Druim An Rathaid, Glenbarr, Kintyre, Argyll

Cairn:  OS Grid References – NR 66926 38320

Also Known as:

  1. Glencreggan Cairn

Archaeology & History

First described in the Object Name Book* of 1867 as being “the remains of a cairn in which D MacMillan of Glenbarr says a cist was found”, this prehistoric tomb was subsequently going to be destroyed in the 1950s by the farmer when local researchers Mr & Mrs J.G. Scott (1958) took to checking the place out before its demise.  And it was a damn good job they did!  The cairn still remains to this day—albeit in a very dilapidated state.  The assistant editor of The Prehistoric Society journal, Ian Longworth (1959), wrote an account of the findings, telling:

“A small mound, apparently the remains of a cairn, was excavated on the farm of Glencreggan by Mr and Mrs J.G. Scott.  The mound was roughly oval in shape, about 20 feet by 14 feet in size, and about 2 feet in height, with its longer axis lying almost E-W.  A large stone slab, about 8 by 3 feet in size, lay against its N corner.

“The cairn was found to consist of a small and fairly compact core of stones intermixed with sand and clay, surrounded by a rather ill-defined outer ring of boulders, the intervening space being largely filled with earth.  Remains of a cremated burial were found beneath the centre core, but there was no trace of a cist, and the bones seemed to be scattered, giving the impression that the cairn might mark the spot where the cremation took place.  Apart from a flint flake, the only finds were two small boulders, each bearing a single cup-mark, which were incorporated in the material of the centre core.”

Of the two cup-marked stones found beneath the cairn, they’re presently living in some box somewhere in the Kelvingrove Museum, Glasgow, who are very approachable when it comes to viewing them if you make an appointment.  I have to say though, one of them may be natural, as it has the distinct look of being the creation of molluscs, who live in profuse numbers just off the coast hereby.  Nonetheless, they were left in the tomb as offerings to the ancestral spirits here. 

References:

  1. Bede, Cuthbert, Glencreggan – 2 volumes, Longman Green: London 1861.
  2. Longworth, Ian, “Notes on Excavations in the British Isles, 1958,” in Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, volume 25, 1959.
  3. Royal Commission Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland, Argyll – volume 1: Kintyre, HMSO: Edinburgh 1971.
  4. Scott, Mr & Mrs J.G., “Argyllshire: Glencreggan, Glenbarr, Kintyre,” in Discovery & Excavation, Scotland, 1958.
* The Object Name Book website recently got “upgraded”, to make it better, smilier, user-friendly, and the usual buzzwords we all hear when things are just gonna get worse.  The website is now a real pain-in-the-arse to use since those halfwit management-types upgraded the site, making it much more hard work to find anything.  Fucking idiots! Who pays these morons?!

© Ian Carr, The Northern Antiquarian

Netherlargie, Kilmartin, Argyll

Standing Stone:  OS Grid Reference – NR 8279 9773

Also Known as:

  1. Kilmartin ‘S6’ (Thom)

Getting Here

Netherlargie Stone

Along the A816 road, just less than a mile south of Kilmartin, take the right-turn on the B8025 Tayvallich road.  Barely 50 yards along here, park up on the left-side of the road.  Cross the road and walk along the well-marked footpath to the mighty megalithic Kilmartin ‘X’.  The path continues to Temple Wood but you’ll see, in the field to your right, this single standing stone. (you’ll see the mighty Netherlargie South cairn in the field beyond)

Archaeology & History

Stone on the 1874 OS-map

First illustrated on the 1874 Ordnance Survey map, this solitary stone (though it may once have had companions) stands some 200 yards south-east of the Temple Wood circle and 355 feet north-west of the northernmost stone in the Kilmartin ‘X’ megalithic complex.  When Alexander Thom surveyed this area, despite finding astronomical alignments at the many standing stones nearby, nothing seemed apparent with this solitary stone.  Its function remains hidden for the time being, although everyone assumes it had some relationship with the giant tombs close by.  It makes sense.

Looking W to Temple Wood
Looking to the southwest

Despite being referenced in a number of prehistoric surveys, archaeological circles say very little about it.  When the Royal Commission (1988) visited here they told how it was leaning to the south-east.  It fell over a few years later but was thankfully resurrected.  When the archaeologists fondled around the base of where it had stood, apart from a few packing stones at one side of the monolith, nothing was found.

