North Uist, Airidhan An T-sruthain Ghairbh

Chambered Cairn and Stone Circle (ruined), Guala na h-Imrich, Marrival.

In the hollow, southern side of the ridge, Gualana h-Imrich, which connects Marrival with Beinn a'Charra, about 600 yards north of Loch Feirma and some 2 ¼ miles north-east of Claddach Kyles, at an elevation of about 200 feet above sea-level, is a much dilapidated cairn, probably chambered, with a number of standing stones surrounding it, evidently the remains of a stone circle. The cairn has been plundered to build at least a dozen shielings, known as Airidhan an t-Sruthain Ghairbh, whose ruins occupy the summit, sides, and immediate neighbourhood of the mound. Though much disturbed it seems to have been circular with a diameter of about 75 feet, and it still attains a height of about 8 feet. Towards the southeastern edge is a hollow filled with stones showing a slab set on end on its west side suggestive of an entrance passage to a chamber, but as the hollow leads not towards the centre of the cairn but rather across the eastern side, it probably was an adjunct to one of the shielings built on the side of the cairn. Numerous displaced slabs and blocks of considerable size appear on the summit, having been used in the construction of the later buildings; one slab split through the centre, measuring 6 feet 3 inches long by 3 feet by 1 foot 3 inches, shows eight drill holes along one side.

Of the surrounding circle five stones remain, one being prostrate, and possibly some of these have been shifted. One on the eastern edge of the cairn, and placed obliquely to it, is 5 feet high, 3 feet 3 inches broad, and 1 foot 1 inch thick; two about 50 feet to the west of the cairn measure 3 feet 3 inches in height, 4 feet in breadth, and 9 inches in thickness, and 6 feet 6 inches in length, 4 feet in breadth, and 11 inches in thickness respectively, the latter being prostrate; the remaining two, standing on the northern arc at a distance of about 33 feet from the mound, are 2 feet 10 inches high, 5 feet 3 inches broad, and 1 foot 4 inches thick, and 2 feet 2 inches high, 2 feet 2 inches broad, and 1 foot 3 inches thick respectively.

One of the shielings on a mound about 25 feet to the north-west of the cairn is in a much better state of preservation than the generality of these structures. It is of rectangular shape with rounded corners measuring internally at the floor 9 feet from north to south and 6 feet from east to west. The drystone wall standing to a height of 4 feet tapers from a width of 2 feet 9 inches at the foundation to 1 foot 8 inches at the top and the gables rise about 2 feet higher than the wall head. There are two doorways almost opposite in the eastern and western walls, the east doorway having a width of 20 inches at the bottom, widening to 26 inches at the wall head, and the west doorway being rather narrower, 17 inches at the bottom and 23 inches at the top.

RCAHMS 1928, visited 5 September 1914.

OS map: North Uist xxxiv (standing stone).

This chambered cairn measures about 22m in diameter. An upright slab is visible leaning inwards at the base of the cairn on the SE and several large stones, two of which appear to be capstones, lie off-centre on the NW. Of these capstones, one lies in a slight hollow in the surface of the cairn and the drill holes evident along its N edge show that it has been cut down from a large slab. An enclosure or setting formed by large slabs encloses the cairn eccentrically, extending NNE from its N flank for a short distance before turning sharply WNW and then turning again on the NW to arc round towards the SSW; the relationship between the two is unclear, but there is a strong impression that the enclosure rides up onto the flank of the existing mound on the N, suggesting that it may be a later construction. In addition to the enclosure, at least seven shieling huts and a building have been built with stones quarried from the cairn. Two of the huts lie on the W (NF 79583 69357, NF 79581 69363), two on the N (NF 79591 69370, NF 79603 69373), two on the ENE (NF 79610 69367, NF 79607 69363) and the last on the SW (NF 79553 69334). The two to the W of the cairn are built into an irregular stony mound, and one of those on the ESE is of two compartments. One of the huts to the N incorporates what is probably a large slab from the chamber into its inner face on the NE. The roofless building, which stands on the WNW (NF 79578 69371) survives to wall head height and is presumably that described as ‘fairly complete’ in the earlier account.

Visited by RCAHMS (ARG,SPH) 22 September 2010