This site comprises a 2.1m high standing stone with c. 30 cupmarks on its SW face and two outcrops containing rock art – the southerly outcrop being the more heavily decorated.
Visited 12 May 2004
greywether
3.9m high standing stone.
Visited 12 May 2004
Clyde cairn with some interesting features (round cairn, double portal stones, irrregular facade) but not especially impressive.
The access road is narrow but there is parking available in a small quarry near the site.
Visited 12 May 2004
Anywhere else, this Clyde cairn might impress but, set amongst the gems in the Kilmartin area, it seems strangely nondescript.
Its location doesn’t help. It sits beside a forest path next to some bungalows which, on the day of my visit, had washing hanging out.
Easy to find though. Look for the Gartnagreanoch cottage signs by the roadside where there is plenty of parking space.
Visited 12 May 2004
This reasonably well preserved Clyde cairn can be visited by extending a trip to Achnabreck.
An interesting feature of the cairn is the possible existence of a porthole between two compartments in the lateral chamber.
Enjoyment of the site is considerably reduced by the forestry having planted so close to the cairn especially at the forecourt end. There are extensive views out over the rear of the cairn to the SW which will eventually be obscured as the new plantation grows.
To get to the cairn, follow the track past the two Achnabreck sites until it reaches the forest road then turn right.
Visited 12 May 2004
Strictly speaking, this is a pair of stones not a menhir but who cares – it’s the one that’s still standing which is going to get the attention.
And why not? Its full 5m and curving shape means it looks great from any angle.
Easy to visit. Park by the beach, walk up the road and cross by the helpful stile.
Combine it with your Machrie Moor trip.
For access, see Drannandow.
Very ruined stone circle which once was 26m in diameter. This width and the absence of stones (five remain standing) make it difficult to photograph.
Also difficult to know that you are “there” with so many other stones in the area. An 8-figure grid reference (NX39997099) and a GPS may give some confidence.
Visited 2 May 2004
Not a very spectacular site but it makes part of a nice megalithic walk incorporating The Thieves and Drumfern.
Drannandow has five chambers (large but not the largest) symetrically arranged with one reasonably well preserved axial (facing E) and two pairs of opposing laterals (NW,NE,SE,SW) in poorer condition.
Sits at the head of the Coldstream Burn. Axial chamber aligned on nothing particular.
See photo captions for dimensions etc.
The public road to the site is narrow but you can park at the triangle where the farm road joins it. Ask at the farm.
Long and reasonably steep. Several gates.
Visited 2 May 2004
I’ve put this down as a chambered cairn even although no chambers are visible on account of its having a facade (quite impressive) and stones that look like portal stones. The chamber(s) await discovery.
I like my cairns naked and stoney not covered in grass so this gets big points on that count also. Glad to see removed, since my last visit, the “traffic cone cairn” which someone must have thought looked like a smart design addition on top of the cairn.
Two cheers also for the Forestry Commission who have left the cairn resonably open amid the plantation allowing some idea of the views it once had. Sadly though, those to the SE over the cairn entrance just glimpsing Wigton Bay are now obscured.
It sits in high ground above the River Cree and the wide Penkill Burn broadly facing their confluence and amongst a number of (currently) their tributary streams.
More detail in the photo captions.
Easy to get to. On a waymarked forestry walk. Follow the forestry/Knockman Wood signs from Newton Stewart. Gentle uphill walk. One gate.
Visited 2 May 2004
Two well decorated flat stones – one on and the other close to the path running up the west side of the beck.
In “Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding”, they are
282 – SE 12719 46270
283 – SE 12738 46249 (on the path).
Visited 11 April 2004
Sorry about the naff name but, of all the decorated rocks in the area, this is the one closest to the Cow and Calf Hotel.
A nice cup and double ring on a small low stone close to a path running roughly parallel to the road.
SE 13223 46507 and number 318 in “The Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding”.
Visited 11 April 2004
13 April 2004 and the paint is still there. No sign of it naturally weathering off. It will require a professional job to remove it.
Pity because today was a beautiful day with the shadows of the trees playing on the rock. An atmosphere spoilt by this act of vandalism.
Photos converted to B/W take away some of the horror, but not much.
