Cairnlee Cairn

Also known as:
Bieldside Cairn and Cairnlea
Nearest town:
Aberdeen (7km ENE)
OS reference:
NJ883028
OS sheet:
38
Latitude:
57° 6' 57.68 N
Longitude:
2° 11' 35.59 W
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Images

Image of Cairnlee Cairn (Cairn) by Chris

The view from the cairn with the Dee valley in the distance (honestly).

Chris
Chris Oct 7, 2006
Image of Cairnlee Cairn (Cairn) by Chris

The ancients loved quartz...and so do I. This nearly ended up in my bag, but I resisted ;-)

Chris
Chris Oct 7, 2006

Articles

Cairnlee Cairn

C
CARL Jul 26, 2012

Visited 16.6.12

Well, here we are, back on mainland Scotland with all roads heading south (sort of)
After a restful overnight sleep in the ferry cabin followed by breakfast it was time to head home.
Of course, being several hundred miles from home does give ample opportunity for a bit of ‘old stoning’ on the way!

First up was the huge Cairnlee Cairn on the outskirts of Aberdeen.

The directions I would give is:
Turn into Cairn Road off the A93.
When you reach the T-junction turn right into Manse Road and then left into Cairn Crescent.

This is a seriously large cairn and well worth visiting.
It is quite amazing that the cairn has survived so well when all around has been developed.
I would estimate it to be 4 metres high x 20 metres across.

The info board refers to the cairn as the Bieldside Cairn.

Cairnlee Cairn

drewbhoy
drewbhoy Jun 25, 2012

Didn’t even know about this cairn until I had to pick up a fellow musician for a gig. Parked the car, looked right and a cairn appeared. Chris’s directions are spot on but I should have worked it out for myself given the street name. Amazing that a cairn this size exists in a housing estate. Seems a good place tho, as the sun came out for at least two seconds before it started chucking it down again.

Evidence of a kerb still remain and the trees plus houses give an idea of size. It would be fascinating to have seen it’s original size as going by what is left it must have been massive. Still its nice to see such a thing in a city and amazingly it appears to be quite well looked after so top marks to the locals. A very nice surprise.

Visited 24/6/2012.

Cairnlee Cairn

Chris
Chris Oct 7, 2006

This place is huge! So many cairns have been robbed out or reduced, that I wasn’t fully aware how big they can be. And what a charming setting!

So many of our sites have been urbanised, but at least they’re still here. Yes there are the usual broken bottles & beer cans around, but not too many, and the estate doesn’t look too bad (and I’ve seen a few).

This cairn is great-an overpowering physical presence, big stones and numerous chunks of quartz scattered about, the view over the Dee valley must have been fantastic, and glimpses can still be seen.

Do visit this site: its about 150 yards off the A93 a few miles outside Aberdeen: if you’re visiting Aberdeenshire, you WILL drive past this.

Access: In Cairnlee Avenue, off Cairn Road, off the A93 in Bieldside, near Milltimber. The road is in the local atlas. I must give a recommendation for the Phillips blue road map books: They show every road in Aberdeenshire, and as they’re based on OS data, most circles and cairns are in them (except this one! but Cairnlee Avenue is) – invaluable on a day’s Stone hunting.

Sites within 20km of Cairnlee Cairn

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