Olcote

Also known as:
Breasclete Cairn and Breasclete Park
Nearest town:
Stornoway (21km E)
OS reference:
NB218347
OS sheets:
8, 13
Latitude:
58° 12' 47.68 N
Longitude:
6° 44' 15.34 W
Added to TMA by

Images

Image of Olcote (Kerbed Cairn) by Kammer

This is an artist’s reconstruction of the Olcote cairn, depicting how the cairn may have looked during one of its five developmental stages.

The illustration comes from the information board opposite the cairn.

Kammer
Kammer Feb 9, 2005
Image of Olcote (Kerbed Cairn) by Kammer

Taken 1st August 2004: Taken as a family snap, this photo gives a good indication of just how trashed Olcote is. What were the authorities thinking when they ran the road through it?!

Image credit: Simon Marshall
Kammer
Kammer Feb 4, 2005
Image of Olcote (Kerbed Cairn) by Kammer

Taken 1st August 2004: The cist viewed from the north west (or thereabouts).

Image credit: Simon Marshall
Kammer
Kammer Feb 4, 2005
Image of Olcote (Kerbed Cairn) by gyrus

This is the recently discovered/reconstructed cairn just down the road from Margaret and Ron – with its northern edge rudely sliced off by the road.

gyrus
gyrus Sep 29, 2001

Articles

Olcote

postman
postman Aug 11, 2016

Driving south from Dun Carloway en route back to the stones one has to drive past this wonderful absurdity, and a standing stone but I missed that one as I was power sliding round the bend, no of course not, still missed it though.
I didn’t miss Olcote cairn as I’ve been here before, there’s still half of it missing, I’ve looked on the other side of the road but there’s nothing there, I’ll give it one more try next time but i’m close to believing it’s gone for good.
The cist is still nice though, if you stand on the road and crane your neck through the wire fence you can get within a few inches of it. The half that hasn’t gone to live on a farm in the countryside is nice in a restored kind of way, most if not all the stone used is that Lewisian gneiss, which is the best looking stone in Britain.
But still,
What the hell? where is the other half? couldn’t you have gone round it? what do you mean you didn’t know it was there?
Strewth!

Olcote

C
CARL Jul 4, 2012

Visited 31.5.12

I drove past this kerbed cairn twice before realising where it was.

It was 11.00pm but still light enough to be out ‘old stoning’; write my notes and be able to read the information board! Needless to say there was no one else about. Karen and the children were happily tucked up in bed back at the B+B.

It is great that the cairn has survived at all given that the road cut it in half.
At least there was no traffic at this time of night – only mad people looking at ‘old stones’!

Olcote

greywether
greywether Aug 13, 2004

No megalithic meditation here due to the proximity of the road. Perhaps best visited on a Sunday (ouch!).

Interesting double kerbed cairn which, from Canmore, appears to be how it was originally constructed. There is a central cist. Over 100 postholes were found under the cairn laid out in a trapezoidal shape. Interesting, especially as the axis of the cairn is aligned with and visible from the Callanish avenue.

Just a little north of the Curtis’ home and exhibition area. There’s a layby with interpretation board on the other side of the road.

Visited 31 July 2004

Miscellaneous

Olcote
Kerbed Cairn
Kammer
Kammer Jun 2, 2004

RCAHMS records available through CANMORE (NMRS Number: NB23SW 33) describe the cairn in detail. Here’s a snippet (with 6 figure grid reference):

NB 2179 3473 In the course of road widening through Breasclete, a hitherto unknown kerb cairn of unusual morphology was revealed. Located 1.6km from the Callanish standing stones, the new site seems to form part of the wider ceremonial complex. When soil stripping for the road improvement scheme began, R and M Curtis discovered a scatter of flaked quartz on the line of the road. Work on the road was delayed by Western Isles Council whilst an excavation was carried out between October and December 1995.

The remainder of the cairn was rebuilt in 1999.

Sites within 20km of Olcote

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