258 in “Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding”
SE 11587 46582
SE 11807 46546
Number 261 in “Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding”
Two of the carved stones in this area are at
SE 11417 46040 (255) and
SE 11499 46049 (257)
The numbers in brackets are the entries in “Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding”
255 has cup and single rings on two faces.
257 has a nice deeply carved cup, gutter and double ring.
Visited 13 April 2004
Armed with my new copy of “Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding” (PRAWR), the plan was to do all the interesting-looking sites in the book over the space of a few days.
The forward planning was extensive. Said sites had their 10-figure grid references plotted onto Fugawi, printed off and downloaded onto the GPS.
The plan was to start with North Rombalds Moor. What I had not bargained for was the time it would take to get round just these sites. Two days to get round these alone.
No problem with finding the sites at all. This was the first time I’d used a GPS for rock art and it’s difficult to see how I managed without it beforehand. Straight to within sighting distance of the stone every time.
The problem was just the sheer number of sites combined with their spectacular location which meant we spent time just soaking up the landscape.
Must have stayed at The Badger Stone for the best part of an hour. Nice of them to provide a seat.
So N Rombalds Moor was all that was covered and the rest will have to wait.
Back home the task is now matching up the sites with what is already on TMA – not easy with so many sites on Rombalds Moor alone. Some are already here under their own name and some are part of a group.
Where the site does not appear to have an entry already, there is the fun of choosing a name. Of course, you could just name them after the PRAWR classification numbers but that would be unromantic. However, as that publication is one which I expect future visitors will use a lot, I have cross-referenced to their numbers.
Visited 11 & 13 April 2004
Difficult to know what to call this one.
It’s on Weary Hill but far enough away from what has already been named the Weary Hill Stone for them not to be thought of as the same location. In the end, I’ve opted for a name based on its position near the road (aka Keighly Road).
Number 242 in “Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding”. SE 10572 46336
An attractive stone including an unusual double groove surrounding a cup.
Visited 14 April 2004
There are two decorated stones close together to the E of Black Beck Hole.
Using their numbering in “Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding”, they are
– 223 SE 10037 46563
– 224 SE 10056 46585
The latter is the more interesting stone but it was partly covered in vegetation at one end. It has around 20 cups some with double and single rings.
Visited 13 April 2004
I don’t think this has previously appeared (other than as an earlier wrong posting by me under the Weary Hill Stone). With so much on the Moor, it’s difficult to be sure – and it is a rather attractive stone near a footpath.
In “Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding”, it’s number 245 at SE 10767 46492.
Visited 13 April 2004
As can be seen from the photo, this stone was partly covered in grit which seemed to be coming from erosion from the natural break which runs through the centre of the stone. The grit partly obscures the cupmarks on the right of the photo.
The heather had been burnt away which made the stone fairly visible. There are 20 cups in total, two ringed.
Number 334 in “Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding. SE 13427 45390.
Visited 13 April 2004
As far as I know, this stone does not have a name so I have called it after the location on Rombalds Moor given to it in “Prehistoric Rock Art of West Riding”. It is number 346 in this publication – full reference SE 13506 45428.
There are a number of other carved stones given the same location description of Lanshaw E but this was the only one I visited.
It has 39 cups – three with rings. More attractive than the nearby Lanshaw Stone, I think.
Visited 13 April 2004
Great name. Sounds like a Scots war cry.
Great site too. Fully developed Clyde cairn with well defined crescentic facade, one slipped capstone and truly megalithic chamber.
One facade stone has been “sanctified” with a Christian cross.
More details with the photo captions.
The bad news is that it’s in a clearing in a forest with no defined path in. Why do they do that? One fewer row of trees to create an access would hardly be missed surely.
Park at the forest road just S of Auchnaha cottage. Cross the road and head straight into the forest – it’s not too dense here. Shortly, there is a forest ride with telegraph poles. Turn right up the hill. The site is in the clearing to the left at the top of the hill.
Visited 31 March 2004
Three stones at Kames crossroads said to be part of a stone circle originally.
There are two to the NE – one 2.8m high. A third is by the War Memorial to the SW.
Visible from the road – from your car if you want.
