drewbhoy

A short walk north from the Balla Cairns is the cairn at Ben Scrien. It is over 3m wide and is almost 0.75m high. 3 kerbs are visible and more are under the vegetation. In the centre of the site three stones might well be on edge, the remains of the cist perhaps. A good look for a capstone revealed nothing, but it could well grown over.

With that it was a soggy walk back to the car, nothing treacherous, wear wellington boots.

Visited 07/08/2023.

Ersikay has several cairns that overlook its famous uneven football pitch on the west flank of Ben Scrien. We parked near the shrine and climbed north east through marshy ground to reach the three small cairns situated near to each other.

NF7902311391 is a small ring cairn no more that 2m wide, it is only 0.5 high. At least 6 kerbs are visible

NF7902211405 is also a small ring cairn that is also 2m wide, 7 kerbs can be seen.

NF7903311399 the largest cairn of the group being almost 5m in wide. Cairn material can be seen, Canmore suggests there are no kerbs but I spied at least 2.

As with a lot of sites covered in heather and peat a proper excavation might reveal a lot more.

Beautiful all round views, including Dun Sgurabhal on the north part of Barra.

Visited 07/08/2023.

Another of these ‘high cairn crannogs’ is situated in Loch An Eilein. Askernish is the name of large house. The biggest island in the loch is home to a ruined dun which was said to have once had a causeway. Sadly the causeway has long vanished.

Parking is available on the north side of the loch, a short walk back down the A865 takes you reasonably close to the island.

Visited 07/08/2023.

Parking is available at a small industrial site to the south of Daliburgh, next to the B888, I headed west across a dried marsh following a fence to reach a small peninsula. This is the closest anyone can get to the well ruined dun, 5 miles of stones are visible. A supposed causeway sometimes appears when the water is low, but on my visit it remained hidden.

Nice to see swans and ducks still using the site.

Visited 07/08/2023.

Loch Dun Na Cille has a much smaller neighbour to the west called Loch Dun an Duichal and like its much bigger neighbour it also has a crannog / dun.

I couldn’t see a causeway, Canmore haven’t seen one but locals suggest that stones from the causeway were removed in the late 1800s. If so, the removed all trace of its existence. On the plus side the island still remains.

I walked south on the slip of land between the two lochs, one or two boggy bits but nothing to worry about. The site is almost 23m wide and only scattered stones remain of the dun.

Beautifully calm waters, and good to see the dun being used by local residents – ducks etc.

Visited 07/08/2023.

From the crossroads at North Boisdale, our base camp, head north until ruined barns / houses, plenty room to park. Cross the minor road heading east and Eilean Chreamh is straight in front.

Canmore also calls this a ‘high cairn crannog’. A magnificent causeway connects the mainland to the site situated in Loch Dun Na Cille. (Nearby is the much larger Dun Na Killie, however this is considered to be medieval). The causeway is almost 37m in length and still can be used.

The island is over 24m wide and is partially overgrown. Remnants, or more likely stones from the dun can be seen on the outer edges. Bizarrely over a century ago it had been used as a garden.

Visited 07/08/2023.

Parking can be found near the causeway that leads to Eriskay and luckily for me as I headed west the tide was out. Unfortunately I had on mountain boots, wellingtons would be a far better option here.

The island nearest the causeway is supposed to have a cairn, sadly after a good look on the small grass area I found nothing that looked prehistoric.

Further west is another island which does have a cairn, which can be seen. Between the two islands is a sea of seaweed and mud, I had on the completely wrong footwear so didn’t chance going further on.

What can be seen is a grass covered cairn that is nearly 7m wide, being almost 0.5 tall.

I made my way back to car via climbing up the side of the causeway. Long legs are a great help.

Visited 06/08/2023.

Also known as The Limpet Hammers, these two fallen standing stones can be found by simply walking straight south and uphill from the The Witches Grave chamber cairn. (or aim for the turbine)

The stone on the west is almost 4m long, the stone on the east nearly 3.5m long. There is also another stone which resembles a small boat, Canmore suggests it might possibly be a capstone, rocking stone or along with the other two stones formed part of the stone circle. Seems unlikely as no cairn material can be seen.

However, the two stones that stood might have been outliers for The Witches Grave and the chamber cairn at Dun Trossary.

Worth a visit if only for the view, and to see incoming rain squalls.

