drewbhoy
The red stone is reasonably easy to carve as can be seen by more modern initials etc.
Image credit: drew/AMJ
The west side, looks like one of my former haircuts as well.
Image credit: drew/AMJ
The west side of the dun, easy to see where the name comes from.
Image credit: drew/AMJ
From this angle it looks like Beacharr has a smaller twin on Gigha.
Image credit: drew/AMJ
Gigha behind, in the distance Islay to the west, straight north Jura.
Image credit: drew/AMJ
The Beacharr Standing Stone in Kintyre, Scotland, is associated with a local legend involving a brownie and a Campbell. The story says a brownie, who protects the MacDonalds of Largie and lives on the Isle of Cara, became enraged when a Campbell landed on Cara. The brownie transformed into a giant to chase the Campbell away. During the chase, a sliver of stone from the brownie’s sandal was dislodged and thrown across the water, landing at Beacharr and becoming the standing stone.
Beacharr Standing Stone is the tallest in Kintyre, standing at just over 5 meters tall. It’s located on a steep escarpment overlooking the Sound of Gigha.
The story, as shared by locals, involves a brownie (a helpful, mischievous spirit) associated with the MacDonalds of Largie and their island home, Cara. A Campbell (a rival clan) arrived on Cara, angering the brownie.
The brownie transformed into a giant to drive the Campbell away. During this pursuit, a piece of stone from the brownie’s sandal was dislodged.
The brownie, with the stone fragment stuck in his sandal, pulled it out and hurled it across the water. It landed at Beacharr, becoming the standing stone.
While the “brownie chase” story is a popular one, there are also suggestions that the stone might be related to lunar observations, and some early accounts mention it as a “monument of knowledge” about “mechanic powers”.
Interesting or hocus pocus, I didn’t find any sword to pull out of a rock :-)
mistshadows.blogspot.com/2024/11/arthur-son-of-bicoir-of-kintyre.html
North end of the south wall, note Beacharr’s standing stone further north.
Image credit: drew/AMJ
The south section, no doubt the wall going through the middle of the dun is made from the dun’s walls.
Image credit: drew/AMJ
The outer walling heads south on the west side.
Image credit: drew/AMJ
A few bits of decent walling remain, this on the north west.
Image credit: drew/AMJ
A team of archaeologists has created the most precise reconstruction yet of a Roman siege on a British hillfort by using crime scene forensics.
Archaeologists have discovered the remains of a large and complex hall where some of Scotland’s first farmers gathered for festivities.
An extensive Iron Age settlement established more than 2,000 years ago has been unearthed following a rare sword find, archaeologists have revealed.
After hunting about for various cairns on the south of the A836 it was time to drive along the road to park near Ardvannie’s Chamber Cairn, slightly to the north. At almost 26 meters wide and 1.6m tall, it would take a large tree to protect it. A beech provides the large tree which seems to be trying to protect the chamber, situated on the cairn’s south west.
As usual the cairn has been damaged, the access road has removed a chunk on the east side, field clearance has been dumped on top (also around the edges) along with the usual stone removal.
A bit of a ‘what if’ but also enough to let an imagination conjure up an image of what it once looked like.
We would see this site again later in the day, completely accidentally, of course.
Visited 31/03/2025.
Ardvannie Kerb Cairn still survives despite the occasional visit from cows. Several kerbs remain in place and surprisingly not noted by Trove (Canmore) are the remnants of a cist situated in the middle of 6.5m wide cairn.
A superb view of Dun Creich to west and lovely views over Dornoch Firth add to site. The nearby pond much more recent.
From the chamber cairn at Ardvannie we headed west and pulled in at the first gate on the south side of the A836. Over the fence, head west following the pond until it’s end, head south then back east on the pond’s south side. This will lead straight to the site.
Be warned, if wet weather this will be a mud bath, however, for us it was dry and more of an ankle breaker.
Visited 31/03/2025.
Planning permission has been granted for construction of a large solar farm located near “nationally significant” Bronze Age rock art.
For many years it was believed that burial at the an ancient Irish passage tomb was the preserve of kings and other dignitaries, who represented a dynasty that practised incest.
A project to dig up a prehistoric ritual site described as “Cornwall’s ancient sacred heart” is set to go ahead after it received funding.
As we walked along Stolinskie and myself talked about sites that could have easily avoided being damaged with a bit of care. Within minutes the Cambuscurrie Wood cairn would provide the, sadly, the perfect example of our conversation.
The cairn is quite literally next to the track, the south side of the cairn looks that it has been completely removed. They speak of large stones on the north side, they maybe are there but are now completely covered in vegetation and dumping of excess earth. The south side has been cleared of vegetation – to allow better views of the track.
A bit of a tragedy, a ‘what if’.
Still, good fun heading back down to the road, washed away paths, steep banks, head high vegetation, the much awaited appearance of ‘jabby stuff’ and paths on the maps that didn’t exist. As usual, eventually a track was found ironically leading us straight to where I had parked.
Visited 31/03/2025.
Heading east through woods and clearings we found the forestry track that would lead straight to the long cairn on Edderton Hill.
It has taken quite a battering. A lot of walls have been built using stones from the cairn, even worse a 2 meter gap has been chopped through to allow a track, now overgrown, to the woods nearby to the north. Plenty of space to go round – baffles me.
What remains is a cairn that stretches over 60m in length, some of it turf and heather covered with the width being 14m in places especially in the east. Other parts are reduced to 7m in width, its height no more than 1.5m.
Easy to spot on the north side of the track.
Visited 31/03/2025.
After the Morangie visit we headed west leaving the A9 at the Dornoch Firth Bridge roundabout to follow the A836 heading further west. We parked at the first available place that resembled a lay-by next to the beginnings of an old forestry track. From here we headed uphill and south west, reasonably steep and plenty of vegetation, cutting through marked and unmarked tracks to reach a track of sorts which seemed to find a way through small gorges to eventually reach a clearing. At the southern end of the clearing is the impressive Red Burn Cairn.
It’s measurements are impressive as well – 23m wide and 4m high with superb views to north over the Dornoch Firth. Canmore suggests a cist on the north side but a lot of the stones could suggest that. On the west side a stone that might possibly have stood seems to be having a rest. Elsewhere some serious houking or a possible trench has taken place. As with a lot of these places tracks have clipped the sides of the track – you’d think there would be plenty of room to get round. Much worse examples were soon to appear as we headed east.
However, this is a superb site, damage is restricted so plenty to admire. Also, fair play to the people re-building the the old ‘but and ben’. Great to see such restoration.
Visited 31/03/2025.
It’s not everyday you drive through Cullen, stop at the town’s Square and meet a new TMA’er with a pole and a copy of the The Modern Antiquarian stuck to the top of it. With Stolinskie safely on board we headed towards Inverness, north over the Kessock Bridge to stop slightly north of Tain.
We parked in a lay-by just to north of the famous Morangie Distillery, walked, west, past a huge stone with engravings (see Folklore) to the junction of two fields, next to the A9. Over the gate, follow the fence and dyke, jump over another fence then over a wee burn, the dun is straight ahead to the south. The dun can be seen from the A9 which in turn has superb views north over the Dornoch Firth and Edderton Sands.
The walls of the dun still stand at over 2m wide and in some places the turf covered walls reach 1.5m. As usual field clearance has dumped on the site, however this doesn’t hide the site’s 15m internal width. Sadly, a lot of stonework has been removed to build ‘dry stane dykes’, there are plenty marking nearby fields.
A nice and easy way to start the day. That would slightly change later on. :-)
Visited 31/03/2025.