Altnacealgach

Also known as:
Loch Borralan West
Nearest town:
Ullapool (21km SW)
OS reference:
NC261111
OS sheet:
15
Latitude:
58° 3' 17.84 N
Longitude:
4° 56' 50.59 W
Added to TMA by

Images

Image of Altnacealgach (Chambered Cairn) by thelonious

17/05/2019 – In the evening sun. I’ve been past this cairn a few times but never had a look until today. It’s pretty good. Decent size.

thelonious
thelonious May 29, 2019
Image of Altnacealgach (Chambered Cairn) by GLADMAN

The wondrous siting, looking across to Cul Mor.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Jun 19, 2018
Image of Altnacealgach (Chambered Cairn) by GLADMAN

Looking down upon what seemed to be the remains of a chamber........

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Jun 19, 2018
Image of Altnacealgach (Chambered Cairn) by GLADMAN

From the A837. Rush hour... no need for surveillance cameras when you’ve Suilven on the scene.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Jun 19, 2018

Articles

Altnacealgach

GLADMAN
GLADMAN Sep 2, 2013

In stark contrast to a number of other monuments in the area..... there is actually a fair volume of cairn material remaining in this, the lower of the two chambered cairns sited to the north of Loch Borralan.

According to fieldwork undertaken for Assynt’s ‘Hidden Lives Project’ [2009] the cairn is “...approximately 15m by 12m, aligned E-W with a maximum height of 2m.” Sadly the report adds “The site has been described as a round cairn of Orkney-Cromarty group with a polygonal chamber [by Audrey Henshall – Gladman]. There is no evidence of the slabs of the bi-partite chamber as described in 1911 and the site appears to have been considerably disturbed since the last report from 1962”. Pity. No, more’s the pity, but there you are. No one died. In historic times, anyway! However, for what it’s worth – needless to say more opinion required – I was less than convinced that no trace of the ‘former’ chamber is visible, this layman noting a couple of ‘slab-like’ orthostats upon the approx southern arc. Splitting hairs, perhaps.... and, from my perspective, Nick is correct to assert that there is not a great deal of ‘proper’ structural archaeology to see. But....

There is more to these great northern Highland sites than the surviving archaeology... the location upon the shore of Loch Borralan is, in my opinion, truly exquisite. Oh, come on! What is not to like? Particularly with a large, well defined crannog visible within the loch to the north-west, that serrated Inverpolly skyline.... including Suilven (!!)... and, last but not least – to my mind – one of Scotland’s most enigmatic chambered cairns keeping watch above, perched, almost incognito, upon the steep hillside to approx north-east. Taken as a pair the Loch Borralan chambered cairns are surely ‘the business’. The lower, at the very least, is a worthwhile apperitif.

I reckon well worth a visit, then. If you fancy it, drive past the Altnacealgach Motel (heading north-west, that is) and the site will be found lochside, opposite the second main house encountered (I think). The great eastern monument stands above and to the right of said house.

Altnacealgach

nickbrand
nickbrand May 24, 2004

Very disrupted and ruinous, this chambered cairn lies at the roadside on the shores of Loch Borralan. There isn’t much to see, in all honesty.

Sites within 20km of Altnacealgach

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