Visited 31 March 2004
Nice view, shame about the site.
This is probably for chambered cairn completists only unless you enjoy puzzles – which is what this is.
First up, the site can claim neolithic connections since the butt of a broken polished stone axehead was found here in 1954.
So is it a Clyde cairn? Well it overlooks the Clyde but that’s about the best you can say about this jumble of stones.
The most prominent stone, 1.6m high, has been described as a portal stone. It is however triangular which is not normal for portal stones. They’re normally square or rectangular. That’s problem number one.
Problem number two is that the remaining stones lie in a scatter to the N of this supposed portal stone which would give the site a roughly S orientation. Clyde cairns lie in the N to SE range.
Better just to enjoy the view, I think.
Leave Cardross by Carman Road. Head up hill and park just after the cattle grid. Walk up onto the moor and SW towards the field wall. Eventually, the big pointy portal will come into view. After the wall, there’s a fence/gate to cross.
Visited 25 March 2004
Last site on a day which included the splendid Brainport Bay and Crarae. Ending with a whimper rather than a bang.
It’s a pity this is not better preserved as it’s one of the few Clyde cairns with two axial chambers.
This has inevitably produced comment about the influence of Irish dual court cairns on the site but, since a facade was found at only one one end (concave – at the NE chamber), that may be a comparison too far.
What is left to see are the side stones of the NE chamber and a portal and back stone from the SW chamber.
The immediately surrounding forest has been cleared which is a bonus.
Park at the forest road entrance. It’s a bit of a scramble up the mound on which the cairn sits.
Visited 24 March 2004
An important site in that it is a Neolithic Clyde chambered cairn with a cup and ring mark.
The only other such finds (as far as I know) are at Cairnholy – one on a cup and ring marked stele which was found in a chamber in Cairnholy 1 and assumed to be secondary and another on a chamber stone also at Cairnholy 1 which could have been exposed and thus decorated at any later date.
There is, of course, no telling when the cup and ring was added at Ardmarnock but its position in the centre of the septal stone in the chamber might suggest that it was part of the original structure. There is also a cup mark on the other side of the septal stone.
The site was cleared of its impenetrable rhododendrons a few years ago but they are begining to grow back in. They make it difficult to see the extent of the surviving cairn but the well preserved chamber arrangements are still visible.
What we probably have here is a single compartment chamber fronted by two large portal stones and a slipped capstone. It faces NE.
A 1970s description treats the portal stones as two side stones of another compartment. Their shape does not support this interpretation but it would allow the other visible stone to be treated as a capstone to this second compartment.
More detail with the photo captions.
The site is well worth a visit. It is in the grounds of Ardmarnock House and is signposted from the south drive of the house. It is a good site to take a bike to. The approach to Ardmarnock House is down a private well surfaced road 2 miles long. Non-bikers (like me) can park at the entrance to the Melldalloch holiday cottages off the B8000 and walk.
To break the monotony of the walk, there is along the way a hill fort (also signposted but not visited) and a good cup and ring marked stone at NR92107401. I tried to find the latter but tree-felling operations made it impossible to get close.
Visited 31 March 2004
A ruined but pleasant chamber is all that remains of this Clyde cairn. It sits on a mound facing NE overlooking the Holy Loch.
Details with the photo captions.
Chambered cairns are probably the burial places of the group which farmed locally and a Neolithic domestic settlement has been found 1 km to the S.
Parking is available at the nearby Heritage Trail.
Visited 31 March 2004
Two standing stones in a beautiful location at the head of Loch Scriven.
2.4m and 1.6m high.
Visited 31 March 2004
I’ve been meaning to visit this site for some time and, now that I’ve done so, would fully recommend it. It’s on the road to Kilmartin so anyone visiting there might want to call in. There’s a lot to see though so you’d need to allocate two hours at least if you want to cover all of it.
It is now part of the Brainport Bay Heritage Trail (includes wildlife, geology, etc) with parking, leaflets, waymarking and information boards.
Like any archaeoastronomy site, there are problems but what is interesting about this site is that the main features are difficult to explain in any context other than for solar viewing.
