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North Uist, Oban Nam Fiadh

Chambered Cairn (Neolithic), Shieling Hut(S) (Post Medieval)

Site Name North Uist, Oban Nam Fiadh

Classification Chambered Cairn (Neolithic), Shieling Hut(S) (Post Medieval)

Canmore ID 10252

Site Number NF86SW 12

NGR NF 84294 62450

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/10252

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
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Administrative Areas

  • Council Western Isles
  • Parish North Uist
  • Former Region Western Isles Islands Area
  • Former District Western Isles
  • Former County Inverness-shire

Archaeology Notes

NF86SW 12 8430 6244.

(NF 8417 6247) Stone Circle (NR)

OS 6" map, Inverness-shire, 2nd ed., (1903)

A chambered cairn, near Oban nam Fiadh, which has been disturbed and robbed, is now only 5ft high. There are remains of small enclosures and buildings round the edges, difficult to define, and the cairn material spreads over an area of c. 58 x 65ft, but an original diameter of c. 50ft is probable. An upright stone on the SE edge and another on the E possibly indicate a peristalith. The entrance is from the SSE, and the chamber, constructed of six large orthostats, is 11ft by 10ft 9ins.

Information from MS of A S Henshall's 'Chambered Tombs of Scotland', Vol. 2, 52-3, plan.

This chambered cairn is as described and planned 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.

Activities

Field Visit (2 August 1915)

Chambered Cairn, Oban nam Fiadh, Loch Eport.

Near the lowest part of the summit of the ridge between Loch Caravat and Oban nam Fiadh, one of the inner recesses of Loch Eport near its western end, at an elevation of some 30 feet above sea-level, is a very dilapidated chambered cairn marked "Stone Circle" on O.S. map. The greater part of the cairn has been carried away, leaving a heap of stones, some 4 feet in height, and part of the chamber on the east-north-east. The cairn seems to have been circular, with a diameter of at least 55 feet. The outline of the chamber is marked by five upright slabs, three on the west and two on the south-east, which stand about 3 feet 6 inches above the debris in which they are embedded, and 6 feet above the exterior of the cairn. The chamber has been oval on plan, measuring about 12 feet 6 inches at greatest diameter. Within it are two large prostrate slabs, apparently fallen from the roof and measuring 10 feet 4 inches in length, 6 feet 6 inches in breadth, and about 11 inches in thickness, and 7 feet in length, 5 feet 2 inches in breadth, and 11 inches in thickness respectively. Some 7 feet 8 inches north-east of the chamber is a slab, 2 feet 9 inches in length and 2 feet 6 inches in height, set on edge, which has possibly been one of a marginal ring of stones.

RCAHMS 1928, visited 2 August 1915

OS map: North Uist xl.

Field Visit (4 March 2010)

This grass-grown chambered cairn is largely as described and planned by Henshall. It has been heavily robbed and measures about 19m in diameter, though its perimeter is poorly defined and retains only two stones of its peristalith, one standing on the E and the other on the SE. The passage approaching the central chamber from the SSE is indicated by the tops of two stones set parallel to each other, which protrude through the turf. The chamber is roughly circular, bounded by six large orthostats and still partly roofed by two displaced capstones. An earthfast stone immediately E of the outer end of the passage suggests that the chamber may have been encircled by an inner kerb, which probably accounts for the two upright stones Henshall notes on the NE. At least six shieling huts are built on the margins of the cairn, which is annotated ‘Stone Circle’ on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Inverness-shire, Hebrides, North Uist, 1882, sheet xl).

Visited by RCAHMS (ARG,SPH) 4 March 2010

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