Barra, Borve, Dun Bharpa

Chambered Cairn, Dun Bharpa, Borve.

The monument marked on the O.S. map and known in the locality as Dun Bharpa is not a dun but a chambered cairn, which, though much pulled about, is a very interesting example of this type of structure. It lies almost on the summit of the saddle between Beinn Mhartuin and Grianan at an elevation of over 400 feet above sea-level, about 1½ miles north-east of the township of Borve. It is hemmed in by hills and only to the north a glimpse of the sea, the Atlantic, is obtained. It is circular in shape, and measures about 85 feet in diameter, and some 17 feet in height. Apparently it has been higher, as the cover stone of the chamber is laid bare, and the whole top of the mound is pitted with hollows 4 and 5 feet in depth. It is encircled by a ring of standing stones, mostly of considerable magnitude, set up within the margin of the cairn. These stones are rough slabs of gneiss placed at irregular intervals round the structure. Fifteen of them can still be counted, of which ten are on the western semicircle and five on the eastern, but on the latter side probably some are a wanting. Several are displaced and overthrown, but the great majority seem to occupy their original position. On the south-western arc, where there are no vacancies, six are placed on a curve 63 feet in length. Two of the slabs to the south show a height of 5 feet 8 inches, and 6 feet 9 inches above the stones in which they are embedded, and they measure 3 feet and 4 feet 2 inches in breadth respectively. One on the east is 7 feet in height and 4 feet 4 inches broad, and a very rough slab on the north, which is overthrown, is 8 feet 9 inches in length, and 3 feet 4 inches in breadth. What appears to be the cover stone of the chamber, as already mentioned, lies exposed on the summit of the cairn slightly to the east of the centre. It is a fine, large, irregularly shaped slab, 9 feet 10 inches long, 5 feet 8 inches wide at most, and about 1 foot thick; beside it lies a long, narrow stone measuring 6 feet 9 inches in length. Beneath the large slab is a mass of tumbled stones, so that no part of the building of the chamber can be distinguished. Between this and the eastern side of the cairn are numerous slabs of large size all displaced. As similar stones are not to be detected at other parts, it is not unlikely that these may have formed part of the entrance passage. There is no trace of the portal on the edge of the cairn. (Fig. 193.)

RCAHMS 1928, visited 5 June 1915.

OS map: Barra lxiv.

Little stone has been removed from the cairn, although the chamber has probably been entered in recent times from the top. A number of large slabs are set near the edge of the cairn, and other slabs on the eastern side show where the passage runs and probably the position of the chamber; a very large slab lying flat on the top of the cairn may well be a capstone of the chamber. The commanding position is probably responsible for the name 'Dun', although the early identification of the site as a burial cairn is recognised in the second element of the name.

Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Argyll and the Western Isles’, (1985).