Description

The monument comprises a group of six prehistoric burial cairns, of which at least two are chambered. The cairns are located on a S- sloping hillside, three on either side of the road to Mid Gleniron. To the immediate NW side of the road is a round cairn, about 11m across and 0.8m high, which does not appear to have been disturbed. About 70m NNW from this cairn there are two cairns, almost abutting. The more southerly cairn is partly grass covered, and is 10.2m in diameter and 0.6m high. This cairn has been rather scattered, and before excavation (in 1963-6) appeared to be joined to the cairn which lies a few metres away. This third cairn is a chambered tomb of rather unusual design. It appears to have evolved as an amalgamation of several separate elements: two round cairns with chambers entering from just E of N, and aligned in that direction, the more northerly with a semi-circular forecourt, were joined to form a single long cairn, with the addition of a third burial chamber on the W side, which seems to have been added at the time of the remodelling. Very close to the SE side of the road are two cairns. The first (fourth in order of this description) is oval, about 8m by 12m and 0.8m high, with a small closed chamber apparently lacking an entrance passage. This cairn has been partly excavated. About 12m to the NNE is a long chambered tomb which has been more extensively excavated. Once again it is of composite origin, with an early oval cairn, with burial chamber entered from the ESE, against which was set, on the S side, a burial chamber entered from the SSW, with a concave facade on that side, the whole being embedded within a roughly rectangular long cairn. Finally, about 90m to the NE, is a fine round cairn, apparently undisturbed. This cairn is 25m in diameter and 4m high, and has a bell-shaped profile recalling the bell-barrows of southern Britain. The area to be scheduled is in four parts. Three are circular, 35m in diameter. These are centred on the first and on the sixth-mentioned cairns and on the mid-point between the second and third-mentioned. The fourth part is approximately rectangular, measuring 50m NE-SW by 30m, and aligned alongside the road, with its NW boundary formed by the field boundary, which is excluded from scheduling, and its NE boundary likewise formed by an excluded field boundary. These areas are marked in red on the accompanying map.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The monument is of national importance, indeed arguably of international importance, for the information it has contributed, and additional information which it may still contain, about the sequence and development of funerary and ritual architecture during the Neolithic and early Bronze Age. It may also contain information, accessible to excavation and analysis, about contemporary environmental conditions and land use.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

The monument is recorded in the RCAHMS as NX 16 SE 10.

Excavation report in TDGNHAS 46 1969 (by J X W P Corcoran)

Source: Historic Environment Scotland