Scheduled Maintenance
Please be advised that this website will undergo scheduled maintenance on the following dates: •
Tuesday 12th November from 11:00-15:00 & Thursday 14th November from 11:00-15:00
During these times, some services may be temporarily unavailable. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
Gullane Links
Cairn(S) (Period Unknown), Human Remains(S) (Period Unknown), Shell Midden (Period Unknown), Unidentified Pottery(S) (Medieval), Unidentified Pottery(S) (Bronze Age)
Site Name Gullane Links
Classification Cairn(S) (Period Unknown), Human Remains(S) (Period Unknown), Shell Midden (Period Unknown), Unidentified Pottery(S) (Medieval), Unidentified Pottery(S) (Bronze Age)
Alternative Name(s) Eyebroughy; Eyebroughty; West Links
Canmore ID 55021
Site Number NT48NE 1
NGR NT 4922 8555
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/55021
- Council East Lothian
- Parish Dirleton
- Former Region Lothian
- Former District East Lothian
- Former County East Lothian
NT48NE 1 4922 8555.
(NT 4922 8555) Cairns (NR)
OS 6" map (1968)
About 600 yds S of Eyebroughy [Eyebroughty], in a windswept gully bordered by sand dunes, is a group of small cairns on the 20' raised beach, the nearest being about 50 yds from the high water mark. Two roughly parallel rows of cairns stretch eastwards for 20 yds, the rows being no more than 3' apart. The southern row contains at least five cairns and there are six in the adjoining row. There are several more to the SW; many of these have been disturbed. (No details or dimensions are given of the above cairns.)
In a hollow to the SW is a small circular cairn, 12' in diameter and 1' in height. It has a small hollow on the summit and has probably been robbed.
Some distance to the W are the remains of other small cairns, which were excavated in 1902. Some contained cists, in which fragments of pottery were found; apparently they had been previously disturbed.
One undisturbed cairn was found to cover an oval grave. Three human skeletons were found on the floor. Outside the northern end of the grave, but under the cairn, four human skulls and other skeletal remains were found. An Iron Age date is suggested.
The Richardsons note in the same area middens of dark mould containing shells, flints, bones, pieces of decorated urns, charcoal etc. Pieces of broken cinerary urns were also picked up by them, as well as a considerable collection of flints, notably barbed and tanged, and leaf-shaped arrowheads, knives and scrapers, which were donated to the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland [NMAS] in 1928.
J T Richardson and J S Richardson 1902; RCAHMS 1924, visited 1913; Proc Soc Antiq Scot 1929
(NT 4934 8575 and NT 4936 8573). Cairns.
RCAHMS 6" record sheet.
Centred at NT 4922 8555 is a group of thirteen small cairns varying in size from 1.5m to 3.0m in diameter and up to 0.3m high. Two of these are doubtful cairns. Their parallel row formation is not discernible.
No trace was seen of any other cairns.
There is a possible cairn at NT 4931 8573, but those sited by RCAHMS could not be identified. The area of the whole site is one of shattered outcrops, sand dunes and drifting sand.
Surveyed at 1:2500.
Visited by OS (RDL) 16 November 1962
No change to previous field report.
Visited by OS (SFS) 13 July 1975.
Over 11 cairns were reported here in 1925, one of which was excavated and thought to be of Iron age date. Shell middens and flint artefacts were also reported to have been found in this area. These cairns were not visible during this survey, however the area covered with blown sand which have formed into dunes.
Site recorded by GUARD during the Coastal Assessment Survey for Historic Scotland, 'The Firth of Forth from Dunbar to the Coast of Fife' 19th February 1996.
Recent field walking has possibly relocated these cairns at the position shown on the current editions of the OS 1:2500 and 1:10000 scale maps. Lying immediately to the S of a large sand dune and inland from a small rock headland, the cairns can be seen as groups of scattered stones within the fairly active dune system. Only four definite cairn structures could be seen in the drifting sand, measuring from between 2.0m up to approximately 6.0m in diameter. No linear patterns could be discerned. The largest possible cairn stands to about 0.4m in height.
Information from RCAHMS (DE), February 2001.
NT 4922 8555 A site visit in April 2002 located this linear cairn cemetery (NT48NE 1) at the position shown on the current OS map. Eleven of the original 13 cairns mentioned in the first field report from 1924 are still visible, running in two parallel lines in an approximate NE-SW direction.
M Wilson 2005
Field Visit (13 November 1913)
About 600 yards south of Eyebroughy, in a windswept gully bordered by sand dunes, is a group of small cairns on the 20 feet raised beach, the nearest being about 50 yards from high watermark. Two roughly parallel rows of these cairns stretch in an easterly direction for 20yards, the rows being in no place more than 3 feet apart. Five cairns at least are seen in the southern row and six in the adjoining row. Several more appear to the south-west, but many of these have been disturbed.
Farther to the east in the same gully a drystone wall is built in a tortuous line disappearing into and reappearing from the base of the sand dunes. Probably it may have been a wall enclosing the point of land opposite Eyebroughy, as the end of a similar wall is seen on a sand-hill some distance eastward on the shore. To the south-east of the wall numerous fragments of green glazed pottery (? mediaeval) have been found.
In a hollow to the south-west is a small circular cairn chiefly composed of small stones with a few of larger size intermixed, 12 feet in diameter and 1 foot in height. It has a small hollow on the summit and probably has been robbed.
Some distance to the west are the remains of other small cairns, which were excavated in 1902. Some of these contained a cist, in which fragments of pottery were found; but apparently they had been previously disturbed. One undisturbed cairn was found to cover an oval-shaped grave about 4 feet in length, 3 feet in breadth and 3 feet in depth, built of moderately sized stones. Three adult human skeletons were found on the floor. Outside the northern end of the grave but under the cairn four human skulls and other skeletal remains were found. About 300 yards south-west of this place a kitchen midden was examined in 1908. Many fragments of pottery, apparently of the Bronze Age, were found, as well as a few implements of flint and bone. Portions of red deer horns, fragments of bones of various animals, pieces of crab-claws and many shells were recovered. Whelks and limpets greatly predominated, but oysters and mussels were well represented.
RCAHMS 1924, visited 13 November 1913.
Cf. Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., XXXVI., p. 654, xlii., p. 308 ff.
OS map ref.: ii. S.W. and ii. N.W.
