Field Visit
Date June 1979
Event ID 1101486
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1101486
This cairn is situated within the gardens of Crarae Lodge and lies on a slight rise in the raised beach about 175m N of the present shoreline (Campbell and Sandeman 1964; Henshall 1972). It was partially excavated in 1955-7 and the present account is based on the published report (Scott 1963).
Although the cairn has been much disturbed and its outline obscured by garden features, it was probably trapezoidal on plan, measuring about 38m from ENE to WSW by 22m transversely, with a flat facade at the ENE end, through which access was gained to a tripartite chamber. Originally, the facade comprised a series of orthostats linked by panels of drystone walling; all that survives, however, is a single large slab on the S (2.4m high) and a pair of double portal stones (the present drystone walling is a modern reconstruction). The outer portal stone on the N is broken, but the S stone is complete and rises to a height of 2.5m, suggesting that the stones of the facade were graded in height, with the portal stones being the tallest. The chamber, which lies to the S of the medial axis of the cairn, is roughly rectangular on plan, measuring 3.9m by up to 1.4m, and was entered from the E through the rather narrow gap between the portal stones; the sides are formed of large slabs standing to heights of 1.2m to 1.7m, and the two westernmost stones of the N side partially overlap, presumably to provide additional support for the more easterly of the two. The floor of the chamber is divided into three unequal sections by two transverse septal slabs with the largest compartment at the rear.
The excavation showed that the fill of the chamber had been disturbed at an earlier date, but enough survived to indicate that it had contained both inhumation and cremation burials. In a pit at the SE corner of the largest compartment, there was a deposit of 2500 marine shells. Part of a lozenge-shaped flint arrowhead, a few Neolithic potsherds, some hazel-nut shells and marine shells were found scattered in the disturbed fill of the central compartment. At the S end of the forecourt, and below the level of the blocking material, there was another pit also containing about 2500 marine shells. The finds are in the Glasgow Art Gallery and Museum.
Visited June 1979
RCAHMS 1988
