Taken 3rd August 2004: Here’s a panorama of the ‘cairn’ at Steinacleit, looking north west over Loch an Dùin (note Loch An Duin Dun in the background).
I nearly posted this up as ‘Artistic/Interpretive’ because I’ve had to do a lot of tweaking in Photoshop to stitch the three photos together. In other words, bear in mind that some jiggery pokery has taken place.
Despite being an obvious suspect, Cliacabhaigh was first recorded relatively recently in a 1976 edition of Discovery and Excavation in Scotland. It is not yet scheduled.
In the excellent book The Stones Around Callanish (ISBN: 0 903960 67 2) by the Pontings is a description of the stone and a pe-vanadlism photo. Margaret Curtis (née Ponting) interprets it as part of the complex, possibly serving a processional function:
...it is 800 metres from he central stone at the main site; at an azimuth of just 1 degree, it is very close to due north and is in direct line with the central megalith and the central row. As seen from this stone, the moon would have transited low over the horizon when at its southernmost extreme.
Margaret has identified two other stones nearby which may have once been standing. One is in the field wall, and the other lies on private land nearby, almost entirely covered in peat.
Visited 2nd August 2004: Cliacabhaigh is on the grass verge to the east of the lane, usually obscured by farm machinery. I understand that this is not private land, but the local crofter is not at all keen on visitors.
When I visited I found the stone had been vandalised with yellow paint. Hand prints on the south size indicated that children had been involved. Unfortunately the farm machinery that has accumulated around the stone means that it would be easy to paint the stone without being seen from the lane. Having said that, the nearest croft is relatively nearby, and overlooks the stone.
Lining up the stone with the main Calanais site is interesting. There is certainly a relatively straight route between the two, marked by the modern lane. The only advantage of the yellow paint is that you can now just about make out Cliacabhaigh from the main site.
Taken 2nd August 2004: The stone as viewed from the lane. The trailer has been placed in a way that obscures it from view from slightly further south.
Taken 2nd August 2004: The stone from the north east. In the field behind (on private property) lies another stone, now fallen.
Taken 2nd August 2004: The stone from the south, showing recent vandalism (presumably perpetrated by children based on the size of the hand prints).
Taken 2nd August 2004: The stone viewed from the north. The red arrow indicates the location of the Calanais stones.
The National Monument Record makes Carnan a’Ghrodhair seem rather more sexy than it is on the ground:
A souterrain was found during the last war during the construction of a Home Guard gun emplacement or look-out post.
When digging the foundations the workmen struck a flagged floor with a large stone in the middle which, when removed, revealed a passage-way leading down at an angle a distance of some 20 to 30ft before opening out into a beehive cell about 6 or 7ft high... About 35ft east of the emplacement there was a slight de- pression with possibly a few stones in it, which seemed to mark the site of the cell.
Mind you, it does warn you that, “the entrance to this souterrain, within the look-out post, is almost fully blocked with rubbish, making access to the chamber impossible”. Apparently the passage was still discernable in 1969.
Taken 3rd August 2004: Looking approximately south, with Cealagbhal (Port Nis) just visible to the left of the larger stone.
Taken 3rd August 2004: Looking approximately south east (I think).
Visited 3rd August 2004: We parked above the harbour in Cealagbhal (aka Port Nis) and walked to the Clach Stein. It was a pleasant enough stroll, but it would have been easy enough to park a lot closer.
I don’t recall seeing a sign for the stones, but they’re easy enough to find with a map. They’re sited very close to a croft in a small paddock (home to some very jumpy sheep when we visited). The scene was rather bleak. They look like they’re huddling down to keep of the chill. Belligerent stones!
Visited 3rd August 2004: Carnan a’Ghrodhair is easy to get to, but not really worth the journey. There’s nothing much to see of the souterrain, but if you’re interested in Second World War architecture you may want to ponder the Home Guard bunker that’s been planted on top of it.
This was my first visit to a souterrain, and based on what I’ve seen so far I’m a bit disappointed.
Taken 3rd August 2004: There’s not much to be seen inside the bunker. It’s tempting to speculate that the rocks represent something of the souterrain, but probably not the wire.
Taken 3rd August 2004: This is the exterior of the ‘site’. Essentially all that can now be seen is the Second World War bunker.
Taken 2nd August 2004: Presumably the top of this stone has “come orf”.
Taken 2nd August 2004: One of the stones on the southern side of the circle. Nine years after my last visit I ended up photographing the same stone!
From an article published on the BBC News web site on 11th March 2005:
Pigs were domesticated independently at least seven times around the globe, a new study has found.
The discovery was made by linking the DNA of tame porkers with their wild relatives, Science magazine reports.
Researchers found farmed pigs in several locations were closely related to wild boar in the same region, suggesting local domestication.
This challenges the notion that boar were tamed just twice before being transported throughout the world.
