greywether
This was a disappointing chambered cairn. What I had read had led me to expect that more would be visible.
All that you can now see of what was the longest chamber in Kintyre are a few stones poking through the grass.
The standing stone is a beauty though especially when viewed in atmospheric misty weather. Just a fraction over 5m high.
Access. There is a parking area at the foot of the track up to the farm. Steep but short climb. One fence.
Visited 27 September 2004
Two standing stones plus one fallen one. They may originally have been part of a stone circle.
The taller standing stone is 1.4m high.
Access. Drive past Clochkeil Farm and park at the point where the road to the beach turns off to the left. Walk NW towards the stones which are hidden in a dip. No obstacles apart from cattle grids.
Visited 27 September 2004
A well-preserved and spectacularly-situated dun.
Signposted from car park opposite.
Probably the best chambered cairn in Kintyre.
A fully developed E-facing Clyde cairn with a good facade, an axial chamber and three lateral chambers all in reasonable nick.
It sits in a wide forestry clearing and, as usual at this time of the year, was covered with bracken which not only takes away the line of the cairn but also means the chambers cannot be seen as a group.
Access. Off a forest road which is also a cycle path but not generally open to traffic. As I visited it on a holiday weekend when there was no tree clearing, I was able to drive most of the way – which is just as well as it’s an 8 mile round trip from the car park at NR780278.
From the car park, you can visit Kildonan Bay dun and about 1.5 miles along the forest road is Ardnacross I chambered cairn.
Visited 26 September 2004
Centre of the facade from S – showing axial chamber portal stone (3rd from left) and side stone (2nd from left)
The quite substantial remains of two chambers of this Clyde cairn can be seen in a forestry clearing.
No cairn or facade remains but it is possible that the chamber to the N (orientated just E of N) is the axial chamber and that to the S is a lateral chamber entered from the W.
The cairn is on the way to the more interesting Gort na H-Ulaidhe. See access details there.
As you reach the location of the cairn along the forest road, you will come to the start of a young plantation on the right. Head right up a rough vehicle track at this point to where the ground levels out. The cairn is in a clearing to the left and should be visible from here.
Visited 26 September 2004
A not-very-interesting stone with supposedly 29 cup marks near Ardnacross I.
Visited 26 September 2004
Looking W.
The remains of the chamber and, beyond it, part of the facade
There are a number of good chambered cairns on Kintrye worth seeking out – but this isn’t one of them. It’s near the road but that’s the best that can be said for it.
Very ruined and in deep bracken in the summer, it has half a facade and about one eighth of a chamber which, unusually, faces W.
Lochorodale 1 is in the forest at NR659162 and was not visited.
Visited 25 September 2004
This is a bit of an enigma.
IronMan has posted it as a stone alignment. Canmore (with reservations) calls it a chambered cairn with the westward-facing large stones possibly being part of a facade.
The area behind the tall stones has accumulated some field clearance but plans from 30 years ago show two large prostrate (ie not groundfast) stones at right angles to the upright stones possibly enhancing the case for a chambered cairn. The area here also includes a large capstone-like stone.
The arguments against a chambered cairn are the W orientation (but see Lochorodale 2) and the fact that the upright stones are almost touching. But then you rarely get stones that close in a stone alignment.
You pays your money... It’s not a wonderful site and probably only worth a visit alongside Blasthill.
Access: Level and no obstacles. Down a track from Macharioch farm.
Visited 25 September 2004
This Clyde cairn is the nearest Scottish chambered cairn to Ireland (just over 20 miles as the crow flies) and Ireland is visible from the cairn (but not in the direction of its orientation). So it may not be surprising that it bears some resemblance to its Irish cousin the court cairn.
It has a deeply crescentic facade which doesn’t quite reach the long edges of the cairn – themselves lined with visible edging stones. However, to maintain its Clyde credentials, it has a lateral chamber in addition to the axial chamber.
The stones are quite low (maximum 0.7m) but it’s still an impressive site.
Access. Ask permission at Macharioch Farm not Blasthill. Access is from a track opposite Kilbride (NR718088).
Visited 25 September 2004
View from the SE. The stones of the outer of the two-compartment chamber can be seen behind the two portal stones – the one on the S being broken.
The outer compartment was thought by the excavator to be a later addition to the inner compartment which may have been (in his terminology) a protomegalith (see Cairnholy).
