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Dun Bharpa

From Balnacraig we headed cross country over the west edge of Grianan, to find a sort of track that led straight to Dun Bharpa, situated in the shoulder between Grianan and Beinn Mhartainn.

A stunning place, a huge place, a massive amount of stones / stonework, stones still standing, mega capstones and a view that is outstanding. To the north fairly clear, and today looking south and west misty but clearing gradually.

Standing beside the cairn and walking round it seemed fairly calm, trying to climb to the middle I was met with the full force of the Atlantic wind. However, I didn’t fall, or vanish into the cairn. Bizarrely as soon as we stepped back down on turf, or bog in certain bits, the wind died down.

The fallen stone is to the east and it must have been impressive as it is 3m in length, an outlier to the chamber cairn. We found the stone on the way to Taigh Talamhanta.

It is a must visit, a wonderful place.

Visited 11/07/2022.

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Dun Bharpa

08/08/2017 – Tricky to know what to write about this one other than my usual waffle. The cairn deserves better and I ain’t got the words in my head to do it anywhere near justice.

So I’ll keep this short. Easy access from lots of directions. Easy to find (it’s hard to miss!). Location is near perfect, Barra’s central hills make for a fantastic backdrop. The cairn itself is one of the best I’ve been to and I’ve been to a few, just wonderful. Must see site? Yep. Do you need to come visit? Yes I’m afraid you do :-)

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Dun Bharpa

I turned off the A888 signposted for the Black Shieling/Dubharaidh and followed the road to the farmsteads and continued along the track in the direction to where MUS(eum)was indicated on the Landranger map. Although the track looked pretty rough I was in a cheap-battered-scratched-island-hire-car so thought ... well .... nothing ventured etc’ ..... surely it can’t be that bad ?? afterall, it IS the track to a museum. BIG BIG MISTAKE. I thought, ‘it can’t get any worse.’ IT DID. Definately only a track for Landrovers or JCBs.

Never got to visit either cairn as I decided retreat was the better form of valour. Worse scenario being a puncture, then missing my return flight to Glasgow.

I’ll look for Greywethers track next time, although I can’t find it on any map.

My bumpy journey back to the main (?) road was
mocked all the way by a raven tumbling and diving. CROKK! CROKK!

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Dun Bharpa

There are two surviving chambered cairns on Barra – Dun Bharpa and Balnacraig. As they are only 800m apart, both can be easily visited together. This is by far the more interesting of the two.

As it is relatively undisturbed, it is one of the best examples of how a Hebridean Passage Grave would look once it had been sealed up and fallen out of regular use.

The cairn is about 5m high with many peristaliths still in place. The passage and chamber have not been opened but their location can be determined by the position of roofstones visible on top of the cairn.

Given the height of the cairn, the passage/chamber must either be located high in the cairn or, more intriguingly, be furnished with very tall sidestones.

Access. We drove up the metalled road to the museum which leaves the main road at NF656019 but stopped when the houses stop as the track looked a bit rough after that. It was.

After that it’s a bit of a stiff climb up to the cairn with a few fences to cross.

However, when we reached the cairn (from the SW), we noticed what looked like the posts of a waymarked track approaching from the NW and continuing to Balnacraig. I don’t know where in Barra it starts but it might be worth checking out.

Visited 28 July 2004

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