North Uist, Airigh Na Gaoithe
Building (Period Unassigned), Cairn (Period Unassigned)(Possible), Marker Cairn (Period Unassigned), Mound (Period Unassigned)
Site Name North Uist, Airigh Na Gaoithe
Classification Building (Period Unassigned), Cairn (Period Unassigned)(Possible), Marker Cairn (Period Unassigned), Mound (Period Unassigned)
Canmore ID 10227
Site Number NF86NW 21
NGR NF 82781 67633
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/10227
- Council Western Isles
- Parish North Uist
- Former Region Western Isles Islands Area
- Former District Western Isles
- Former County Inverness-shire
NF86NW 21 827 676.
'On the summit (elevation 48m) are extensive rubble remains of a long cairn about 10m wide and 28m long, oriented at about 248 degrees with respect to true N. At N end are 2.0m wide orthostat and large wall stones of an empty chamber approximately 1.5m by 1.0m. There may be a second chamber near the centre. Two relatively modern circular shielings or beehive houses, and a small cairn, the latter marking summit of hill, have been built on the long cairn. 6m to SE are flat stones looking like roof slabs but more probably bedrock'.
Lord & Lady Granville; G R Curtis and M R Ponting 1986.
Field Visit (23 September 2010)
From the visible remains, there is little to commend this monument as a chambered cairn. Rather than as ‘an empty chamber’, the large stones on the N are the remains of a two-compartment building measuring internally 5.3m from ENE to WSW by 2m transversely, and possibly inserted into an earlier, broader structure; the large slab thought to form part of a chamber in the earlier account instead marks the WSW end of the building. This slab measures 1.7m in length by 0.3m in thickness and stands 1m in height on the WSW, where its face forms the chord of a small D-shaped structure built against it. Other large slabs include one 1.3m in length leaning inwards at the SSE corner of the building, and at least two others leaning out to the WSW about 4m from the SW corner. A large grass grown stony mound surmounted by a modern marker cairn (NF 82789 67637) lies to the ENE and appears to be the remains of an independent structure. It measures 13m in overall diameter by up to 1m in height and has the footings of three shieling huts visible on its surface (see NF86NW 19). In the absence of any evidence for a large cairn here, the presence of the large slabs incorporated into the building on the N suggest these are the remains of a settlement of some kind, and, like NF86NW 5, one that possibly included a souterrain. As put forward previously, the flat stones recorded to the SE are indeed bedrock.
Visited by RCAHMS (ARG,SPH) 23 September 2010
Change Of Classification (23 September 2010)
