Balnaguie
Cairn (Prehistoric)
Site Name Balnaguie
Classification Cairn (Prehistoric)
Canmore ID 13598
Site Number NH65SW 10
NGR NH 62922 54728
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/13598
- Council Highland
- Parish Knockbain
- Former Region Highland
- Former District Ross And Cromarty
- Former County Ross And Cromarty
NH65SW 10 6292 5473.
(Area NH 630 546) Beaton (1882) records 'a tumulus of a 40ft base; with fully 5ft curvature at the centre on a small knoll, 150 yards east of NH65SW 3. Woodham found the knoll, now covered in young firs, brush and thick heather, but could not locate the tumulus.
A J Beaton 1882; A A Woodham 1956.
A probable cairn, located at NH 6292 5473, in an area of dense afforestation on a slight knoll. It measures 14.0m in diameter with a flat central top, in which there is a small depression c 1.0m diameter. The maximum height of the cairn is 1.3m, and around the outside several large stones can be seen, although they do not form a continuous peristalith.
Surveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (R B) 18 March 1966.
Field Visit (23 August 1943)
This cairn stands on a low ridge, similar to the one on which stands the Balnaguie chambered cairn [NH65SW 3] and eastwards from it on the opposite side of the small burned mentioned the account of that monument (q.v.). Another small burn runs past it on the E, and though the actual site is under trees the adjoining land to the S is cultivated. Except for a slight hollow in the top the cairn appears to be intact; it is circular on plan, with a diameter of 43ft over all, and is 4ft in height. Some very large stones are firmly set in the ground on the SE and SW sectors in positions where a peristalith might be looked for, and two others on the NE. Two similar stones, one of which is not earthfast, appear nearby but not on the line of the peristalith.
Visited by RCAHMS (AG, VGC) 23 August 1943.
Map ref: lxxxix (unnoted)
Field Visit (May 1979)
Balnaguie NH 629 547 NH65SW 10
Situated 80m E of the chambered cairn NH65SW 3 there is a probable round cairn 14m in diameter and 1.3m high; in 1943 the RCAMS noted possible kerb-stones on the NE, SE and SW.
RCAHMS 1979, visited May 1979
MS. notes in NM RS, RCAMS Emergency Surveys; Woodham 1956, 81, no. 45
