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North Uist, Loch Glen Na Feannag
Chambered Cairn (Neolithic), Shieling Hut(S) (Post Medieval)
Site Name North Uist, Loch Glen Na Feannag
Classification Chambered Cairn (Neolithic), Shieling Hut(S) (Post Medieval)
Alternative Name(s) Craonaval
Canmore ID 10251
Site Number NF86SW 11
NGR NF 83873 62887
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/10251
- Council Western Isles
- Parish North Uist
- Former Region Western Isles Islands Area
- Former District Western Isles
- Former County Inverness-shire
NF86SW 11 8386 6290
(NF 8384 6290) Stone Circle (NR)
OS 6" map, Inverness-shire, 2nd ed., (1903)
This cairn, at Loch Glen na Feannag at the foot of Craonaval, has been much disturbed and robbed, and has remains of shielings on the NW side. It varies in diameter from c. 44 to 52ft: the entrance passage runs from just S of E, and five orthostats of a very large oval chamber can be seen lying to the west of the passage.
Beveridge (E Beveridge 1911) records pottery, charred bones and kitchen midden refuse. Finds, including potsherds of the IA or later, are in the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland (NMAS).
E Beveridge 1911; Information from MS of A S Henshall's 'Chambered Tombs of Scotland', Vol. 2, 49-50, plan
This chambered cairn is as described by Henshall. There are at least five shieling-type structures on and around the cairn.
Surveyed at 1/10,560.
Visited by OS (W D J), 3 June 1965
An unroofed shieling-hut is depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Inverness-shire, Hebrides, North Uist etc. 1882, sheet xl) and on the current edition of the OS 1:10000 map (1971).
Information from RCAHMS (SAH) 30 April 1997.
Field Visit (4 August 1915)
Chambered Cairn, Loch Glen na Feannag, Loch Eport.
On a plateau at the base of the eastern slope of Craonaval, about 150 yards south of the passage from Loch Eport into Oban nam Fiadh, and about the same distance north-west of Loch Glen na Feannag, is a very dilapidated chambered cairn. It has been stripped of a large portion of its stony covering, leaving a mound of stones, measuring some 54 feet from east to west, and 4 feet in height, from which some of the large slabs of the wall of the chamber project about 3 feet higher. The outer part of the entrance passage, despoiled of its lintels, remains undisturbed on the east-south-east. Three of the wall slabs of the chamber remain in or near their original position, one on the west measuring 2 feet 9 inches in height above the debris, 5 feet 6 inches in breadth, and 1 foot 7 inches in thickness, another on the north showing an exposed height of 4 feet 8 inches and a width of 2 feet 11 inches, and the third towards the east of smaller dimensions and with a considerable outward slant. From these indications the chamber seems to have been circular with a diameter of about 10 feet 6inches, and the entrance passage about 16 feet in length. The outer part of the entrance passage is defined, for a distance inwards of about 5 ½ feet, by two slabs about 2 feet in height, set on edge 2 feet 4 inches apart at the outer end, and 3 feet 5 inches apart at the inner end. The slab on the west side is 5 feet 6 inches long and the opposite one 4 feet 8 inches long. The portal is formed by two slabs 2 feet 4 inches high, 2 feet 9 inches broad, and 7 inches thick, and 2 feet 5 inches high, 3 feet broad, and 6 inches thick respectively, set 2 feet 4 inches apart with a very wide outward splay from the walls of the passage. In line with, and some 3 feet 6 inches further in than the northern side slab of the passage already described, is another large erect stone 4 feet long, 3 feet 8 inches high, and 15 inches thick, lying against which are two large slabs. One slab, probably a lintel, lies across the passage, but it has been disturbed. Within the chamber, partly embedded in soil, is a stone having the appearance of a roofing flag, at least 7 feet long, and 4 feet8 inches broad. Outside the chamber on the south-west is a confused mass of large, flat stones of which three are of considerable dimensions, and another, a pillar or lintel-stone, lies to the north. This cairn is marked "Stone Circle" on O.S. map. (Fig. 133.)
RCAHMS 1928, visited 4 August 1915.
OS map: North Uist xl
Field Visit (4 March 2010)
This chambered cairn is largely as described and planned by Henshall. It stands in open ground and its perimeter is now subsumed into the encroaching peat. The passage approaches the chamber from the E. The latter is oval on plan, built of large upright slabs and measuring 4.5m from E to W by 3.5m internally; the slab forming the rear of the chamber is set on the axis of the passage. Other large slabs lying adjacent are probably displaced lintels and corbels. Several shieling huts overlie the cairn, including one of two compartments on the NW, which is probably that depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Inverness-shire, Hebrides, North Uist, 1882, sheet xl). This map annotates the chambered cairn ‘Stone Circle’.
Visited by RCAHMS (ARG,SPH) 4 March 2010
