Waterhead, The King's Cairn

NS50SE 1 5542 0114.

(NS 5542 0114) Chambered Cairn (NR).

OS 6" map (1958)

The robbed remains of 'The King's Cairn' a Bargrennan-type, chambered, round cairn which was cleared by Curle in 1928 having been previously robbed to chamber-level. It still remains to this level, the centre being an untidy mass of small stones and boulders although the greater part of the cairn is turf-covered. It measures 70ft across and stands 1 to 2 ft high except toward the SE where it reaches a maximum height of 4ft.

A relatively modern wall encircles the cairn a little outside its edge.

RCAHMS 1914; A O Curle 1930; A S Henshall 1972.

The King's Cairn - name unconfirmed, is generally as described and measures overall 19.5m N-S by 18.5m transversely.

The remains of two chambers at least 3.0m long and on the same NW-SE axis, comprise standing slabs and walling of large stones. The E wall of the southern chamber is neatly corbelled to a height of 0.9m. Over the N chamber are two overlapping roofing slabs and a third which appears to be a modern placing. Further chamber or passage detail on the same axis, and shown on the plan is now largely obscured by tumble.

Surveyed at 1:10 000.

Visited by OS (JRL) 25 October 1978.