For a full description of the site and some of its problems, see the Clive Ruggles book mentioned in Miscellaneous. Only brief details are given here along with the photo captions. I’ve also posted photos of the information boards but they skip over some of the issues.
For parking, you have a number of options depending on how far you want to walk and how you feel about taking your car along forest tracks.
Easiest but with most walking is to park at the start of the Trail in Minard (by the shore just before the traffic lights if going south).
Alternatively drive south and turn left at the sign for Minard Castle B&B. There is a large parking area first on the left next to the forest track.
If you want to take your car into the forest (I did!), you can get near to the Solar Platform site by turning right after a while and going down the narrow winding track. There is room to park and turn ONE car here. You will be next to the standing stone and to get to the platform head E along the path (do not follow the waymarkers).
The Oak Bank stone sites can be reached by going along the forest track and not turning right. Parking and turning for ONE car at the end.
Visited 24 March 2004
This is a good example of a Clyde chambered cairn.
It is situated in the National Trust for Scotland’s Crarae Gardens which has its good and bad points. On the positive side, it is well cared for even if it is a little over-manicured for my tastes. On the negative side, if you arrive between 10 and 5 from April to October, you may be asked to pay the £5 entrance fee. Outside these times there is an honesty box and the gardens are open dawn to dusk all year round.
Interesting features at this cairn are: the flat facade; the size of the orthostats on the facade; the dry stone walling (reconstructed). More details with the photo captions.
This is a site which many will pass on the road to Kilmartin and it’s well worth stopping to have a look at if your schedule permits.
The gardens are well signposted off the A83, north of Minard.
Visited 24 March 2004
This “four-poster” has five stones – eight if you count the low-lying ones. So you might be confused; I know I was.
Burl describes it as a four-poster with an outlier. OK, but it’s a very close outlier – an “inlier” maybe?
And the other three stones? One may be a capstone from a cist apparently. The other two don’t get a mention.
Let’s try another source to see if they can clear it up. What about the Aberdeen Council Archaeology website?
“Five stone oval circle” (good) “transitional between recumbent stone circles and four-posters” (pardon?).
Oh I give up! It’s a lovely site in a lovely setting. Let’s just take some pictures.
Easier to get to than Burl suggests. Park at the gates of Glassel House on minor road S of Milton of Campfield. Walk along forest track opposite. After about 150m, look for path to left. This leads to the circle.
Visited 28 March 2004
Lost and found – One chambered cairn. Poor condition but would suit collector.
Yes, this cairn was in 1978 described in the National Monuments records as “recently destroyed by quarrying during the construction of a forestry road”. Sadly, I believed this and during my several visits to the nearby Lang Cairn did not bother to make the short additional trip down the forest track to look for it.
A certain A Park was more adventurous and the records now note a letter in June 2002 from him/her saying that the cairn was there and was as previously described. The forestry road had not affected it at all.
So this time I went to see it. It needed a lot of dead bracken stripped from the site before the remaining features could be clearly seen. If the National Monument people went during the summer, it is no surprise that they missed it.
It’s not a very interesting cairn and it’s hemmed in by forestry but, if you were going to see the Lang Cairn, it’s worth extending the trip to have a look.
To get to it, follow the Lang Cairn directions and continue along the forest track for about 1km. It is in a clearing on the left.
For more details on the site, see the photo captions.
Visited 10 March 2004
This is a favourite of mine.
I remember the joy when I first visited it. I knew it only as a dot on a map and was delighted to find a near-perfect unexcavated Clyde cairn of massive length and in a fair state of preservation.
The forecourt was particularly impressive at that time with its facade of orthostats and dry-stone walling.
Sadly, time has taken its toll. The facade is not as impressive as it was and the tallest orthostat (re-erected in the 60s) has fallen. All of this has happened in the last 10 years or so. Not through willful damage as far as I can see but merely as a result of vegetation now taking hold and weakening the structure.
Despite all that, it is still the best example of its type out of a number of Clyde cairns in the area.
Landscape enthusiasts are warned that it is closely surrounded on two sides by forestry.
I’ve updated the photos but kept two of the earlier ones on for comparison. They are from undated slides but probably from the mid 90s. For more detail, see the photo captions.
