Warehouse, North
Chambered Cairn (Neolithic)
Site Name Warehouse, North
Classification Chambered Cairn (Neolithic)
Alternative Name(s) Cairns Of Warehouse
Canmore ID 9048
Site Number ND34SW 41
NGR ND 30567 42276
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/9048
- Council Highland
- Parish Wick
- Former Region Highland
- Former District Caithness
- Former County Caithness
ND34SW 41 30567 42276.
An Orkney-Cromarty type round cairn with a Camster-type chamber. One of the group of five cairns known as Cairns of Warehouse, it was excavated by Rhind in 1853 and Anderson in 1865. It is now ruinous but has been about 40ft in diameter and stands 6ft high with the chamber partially exposed. Anderson found it to be surrounded by two wall-fences.
J Rhind 1854; J Sinclair 1865; J Anderson 1886; RCAHMS 1911; A S Henshall 1963.
Under and extending south of the Orkney-Cromarty type round cairn Warehouse North is a long horned cairn. Near the round cairn it measures approx 10m in breadth; at its narrowest point some 30m S it measures approx 7m in breadth and is some 0.3m high; it extends some 35m from the edge of the round cairn to the centre of its S facade. The S forecourt measures approx. 9-10m between the south most inner corners of horns some 2m wide, and is about 5m deep. A mass of masonry on the NE side of the round cairn may be a horn of a N forecourt, but excavations by Anderson in 1865 allow the possibility that this masonry is spoil. A more jumbled mass of masonry on the NNW side of the round cairn is in a feasible position for a horn but is indistinguishable from spoil. All measurements are converted from paces and orientations are approximate.
Information from P Ashmore, IAM, 16 December 1980.
Scheduled with ND34SW 69, ND34SW 70, ND34SW 71 as Cairns of Warehouse.
Information from Historic Scotland, scheduling document dated 9 November 2000.
This prominent chambered cairn stands on a terrace on the N flank of an un-named hill: two other cairns (ND34SW 70 and ND34SW 71 ) stand on the summit. The grass-grown cairn measures 16m in diameter and stands 2m in height. The entrance to the passage, which measures at least 3.6m in length by about 0.8m in width, is on the E and leads into an ante-chamber. The entrance to this is flanked by two small portal stones set 1m apart and the ante-chamber itself measures 2m from E to W by 1.7m transversely within dry-stone walls. A further pair of portal stones set only 0.5m apart forms the entrance to the main chamber to the W. The northern stone measures 0.9m in height by 0.8m in breadth and 0.2m in thickness, the southern 1m in height by 0.7m in breadth and 0.15m in thickness. The main chamber, which measures 2.6m from E to W by 1.7m transversely, is sub-divided 0.7m from its W end by two low orthostats jutting out from the N and S sides to leave a gap some 0.8m wide. These slabs rise up to 0.3m above the rubble that now obscures the floor of the chamber. The W end of the chamber is formed by a single slab at least 0.8m in height.
(YARROWS04 220)
Visited by RCAHMS (AGCH) 29 June 2004
