Archaeology Notes

Event ID 642199

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/642199

HU45SE 2 4537 5350.

HU 455 534. Cairn, Hard Knowe. A denuded circular cairn with a fine marginal setting of large stones, lies about 300 yards west of Loch of Benston. It has a diameter of about 26 feet.

In or near the centre two earthfast and two fallen slabs are evidently the remains of a cist lying E-W. It is roughly 5' long and 2 1/2' broad. The cairn is surrounded eccentrically by a single line of stones, mostly earthfast and some now missing, at intervals in a subcircular formation. This enclosure, which has a diameter of about 142', could be contemporary with the cairn, but a later period cannot be ruled out. Within the SE section a comparatively modern 'plantie-crub' has been erected.

C S T Calder 1965.

A cairn at HU 4538 5348,generally as described and illustrated by Calder, except that two stones on edge on the E side suggest the kerb stones of a flat facade. It cannot be determined whether the cairn was chambered. The surrounding enclosure is almost certainly a field wall, not associated with the cairn.

Surveyed at 1/2500.

Visited by OS(NKB) 7th May 1968.