Directions
The first challenge is to navigate the twists and turns on the road from Croftamie on the A809 to Wester Cameron Farm (N of the site). Park where you can then walk E then S down the forest track.
Once in the forest, there are a number of rides to the right which give access to the moor. The one to take is the FIRST of the two (narrower and slightly obscured) close together at the end of the long straight rise in the track. This brings you out at the corner of the forest near the cairn.
Visited 10 March 2004
This is a return visit to this cairn and I’m pleased to say it has not altered much in the interim.
It’s somewhat remote and probably gets few visitors which adds to its attraction. To add to the pleasure, although the weather over had been rather wild, once here the wind dropped and the sky turned blue. Perfect.
There are great views from here. To the N is Loch Lomond and Ben Lomond. To the E are the Kilpatricks. The line of the cairn points to the end of the Campsies but due to its low-lying position, they are out of sight.
There’s not a lot to see at the site. No chambers are visible but you can see the two portal stones of the axial chamber.
For more detail, see the photo captions.
You could get here from the nearby Lang Cairn but a more scenic way in is via The Whangie (an interesting rock formation) which can be reached by a path from the Queen’s View car park on the A809.
The ground is rough going and, rather than go in a straight line from the Whangie, go down to the forest to the W and follow the narrow path by the fence until it starts to run W. When you come to the junction with another fence, there is a wider path running NW to the site.
Visited 17 March 2004
There are plenty of footpaths in the area near the circles but, once there, they were difficult to see in the long October grass. A visit before Easter would be better.
An interesting feature of the site is the three concentric circles of the ring cairn (of which only the centre one remains complete).
For access, see Glenvoidean.
This cairn would not really be worth making a special trip for but worth seeing as one of the four in the area.
It’s a Clyde cairn in its less common round form but it has been so damaged that very little of the features can be seen.
See photo captions for more details.
Visited 7 March 2004
For access, see Glenvoidean.
Unfortunately, time and the restricted winter ferry timetable meant this one had to be dropped from my recent trip. Infuriating when you’re standing at the bottom of the track and another half hour would have done it.
It’s a Clyde long cairn (53m long) which, from all accounts, although overgrown, still has three chambers with capstones visible.
I’ll just have to come back.
You can visit the four chambered cairns on the W of Bute in an easy three-hour walk. To avoid repitition under each site, I’ve put the location directions for all four here with cross references at the other sites.
Drive up the single track road from Ettrick Bay and park in the small car park at Glecknabae
To reach Glecknabae, walk back down the road a few hundred metres to a gate on the left. The cairn is visible in front of the gate.
For the other three sites, follow the farm track to Kilmichael. After about 10 minutes, a signposted track to the right leads to Carnbaan.
To visit the other two, continue up the farm track. As you reach the first farm buildings, St Michael’s is in an unfenced field on the left.
For Glenvoidean, take the track on the right after the cottage just ahead of St Michael’s.
Glenvoidean is arguably the most interesting of the four but it is gradually being taken over by a gorse bush which not only spoils the understanding of the site but spoils the view over the Kyles of Bute.
It is a Clyde cairn with one axial chamber (at its N end) and two lateral chambers (E and W).
For more detail, see the captions to the accompanying photographs.
Visited 7 March 2004
This circle is visible from the road – more visible since my last visit due to the reduction in the number of trees in which it stands.
Four stones stand to their full height and there are the stumps of four others.
Visited 7 March 2004
This must have been an impressive circle when it was complete.
Signposted and near a road, only three stones remain of seven which were reported in the late 18th century. But even in its depleted state, this is still impressive.
One of the stones measures 2.8m high x 2.2m x 1m and has been split by frost. The other two stones are 2.2m high.
Visited 7 March 2004
These stones were surrounded by ploughed fields so had to be photographed with a long zoom from the nearby footpath.
They are 1.5, 1.7 and 1.9m high.
Visited 7 March 2004
NS38SE 6
Getting to this site does give you wonderful views over Loch Lomond and its islands. You’d need some incentive, because the site itself is not great.
It sits, overgrown with trees, at the edge of a wood. The S half of the facade can still be made out as can part of the axial chamber. There was no sign of the W chamber.
