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Latitude: 56.7637 / 56°45'49"N
Longitude: -6.0155 / 6°0'55"W
OS Eastings: 154692
OS Northings: 770762
OS Grid: NM546707
Mapcode National: GBR CBJV.9D4
Mapcode Global: WGZCF.K8P7
Entry Name: Cladh Aindreis, chambered cairn 530m N of Swordle
Scheduled Date: 19 December 2002
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
Source ID: SM7778
Schedule Class: Cultural
Category: Prehistoric ritual and funerary: cairn (type uncertain)
Location: Ardnamurchan
County: Highland
Electoral Ward: Fort William and Ardnamurchan
Traditional County: Argyllshire
The monument comprises a chambered burial cairn of prehistoric date. This chambered cairn is situated on a terrace on the E bank of of the Allt Sordail, in an area of rough grassland at around 10m OD. The cairn measures approximately 45m NW-SE by about 30m across at its SE end and about 6m across at its NW end. The cairn has been heavily robbed in antiquity and now stands only about 0.5m high.
It has also been disturbed in more recent times by the addition of stones cleared from the fields, which form a marked bulge at its SE end. At the SE end of the cairn the remains of a chamber are visible, measuring about 3m E-W by about 1m transversely. The chamber is divided into two, the end-slab of the inner compartment standing to a height of about 1m. It is recorded that a 'stone cist' was found at this site in 1860.
This type of chambered cairn is known as the Clyde type. Chambered cairns are funerary monuments dating to the Neolithic period, and may be expected to contain material relating to their mode of construction and use.
The area proposed for scheduling comprises the remains described and an area around them within which related material may be expected to survive. It is an irregular quadrilateral, measuring a maximum of 55m WNW-ESE by 50m NNE-SSW, as marked in red on the accompanying map.
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
The monument is of national importance because of its potential to contribute to our understanding of prehistoric funerary and ritual practices. Despite having been robbed of stone over the years, sufficient survives to indicate that there will be undisturbed archaeological deposits within and beneath the cairn. Chambered cairns are a relatively rare monument type in Ardnamurchan, this example being one of only two reasonably well preserved examples in the area.
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
Bibliography
RCAHMS records the monument as NM 57 SW 2.
References:
Henshall, A. S. (1972) The chambered tombs of Scotland, Vol. 2, 315, Edinburgh.
RCAHMS (1980) The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. Argyll: an inventory of the monuments volume 3: Mull, Tiree, Coll and Northern Argyll (excluding the early medieval and later monuments of Iona), 45-6, No. 2, Edinburgh.
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
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