Sites within Grey Cairns of Camster

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Image of Grey Cairns of Camster (Cairn(s)) by Nucleus

The Long Cairn as seen from the road
Visited 2nd June 2015

Image credit: Uwe Häberle 06/2015
Image of Grey Cairns of Camster (Cairn(s)) by Nucleus

The Round Cairn as seen from the road
Visited 2nd June 2015

Image credit: Uwe Häberle 06/2015
Image of Grey Cairns of Camster (Cairn(s)) by Nucleus

The entrance area of the Round Cairn
Visited 2nd June 2015

Image credit: Uwe Häberle 06/2015
Image of Grey Cairns of Camster (Cairn(s)) by Nucleus

Inside the Round Cairn
Visited 2nd June 2015

Image credit: Uwe Häberle 06/2015
Image of Grey Cairns of Camster (Cairn(s)) by Nucleus

Inside the Round Cairn
Visited 2nd June 2015

Image credit: Uwe Häberle 06/2015
Image of Grey Cairns of Camster (Cairn(s)) by Nucleus

What a beautitful shape!
Visited 2nd June 2015

Image credit: Uwe Häberle 06/2015
Image of Grey Cairns of Camster (Cairn(s)) by Nucleus

The rear side of the Long Cairn
Visited 2nd June 2015

Image credit: Uwe Häberle 06/2015
Image of Grey Cairns of Camster (Cairn(s)) by Nucleus

The entrance area of one of the chambers of the Long Cairn
Visited 2nd June 2015

Image credit: Uwe Häberle 06/2015
Image of Grey Cairns of Camster (Cairn(s)) by Nucleus

Inside the Long Cairn
Visited 2nd June 2015

Image credit: Uwe Häberle 06/2015
Image of Grey Cairns of Camster (Cairn(s)) by Nucleus

An idiot thought he had to immortalize himself on one of the big stones
Visited 2nd June 2015

Image credit: Uwe Häberle 06/2015
Image of Grey Cairns of Camster (Cairn(s)) by GLADMAN

Interior of southern chamber, long cairn. Probably pushing my ‘no flash’ rule a little too far. But there you are.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
Image of Grey Cairns of Camster (Cairn(s)) by GLADMAN

Looking down the passage of the southern chamber, long cairn.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
Image of Grey Cairns of Camster (Cairn(s)) by GLADMAN

A trio of orthostats within the northern chamber, long cairn. Again, just the natural light.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
Image of Grey Cairns of Camster (Cairn(s)) by GLADMAN

Looking ‘up’ the long cairn. Note the bulge emphasising – as reconstructed, anyway – round cairn.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
Image of Grey Cairns of Camster (Cairn(s)) by GLADMAN

The reconstructed horny front of the long cairn. The authenticity of the work has apparently been questioned.... but it’s certainly no Newgrange.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
Image of Grey Cairns of Camster (Cairn(s)) by GLADMAN

Two fine monoliths flank the entrance to the round cairn chamber, looking down the passageway.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
Image of Grey Cairns of Camster (Cairn(s)) by GLADMAN

The passage within the round cairn... for reference the visitor must bend double and inch gingerly forward to avoid smashing in the noggin. Not quite an Orcadian rite of passage, but not far off. [Natural light].

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
Image of Grey Cairns of Camster (Cairn(s)) by GLADMAN

Looking across the great round cairn toward the horned long cairn

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
Image of Grey Cairns of Camster (Cairn(s)) by GLADMAN

In some respects it’s a shame that the round cairn lies so close to the long... I reckon both offer first rate experiences.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
Image of Grey Cairns of Camster (Cairn(s)) by GLADMAN

Doesn’t this long cairn just epitomise Caithness? Waited all morning for that brief crack in the clouds....

