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Berneray, Leac A' Langich

Chambered Cairn (Neolithic)(Possible)

Site Name Berneray, Leac A' Langich

Classification Chambered Cairn (Neolithic)(Possible)

Canmore ID 84976

Site Number NL58SE 32

NGR NL 56216 80540

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/84976

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

  • Council Western Isles
  • Parish Barra
  • Former Region Western Isles Islands Area
  • Former District Western Isles
  • Former County Inverness-shire

Archaeology Notes

NL58SE 32 56220 80540

See also NL58SE 33 and NL58SE 34.

BY2. Small, damaged megalithic tomb on E-W axis with a N slab 1.9m long and a S slab 1.6m long in situ. A second N slab (1.6m long) lies out of position. The 'chamber' appears to be 1.7m wide.

P Foster 1992; NMRS, MS/595/7.

Activities

Field Visit (1992)

BY2. Small, damaged megalithic tomb on E-W axis with a N slab 1.9m long and a S slab 1.6m long in situ. A second N slab (1.6m long) lies out of position. The 'chamber' appears to be 1.7m wide.

P Foster 1992; NMRS, MS/595/7.

Field Visit (5 May 2010)

First identified by Foster and Krivanek (Branigan and Foster, 2000, 131, BY2, fig. 3.34), this setting of upright slabs is possibly the remains of a megalithic cist, situated on a narrow shelf on the seaward side of a large rock outcrop some 20m in length, which rises about 1m above the ground to the S. The shelf lies about 0.5m below the crest of the outcrop immediately above the rocky shore, and the two slabs that remain in place are set parallel some 1.45m apart. Aligned E and W, the southern stands on the line of the outcrops forming the back of the shelf and measures 1.7m in length and tapers in thickness from 0.35m on the W to 0.25m on the E; no more than 0.4m of its inner face is visible above the turf covering the rubble-choked space between them. The northern slab, which does not directly oppose it but at its W end is staggered about 0.5m to the E, measures 1.65m in length and varies in thickness between 0.28m at the W end and 0.15m towards the E end; it is exposed to a maximum height of 1.1m externally, but rises no more than 0.5m above the turf internally. A third large stone, which measures 1.3m in length by 1.1m in breadth and 0.26m in thickness, possibly lies where it has fallen at the W end. Probably a rectangular slab, it has now lost one corner, but this may be the angular fragment that can be seen lying beneath it.

If this is the remains of a Neolithic structure, its position on the outcrop is unusual; there is certainly no room on the shelf for a typical Hebridean chamber, and while there is a scatter of stones immediately to the W, there is no hint of any cairn material along the rest of the outcrop, and in any case the N slab probably stands too close to the lip of the outcrop for it to have been covered with cairn material. The Witches Grave at Leaval, South Uist (NF71NE 4), provides a possible parallel for a simple rectangular chamber in the Western Isles.

Visited by RCAHMS SH and JH 5 May 2010

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