Hob

Excellent site. Not easy to spot from the road, and the track is a bit ‘blink and you miss it’, the big metal shed on the shelf above the road is a good marker.

The stones were larger than I’d expected, with lovely lichen. The cist is in reasonable condition, shame the covering cairn is long since gone.

There seems to be a bedrock viewing platform behind the stone setting, possibly something to do with all the alleged archaeoastronomical shenanigans. On the day I visted, the silhouette of Jura was almost lost in the haze, so Gigha seemed significant in the choice of this spot as a place designated for the standing up of stones.

Strange little stones.

They now have a protective wooden fence, presumably to stop the cattle from using them as rubbing stones.

The proximity to St Ninian’s Chapel is interesting, it’s an old early Celtic christian site, with inevitable thoughts of earlier provenance and possible continuities arising in my mind.

Apart from anything else, it’s an absolutely beautiful spot.

It’s completely different kind of stone when compared to those at Machrie. It would look more at home on the Isle of Lewis.

It’s a damn good one. Nice shape, size, good lichen, nice views, fairly easy to get to, with the fallen twin hiding in the grass as a bonus. It’s lovely and sculptural.

It’s easy to get to from the farmhouse halfway up to Auchencar, where the folks were happy to dispense permission for tromping across the field. Beware though, dodgy narrow track and not much space to turn a vehicle.

Small stone by Arran standards, which just adds to the incongruity of its location, on neatly manicured grass at the edge of a small car park. I’d not read the RCAHMS stuff below when I visited, but even without that, the idea that this may be the sole survivor of a cairn seemed plausible, there are a few in the immediate vicinity. There’s bog all else to suggest it on the ground though, I guess the road and carpark have eradicated anything above ground. I can’t recall any linear ridgey feature such as is mentioned below.

The other points of note are the views of the strange little island of Pladda, just offshore, and the lurking cone of Ailsa Craig on the horizon.

RCAHMS says:

The ONB (1864) gives an alternative name of “Tumulus” for this feature, the surveyor’s comments being “I have no authority for this object beyond its general appearance to warrant it being called a tumulus. There is a large standing stone, 3ft 7 ins x 3ft 6 ins x 6 ins (Balfour 1910) on the N side of it, with a smaller stone adjoining (not noticed by Balfour) The whole object is higher than the adjacent ground although partly levelled for the road.” The words “giving the appearance of the remains of a stone circle” have been added by the examiner. Balfour adds “a stone circle, known to have existed here at one time, was removed when making the road”.

A standing stone situated in a level grassy area and located approximately 30.0m from the edge of the coastal cliff. It is a plain weathered stone 1.1m high, 0.9m broad and 0.2m thick. A small (0.3m high) scarp runs southwestwards from the stone for 9.0m; it is not clear if this is artificial or merely an undulation in the ground. There is no surface evidence of either a cairn, a stone circle or the second “smaller” stone.

You pass this little stone box on the wooded hillock just to your left as you go from Ri Cruin to Templewood. A quick scramble up from the rusted gate involves hopping about in the mud.

It looks strange at first, as the side facing Ri Cruin is exposed, with the side slab popped out, giving the impression it could be some sort of letterboxed cairn-viewing-platform for very small people. Apparently it’s not though. Seemingly there are enough traces of jointed grooves to indicate that when it was built, it had four sides, as per normal cist construction. No cups visible on the capstone. Bruach na Cuirte means ‘Brae (hill) of the Court’.

The RCAHMS entry can be found here.

Visited August 2005

This one gets half marks for accessibility. It’s right next to the track up to the main bit of the moor, so you can’t miss it, but it has an annoying gate that prevents easy wheelchair access.

It’s one of the most tightly manicured lawns I’ve seen at a site in a good while. Quite a contrast to the other bits and bobs on the moor, which have a nicer wooly ambience.

I can’t think of much to say about this stone. It’s definitely not difficult to find, and being about 2 feet from the road, it’s very accessible. I got the feeling that it’s placement had to be something to do with this spot being at the narrowest point of the island, but can’t quite explain why.

The one thing I feel I can say is this is a much nicer stone than the one at the south of the island at Cathan’s Church. Shame it’s been a bit broken, but it does make it a nice shape.

Visited August 2006

It’s definitely got Ogham, but is it prehistoric? I dunno. It’s right next to a very old churchy spot, complete with very old ruined church, so it’s got that feel of ‘Christianised site’ a bit like what I imagine Manx Keeils are like. A bit of reading has got me fairly sure this is the Cnoc-a’-Charra, or ‘the hill of the pillar.‘

It’s quite unlike the confirmed prehistoric stone up to the north of the island. This one is much more dressed looking. It’s also not in it’s original position.

I was slightly miffed that I didn’t get time to go looking for the similarly unmappped 14ft fallen stone known as the ‘Achadh-a’-Charra’, to the west of St. Cathan’s, currently on drain-cover duties.

I’d hoped to find the two other stones nearby, apparently known as ‘The Cailleach and the Bodach’, but they aren’t mapped, I had no guide, and it was getting dark. I bottled out.

In retrospect, I wonder if the plethora of names which seem to be applied to stones on Gigha might mask the fact that this stone and that covering the drain nearby, might not in fact be the Cailleach and the Bodach.

There’s a likelihood that this is the Pauperhaugh stone, as described here:
keystothepast.info/durhamcc/K2P.nsf/K2PDetail?readform&PRN=N2904
and here:
rockart.ncl.ac.uk/panel_detail.asp?pi=495

I’ve visited the Black Burn, and apart from a very conspicuous (but probably natural) mound and lots of muddy water, there was indeed nothing to be found. Pauperhaugh is close to Longfamlington, and the findspot reported in Keys To The Past matches up with Pebbles’ description above.