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Leachkin
Chambered Cairn (Neolithic)
Site Name Leachkin
Classification Chambered Cairn (Neolithic)
Canmore ID 13555
Site Number NH64SW 8
NGR NH 62967 44166
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/13555
- Council Highland
- Parish Inverness And Bona
- Former Region Highland
- Former District Inverness
- Former County Inverness-shire
NH64SW 8 6296 4416.
(NH 6296 4416) Stone Circle (NR)
OS 6" map, Inverness-shire, 2nd ed., (1906)
The cairn itself of this round chambered cairn of the Orkney-Cromarty type has been removed although there are a number of large stones remaining, a few of which on the north side seem to belong to a peristalith and suggest that the cairn was about 70 ft. in diameter. Some of the stones of the chamber remain: they are of a particularly coarse conglomerate. The entrance appears to have been from the east. One transverse stone remains on the north side of the entrance to the outer compartment or passage, which measures 5 ft. long by 4 - 5 ft. wide. A pair of tranverse slabs divide the outer from the central compartment which was polygonal in plan. Only a slab on the NE side remains though the inner end of a fallen slab which probably stood beside it is just visible. This compartment was about 8 ft 6 ins. long and was divided from the innermost compartment by transverse slabs, only that on the north side surviving. The most conspicuous stone of the group, 6 ft. high, forms the S. side of the inner compartment, while a couple of small slabs, probably only the stumps of larger stones, represent the north wall. There is no end stone, though there are two fallen stones in the chamber besides what may be a displaced lintel now resting to the west of the innermost transverse slab. With the exception of the tall stone mentioned, the side slabs are now 1 - 2 ft 6 in. high while the transverse stones are lower still Visited 19.7.56
A S Henshall 1963, visited 19 July 1963; V G Childe 1944.
Fully described above.
Revised at 1/2500. Photo.
Visited by OS (W D J) 28 March 1962.
Field Visit (15 August 1943)
This monument stands at an elevation of nearly 700ft above sea-level, on the spine of a ridge west of the County Asylum. The structure has evidently been greatly disturbed; but the remains of a cist are still recognisable in the east part (Stones K to O) and at the south west corner there is a great pillar (A) 6ft 4in high, 4ft 3in broad and 2ft 11in thick. Of the stones that form the cist, K (2ft 11in high by 2ft 6in broad by 1ft 1in thick) has evidently been badly displaced, but the remainder, which vary from 1ft to 2ft 8in in height, 2ft to 4ft 1in in breadth and 11in to 1ft 6in in thickness, suggest that the cist may have originally measured about 5ft each way and may have had an entrance—perhaps about 1ft 6in broad—on the west side, between Stones K and L. Stone J, an upright 2ft 9in high, 4ft 4in broad and 1ft 6in thick, lacks any obvious function; as do likewise Stones C, E, F and G, which are almost flush with the ground, and stones B and H, which seem to be slabs lying near prone and largely covered up with soil. Stone D, a slab, is lying free, partly on top of Stone C, and has no doubt be[en] thrown into its present position in more or less recent times. (Photo. By Professor Childe).
Visited by RCAHMS (AG, VGC) 15 August 1943.
OS ref: xi ('Stone Circle')
Field Visit (June 1978)
Leachkin (INV 38) NH 629-441 NH64SW 8
The remains of this Orkney-Cromarty cairn comprise fourteen stones of a two-compartment polygonal chamber with an outer compartment, and seven large kerb-stones. The cairn probably measured about 21 m in diameter.
RCAHMS 1979, visited June 1978
(Henshall 1963-72, i, 381-2)
