Ben Uarie

Nearest town:
Dornoch (30km SSW)
OS reference:
NC927163
OS sheet:
17
Latitude:
58° 7' 21.92 N
Longitude:
3° 49' 18.61 W
Added to TMA by

Sites within Ben Uarie

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Images

Image of Ben Uarie (Cairn(s)) by thelonious

25/06/2022 – The OS 1:25k map has cairn marked in antiquarian typeface on Ben Uarie. Looked good to me I think.

thelonious
thelonious Jun 28, 2022
Image of Ben Uarie (Cairn(s)) by thelonious

25/06/2022 – The OS 1:25k map has cairn marked in antiquarian typeface on Ben Uarie.

thelonious
thelonious Jun 28, 2022
Image of Ben Uarie (Cairn(s)) by GLADMAN

Ben Uarie accords a panoramic view of what is to my mind – Pumlumon notwithstanding – perhaps the UK’s most underrated prehistoric archaeological landscapes.... Strath of Kildonan.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Jul 6, 2019
Image of Ben Uarie (Cairn(s)) by GLADMAN

In twilight’s last gleaming, the sky slides away......

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Jul 6, 2019
Image of Ben Uarie (Cairn(s)) by GLADMAN

Ben Uarie from the ‘road’ through Glen Loth. Needless to say the cairn can not be seen from here.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Jun 9, 2018
Image of Ben Uarie (Cairn(s)) by GLADMAN

A very substantial embedded footprint underlays the muppet shelter...

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Jun 30, 2014
Image of Ben Uarie (Cairn(s)) by GLADMAN

Looking north toward The Strath of Kildonan, in my opinion vying with Orkney for sheer density of tangible prehistoric monuments. Perhaps significantly, Ben Uarie can be seen from many of them.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Jun 15, 2014
Image of Ben Uarie (Cairn(s)) by GLADMAN

Surely that’s the remnants of a former kerb?

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Jun 15, 2014
Image of Ben Uarie (Cairn(s)) by GLADMAN

For balance note that I found natural outcropping occuring upon the summit plateau. However I am at a loss to explain this upright and its ‘packing stones’ except as a result of human agency.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Jun 15, 2014
Image of Ben Uarie (Cairn(s)) by GLADMAN

Looking south across the cairn, the footprint of which is well constructed and quite extensive. Beinn Dhorain rises beyond, slighly taller yet nevertheless lacking cairn.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Jun 15, 2014
Image of Ben Uarie (Cairn(s)) by GLADMAN

The most obvious feature of the cairn now-a-days is the small muppet shelter, within which is the OS trig pillar. More perceptive visitors will find much more intriguing details lay beneath the feet.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Jun 15, 2014

Articles

Ben Uarie

thelonious
thelonious Jun 28, 2022

25/06/2022 – Ben Uarie, I’d been here back in 2010. I remembered it as a good walk but just one of a few that trip. I hadn’t forgotten about it though as on a clear day you can see it from Bennachie in Aberdeenshire some 118km away. I love seeing the big hills to the north from lovely Bennachie. Always makes me want to go on a trip.

Some years after our trip, Gladman posted about a cairn here and reading his notes and seeing the photos made me see the top anew. I made up my mind to revisit the hill if the chance arose and look again.

Last time it was a bob up and down from the high point on the road through Glen Loth. This time we decided to make a loop of the tops round Glen Sletdale. Good parking where Glen Sletdale meets Glen Loth. Starting here had the added bonus that we didn’t have to drive too far up the Glen Loth road thankfully, the memories from last time still haunt me! As single track roads go it’s beautiful but one you drive praying nothing’s coming the other way. Still grass growing up the middle but a few sections have been resurfaced. Starting here also meant we could visit the two standing stones overlooking the river. I really liked these two and what a lovely spot. From here it’s a good plod up the hill to Beinn Dhorain and then over to Ben Uarie. Weather was sunny though a little windy. I was tired by the time we reached the trigpoint. Unlike last time, we had a good look at the top. As Gladman mentions, the OS 1:25k map has cairn marked in antiquarian typeface. There did look to be a footprint beneath the trig and wind shelter. I liked the look of it as a probable cairn. The view from the top is very good, we found a spot a bit out of the wind for a sit and bite to eat. I was really happy to have made the trip back to this one. The top is an interesting mystery worth visiting.

This top is not the only one marked with a cairn in antiquarian typeface on the map. Some 2.5km to the west was our next destination on our walk round the glen, the top called The Craggan. Easy enough walk across. The Craggan is a great looking lump. The last bit is a bit steep but the top is soon reached. I’ll post a few photos of the top. There is a modern cairn but also something larger underneath. Not really like the one on Ben Uarie. I just couldn’t make my mind up about this one.

We continued on for the rest of the day on a lovely walk. It’s worth a visit here, very quiet, great views and two tops with something going on, maybe, just maybe.

Miscellaneous

Ben Uarie
Cairn(s)
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Jun 15, 2014

Standing sentinel over Glen Loth, where the road begins its descent to the megalithic cornucopia of the Strath of Kildonan, Ben Uarie, at 2,044ft (623m) is way, way down the list of Scotland’s highest peaks. In fact it’s not even the tallest in the area, that accolade bestowed upon neighbouring Beinn Dhorain. It is, however, a striking mountain, dominating the upper reaches of the glen by sheer force of profile.

Although not currently featuring upon Canmore’s database, Ben Uarie is crowned by the remains of a significant cairn, significant in terms of size of embedded footprint – if not height – and featuring an OS triangulation pillar within a modern, circular shelter. In addition there are – to my mind – clear remnants of a former kerb still in situ strongly suggesting an ancient origin. It would appear the aforementioned Ordnance Survey people agree, the cairn featured in antiquarian typeface upon the latest 1:25k map (but not the 1:50k).

It would also seem that Ben Uarie is woven into the tapestry of local folklore, Sinclair (Stat, Acct of Scotland, XV. 191) relating how the imposingly statuesque Clach Mhic Mhios – otherwise known as Clach Macmeas – ‘was hurled to the bottom of the glen from the top of Ben Uarie by a giant youth when one month old’. The fact that the nearer – and, as mentioned, higher Beinn Dhorain was not name-checked as source of the monolith is surely significant, reflecting an association with the mountain stretching way back into the mists of time.

Sites within 20km of Ben Uarie

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