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
Image of Grey Cairns of Camster (Cairn(s)) by GLADMAN

The northern of the long cairn’s two chambers is by far the easiest to access, to my mind supporting the idea that the pair were not contemporary.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
Image of Grey Cairns of Camster (Cairn(s)) by GLADMAN

If anything negotiating the passage of the southern chamber of the long cairn demands more of the visitor than that of the round.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
Image of Grey Cairns of Camster (Cairn(s)) by GLADMAN

A burst of sunlight illuminates the round cairn passage. Again note that the passage can’t be much more than 3ft high.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
Image of Grey Cairns of Camster (Cairn(s)) by GLADMAN

The beautifully reconstructed long cairn....... whether it’s accurate or not I guess we’ll never know.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
Image of Grey Cairns of Camster (Cairn(s)) by Moth

Inside the chamber of long cairn looking out. Shame about the concrete roof, but the start of the corbelling remains

Image credit: Tim Clark
Image of Grey Cairns of Camster (Cairn(s)) by Moth

Lovely corbelling – the ‘roof’ of the ‘round’ cairn

Image credit: Tim Clark
Image of Grey Cairns of Camster (Cairn(s)) by Jane

The long cairn lies just north of the round cairn and dominates the horizon.

Image credit: Jane Tomlinson
Image of Grey Cairns of Camster (Cairn(s)) by Jane

Restored in 1980. And quite a nice job they made of it, too.

Image credit: Jane Tomlinson
Image of Grey Cairns of Camster (Cairn(s)) by Jane

the ‘horned’ bit at the front

Image credit: Jane Tomlinson
Image of Grey Cairns of Camster (Cairn(s)) by Martin

17/8/96-note the iron bars on the roof helping the whole lot from falling on yer napper!

Image of Grey Cairns of Camster (Cairn(s)) by Martin

17/8/96-bad poser!(note the lack of sturdy footwear which the wooden walkways saved ;))

Image credit: Kat
Image of Grey Cairns of Camster (Cairn(s)) by moey

Martian indeed. Pic Aug 2001
The first time we went, our road atlas was wrong and we thought we had missed them. We were just about to do a U turn on the singler track road, when – WOW!

Went back this year and I must be a lot fatter, cos it was a struggle getting in.

Articles

Grey Cairns of Camster

Visited 24.7.14

Directions:
5m north of Lybster on the A9 – sign posted. Historic Scotland site.

The road taking you from the A9 to Camster is a bit like ‘the road to nowhere’.
This is certainly a remote area but, of course, that’s what gives it its charm. It was no surprise that we didn’t pass a single person or vehicle on the way to the cairns.

The grey stones of the cairns stand out against the green grass and their bulk is easily seen from the road (on the left) – you would have trouble not spotting them!

Upon parking Sophie and Dafydd excitedly put on their head lights and we walked out across the wooden board walk towards the first cairn – the one on the left. When we arrived at the cairn the metal gate at the entrance was closed but thankfully not locked. Sophie insisted on taking the lead and Dafydd followed her. I took up the rear. Although the children found no trouble in accessing the chamber I found ‘waddling’ a bit of a struggle – I must be getting old!

We then continued along the boardwalk to the larger cairn which has two low and narrow entrance passages. This is the cairn which also has the reconstructed horned forecourt – which is rather splendid. I must admit that I also found it far from easy ‘waddling’ along these passages but with Sophie’s ‘help’ I eventually managed it. It would probably have been much easier to have simply crawled along the passage ways but that would have been a rather muddy experience!

As with all intact burial chambers (and caves for that matter) once inside and sat in quiet isolation the place takes on a ‘timeless’ characteristic. Time seems to stop.

These are cracking site to visit and comes highly recommended. The highest compliment I can give the cairns is that it wouldn’t look out of place in Orkney.

This is a ‘must see’ if you find yourself in the far north east of Scotland.

Grey Cairns of Camster

Can’t believe people find this a happy place. Coming back from the Orkney tombs which have such a loveliness, these tombs seemed dark and strange to us – particular the end chamber of the linked pair.

Something sad happened here I think – and I had bad dreams for three nights afterwards!

Extraordinary though..