References:

  1. Butter, Rachel, Kilmartin – Scotland’s Richest Prehistoric Landscape, HT: Kilmartin 1999.
  2. Campbell, Marion & Sandeman, M.L.S., “Mid-Argyll: A Field Survey of the Historic and Prehistoric Monuments”, in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 95, 1964.
  3. Pearson, Jane, Kilmartin – The Stones of History, Famedram: Alexandria 1975.
  4. Ritchie, Graham, The Archaeology of Argyll, Edinburgh University Press 1997.
  5. Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland, Argyll – Volume 6: Mid-Argyll and Cowal, HMSO: Edinburgh 1988.
  6. Ruggles, Clive, “The Stone Alignments of Argyll and Mull,” in Records in Stone (ed. C.L.N. Ruggles), Cambridge University Press 1988.
  7. Thom, Alexander, Megalithic Lunar Observatories, Oxford University Press 1971.

Acknowledgements:  Huge thanks for use of the Ordnance Survey map in this site profile, reproduced with the kind permission of the National Library of Scotland

© Paul BennettThe Northern Antiquarian

St. Moluag’s Chair, Lismore, Argyll

Legendary Stone:  OS Grid Reference – NM 86972 44042

Also Known as:

  1. St. Maluag’s Chair

Getting Here

St Molaug’s Chair, c.1930

From the Port Appin ferry onto the northern tip of the island, go along the B8045 road for literally 3.5km (2.17 miles) and, shortly after passing Achuaran, a single small white house is on your right. Just yards before here is a small raised rocky knoll. …Or from the Achnacroish ferry, up the road for nearly a mile, then turn right along the B8045 road to Clachan.  A half-mile past the hamlet, go past the old School House, then past Mountain View cottage, and the next small white house on the left has a rocky knoll just past it.  Just over the wall from the road, a sign points out the legendary Chair that you’re seeking!

Archaeology & History

Site shown on 1875 map

St Moluag, a contemporary of the renowned St Columba, was a 6th century Irish saint who came to reside on Lismore—“the sacred isle of the western Picts”—and here taught the early christian doctrines, fused with indigenous animistic traditions.  He used sites of Nature as places of reflection and meditation and this chair-shaped boulder came to be a place renowned as one of his ritual sites, not far from his church.  It was described in Frank Knight’s (1933) huge work as possessing healing properties:

“To sit in it used to be considered a sovereign remedy for rheumatism.”

The site was highlighted on the earliest Ordnance Survey map of the island and its lore was remembered by local people of the time.  The chair had wider ‘arms’ until the beginning of the 20th century when in widening the road, they were accidentally broken off by one of the workmen.

References:

  1. Knight, G.A. Frank, Archaeological Light on the Early Christianizing of Scotland – volume 1, James Clark: London 1933.

Acknowledgements:  Huge thanks for use of the Ordnance Survey map in this site profile, reproduced with the kind permission of the National Library of Scotland

© Paul BennettThe Northern Antiquarian

Carn Ban, Cairnbaan, Lochgilphead, Argyll

Cairn:  OS Grid Reference – NR 84009 90709

Also Known as:

  1. Cairnbaan
  2. White Cairn

Getting Here

Misty mound of Carn Ban

Take the A816 out of Lochgilphead and head north as if you’re going to Kilmartin.  Nearly 2 miles along, take the left turn along the B841 Crinan road.  A few hundred yards along, go over the canal bridge and about 70 yards along there’s a left turn onto the track into the Knapdale Forest.  Go along here (there’s a parking spot) for 200 yards until your reach the grasslands on your left.  If you walk into this bit of scrubland, you’ll see the rounded fairy-mound over the fence in the adjacent field, almost overlooking the canal.  Y’ can’t really miss it.

Archaeology & History

Carn ban, or the White Cairn, from which the hamlet of Cairnbaan gets its name, is a good-sized round cairn, now much overgrown in vegetation, though is still accessible and easy to see.  Just above the water-line of the Crinan Canal, the mound is about ten yards across and more than six feet high and is in a good state of preservation.  Originally, according to J.H. Craw (1930), the tomb was 12 feet high and 40 feet across!

