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North Uist, Carinish, Caravat Barp
Building(S) (Medieval) - (Post Medieval), Chambered Cairn (Neolithic), Enclosure(S) (Medieval) - (Post Medieval), Hut (Medieval) - (Post Medieval)
Site Name North Uist, Carinish, Caravat Barp
Classification Building(S) (Medieval) - (Post Medieval), Chambered Cairn (Neolithic), Enclosure(S) (Medieval) - (Post Medieval), Hut (Medieval) - (Post Medieval)
Alternative Name(s) Barpa; Carvat Barp; Bharpa, Carinish Inn
Canmore ID 10254
Site Number NF86SW 14
NGR NF 8367 6031
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/10254
- Council Western Isles
- Parish North Uist
- Former Region Western Isles Islands Area
- Former District Western Isles
- Former County Inverness-shire
NF86SW 14 8367 6031.
(NF 8367 6031) Barpa (NR)
OS 6" map, Inverness-shire, 2nd ed., (1904)
The western half of Carvat Barp, a chambered cairn, has been little disturbed, but the eastern half much so, with buildings and enclosures built up against it. The length of the cairn (excluding the spread at the NE corner) is about 165ft: the width at the E end is c. 85ft with the sides narrowing to a point at the west end. A peristalith of split stones, set on their sides or ends, is traceable in places along the sides of the cairn.
At the east end there seems to have been a wide shallow forecourt, for a horn can be traced at the SE corner running to the SE.
The chamber, which has been entered from the east end, is indicated by six slabs and several large flat stones, which might be displaced corbel or roofing slabs.
A S Henshall 1972.
This chambered cairn is as described and planned by Henshall. A large circular stock enclosure abuts the east end of the cairn and several shielings and at least one rectangular building lie amongst the cairn material.
The shielings are generally hollows in the stones with no pretensions of walling. The cairn has an approximate height of 2.0m.
Surveyed at 1/10,560.
Visited by OS (W D J) 8 June 1965.
Scheduled as Bharpa, Carinish Inn, long cairn.
Information from Historic Scotland, scheduling document dated 28 February 2000.
This chambered long cairn is largely as described though the present growth of vegetation and the disturbance to the E end make it difficult to determine the shape and form of the horns and forecourt. At least two subrectangular buildings have been built into the NE end of the cairn, an oval hut has been built overlying the SW, and the walls of an enclosure embrace the E end of the cairn so that this forms one side of the enclosure’s perimeter. The chamber is located centrally towards the E end, defined by six slabs, but there is no indication of a passage leading to it from the forecourt.
Visited by RCAHMS (ARG, SPH) 31 August 2009
Field Visit (9 August 1915)
Long Chambered Cairn, Barpa, Carinish.
This long cairn, which is in a very dilapidated condition, lies about 1 ¼ miles east of Carinish, and about 300 yards east-north-east of the stone circle (NF86SW 1), at an elevation of about 50 feet above sea-level. Much of its material has been used to build houses in the neighbourhood and the shielings which encroach on the cairn. Its original dimensions cannot be determined, but it has been more than 158 feet in length and 50 feet in breadth across the centre, where the mound still rises 9 feet in height. Its main axis is almost east and west. The western end tails away sharply, both in width and height, for the last 25 feet. The chamber has probably been in the eastern end, but as this portion has suffered most its position cannot be located. Five slabs varying from 1 foot to 4 feet 3 inches in height, placed on edge in line along the eastern end of the northern border, over a distance of 32 feet 6 inches, seem to indicate a marginal setting of such slabs. From either side of the eastern extremity two horn-like banks of stone run out north-east and south-east with a slight curve backwards, their extremities terminating about 148 feet apart. The northern horn for some 40 feet at its extreme end measures some 4 to 6 feet in breadth and 1 foot in height, and the other on the south shows about the same dimensions for the 33 feet it extends outside the cairn. From the extremity of the latter the ruined wall of a later enclosure re-curves sharply. There are very few large slabs left in the cairn. One measuring 4 feet 4 inches in height above the stones, 4 feet 9 inches in breadth, and 17 inches in thickness, stands in a tilted position at the south of the east end of the cairn, and two smaller stones appear nearer the centre of this extremity. While there is not sufficient evidence, owing to the destruction which has taken place, especially at the eastern end of the cairn, to say that this is a horned cairn, the horn-like projections differ entirely in character from the late walls of enclosures seen adjoining the cairn
RCAHMS 1928, visited 9 August 1915.
OS map: North Uist xl.
Field Visit (31 August 2009)
This chambered long cairn is largely as described though the present growth of vegetation and the disturbance to the E end make it difficult to determine the shape and form of the horns and forecourt. At least two subrectangular buildings have been built into the NE end of the cairn, an oval hut has been built overlying the SW, and the walls of an enclosure embrace the E end of the cairn so that this forms one side of the enclosure’s perimeter. The chamber is located centrally towards the E end, defined by six slabs, but there is no indication of a passage leading to it from the forecourt.
Visited by RCAHMS (ARG,SPH) 31 August 2009
Project (14 October 2010 - 2 November 2010)
NF 8362 6000, NF 8476 5873 and NF 7444 2877
A deskbased assessment and walkover survey were carried out 14 October–2 November 2010 prior to improvement works to the A859 road. The DBA identified several significant prehistoric sites in the vicinity of the developments at Carinish,
including an Iron Age dun (Dun Ban – NF86SW 20) and two scheduled monuments; a stone circle (Carinish – NF86SW 1) and a chambered cairn (Caravat Barp – NF86SW 14). A number of dykes, field boundaries, jetties and dwellings, including a blackhouse, were also noted within 1km of the development boundary.
K MacDonald and R Rennell 2010
