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Cluseburn

From the A92 head north west on the B967, the Arbuthnott road, Lewis Grassic Gibbon country. Opposite Allardice take the road heading north past Millplough Farm (also past the remains of a RSC, cairn and standing stone), then take the next road heading north west past Craighead and keep going until the road ends at Cluseburn Farm. After being almost blown into the North Sea and frozen at Bervie, Cluseburn proved to be slightly sheltered from the storm. Permission was given to park and up the hill I went.

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This is the best preserved of the cairns and sits at the top of the hill in the field to the north east. It sits at 14m and is 1m high. The turf covered site has had a ‘fair houking’ but still looks impressive despite the damage caused by cattle to the south western side.

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This site is down the hill from 8200 and is the second best site here. It is almost 14m wide and is 0.6m tall. An upright stone maybe the remains of a cist according to Canmore.

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All that is left of a once massive cairn is a bank or rim that would have well over 15m wide is a circular rim that doesn’t reach more than 0.3m in height. It is only a few metres east of the best preserved cairn.

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The smallest of the cairns is also the site nearest the farm and didn’t receive any mercy from the ‘houkers’. It is 6m wide and 0.5 tall. The enclosure shaped site nearby which has confused historians is simply a place were the farmer puts his cattle feeders.

To be fair, the farmer at Cluseburn has tried to protect the cairns on his land. His cattle have had different ideas and always knocked down the fences. During summer the cattle like to laze in the best preserved cairn to soak up (unlikely to be soaking up, being soaked is more likely|) the sun. He also explained about the nearby sites at Millplough, Montgoldrum and Cot Hillock.

Lovely site, freezing day :-)

Visited 24/1/2017.

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