Clettraval

Nearest town:
Uig (65km E)
OS reference:
NF749713
OS sheet:
18
Latitude:
57° 36' 51.13 N
Longitude:
7° 26' 44.25 W
Added to TMA by

Sites within Clettraval

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Images

Image of Clettraval (Chambered Cairn) by drewbhoy

Its been a while since Greywether and Postie were here, it doesn’t take long for the grass to take over.

Image credit: drew/A/B
drewbhoy
drewbhoy Sep 10, 2019
Image of Clettraval (Chambered Cairn) by drewbhoy

Approaching from Tigh Cloiche, chamber cairn right, wheelhouse left.

Image credit: drew/A/B
drewbhoy
drewbhoy Sep 10, 2019
Image of Clettraval (Chambered Cairn) by drewbhoy

Chamber cairn front, standing stone left, wheelhouse behind.

Image credit: drew/A/B
drewbhoy
drewbhoy Sep 10, 2019
Image of Clettraval (Chambered Cairn) by greywether

General view from the E.

The S end of the facade and the backstone of the chamber can be seen.

greywether
greywether Sep 29, 2004
Image of Clettraval (Chambered Cairn) by greywether

Straight facade from the SE.

There are five stone S of the chamber entrance. The gaps here are stones now covered in vegetation.

greywether
greywether Sep 29, 2004
Image of Clettraval (Chambered Cairn) by greywether

The full length of the five-compartment chamber (10.5m) viewed from the E.

The chamber does curve a little to the N as it reaches the entrance but the curvature here is exaggerated by the fallen side stones.

greywether
greywether Sep 29, 2004
Image of Clettraval (Chambered Cairn) by greywether

The innermost two compartments from the N. The chamber backstone to the R stands 2.1m high from floor level.

greywether
greywether Sep 29, 2004

Articles

Clettraval

drewbhoy
drewbhoy Oct 17, 2019

Greywether’s fieldnotes pretty much describe the chamber cairn perfectly.

However next the cairn there is a wheelhouse which was probably made the Iron Age folks recycling the nearby stones. Two of the wheel spokes or spokes almost remain in place.

To complicated for me describe, the best thing to do is to put up the Canmore link below.

24/7/2019.

Clettraval

greywether
greywether Sep 29, 2004

This is a cairn which seems to have lost its way.

It’s a Clyde Cairn in the heart of Hebridean Passage Grave territory. Probably not the only Clyde Cairn in the area admittedly but the one with the most positive identification.

Quite a lot to see here especially if the nearby standing stone at South Clettraval and the slightly further away Hebridean Passage Grave at Tigh Cloiche are included.

Clettraval consists of an unusually long five-compartment chamber facing E and a straight facade of fallen stones running N/S (best preserved in the S). An Iron Age wheel house, not very well preserved, has been built in the W end of the cairn. It was excavated in 1934 (see Link).

The views from here are splendid – even on a cloudy day. The cairn sits on he 100m contour and, to the S, are the low-lying Lochs Bhaghasaraidh and Steaphain.

Access is very easy. Drive up the metalled military road which runs E from the crossroads at NF718722 until you reach the first radio mast where there is parking. The cairn can be seen in the field opposite.

Visited 27 July 2004

Sites within 20km of Clettraval

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