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Field Visit
Date 23 July 1909
Event ID 1095966
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1095966
82. Chambered Cairn, Achaidh.
Some 30 yards NE. of the last, and nearer the road, is another cairn, which has been excavated. Its general appearance suggests that it is of horned character, but this can only be definitely ascertained after the stones obscuring its out line have been cleared away. The diameter across the centre between the supposed horns from N. to S. is 53' and from E. to W. 50'. The horns appear to project for some 16' and to be some 20' broad at the base. In the centre of the E. or ESE. side the top of a large lintel stone in situ, 6' 4" long, is visible, apparently covering the entrance to the passage. At 12' inwards from this stone is another lintel stone, at the entrance to the chamber. It is triangular in section, 6' in length, 2' across the base, and 2' deep. It has originally rested on two jambs, 3' l" and 2' 6" in length respectively, about 2' apart, and 4' high, but the jamb on the S. side being lower than that opposite, the height of the latter has been supplemented with stones. From this insecure bed the lintel has shifted somewhat. The main axis of the chamber is ESE. and WNW. It is almost rectangular in form, except at the back, where building fills the angles between the sides and the back slab. The extreme length is 8' 9", the extreme breadth 7'. The walls are formed of seven large slabs, two on t:lither side of the chamber, one forming the back wall, and one on either side of the entrance to support the lintel. The spaces between the edges of the slabs are filled with well-laid horizontal building. The height of the chamber to the remaining portion of the overlapping roof is 6' 9" and to the point from which the roof begins to converge 4' 6". The height of the cairn, previous to excavation, was some 8'. The floor of the chamber is paved with flags over its greater extent, laid on the old natural surface. There were found, on excavation, the remains of a single unburnt interment, a short-tanged flint scraper, and a fragment, some 2" square, of darkish pottery, of fine texture, part of a round vessel with a slightly everted lip, ornamented with impressions of a finger nail. The flint and fragment of pottery are preserved in the National Museum of Antiquities, Edinburgh.
See Antiquaries, xliv. p. 104 (illus.).
OS 6-inch map, Sutherland, Sheet cxi.
RCAHMS 1911, visited (AOC) 23rd July 1909.
