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Latitude: 58.5638 / 58°33'49"N
Longitude: -3.32 / 3°19'11"W
OS Eastings: 323307
OS Northings: 964726
OS Grid: ND233647
Mapcode National: GBR L653.1WK
Mapcode Global: WH6CY.Z07R
Entry Name: Earney Hillock, chambered cairn 720m NE of Granton Mains, Bowermadden
Scheduled Date: 9 February 1934
Last Amended: 5 November 2004
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
Source ID: SM439
Schedule Class: Cultural
Category: Prehistoric ritual and funerary: chambered cairn
Location: Bower
County: Highland
Electoral Ward: Thurso and Northwest Caithness
Traditional County: Caithness
The monument comprises the grassed-over remains of a chambered long cairn of the Neolithic period, about 5000 to 5500 years old, situated at 62m OD in cultivated land at the edge of an extensive boggy area. The monument was originally scheduled in 1934, but an inadequate area was included to protect all of the archaeological remains: the present rescheduling rectifies this.
The upstanding remains of the cairn consist of an overgrown mound approximately 34m NW-SE and 18m transversely, standing 1m to 1.7m in height. There are four visible orthostats (upright slabs) showing proud of the turf, all apparently broken. Three of the orthostats are clustered together about 9m from the SE end of the monument. The northernmost of the three is 1m long and 0.1m thick, aligned NNW-SSE while the southernmost is 1.6m long and 0.2m thick, aligned WNW-ESE, and both project 0.3m. Between them is the barely visible tip of the third stone. The fourth orthostat is 11m to the NW of the northernmost stone of the group of three and is 0.6m long, 0.25m thick and projects by 0.4m: it is aligned SW-NE.
The area now to be scheduled is irregular on plan, approximately 55m NW-SE by 45m transversely. This area includes the features described above, as well as an area within which evidence for the construction and use of the site is likely to survive, as marked on the accompanying map extract in red.
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
The monument is of national importance as the remains of a chambered long cairn which has considerable potential to provide important information on the funerary and ritual architecture of the Neolithic period in Scotland.
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
Bibliography
RCAHMS records the monument as ND26SW 6.
References:
Davidson J L and Henshall AS 1991, THE CHAMBERED CAIRNS OF CAITHNESS: AN INVENTORY OF THEIR STRUCTURES AND THEIR CONTENT, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 104-5.
Henshall A S 1963, THE CHAMBERED TOMBS OF SCOTLAND, VOLUME 1, 266. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
RCAHMS 1911, THIRD REPORT AND INVENTORY OF MONUMENTS AND CONSTRUCTIONS IN THE COUNTY OF CAITHNESS, Edinburgh: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 4-5.
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
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