Archaeology Notes

Event ID 702971

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/702971

NS47NE 2 4944 7614.

(NS 4944 7614) Cairnhowit (NAT) Standing Stones (NR)

OS 6" map (1964)

An unclassified chambered cairn of which only three stones remain. The largest stands 4'6" high and measures 4'1" x 1'3" at its base, with the longer axis NW-SE. At right angles to its SW side is a stone 3'10" high, 2' wide at the base but 2'5" maximum width, by 1'4" thick. Both stones, of sandstone, have jagged edges as if they had been damaged long ago; the first stone looks as if it had been taller, but the other has been reduced only on the SW side. A conglomerate slab, partly covered by turf, lies NE of these stones. It measures 5'5" x 2'4".

The upright stones could well represent one portal stone and the first stone on the S side of the chamber. It is rather less likely that they represent the side and back of a chamber.

The only vestige of a cairn is a few small stones grouped immediately around the orthostats.

A S Henshall 1972

These stones are as described by Miss Henshall. Although there is now no evidence of cairn material or the outline of a cairn it is probable that her acceptance of this as the remains of a chambered cairn is correct since these artificially erected stones could not have been part of any other stone structure or setting.

Surveyed at 1:10,000.

Visited by OS (JP) 26 November 1975