Field Visit
Date 6 May 1914
Event ID 1105226
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1105226
Cairns, lnver Aulavaig.
Near the shore at Inver Aulavaig on the south side of Loch Eishort, about 7/8 mile south-west of Ord, on the eastern side of the mouth of a small stream, Allt an Leth-bheinn, some 40 yards distant from and 22 feet above high-water mark, are the remains of two circular cairns of stone occupying a rough heathery ridge behind which the ground swells upward to the east. The first cairn measures 18 feet in diameter and barely 2 feet in height. It was opened many years ago when the greater portion of the northern half was removed, and a short cist containing a skeleton in a contracted position was discovered in the centre of the mound. The side slabs and one end are still in position and the covering stone lies beside the grave. The skeleton was removed to an adjoining schoolhouse, now razed to the ground, and kept for one night only, the slumbers of the occupant of the house being disturbed by weird whistlings and other uncanny noises. The cist lies nearly north-east by north and south-west by south and measures 3 feet 4 inches in length, 2 feet 2 inches in breadth, and 2 feet 2 inches in depth, while the cover, which is almost square in shape, measures 3 feet 9 inches in length, 3 feet 7 inches in breadth, and 6 inches in thickness. The top of the grave was about 1 foot 4 inches below the summit of the cairn. The second cairn lies some 15 feet south by east of the first and is of the same dimensions but better preserved. Like the first it contains a central short cist, of which the sides and ends are still in situ. It lies almost due north-east and south-west and measures 3 feet 4 inches by 1 foot 8 inches by 1 foot 10 inches; the cover stone, which lies quite near, is of irregular shape and measures 3 feet 4 inches in length, 2 feet 6 inches in breadth, and 6 inches in thickness. The sides, ends and cover stones of the two cairns are formed of fine single slabs of red grit and the body of the cairns by blocks of the same material. The western slope of the ridge between the cairns and the estuary shows numerous small heaps of stone said to be the remains of other cairns. Some 27 yards south-south-west of the second cairn is a small cottar house, immediately to the north of which are the foundations of the schoolhouse already mentioned. When the stones of which it was built were being carted away a cist is reported to have been discovered under the floor, which is no more than 12 feet above high watermark.
RCAHMS 1928, visited 6 May 1914.
OS map: Skye li (unnoted).