From an article published on the BBC News web site on 9th February 2005:
A chariot burial site uncovered in West Yorkshire could be the final resting place of one of Britain’s ancient tribal leaders, archaeologists say.
The well-preserved remains, found by road contractors near Ferrybridge, are thought to be about 2,400 years old.But evidence suggests that people were still visiting the grave during Roman times – 500 years after his burial.
Experts believe that native Britons may have used the site as a shrine to re-assert their national identity.
Archaeologist Angela Boyle said the site, uncovered during the £245m upgrade of the A1, was “one of the most significant Iron Age burials ever found”.
Taken 2nd August 2004: The most easterly stone, lovingly set in concrete.
Taken 2nd August 2004: The most southerly stone, now precariously close to the edge of the cliff.
This shot is taken looking west with the stretch of water called Sruth Iarsiadar visible behind the stone.
Taken 2nd August 2004: The two northerly stones viewed from the west, with Loch Barraglom in the background.
Taken 2nd August 2004: The view of the Iarsiadar Standing Stone from the Bernera Bridge ‘Circle’. The road cutting to the west of the stone is where it previously stood.
Taken 2nd August 2004: Modern packing stones at the foot of the standing stone. Very tidy!
Taken 2nd August 2004: Viewed from the north, here is the beautifully re-erected Iarsiadar Standing Stone.
Taken 2nd August 2004: The stone with the mushrooms growing at the foot of it.
Taken 2nd August 2004: Mushrooms growing at the foot of one of the stones.
Taken 2nd August 2004: The stone with a jigsaw puzzle top. You can make out the depression that marks the inside circumference of the circle (presumably the result of relatively modern turf cutting). I’ve no idea what the stones in the foreground are.
Visited 1st August 2004: Achmore is now signposted from the road, but there’s a degree of guesswork involved. You need to go through the gate, then ascend the hill bearing right. From the gate you can’t see it, but you’re aiming for a bench and an information board.
I’d strongly advise reading the information board before you leap off looking for stones. This isn’t an easy site to interpret without a plan. The bench is a nice touch, with excellent views towards the pregnant ‘Sleeping Beauty’.
Achmore is great! I loved it. The stones that remain buried in the peat fascinated me. It’s a real insight into how parts of Calanais would have looked before the peat clearance. As for the stones and sockets that are clearly visible, some are in very good condition. There are excellent examples of stone sockets that are extremely clear and easy to match with their accompanying stones (all now fallen). If you’re interested in how standing stones were planted this is a fantastic place to visit.
From an article published on the BBC News web site on 16th February 2005:
An archaeologist’s car containing two axes from the Ice Age has been stolen from outside a Birmingham hotel.
Mark Olly, of Warrington, Cheshire, was giving a lecture on druids at the Wellington Hotel in Bromsgrove Street, when the vehicle was taken on Tuesday.A replica of a 750BC bronze sword, with a distinctive brass discoloration on the blade, was also taken, along with electrical goods worth nearly £5,000.
Anyone with information about the theft is asked to contact West Midlands Police at Steelhouse Lane police station or the Wellington Hotel direct.
A photograph of one of the Cremlyn Stones (see accompanying description).
From an article by Kim Griggs published on the BBC News web site on 14th February 2005:
Nestled into the verdant hills of the New Zealand region of the Wairarapa is the world’s newest “Stonehenge” but this henge is no mere pastiche.
Instead, Stonehenge Aotearoa, which opened this weekend, is a full-scale adaptation of its Salisbury Plain ancestor, built to work for the Antipodes.
The aim of the Kiwi Stonehenge is to help people rediscover the basics of astronomy.
“You can read as much as you like in a book how the sun and the moon work, how people use stars to navigate by, or to foretell the seasons,” says Richard Hall, president of the Phoenix Astronomical Society which built the henge.
“You stand here amongst the henge and you show people exactly how it works. Somehow it simplifies it and it becomes that much more easy to understand,” he said.
Excerpts from an article published on the BBC News web site on 10th February 2005:
In 1848, a strange skull was discovered on the military outpost of Gibraltar.
The remains were named Homo neanderthalensis – or Neanderthal Man – an ancient and primitive form of human.
But was Neanderthal really the brutish ape-man of legend, or an effective rival to our own species? And how exactly had he been driven to extinction?
This week’s Horizon programme brings together a team of leading experts to see just what we could find out about this remarkable creature, from the bones themselves. But to begin we needed a skeleton, and no complete Neanderthal has ever been found.
However, Gary Sawyer, a reconstruction expert at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, US, realised that enough partial skeletons existed to create an entire composite skeleton from casts of the fragments.
Visited 1st August 2004: These cairns weren’t high on my list of places to visit, but William and I came across them on our way to Airigh Na Beinn Bige stone circle. Because of the topography of the hillside, there’s a good chance you’ll get to the cairns before the circle.
They’re both pretty large, and the northerly one is obviously a cairn (you can’t miss it). Both are slightly to the east of the circle on the same plateau. For directions to this site see my fieldnotes for Airigh Na Beinn Bige circle.