On the way up, you pass the Round Hill (NS38SE 5 at NS369825). Canmore entries debate whether this is natural or man-made. Looks natural to me.
Visited 26 February 2004
NS46SW 9
This should be a good site. Its elevated position would have allowed long views to the N. Sadly it now sits vandalised in a wood and largely covered in turf.
There are five cup and ring marks but only two were visible.
Visited 26 February 2004
NS55NW 5
Not a great site but included to fill in cup and ring mark distribution in the area.
Contains one possible cup and partial ring – very faint.
The nearby site on Deaconsbank Golf Course (NS55NW 8 at NS5458 5779) on the outcrop near the dovecot was also examined but the rock art could not be seen. (Found a golf ball though!)
Visited 25 February 2004
There are over a dozen rocks in this area decorated with cup and ring markings and several more with cup-markings only.
The area has been turned into something of a country park and an information board at the car park refers to some decorated rocks being covered to “protect them from modern human beings”.
Nevertheless at least six decorated sites remain visible but, in the interests of protection, no location details are given here nor are actual site names attached to the images shown.
Anyone looking for more details should email me.
Burl describes this as “a delight to see”. I suppose it depends on your view on four-posters.
It must be one of the smallest (2.4m x 2.7m) and least imposing (in terms of stone size) of all stone circles so maybe that makes it distictive enough to want to see it.
There is another stone of the same size 12m NE.
Visited 1 March 2004
These two sites lie together in the same field.
They were excavated in the mid 1960s and became something of a cause celebre (see Miscellaneous below).
From experience, you tend to have low expectations about the current condition of sites excavated that long ago so it was a delight to see the condition of Mid Gleniron I.
All three chambers are clearly visible and free of any rubble. The partial facade is still there to see and the outline of the cairn is well defined.
Mid Gleniron II has less to offer. The chamber is no longer visible but the cairn remains well defined.
A large round cairn lies across the track from the chambered cairns.
Visited 1 March 2004
A roughly circular area of 6.5 ha (16 acres) is enclosed by a bank about 11m wide and up to 1.2m high. There is no evidence of a ditch or any entrances. Its area takes in the head of the Blackshouse Burn.
The 1794 Statistical Account reported the finding of some urns containing, probably, cremated bone set in cist-like structures set under the ruins of the bank.
In 1985, a survey of the area revealed that the interior contained 19 mounds and small cairns and was “traversed by a network of trackways and drains of various dates” [Canmore].
A limited excavation of the bank carried out at the same time revealed a sequence of events including the construction of large, upright timber posts on the bank’s inner and outer edge the decayed stumps of which produced a late Neolithic radio carbon date.
In 1999, a geophysical survey of western part of the enclosure produced “anomalies which may represent burning events or waterlogged posts used in the bank construction” [Canmore].
To get access, I decided to take advantage of the quarry’s proximity. Parking was allowed at their weighbridge from which it was just a short walk across a couple of fields to the site.
From Greens Moor, follow the forest edge N for 0.5 km.
Once again, the monument has been mutilated for the purposes of ovine accommodation but, from the right angle, you can still see that it must have been an impressive cairn.
One estimate puts its original dimensions at 18m diameter and 2.5m height.
This chambered cairn is situated on Horse Law across the Westruther Burn and is visible from Greens Moor long cairn.
From Greens Moor, head E. There are several crossings over the Westruther Burn. The more adventurous may want to try the telegraph pole crossing situated on the line between the two sites.
Alternatively, detour a little by following the wall S until it ends. There you will find a more substantial crossing.
The cairn is possibly a Clyde cairn. Identification is difficult due to its having been heavily robbed to build the sheepfold which sits at its E end where you might have hoped to find a façade and evidence of an axial chamber.
The remains of one S-facing lateral chamber can be seen just W of the sheepfold and there may be another one opposite it.
The surviving cairn is 30m long.
Park at Redford Bridge on the A70, walk along the north bank of the river then follow the line of the forest east.
The long cairn is close to the SE corner of the forest.
The cairn is 82m N/S and 13m at its widest end (N). Robbing has reduced it to a maximum of 1m high.
There are two round cairns to the S and groups of small cairns to the S and W.