Ardmarnock

Also known as:
Ardmarnoch and Auchalich Wood
Nearest town:
Lochgilphead (17km NW)
OS reference:
NR916726
OS sheet:
62
Latitude:
55° 54' 4.36 N
Longitude:
5° 20' 2.38 W
Added to TMA by

Images

Image of Ardmarnock (Chambered Cairn) by GLADMAN

The cup mark within the chamber (sadly my micro photography has not improved over time)

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN May 30, 2016
Image of Ardmarnock (Chambered Cairn) by GLADMAN

Looking across the certain cap stone to the possible (or not), far left.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN May 30, 2016
Image of Ardmarnock (Chambered Cairn) by GLADMAN

Looking toward the (inner?) chamber from either the portals or outer chamber, depending upon interpretation. I favour the latter, to be honest, since the outer capstone is otherwise an anomaly.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN May 30, 2016
Image of Ardmarnock (Chambered Cairn) by GLADMAN

As Greywether notes the uprights appear too tall to be side stones of an outer chamber, more likely to be portals? However the large slipped stone to the left does look very much like another capstone, does it not?

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN May 30, 2016
Image of Ardmarnock (Chambered Cairn) by GLADMAN

The cup mark is upon the inner and outer face of the central upright slab

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN May 30, 2016
Image of Ardmarnock (Chambered Cairn) by GLADMAN

My trekking pole highlights the impressive depth of the chamber.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN May 30, 2016
Image of Ardmarnock (Chambered Cairn) by GLADMAN

The stones are wondrously evocative. Whether that to the centre is the capstone of a second, outer chamber is open to debate.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN May 30, 2016
Image of Ardmarnock (Chambered Cairn) by GLADMAN

In some ways it’s a shame this magnificent chambered cairn is hidden away from the general public. But then again it could easily be argued this very reclusion is responsible for such wondrous preservation?

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN May 30, 2016
Image of Ardmarnock (Chambered Cairn) by postman

I was right, it is a good place to watch the sunset.

Image credit: Chris Bickerton
postman
postman Mar 26, 2010
Image of Ardmarnock (Chambered Cairn) by greywether

General view from the S.

Chamber in the foreground with slipped capstone.

Portal stones in the background.

greywether
greywether Apr 2, 2004
Image of Ardmarnock (Chambered Cairn) by greywether

From the E.

The shape of the stones to the right means they are more likely to be portal stones than side stones of another compartment to the chamber. They are 2.3m high.

But what is the large stone beyond them?

greywether
greywether Apr 2, 2004
Image of Ardmarnock (Chambered Cairn) by greywether

Between the portal stones looking into the chamber.

The septal stone is at the front of the picture and the cup and ring mark can be seen just above the leaf.

The excavator (Gordon Childe, no less) thought that the septal stone had been shaped to produce the central dip in the upper edge.

greywether
greywether Apr 2, 2004
Image of Ardmarnock (Chambered Cairn) by greywether

Detail of the cup and ring.

The ring is rather closer to the cup and the cup rather larger than is normal on cup and ring art.
Apologies for the absence of scale – the diameter of the cup and ring is about 9cm.

greywether
greywether Apr 2, 2004
Image of Ardmarnock (Chambered Cairn) by greywether

A bird’s eye view of the chamber with the septal stone at the top of the picture and the cup mark just about visible above the moss line.

Dimensions – 1.5m x 1.0m x 1.6m deep. The septal stone is 1.3m high.

greywether
greywether Apr 2, 2004

Articles

Ardmarnock

postman
postman Mar 26, 2010

I drove all the way down the lane past the hillfort and hidden rock art, all the way to the entrance to Ardmarnock house, there is one questionable parking place, by a man made waterfall.
From this miniature crossroads between houses its about a 150yds to the stones, up the long curving driveway to the house turn off the drive on its corner and sneak up the hill about 60yds.
I suppose I could have asked permission, but as a postman i’m used to walking up garden paths unhindered.
The Rhodadendrons have been severely cut back and the stones are free and open to inspection.
There is a cup and ring on one wall of the cist like chamber, though I could only see the cup now. There look like two capstones both slipped off one of them looks like a big clam shell half.
The view is cut off by trees nearly 360 degrees all round except towards the loch, theyre a bit thinner there, and I suspect that if I come back after Tea it might be a good place for a sunset.

Ardmarnock

greywether
greywether Apr 2, 2004

An important site in that it is a Neolithic Clyde chambered cairn with a cup and ring mark.

The only other such finds (as far as I know) are at Cairnholy – one on a cup and ring marked stele which was found in a chamber in Cairnholy 1 and assumed to be secondary and another on a chamber stone also at Cairnholy 1 which could have been exposed and thus decorated at any later date.

There is, of course, no telling when the cup and ring was added at Ardmarnock but its position in the centre of the septal stone in the chamber might suggest that it was part of the original structure. There is also a cup mark on the other side of the septal stone.

The site was cleared of its impenetrable rhododendrons a few years ago but they are begining to grow back in. They make it difficult to see the extent of the surviving cairn but the well preserved chamber arrangements are still visible.

What we probably have here is a single compartment chamber fronted by two large portal stones and a slipped capstone. It faces NE.

A 1970s description treats the portal stones as two side stones of another compartment. Their shape does not support this interpretation but it would allow the other visible stone to be treated as a capstone to this second compartment.

More detail with the photo captions.

The site is well worth a visit. It is in the grounds of Ardmarnock House and is signposted from the south drive of the house. It is a good site to take a bike to. The approach to Ardmarnock House is down a private well surfaced road 2 miles long. Non-bikers (like me) can park at the entrance to the Melldalloch holiday cottages off the B8000 and walk.

To break the monotony of the walk, there is along the way a hill fort (also signposted but not visited) and a good cup and ring marked stone at NR92107401. I tried to find the latter but tree-felling operations made it impossible to get close.

Visited 31 March 2004

Folklore

Ardmarnock
Chambered Cairn
Rhiannon
Rhiannon Oct 4, 2005

Leslie Grinsell recorded that this chambered cairn was a spot where St Marnock (or Marnoch) used to retire to for a bit of devotion, fasting and penance.

(’Folklore of Prehistoric Sites in Britain’ 1976)

Miscellaneous

Ardmarnock
Chambered Cairn
greywether
greywether Apr 4, 2004

This is one of the sites which is considered to be an example of an early Clyde chambered cairn.

There is a generally accepted hypothesis that the Clyde cairns developed from simple box-like cists with some form of entrance definition to the elaborate final stages of multi-compartment axial chambers, side chambers and crescentic facades.

The early versions like Ardmarnock have the cist-like chamber fronted by two large portal stones which have no structural purpose. These portal stones are generally in line with the sides of the chamber and sit either in front of at the side of the chamber side stones.

At the risk of stretching comparisons too far, they could be considered as variations of the portal tombs found in Ireland, Wales and SW England. The main difference being that the capstone is not sloped and resting on the portals but instead sits on the chamber. Perhaps they all developed in their different ways from a starting point of a plain stone cist burial.

Another example of this early type of Clyde tomb is Ardnadam.

Some cairns like Cairnholy are said to show both the early stages and the development into the final form.

There is no dating to back up this hypothesis although it is generally supported by pottery finds.

If this hypothesis is correct, we have the interesting situation of rock art in an early neolithic site. If they are contemporary, it is a small contribution to the argument for pushing back the origins of rock art to the early neolithic.

Sites within 20km of Ardmarnock

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