Visited 1st August 2004: When I set out to find Airigh Na Beinne Bige I got lead on a wild goose chase by the GPS, wondering around in totally the wrong area. The following directions might save you from the same fate:
Follow the road inland from Breascleit until you come to a cattle grid. Immediately after the cattle grid park up (if you’re driving) and walk up the hill (approximately north). You’ll come to a ‘peat covered terrace’ below the summit of the hill. The remaining standing stone is relatively easy to spot, as is the larger of the two cairns.
William and I found the big cairn first, then the standing stone and the hollow. Will found the remains of a dead sheep at the foot of the stone fascinating. The views of the Callanish area are spectacular! We had fun taking photos of each other with the digital camera. It was what people would have once described as ‘a lark’.
Unfortunately I only spoke to Margaret Curtis after this visit, and it was then that I came to fully appreciate that Airigh Na Beinne Bige is widely accepted as a ruined stone circle. If you can’t speak to Margaret, read The Stones Around Callanish before you visit.
This plan of Achmore is displayed on the information board to the south of the circle. Without it, the site would be very difficult to enterpret.
Taken 1st August 2004: Not a great shot as far as megaliths go. The stone visible in the shot is one of the, “possible packers exposed by peat cutting in the early 1990s”.
The main reason I’ve posted this photo is that it gives a good indication of the height of the peat in the uncut part of the circle.
Taken 1st August 2004: One of the excavated stones in the area where the peat has been cut.
This one is almost too good to be true. Three socket stones are in the bottom right quarter of the shot. The match between the stone and the socket is remarkably obvious.
Taken 1st August 2004: The tip of one of the buried (and water-logged) stones in the area where the peat hasn’t been cut.
Taken 1st August 2004: The tip of one of the stones that remains buried in over a metre of peat.
Taken 1st August 2004: Looking south across the circle, the arrows indicate stones that are visible. There are more to the right and left, but I can’t be sure exactly where.
It’s not entirely clear from this shot, but the place where I’m standing (on the uncut peat) is over a metre higher than the ground beyond the water-logged ditch.
Behind the telegraph pole is the pregnant ‘Sleeping Beauty’.
This is an artist’s reconstruction of the Olcote cairn, depicting how the cairn may have looked during one of its five developmental stages.
The illustration comes from the information board opposite the cairn.
Taken 1st August 2004: Taken as a family snap, this photo gives a good indication of just how trashed Olcote is. What were the authorities thinking when they ran the road through it?!
Taken 1st August 2004: The cist viewed from the north west (or thereabouts).
Taken 1st August 2004: The southerly cairn viewed from the northerly cairn.
In the background is Loch na Beinne Bige, and I think I can just about make out ‘Sleeping Beauty’ (or part of her) on the horizon.
Taken 1st August 2004: To the right of this shot is (what I interpretted as) the northerly cairn. William is striding towards what I think is the southerly cairn.
In the distance, only just visible to the right of William, is Loch na Beinne Bige. I think I can just about make out ‘Sleeping Beauty’ (or part of her) on the horizon.
Taken 1st August 2004: This shot shows the obvious cairn to the east of Airigh Na Beinn (the photo is taken from a position very close to the stone). This is the northerly of the two cairns.
In the background are Loch na Gainmhich and Loch Amhastar.
Taken 1st August 2004: In the centre of this shot is (what I perceive as) the northerly of the two cairns. If I’ve interpreted the site correctly, the photo is taken from the top of the southerly cairn (some of which is visible in the foreground).
From an article published on the BBC News web site on 2nd February 2005:
A burial ground on a Wiltshire farm has been protected from plough damage by an agreement between the farmer and Defra.
Bourton Manor Farm, north west of Devizes has 28 Scheduled Monuments of national importance.
These include 10 barrows which are thought to be either Neolithic or early Bronze Age.
Plough damage is being prevented by returning the surrounding area to grassland using funding under Defra’s Countryside Stewardship Scheme.
Excerpts from an article published on the BBC News web site on 3rd February 2005:
Skeletons from the Bronze Age that were found in an archaeological dig in Kent and said to be among the best preserved from that time, are to go on show.
VIPs are being given the chance to see what was found on Thursday.
The exhibits are to go on display at Westgate-on-Sea although some have been taken elsewhere in England to be looked at by other experts.
This page includes a good photo of the tomb from the Museum and a short description. On the same web site the County Antrim page describes Ballin Tagart:
A four-chambered tomb, originally from Ballintaggart in county Armagh, with a shallow forecourt of 4 orthostats with a good part of the cairn and kerb surviving, has been erected on the far side of the Ulster Museum (just beyond the Queen’s University and overlooking the Botanic Gardens). A good overhead view of the tomb may be had from the museum’s cafeteria – though in recent years the monument has become overgrown and is now surrounded by a hideous fence.