Visited 06/08/2023.

The Witches Grave is a beautiful site in a beautiful location and came as a complete surprise, I’d expected another Trossary. Walking from the church I headed south on B888 and jumped the fence when just about level with the turbine. Head east up the hill, jump a few fences and the remains of the chamber will soon be visible.

To the north east is Loch Aisebhat, straight north is Dun Trossary (near the odd shaped church) and to the east is Coire Bhienn.

Almost all of the cairn material has been removed, a sizeable footprint remains with one or two stones suggesting kerbs. As for the chamber four uprights remain and they are impressive, to me, despite its reasonably small size.

Well worth a look.

Visited 06/08/2023.

I also headed for the odd shaped church and head up the small hill to the badly trashed cairn. Very dry on my visit.

One real feature remains, a standing stone which looks like it will one day as it stands at a precarious angle. Other stones might belong to the site, they might not. Sadly the site has been houked, built on and damaged almost beyond recognition.

However, one thing they couldn’t remove was the view to Eriskay, and perhaps more importantly Barra as the prehistoric folks, like islanders nowadays, rely heavily on water transport. Probably the older methods lasted longer than the mechanics of their modern counterparts.

A pity, but worth a wee look.

Visited 06/08/2023.

A much smaller crannog that its near neighbour this crannog is only 10m wide and has also been called a low cairn crannog.

No visible causeway so short walk heading west, through a wee bog, jump a couple of fences / dry stane dykes to get a better view.

Visited 06/08/2023.

An early morning start and the beautiful calm waters of the loch at South Baghasdal. The crannog, also called Loch An Eilean, nearest the shore has a decent causeway, 20m in length, poking through the water.

Being 30m wide later peoples used the crannog for probable sheep pens and a possible blackhouse. However a survey carried out in 2022 suggests that this site is much older, probably neolithic.

Heading south on the B888 from Daliburgh take the fourth minor road heading west, just before Trossary and stop at the first loch. (I approached from the north from North Baghasdal, our base camp so to speak)

Beautiful morning, great start to the day.

Visited 06/08/2023.

Taking the coastal route on the A855 from Portree to Uig we stopped to give the the souterrain at Kilvaxter another visit. It appears the entrance has narrowed as it seemed a tighter squeeze than my last visit.

The only thing to add to previous fieldnotes is that the site and surrounding area, including the nut circle, needs a good tidy up if it is to pull in a fair number of visitors.

Anyway, onto Uig and ferry to Lochmaddy.

Visited 05/08/2023.

Of the four sites this one probably has the best views of the dun, chamber cairn, cave, naust / canal, loch, mountains and sea. On our visit the sea, Camas a Mhurain – Gulf of the Sea, was an astonishing colour of blue.

The cairn sits at nearly 13m wide and is 1.1m tall. Lots of stonework can be seen poking through the well manicured turf, local greenkeepers do an excellent job. Decent kerbs can be seen situated around the site. Probably a lot of stones have been used in the building of the dyke which seperates the two cairns.

Now we made our way back to the main track via a route suggested by a site that promotes highland treks / walkways. This led us around the west of Carn Mor, there is no path of any kind, it goes near the top of cliffs and in parts is an ankle breaker. Take the main track back, we were mightily relieved to emerge unscathed back to the track along with the dog. That site will never be used again.

Apart from track malfunction everything at Rubh An Dunain was as perfect as perfect could be.

Great weather, great place.

Visited 04/08/2023.

From the dun we crossed the Viking-made canal via handily placed causeway and made our way round the sound side of Loch na h’Airde before heading north towards the cairns that are located in front of the small hill, Carn Mor.

As Mr G said this is an isolated place nowadays but it once appeared to be reasonably populated with the nearby dun, medieval townships and various Nordic visitors. Now the closest people are at Glen Brittle, the most regular visitors being sheep and cows along with people making the trek to the various sites.

The chambered cairn still sits at 20m wide and a good gentle tidy would reveal that a lot of it is still in place. Large slabs and some well built dry stanes remain in place. A gentle restoration would be wonderful to see but given the location, highly unlikely.

The view as ever remains glorious and we’re lucky that we have made it on a beautiful clear day day which seemed unlikely given the previous nights dreich stuff.

Not far to the next site, a wee jump over a wall.

Visited 04/08/2023.