (Chambered Cairn) by drewbhoy

The remains of the chamber looking west. NC2051410453

Image credit: drew/A/B
drewbhoy
drewbhoy Dec 9, 2020
Image of Knockan (Chambered Cairn) by drewbhoy

Very steep as Mr G and myself found, nearing the end of a tiring day the last thing my legs wanted. Knockan 2042510400

Image credit: drew/A/B
drewbhoy
drewbhoy Dec 8, 2020
Image of Knockan (Chambered Cairn) by drewbhoy

Could be the remains of the chamber. Knockan NC2042510400

Image credit: drew/A/B
drewbhoy
drewbhoy Dec 8, 2020
Image of Knockan (Chambered Cairn) by drewbhoy

he infamous telegraph pole on Knockan NC2042510400

Image credit: drew/A/B
drewbhoy
drewbhoy Dec 8, 2020
Image of Knockan (Chambered Cairn) by GLADMAN

Knockan 2 begins to merge into the landscape as the light fades.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN May 9, 2017
Image of Knockan (Chambered Cairn) by GLADMAN

Fading evening light at Knockan 1.... looking approx north.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN May 9, 2017
Image of Knockan (Chambered Cairn) by GLADMAN

The western chambered cairn has had to suffer the indignity of a telegraph pole inserted into it. I would say I’m surprised. But I’m not.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN May 9, 2017
Image of Knockan (Chambered Cairn) by GLADMAN

Knockan 2...... more uprights, less cairn.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN May 9, 2017
Image of Knockan (Chambered Cairn) by GLADMAN

The western of the pair.... ‘Knockan 1‘

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN May 9, 2017

Articles

Knockan

drewbhoy
drewbhoy Jan 5, 2021

Like Mr G and Carl I climbed down the steep hill to the two sites, and like Mr G the encroaching dark light was becoming a factor.

Both sites are as previously described except that whilst looking around I thought I was standing on top of cairn to get a better view. So instead of climbing up and down once, I climbed up and down twice. The second time, to get a better view of this extra site

Visited 16/10/2020.

Knockan

GLADMAN
GLADMAN Oct 3, 2013

Carl can’t exactly admonish himself for failing to spot this pair of chambered cairns since the hillside falls so sharply away from the road as to be verging upon the vertical. In short, no-one will be seeing these from the car. As for myself, with the mind reeling from the after effects of a day spent visiting a veritable procession of chambered cairns, I am on the verge of giving up when.... hey, you know the cliche. One last look before retiring to Loch Lurgainn for the night. So, upon parking just before (east of) the impressive-looking Knockan Crag, I peer over the precipitous edge and, funnily enough, there they are. I was shocked, too, so it would have been rude not to have a look, despite the passing heavy shower.

The barbed-wire fence supplementing the crash barrier is, naturally, a pain, but I’ve no time to head back to the nearest farm for a chat and lower approach. Consequently I take the plunge, trying not to invoke a literal, involuntary response, you understand, and just about avoid a 10 from the Russian judge. It is worth the effort. OK the cairns aren’t the largest to be found in these parts, but I’m in agreement with Canmore.... both are – or rather were – chambered.

That to the west is the larger of the pair and possesses a reasonable volume of cairn material in situ. Not to mention two – I think – orthostats protruding through the cairn. Triangular, too. That’ll be the remnants of the chamber, then. Always a welcome sight. An unwelcome addition, however, is the wooden telegraph pole (or power line, can’t recall now) subjecting the monument to an unwarranted, and quite disgraceful indignity. But there you are.

The second monument is less substantial. However at least four orthostats stand proud upon the summit of the grassy cairn as ample compensation. Cul Mor towers above lesser hills to the approx west and the vibe here, accentuated by the fading light, is very positive. Ironically it is the approaching nightfall, such as it is here, that duly truncates the visit.

Knockan

C
CARL Jul 9, 2012

Failed to spot these two chambered cairns.
The ground here is very steep, rough and has lots of natural boulders scattered about.

Canmore states:

Knockan 1
‘An overgrown mound of debris 17.5m x 15m x 1.5m high. Just west of the centre is a triangular shaped slab 1 m high x 3mm thick with another 1.5m to the south protruding through the turf. Both slabs are undoubtedly part of a chamber of uncertain plan’.

Knockan 2
‘The cairn survives as a turf covered mound of debris. It is now roughly oval and measures 15m x 10m x 1.5m high. From the summit of the mound the tops of 5 stones of the chamber protrude to a height of 0.5m’.

Sites within 20km of Knockan

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