North Uist, Airidh Nan Seilicheag
Chambered Cairn (Neolithic), Shieling Hut(S) (Post Medieval)
Site Name North Uist, Airidh Nan Seilicheag
Classification Chambered Cairn (Neolithic), Shieling Hut(S) (Post Medieval)
Alternative Name(s) Airigh Nan Seilicheag; Loch Scadavay
Canmore ID 10238
Site Number NF86NW 8
NGR NF 83648 68809
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/10238
- Council Western Isles
- Parish North Uist
- Former Region Western Isles Islands Area
- Former District Western Isles
- Former County Inverness-shire
NF86NW 8 8366 6878.
(NF 8366 6878) Airidh nan Seilicheag ia a much robbed and disturbed long cairn, aligned WNW to ESE, near the W extremity of Loch Scadavay. Most of the cairn material is in the western half (which also contains the chamber) and is from 6 to 8ft high, dwindling away about 95ft from the west end. Beyond this, a rocky ridge continues which may have been part of the cairn. A passage at the west end leads into an irregular chamber 11ft by 14ft.
It was investigated by E Beveridge before 1911, who found a fragment of charred bone in the passage (which he thought to be a smaller chamber). This is in the NMAS, together with an Iron Age sherd.
E Beveridge 1911; Information from MS of A S Henshall's 'Chambered Tombs of Scotland' Vol. 2, 2-3, plan.
This much mutilated cairn is as described and planned by Henshall. A group of nine stone-built shielings, the best preserved no more than 0.4m high, lie around the perimeter of the cairn and, in some cases, intrude.
Surveyed at 1/10,560.
Visited by OS (J T T) 8 June 1965.
Field Visit (29 July 1915)
Chambered Cairn, Airidh nan Seilicheag.
This cairn occupies the western end of a short, rocky ridge about ½ mile south-east of the chambered cairn "Tigh Cloiche" (NF86NW 1) and overlooking from the north the extreme western recess of Loch Scadavay, at an elevation of about 100 feet above sea-level. It is utterly ruined, the stones having been utilised to build the shielings, now in ruins, which surround it and encroach on its site. It has probably been circular with a diameter of about 60 feet. Towards the western end four upright slabs demark rather more than the eastern half of the chamber, which has been approximately circular with a diameter of some 10 feet 6 inches. These stones project from 2 feet to 3 feet 9 inches above the debris in which they are embedded, and about 11 feet above the base of the cairn. On the western side of the chamber a large slab, apparently from the roof, lies in a tilted position; it measures 8 feet 1 inch in length, 6 feet 1 inch in breadth, and about 16 inches in thickness. Within the chamber is a long, prostrate slab measuring 9 feet 6 inches long, 4 feet 5 inches broad, and apparently about 17 inches thick. Between this chamber and the western edge of the cairn is another chamber, about 5 feet from east to west, and 4 feet across, with a large slab lying across its eastern end. Whether this is part of the original structure (it lies in the probable line of the entrance passage) or formed an adjunct to a shieling, it is impossible to say. On the south-western and western slopes, outside the chamber, there are a dozen slabs and pillars of considerable size, the largest measuring 8 feet 3 inches in length, 2 feet 1 inch in breadth and 1 foot 9 inches in thickness.
RCAHMS 1928, visited 29 July 1915.
OS map: North Uist xxxiv (unnoted).
Field Visit (22 September 2010)
The impression that these are the remains of a long cairn is created by a long and narrow tail of outcrop on the E. In deep heather on the date of visit, the margins of the cairn are difficult to define, but there is little trace of any cairn material extending eastwards down the spine of the outcrop and in so far as it is possible to be certain the cairn appears more circular, centred upon the remains of the chamber at the W end of the outcrop. The passage enters from the W, its position indicated by two lintels almost flush with the surface of the mound, and leads into an oval shaped chamber measuring up to 2.9m across from NE to SW. Most of the side slabs of the chamber remain in situ, together with two displaced capstones, one of which has fallen into the chamber itself, while the other has tipped up on edge above the entrance and now leans outwards. The cairn has been robbed to build numerous shieling huts.
Visited by RCAHMS (ARG,SPH) 22 September 2010
