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Greenland

Chambered Cairn (Neolithic)

Site Name Greenland

Classification Chambered Cairn (Neolithic)

Alternative Name(s) Arg 31

Canmore ID 38790

Site Number NR72SW 1

NGR NR 7427 2413

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/38790

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

  • Council Argyll And Bute
  • Parish Campbeltown
  • Former Region Strathclyde
  • Former District Argyll And Bute
  • Former County Argyll

Archaeology Notes

NR72SW 1 7427 2413

NR 7431 2413 (information from D Colville 1960). A chambered long cairn discovered by Colville several years before 1960. It is situated on a level position on a slight rise and is oriented almost N-S with the axial chamber at the north end. It has been considerably robbed but still stands 6ft high behind the chamber. The north end has been almost denuded and is now low and turf-covered, merging almost imperceptibly into the surrounding turf. The edges cannot be precisely defined, but the cairn appears to be about 50ft wide at the north end and 40ft wide at the south end. It is 87ft long from the entrance to the chamber, but there are indications that it extended northwards to make a fore-court, giving an overall length of nearly 100ft. The south half of the cairn has been greatly disturbed and is now about 3ft high, with the cairn material of irregular angular stones exposed. The only upright stone at the north end of the cairn is the portal stone of the chamber, but two large prone slabs, on either side of the entrance have probably fallen from a facade. The fine chamber at the north end is almost entirely exposed as if it had been cleared out, and a large capstone lies against the west side. A second chamber, at right angles to the axis and entered from the west, is partly exposed half-way along the west side. It is full of debris and only the tops of three upright stones can be seen.

RCAHMS 1971, visited 1963; A S Henshall 1972.

The chambered cairn is as described and illustrated by the previous authorities. Two depressions on the displaced capstone are probably weathered cup marks. The cairn is preserved within a new forestry area.

Surveyed at 1:10 000.

Visited by OS (JB), 3 November 1977.

Chambered Cairn [NAT]

OS (GIS) MasterMap, July 2010.

Activities

Field Visit (May 1963)

Chambered Cairn, Greenland (ARG 31).

This cairn (Fig. 15) stands at a height of 150 m O.D. in rough moorland 800 m NE. of Greenland (formerly called High Smerby). Its remote situation has to a certain extent saved it from the severe stone-robbing suffered by more accessible sites, but a considerable quantity of stones has nevertheless been removed, and the chambers have been rifled. Standing to a height of up to 2 m and now largely grass-grown, the cairn is oblong on plan, measuring 30.5 m in length by about 15 m in greatest breadth, with the long axis aligned N. and S. No traces of a peristalith are visible, and owing to numerous quarry-scoops, particularly at the S. end, the perimeter is irregular at the present time, but the fact that the breadth decreases by some 1.5 m from N. to S. suggests that the original shape may have been trapezoidal. At the N. end the cairn material divides into two unequal horns, each of which projects some 4.5 m on either side of a deep concave forecourt measuring 9.1 m across.

Opening on to the forecourt is the main burial chamber, which measures 3.8 m in length and 1.1 m to 1.5 m in width internally; the main axis runs N. and S. The side slabs, the terminal slab at the S. end, and the E. portal-stone remain, together with a transverse slab dividing the chamber into two compartments of nearly equal size. Except for the terminal slab which is still undisturbed and standing to a height of 1.7 m internally, all the others have been partially dislodged, the side slabs and portal stone leaning inwards and the transverse stone being pushed obliquely across the chamber which is now choked with debris. The roof has been completely removed, but one of the cap-stones lies immediately W. of the chamber. On the E. part of its upper surface there are two small hollows which bear a superficial resemblance to cup-markings, but they are too indefinite to be accepted as undoubted examples. Two other large slabs, one of them lying NW. of the chamber and the other within the forecourt area, presumably either belonged to the chamber or may possibly have formed part of a facade.

Towards the S. end of the cairn there is a side chamber aligned E. and W. and opening to the W. It is completely choked with debris, but the tops of the terminal slab and one of the S. side-slabs are still just visible and the approximate position of the N. side can be estimated, giving a length of 3 m and a width of 1.1 m internally for the chamber. A large slab, probably a dislodged capstone, is now lying just outside the entrance.

RCAHMS 1971, visited May 1963

742241 cclii (unnoted)

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