North Uist, Buaile Maari
Chambered Cairn (Neolithic)(Possible), Shieling Hut(S) (Post Medieval), Shieling Mound(S) (Post Medieval)
Site Name North Uist, Buaile Maari
Classification Chambered Cairn (Neolithic)(Possible), Shieling Hut(S) (Post Medieval), Shieling Mound(S) (Post Medieval)
Canmore ID 10370
Site Number NF87SE 8
NGR NF 86215 72467
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/10370
- Council Western Isles
- Parish North Uist
- Former Region Western Isles Islands Area
- Former District Western Isles
- Former County Inverness-shire
NF87SE 8 862 724.
(Area : NF 862 725) Three large contiguous stony mounds are situated at the southern foot on Maari at 200ft OD on a sloping shelf below cliffs at Buaile Maari. All three have shielings over them and remains of enclosures nearby. The two smaller mounds are oval and presumably burial cairns. The easternmost mound (about 144ft long with a maximum width of 75ft) seems to be a long cairn.
What appears to be a capstone 12ft 9ins long by 5ft 6ins lies a little in front of the summit some 30ft from the NW end. Lying transverely to the axis of the cairn and to one side of it. Various stones project through the turf, but do not form any recognisable plan and probably do not belong to any structure.
Information from MS of A S Henshall's 'Chambered Tombs of Scotland', Vol. 2, 13.
At NF 8623 7246 there are four mounds, the alleged 'long cairn' described above being two separate contiguous mounds, 20.0m x 17.0m x 2.2m high and 18.0m x 16.0m x 2.28m high.
Of the other two mounds, the eastern is 16.0m x 10.0m x 2.2m high and the western 10.0m x 8.0m x 0.8m.
All the mounds have had one or more shielings built on them and two further shielings are visible 4.0m to the east of the mounds.
Although the shielings obscure any traces of chambers, these mounds are most probably burial cairns.
Surveyed at 1/10,560.
Visited by OS (N K B) 18 June 1965.
Field Visit (4 August 1914)
Mounds with large slabs, Buaile Maari.
At the base of the southern slope of Maari, at an elevation of 200 feet above sea-level, are three large grass-covered stony mounds surmounted by ruined sheilings, with the remains of many stock enclosures in the immediate vicinity. On the western slope of one of these mounds is a very large slab 12 feet 6 inches in length, 6 feet broad and 1 foot 4 inches thick; near the base on the south side is another slab 9 feet 3 inches long by 3 feet 10 inches broad and 11 inches thick, while to the south-east is a third 8 feet 3 inches long and 12 inches thick showing a breadth above the surface of the ground of about 3 feet.
RCAHMS 1928, visited 4 August 1914
OS map: North Uist xxxi (unnoted).
Field Visit (25 September 2010)
Three conspicuous green mounds stand below the rocky crags on the S of Maari, two of which are almost certainly shieling mounds, while the third is possibly the remains of a cairn. The westernmost of the three (NF 86198 72479) is an elongated mound measuring 17m from ESE to WNW by 10m transversely and 1.2m in height with a row of contiguous shieling huts extending along its crest. The central mound (NF 86215 72467) is rather lower in stature and has the remains of what is either a single four-compartment building some 17m in overall length or four contiguous shieling huts extending across its top. The third and easternmost (NF 86239 72468) has at least one two-compartment shieling hut imposed on its ESE flank and another extending the same axis below it to form what is supposed to be the tail of a long cairn. This hut is notable for a large slab set in its dividing wall, but the swelling in the ground beneath it seems to be natural. If there is a cairn here it is the easternmost mound, which has been roughly circular on plan, measuring about 17m in diameter by 2m in height. On the WNW a leaning slab projects at an angle through the turf, while a much larger slab measuring at least 3.4m in length by 1.75m in breadth and 0.45m in thickness lies flat on the surface of the mound a little to its E. Another large slab lies beyond the edge of the mound to the SW and measures 2.7m in length by at least 1m in breadth and 0.25m in thickness. None of these slabs are in situ, and without excavation it is impossible to determine whether they ever formed elements of a chamber.
Visited by RCAHMS (SPH) 25 September 2010