Carn Ban on 1873 map
Carn Ban, looking NE

In the 1850s, the site was examined by a Dr Hunter of Lochgilphead, and Mr Richardson Smith of Achnaba, and a cist that had been built straight on top of the bare rock was uncovered near the centre of the cairn, nearly four feet long and aligned northeast to southwest.  Inside it a thin slab of stone—“2 feet long, 17 inches broad, and 2½ inches thick”—had been slid up against the western end of the chamber and on it was a curious petroglyph design comprising “several incised diamond-shaped figures, one within the other”—five altogether, and the commencement of a sixth—similar to ones found at Newgrange in Ireland.  This carving was removed and given to the Scottish National Museum where it still resides.  Inside the cist, Hunter and Smith found a deposit of some “yellow sand with some black charcoal and several burnt bones lying upon its bottom”, and a subsequent search unearthed some flint fragments.

The Carn Ban is a good site—but if you’re wanting something bigger, something more impressive, I suggest heading just a few miles north…

References:

  1. Beckensall, Stan, The Prehistoric Rock Art of Kilmartin, Kilmartin Trust: Kilmartin 2005.
  2. Campbell, Marion & Sandeman, M.L.S., “Mid-Argyll: A Field Survey of the Historic and Prehistoric Monuments”, in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 95, 1964.
  3. Craw, J. Hewat, “Excavations at Dunadd and at other Sites on the Poltalloch Estates, Argyll”, in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 64, 1930.
  4. MacBrayne, David, Summer Tours in Scotland, D. MacBrayne: Glasgow 1886.
  5. Royal Commission Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland, Argyll – volume 6: Mid-Argyll and Cowal, HMSO: Edinburgh 1971.
  6. Simpson, J.Y., “On Ancient Sculpturings of Cups and Concentric Rings,” in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 6, 1866.
  7. Simpson, James, Archaic Sculpturings of Cups, Circles, etc., Upon Stones and Rocks in Scotland, England and other Countries, Edmonston & Douglas: Edinburgh 1867.

Acknowledgements:  Huge thanks for use of the Ordnance Survey map in this site profile, reproduced with the kind permission of the National Library of Scotland

© Paul BennettThe Northern Antiquarian

Torran, Ford, Kilmartin, Argyll

Standing Stone:  OS Grid Reference – NM 87901 04877

Getting Here

The big man o’ Torran

On the A816 road, a mile-and-a-bit north of Kilmartin, take the small road (east) to Ford—passing the Creagantairbh stone on your right, then a bit further on the Auchinellan stone on your left.  Go through Ford village, making sure to stick to the road that goes along the north side of Loch Awe — as if you’re heading to Dalavich.  Just fractionally over a mile out of Ford village, just where the road begins to swerve into a large bend, there’s a small left-turn that takes you to some houses.  Just 60-70 yards along this little road, take the trivial little path on your right that takes you straight to a piece of manicured scrubland.  If you walk into it, and bear left, you’ll see what you’re looking for.  It’s unmissable!

Archaeology & History

When I first visited here in the 1990s, a farm building stood by this huge standing stone and there were no other houses nearby.  How things change—but thankfully our old sentinel stone is still living here.

Site shown on 1875 map
Romilly Allen’s 1880 sketch

It was highlighted by the Ordnance Survey lads on their early map of the area, and visited a few years later by the great petroglyphic pioneer J. Romilly Allen. (1880)  Standing eleven feet tall and more than four feet across at the base, Allen noticed that, about four feet above ground-level, someone had carved an old cross onto the northeast face of the stone (you can just make it out in the attached photos).  It had obviously been carved many centuries ago, by a wandering christian no doubt—although it was incomplete and never finished.  Perhaps the person who carved it was chased away by local folk, who would have obviously and rightly seen such an act as outright vandalism.  The cross was deemed by Ian Fisher (2001) and the Royal Commission (1992) to be medieval in nature.  Apparently there’s another, much fainter cross that was first mentioned by Marion Campbell etched on the other side of the stone, but in all the times I came here I was never able to make it out.

Old faint cross carving
Small person, big stone!

But even further back in time someone had carved a cup-marking on the stone—and the cross was etched onto the same spot, enclosing the cup-mark.  When I lived nearby, I made a sketch (long since lost) of what seemed to be two other faint cup-marks at one end of the extended arms of the cross, but on our recent visit here these were very hard to make out.  When Ron Morris (1981) mentioned the stone in his survey, he mentioned its proximity to other cup-and-ring carvings immediately to the southeast and a hillock thereby, wondering whether there was “an astronomical complex” going on here.  I doubt it—but I like the idea!

