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Loch Borralan
Chambered Cairn (Neolithic)
Site Name Loch Borralan
Classification Chambered Cairn (Neolithic)
Alternative Name(s) Altnacealgach Inn
Canmore ID 4623
Site Number NC21SE 1
NGR NC 26038 11142
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/4623
- Council Highland
- Parish Assynt
- Former Region Highland
- Former District Sutherland
- Former County Sutherland
NC21SE 1 26038 11142
(NC 2603 1114) Chambered Cairn (NR)
OS 6"map, (1966)
Round cairn of the Orkney-Cromarty group, with a polygonal chamber. The cairn has been built on a slightly sloping site on the shore of Loch Borrolan. It had a diameter of about 50 ft and still has a height of 7 ft, but it has been severely robbed on the E side. It stands 6 ft within a ring of small boulders which seem to edge a very low platform on which the cairn is built. This feature is more noticeable on the higher and more complete W side, where the boulders are almost contiguous. The entrance passage has evidently been on the E side but is now destroyed. The chamber is represented by two slabs 4 ft 10 ins apart, evidently the walls of the outer compartment of a bipartite chamber, and two transverse slabs beyond them. The inner end of the chamber is obscured by cairn material.
A S Henshall 1963; RCAHMS 1911.
A chambered cairn, as described by Miss Henshall.
Revised at 1:10,000.
Visited by OS (N K B) 23 June 1980 and (G H P) 2 June 1962.
Field Visit (11 June 1909)
13. Chambered Cairn, Loch Borrolan. About ¼ m. from the NW. end of Loch Borrolan, between the road and the loch at the landward end of a point which projects into the latter, is a circular cairn, totally demolished on the E. side. It has had a diameter of about 60'. At 19' in from where the edge has been on the E. side are two large slabs facing each other 4' l 0 apart, and 7' further W. are two low partition stones of a chamber, with their ends facing each other 2' 611 apart. 7' E. of the partition slabs two slabs just visible above the ground probably mark the E. end of the chamber. The greatest height of the remaining portion of the cairn is 7'.
OS 6-inch map: Sutherland Sheet xci. (unnoted).
RCAHMS 1911, visited (AOC) 11th June 1909.
Field Visit (25 November 2009)
The cairn lies on a gently sloping area about 30m from the road leading to Loch Borralan. It is approximately 15m by 12m, aligned E-W with a maximum height of 2m. The cairn body consists of gathered stones of varying shape and size, though most are sub-angular and angular, averaging 0.4m long. The stones are piled to form a sub-circular cairn which has been robbed, particularly on the east side. The chamber is no longer visible, although a depression on the top of the mound may indicate this. No orthostats or lintel stones are visible and the kerb described by previous surveyors is barely visible.
The site has been described as a round cairn of Orkney-Cromarty group with a polygonal chamber. There is no evidence of the slabs of the bi-partite chamber as described in 1911 and the site appears to have been considerably disturbed since the last report from 1962.
(HLP_no 12)
Assynt's Hidden Lives Project 2009