Grey Cairns of Camster

We visited this site on the way down from Orkney and were glad to turn off the A9 for a bit of a break. The site was spectacular in the summer sunshine and was very accessible being less than five minutes walk from the road. Luckily we were the only ones there and managed to explore and take some great pics without anyone else arriving. I don’t know whether we were just lucky or whether the remoteness of the place keeps people away. I’m sure it would be swarming if it were better known. The raised platform at the front of the picture was, according to Historic Scotland, used for ritual purposes. The proximity of the ancestors no doubt added to the significance of the location. Although part of this site has been reconstructed this did not detract from it at all.
A crawl into the interior of the cairn provided all the atmosphere and sense of otherworldliness you hope for in sites like this.

Grey Cairns of Camster

Moth had spotted this one in TMA but I had completely overlooked it. But we were so close we had to swing by. I had no expectations whatsoever. I thought maybe they were just another couple of unassuming cairns. But noooooo! These are Mighty Rock Monsters! And there are two of them.

The main one is a long – really long!- cairn made of piles of stones and with rather neat edges that stretches on for about 50 metres I guessed, possibly even more. At the ‘top’ end it even has a horned forecourt effect. As I approached on the polite wooden walkways that take you over the boggy ground, I saw that the passage entrances to the long cairn (there are two entrances) had nasty iron gates on them. It didn’t look promising. However, they were only shut rather than locked (presumably to keep animals out), so I bent over and shuffled in towards the huge interior chamber, built in the style typical of round these parts and on parts of Orkney, with neat flat stones, delicate corbelling and vertical stalls.

A round cairn, build in the same way, of piles of grey stones stands about 500ms away and is equally as nice, but much smaller.

Why isn’t this fantastic place better-known?!

I wanted to get off the paths and look for some standing stones marked on the map just to the south, but I had noticed that on virtually every tussock or bush was a large, fuzzy, brown caterpillar. Caterpillars freak me out, so I was unable to. In fact the more I looked, the more caterpillars I saw. I trod carefully back to the car.

Grey Cairns of Camster

Grey Cairns of Camster, Caithness
Saturday 17/8/96
On a beautiful Saturday morning we stopped off here, well, made a detour really, on our drive from Orkney to Killin. The long cairn of these two is real huge- apparently about 60 metres long. It’s unusual to see cairns that have been denuded of their coverings like this, but they look great nonetheless. There’s wooden walkways from the car parking area across the soggy marsh- which is just as well cos all I’ve got on my feet are my Vans! There are two entrances in the long cairn, both of which are a bit of a stoop. Not as much of a stoop as the round cairn entrance though which was another mucky knees job.

Grey Cairns of Camster

It wasn’t just the sheep that were flocking around these – there were plenty of folk who’d made it a stop-off as they toured the area.

I was keeping an eye out for the ice cream van as we tip-toed over the boggy marsh with the help of the trouser-saving wooden walkways to inspect the mounds.

They’ve been lovingly restored which to my mind takes away little of their mystery. It allows you to clamber inside and get a real feel for them – even my Mum couldn’t resist it.

We ventured into the one with the tallest passage – it being wet underfoot and lacking in swimwear. The narrow passageway led into a wider chamber where it was actually possible to stand. Light filtered through the clear ceiling making it possible to see exactly what was inside.

It was like a stone igloo with a large, flat stone leaning backwards on the outer wall. I felt like we could have sat and leant against it for a time looking out through the tunnell.

However, sense got the better of us and we crawled back out to the warmth of the car. Who says modern life is rubbish!

Link

Grey Cairns of Camster
Cairn(s)
A Reinterpretation of The Grey Cairns of Camster

ameilai Pannet, archaeologist sets out her paper on the Grey Cairns of Camster starting as follows – The Neolithic archaeology of Caithness is little known to most people outside northern Scotland, despite the wealth of evidence that litters the landscapes. This is no doubt a consequence of the relative lack of archaeological investigation in the area since the 19th Century when distinguished antiquarians such as Anderson and Rhind carried out ground-breaking excavations of many chambered cairns and Brochs. Here in lies the irony; the centre of antiquarian exploration is now considered by many as peripheral to studies of British Prehistory (Mercer 1992). That said, however, fieldwork carried out by Henshall, Corcoran and Masters, amongst others, has provided an invaluable corpus of data from which we can move forward and try to bring Caithness in line with the rest of British archaeology.......more

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