But it’s the size of the stone that’s most impressive here and keeps up with the tradition of similar megaliths in and around the Kilmartin area.  Check the place out when you’re hunting the other stones nearby.  You won’t be disappointed!

Folklore

Local tradition ascribed this great stone as marking the grave of an ancient warrior.  The full folk tale seems to have been lost.

References:

  1. Allen, J. Romilly, “Note on a Standing Stone near Ford, Argyllshire,” in Proceedings Society Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 14, 1880.
  2. Campbell, Marion, Mid Argyll: An Archaeological Guide, Dolphin: Glenrothes 1984.
  3. Campbell, Marion & Sandeman, M., “Mid Argyll: An Archaeological Survey,” in Proceedings Society Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 95, 1964.
  4. Fisher, Ian, Early Medieval Sculpture in the West Highlands and Islands, RCAHMS: Edinburgh 2001.
  5. Morris, Ronald W.B., The Prehistoric Rock Art of Southern Scotland, BAR: Oxford 1981.
  6. Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland, Argyll – Volume 6: Mid-Argyll and Cowal, HMSO: Edinburgh 1988.
  7. Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland, Argyll – Volume 7: Mid-Argyll and Cowal: Medieval and Later Monuments, HMSO: Edinburgh 1992.
  8. Ruggles, Clive, Megalithic Astronomy, BAR: Oxford 1984.
  9. Swarbrick, Olaf, A Gazetteer of Prehistoric Standing Stones in Great Britain, BAR: Oxford 2012.

Acknowledgements:  Huge thanks for use of the Ordnance Survey map in this site profile, reproduced with the kind permission of the National Library of Scotland

© Paul BennettThe Northern Antiquarian

Killarow, Kilchenzie, Argyll

Cist:  OS Grid Reference – NR 6625 2818

Archaeology & History

Halfway between the standing stone of Tangy Glen and the cup-marked stone of Allt a’ Ghoirtein, is a rounded hill that has for a long time been turned to farming.  On top of here in the 1950s, the President of the Kintyre Antiquarian Society, a Mr Duncan Colville, came across the remains of an ancient burial cist, roughly 200 yards north of Killarow Farm.  A short account of the find was written by Mr & Mrs Scott (1957) based on Colville’s description. They wrote:

“The cist, 3ft 8in long by 1 ft 11in wide at maximum, and about 2ft deep, had a stone-lined bottom and was covered by a slab originally 5ft 6in by 3ft in size, but now split into two.  The cover slab lay not far below the surface, and there was no sign of a cairn.  The cist had obviously been rifled, for a layer of clay at the bottom contained fragments of coal and modern glass; on the other hand, a few pieces of cremated bone may have been part of the original burial.”

When the Royal Commission (1971) dudes visited the site a few years later, they could find no remains of it.  The cist is believed to have been covered over and remains hidden underground.

References:

  1. Royal Commission Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland, Argyll – volume 1: Kintyre, HMSO: Edinburgh 1971.
  2. Scott, Mr & Mrs J.G., “Argyllshire: Killarow, Kintyre” in Discovery & Excavation Scotland, 1957.

© Paul BennettThe Northern Antiquarian

Oakfield, Lochgilphead, Argyll

Standing Stone:  OS Grid Reference – NR 85726 88528

Also Known as:

  1. Auchindarroch Stone

Getting Here

Oakfield Stone, Argyll

On the west side of Lochgilphead, at the roundabout where the A83 Ardrishaig road meets the A816 Oban road, cross the road and walk up the sloping drive to the Crinan canal crossing less than 100 yards up. From here, walk straight across along the “Private” drive where, after a few hundred yards, you’ll reach the large old manor house.  Ask the good people there to direct you to the stone, which is a bit further round the track at the back of the house, standing up against some old disused office buildings.  You’ll find it.

Archaeology & History

There’s something about this stone, rarely visited these days (perhaps that’s the thing!), nestling quietly against an old building.  For some reason, an odd reason obviously—a “superstitious” reason probably—it’s been left standing upright against the old walls, untouched by those who made the much more recent structure.  Usually you’d expect such old stones to be destroyed, or at least incorporated into the more modern building — but not this one.