The N side stone of the outer compartment has been brought up to that of the inner compartment by use of levelling stones at ground level.
The capstone would have sat on the sidestones of the two compartments and access to the chamber would have been via the capstone as there would have been no way in via the portal stones.
The portal stones therefore have no structural significance but merely serve to denote a front-of-tomb area for ritual purposes. In some Clyde cairns, but not this one, the portal stones were developed into a facade to delineate a greater ritual area.
A return visit here to consider the site in the context of Clyde cairn development theory – see photo caption.
One point to add to the previous access notes is that the visitor-friendly signpost has now gone.
Visited 27 September 2004
I decided not to visit this one up close for reasons which may be obvious from the posted photo.
Anyway, it looks as if it’s been mucked about a bit with field clearance and the best views are probably from where the photo was taken which is the road to the S.
Visited 9 September 2004
This long cairn, unlike many in SW Scotland, has not been mucked about to build sheep pens or field walls. It is therefore a good, well-preserved and easily accessible example of this type of monument.
It sits in an elevated position (170m) near a stream in a forest clearing which to the W is currently new plantation – so the views SW to Bogrie Hill (432m) are maintained.
Surrounded at the time of my visit with chest-high bracken – not the best time to go there!
Access Park opposite Barr House (NX833923) where permission can be obtained. Walk NE up the track towards the loch shortly before which the cairn becomes visible on the right.
Visited 9 September 2004
General view from E.
The cairn is 34m long x maximum 16m wide. Up to 3m high.
Bogrie Hill in the distance.
This site was fully excavated and nothing remains to be seen.
This site and Lochhill were two, originally featureless, long cairns which were excavated in the 70s and shown to have an interesting sequence of development built around a mortuary enclosure (see Miscellaneous).
The site sits in the middle of a forest but in a wide clearing.
Some of the features have been destroyed as part of the excavation process necessary to get down to the basal layers to identify the mortuary enclosure but the facade is still well defined.
The features in the central area are now largely covered in vegetation but three of the standing stones are still visible. Not sure about the fourth.
Not too easy a site to get to and not too spectacular to look at but, if you like that sort of thing, worth the trouble due to its rarity – especially as nothing remains to be seen at Lochhill.
Access Off a forest road but a long way in from the nearest public road. The alternative I adopted was to approach from the W.
Boreland Hill Cottages (NX922607) are holiday cottages which you can drive to if they are not occupied – ask permission at Boreland of Southwick farm. A track leads N then it’s E over an easy stream and some rough ground as you enter the forestry ride leading to the site.
General view looking S over the portals towards the features at the centre of the cairn.
Looking N from the central cairn area along the general line of the mortuary enclosure towards the facade portals.
The central area looking E showing the passage leading to the standing stones and the paved area to the right (S).
This long cairn and Lochhill are examples of mortuary enclosures in SW Scotland.
At this site, three large timber posts were contained within an 8m long compartment situated S of two portal stones and a facade (see plan).
Further to the S and probably after the mortuary enclosure use, a passage ran from near the W of the cairn to a setting of four standing stones situated in the area of the southernmost post of the mortuary enclosure. A paved area ran to the S of these stones.
Subsequently, the passage, the line of the mortuary enclosure and the paved area were filled in with stones.
Finally, the originally horn-shaped cairn was enlarged to a trapezoidal cairn with the internal features obscured.
(Drawn from a number of sources and interpretations)
It was interesting to visit this site after looking at possible protomegaliths at Cairnholy.
There is no sign of a cairn. The rectangular burial chamber has four pillars about 1.5m high arranged one at each corner like a four-poster bed.
A possible undeveloped protomegalith?
Visited 8 September 2004
In search of the protomegalith
This was one of several visits to this wonderful, evocative and photogenic pair of Clyde cairns. Today’s visit was enhanced by being the only visitors for nearly one hour and some of the bluest skies I have seen for a long time.
In addition to the usual pleasures, this trip had a specific purpose: to examine the theory of Clyde cairn evolution and the role of the protomegalith.
This theory suggests that some cairns did not develop beyond the early stages while others were built as fully-developed versions.
At Cairnholy, it is possible to see all the evolutionary stages. See one of the picture captions for more details.
Visited 8 September 2004