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Lambsdale
Cairn (Period Unassigned)
Site Name Lambsdale
Classification Cairn (Period Unassigned)
Alternative Name(s) Lambsdale Leans
Canmore ID 7740
Site Number ND05SE 1
NGR ND 05122 54781
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/7740
- Council Highland
- Parish Reay
- Former Region Highland
- Former District Caithness
- Former County Caithness
ND05SE 1 0511 5477.
(ND 0511 5477) Mound (NR)
OS 6" map, Caithness, 2nd ed., (1907)
On the E bank of the Torran Water, about 1/4 mile above its influx into Loch Shurrery is a cairn overgrown with grass. It is slightly ablong on plan, lying with its largest axis E-W and rises in height towards the latter direction. In diameter it measures 55ft from E to W by 41ft from N to S. Its elevation at the E end is trifling and at the W, 6ft or thereby. It has not been excavated.
RCAHMS 1911, visited 1910.
This cairn conforms to the dimensions given above. It has been greatly mutilated by large excavations and no definite evidence of a cist or chamber was noted amidst the mass of stones. The rounded E end of the cairn has been exposed, revealing a spine of stones o.6m high by o.4m wide.
Visited by OS (W D J) 6 April 1961.
(ND 0511 5477) Cairn (NR)
OS 6" map, (1964)
No change to the preceeding report. The trial cuttings are still evident.
Visited by OS (JM) 10 July 1981.
Round cairn included in a list of long cairns in error by Mercer.
R J Mercer 1985; J L Davidson and A S Henshall 1991.
Excavation (October 1955)
Excavation in October 1955 proved that this site is not a chambered cairn. Trial cuttings showed it to be a pear-shaped mound, 80 by 50ft, composed mainly of sand, with a circular and a rectangular stone structure in the SE half, which enclosed several deep burnt layers. About a dozen sherds were found, some apparently Viking, and the partial remains of two human skeletons.
A MacLaren 1955
