Frachdale

Nearest town:
Campbeltown (48km E)
OS reference:
NR31054693
OS sheet:
60
Latitude:
55° 38' 28.56 N
Longitude:
6° 16' 28.87 W
Added to TMA by

Images

Image of Frachdale (Chambered Cairn) by drewbhoy

Most of the cairn is covered in turf. This the east end.

Image credit: drew/A/B
drewbhoy
drewbhoy Sep 18, 2018
Image of Frachdale (Chambered Cairn) by drewbhoy

From the east, the cairn is on the knoll in the middle. To get here I’d crawled, fallen, jumped etc etc

Image credit: drew/A/B
drewbhoy
drewbhoy Sep 17, 2018
Image of Frachdale (Chambered Cairn) by drewbhoy

Looking north east, the valley a thing of nightmarish content!

Image credit: drew/A/B
drewbhoy
drewbhoy Sep 17, 2018

Articles

Frachdale

markj99
markj99 Aug 22, 2019

Visited 22.08.19

I parked at the Kintra campsite. I had to turn back at the ford to get my wellies and stick for the burn crossing. They came in handy later. Frachdale ruin was easily reached and a rough road ran up the hill to Frachdale Chambered Cairn and Coille A’chnoic Mhoir standing stone, easily spotted a quarter of a mile up on the right. As drewbhoy observed Frachdale Chambered Cairn was less accessible. I went through the gate at the top of the hill and followed my GPS South down a steep ferny slope crossing a boggy valley to the summit of the mound. The cairn itself is vegetation free, unlike its surroundings. I retraced my steps to return, avoiding further adventures.
Canmore ID 37607 (go to Links) give further details of Frachdale Chambered Cairn.

Frachdale

drewbhoy
drewbhoy Jan 22, 2019

The distance between Coille A’chnoic Mhoir and the chamber cairn at Frachdale might appear short, it is as the crow flies. From the standing stone it looks if you go west, in fact you go south.

The start of the walk is fine until very tall ferns are reached, there is no sign of a track so batter a way though until a fence is reached. Frachdale sits on top of wee hill, basically taunting the hard pressed visitor. I jumped the fence and landed straight into a stream up to my waist in boggy stinking water, pulled myself out and promptly tripped into other one. One good thing was that the heat meant that I dried reasonably quick, but the smell......dearie me!! I made way to the west end of the hill and climbed up to the top were I found the turf covered cairn.

Most of the cairn material has been taken away leaving just the largest of the stones that make up the Clyde Type cairn. Originally 15 metres wide some kerbs do remain but the real remnants are in the centre. Two badly damaged sections remain, in a chamber that was almost 4m long and 1m wide. One dividing stone creates the sections. Side slabs also remain in place. This must have been some place, it still is with the tremendous views east and north east.

Also from the top of this wee hill a track and the ruined Frachdale croft can be seen in the east. However to get there is a complete nightmare. Instead of going back the way I’d came I headed east quickly encountering very small trees, with no way over I crawled underneath until a small burn, crossed this, kept crawling and eventually stood up when I encountered ferns. Keep heading north east until a small burn is encountered, same one as before with the same result with the added bonus of smashing my leg against a hidden rock. Eventually I pulled myself up, climbed the fence and found the track which led past Frachdale Croft to Kintra.

Fortunately no cuts but by the time I’d got back to Kintra my legs had turned blue. Frachdale Cairn is not an easy place to get to unless something is done about the vegetation.

Well known sprays and liquidy freeze stuff were about to get used. However it had been a wonderful morning!!

Visited 1/8/2018.

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