Archaeology Notes

Event ID 697793

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/697793

NR99NE 6 9859 9728.

(NR 9859 9728) Stone Cists found (NAT)

OS 6" map (1873)

The Ordnance Survey Name Book [ONB] records "four stone coffins containing human bones and ashes" found here, which may be identified with the burial chamber of this Clyde-Carlingford chambered cairn, though only three segments were found in the chamber by Scott in his excavations of 1955-7. It was found to be probably trapezoid in shape, oriented E-W and measuring 115' by 60'. At the E end was an elaborate, almost flat facade, originally 35' long and a forecourt which may have been paved. A complex entrance, consisting of two sets of portal stones, leads from the forecourt into the burial chamber, the lower part of which survives, built of massive slabs, measuring 16' x 4'. Both inhumed and cremated burials had been placed in the burial chamber, accompanied by pottery - six sherds of rough, gritty material, possibly from a large round-bottomed bowl like that from Beacharra - were found, along with a possibly calcined lozenge-shaped flint arrowhead and hazel nuts. Finally, the entrance had been sealed by a stone slab and a blocking of boulders, which had been added to in more recent timed, pieces of slag iron, china, coal, and two parts of the upper stone of a rotary quern being found among them. The surface of the forecourt at original ground level was very largely of loose gravel, darkened by charcoal fragments, and containing pieces of burnt bone. In a pit about 2' wide dug some 6" below the original surface at the S end of the forecourt was a deposit of c. 2,500 marine shells.

The finds from the excavation are in Glasgow Art Gallery and Museum. After the excavation, the cairn was partly restored by the DoE by stabilising and in one instance, replacing, the side slabs of the burial chamber, and reconstructing the dry stone walling of the facade with stones which may have fallen from it.

J G Scott 1963; R W Feachem 1963; A S Henshall 1972; M Campbell and M Sandeman 1964

Burial chamber and facade, as described.

Surveyed at 1:2500.

Visited by OS (DWR) 4 October 1971

NR 9856 9727 A watching brief was undertaken in November 2006 during the construction of a new access path into the garden to the N of the visitor centre and immediately W of the chambered cairn. The foundation for the path was only 0.1 - 0.2m deep and simply removed the topsoil. Although no archaeological features were discovered a range of artefacts was found including 19th- and 20th-century pottery and glass along with two flakes of flint.

Archive: NTS SMR and NMRS (intended).

Sponsor: National Trust for Scotland.

Derek Alexander and Diane Gorman, 2006.