My first experience of Hardcroft Cairn was in fading light so I decided to revisit on a bright Summer day. The high ferns made progress difficult, however I enjoyed a more leisurely investigation of Hardcroft Cairn. There are prominent thorn bushes on the E & W Arcs of the cairn and ferns obscure the E Arc. A raised earth bank up to 4 feet high delineates the kerb of a circular cairn measuring c. 50 feet in diameter with a hollow centre.
Directions: At the S edge of New Luce, beside the church, take the un-signposted turn up the hill. Stay on this narrow lane for c. 1.1 miles until you reach the sign for the Southern Upland Way (SUW) at NX19106500. There is room to park here. Follow the SUW path for c. 0.5 miles to reach a SUW Post halfway up Knockcraven Wood at NX1937564690. Leave the path, walk W for c. 0.33 miles over pathless moorland heading for NX 1899 6433. There are no landmarks so GPS navigation is essential to find this cairn.
There are few things in life as welcome as an unexpected cairn. I was searching for an enclosure in moorland and daylight was running out when a cairn shaped mound lit up the gloom. I had accidently stumbled upon Hardcroft Cairn. It was then that I discovered that my phone had died and daylight was running out. I plugged in my charger hoping that the camera would work before the light disappeared. Fortunately my phone only took 5 minutes to recover so I was able to capture Hardcroft Cairn in the fading light.
Hardcroft Cairn is a turf covered cairn measuring 20 yards across with an earth bank perimeter up to 4 feet high and 4 feet wide. The interior is a robbed-out hollow with little original structure. It lies around 500 metres SE of Hardcroft Farm on the edge of moorland.
Canmore ID 61593 (go to Links) provides further details of this site.
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