Feeling Nature’s cups
Standing against the wall

Standing nearly six feet in height, the first written records I have of this are from Colin Leitch’s (1904) local history work, where he refers to it as an ancient “Celtic stone” set up against the wall of the dairy (as it was back then).  It is described in the standard Royal Commission (1988) report and local surveys of Marion Campbell (1964; 1984), who give us the respective dimensions of the stone—1m x 0.23m at the base, aligning WSW by ESE—and curiously it seems that little else is known of it.  There are several “cup-marks” on the stone (you can see me fondling them in the photo), but these are Nature’s handiwork and not man-made.  Early 20th century accounts told of two other standing stones near this old fella, but they were seemingly the remains of old gateposts, long since fallen.

References:

  1. Campbell, Marion, Mid Argyll – An Archaeological Guide, Dolphin: Glenrothes 1984.
  2. Campbell, Marion & Sandeman, M., “Mid Argyll: An Archaeological Survey,” in Proceedings Society of Antiquaries Scotland, volume 95, 1964.
  3. Leitch, Colin, Ardrishaig and its Vicinity, John Cossar: Govan 1904.
  4. Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland, Argyll – Volume 6: Mid-Argyll and Cowal, HMSO: Edinburgh 1988.
  5. Ruggles, Clive, Megalithic Astronomy, BAR: Oxford 1984.

Acknowledgements:  To my little animal, Naomi – for getting us over here again. 

© Paul BennettThe Northern Antiquarian

Creagantairbh, Ford, Kilmartin, Argyll

Standing Stone:  OS Grid Reference – NM 85952 01568

Also Known as:

  1. Creagantairbh Beag

Getting Here

Stone on the 1875 map

From Kilmartin go north on the A816 Oban road, and after 1½ miles watch out for the small B840 road on your right, to Ford and Loch Awe.  Less than a mile along the winding road, just after the track to the farmhouse on your left, keep your eyes peeled for the standing stone on your right, whose top is peeking over the old walling.  If you’re not careful you’ll miss it!

Archaeology & History

From the roadside this looks like just a reasonably small standing stone, but closer inspection shows it’s been snapped halfway up—apparently in a great storm in December 1879.  If you look over the wall, just a couple of yards behind the upright you’ll see the larger section of stone that was attached to the 6-foot upright before its calamitous fall.  Originally it was said to have been 16 feet tall!

Broken bit laid flat
From the roadside

The first description of the stone is thought to be by the great J. Romilly Allen (1880) in his brief visit to Ford, saying simply that the stone “is close to the road on the east side, 1 mile from Ford. It is 14 feet high and 3 feet by 4 feet at the base.  The material is slate.  It inclines considerably from the perpendicular”—meaning, that he saw it before the stone had been broken.  Lucky bugger!

More than twenty years later David Christison (1904) visited the site and wrote his of his finds in an essay for the Society of Antiquaries, although in truth he said little more than anyone before and after has been able to say:

“A mile and a quarter south-south-west of Ford Church, 130 yards east by south of Creagantairbh Beag farmhouse, close to the west side of the highway, stands the base of an obelisk, at the foot of which the shaft lies prostrate.  The base is 5 feet 6 inches high,’and has an oblique ledge, half way up on to which the shaft would accurately fit.  If restored, the height of the stone would be 16 feet 2 inches above ground, and it must have had a very handsome appearance, tapering in width as it gradually does from 2 feet 6 inches to 2 feet.  It is 18 inches thick at the base and 10 inches to 12 inches at the top.”

Christison’s 1904 sketch

The name Creagantairbh derives from the Crag of the Bull, which is the sharp hill immediately in front of you to the north; and its geological consort, the Creag a’ Chapuill (or Crag of the Horse) rises to its immediate northwest.  A few hundred yards further along the road towards Ford is the large Auchinellan standing stone.

Folklore

When I lived in Ford many years ago, the olde folk told me how, in bygone centuries, bulls were sacrificed on the Creagantairbh above.

References:

  1. Allen, J. Romilly, “Note on a Standing Stone near Ford, Argyllshire,” in Proceedings Society Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 14, 1880.
  2. Campbell, Marion & Sandeman, M., “Mid Argyll: An Archaeological Survey,” in Proceedings Society Antiquaries, Scotland, volume 95, 1964.
  3. Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland, Argyll – Volume 6: Mid-Argyll and Cowal, HMSO: Edinburgh 1988.
  4. Ruggles, Clive, Megalithic Astronomy, BAR: Oxford 1984.

Acknowledgements:  Big thanks for use of the 1st Edition OS-maps, reproduced with the kind permission of the National Library of Scotland

© Paul BennettThe Northern Antiquarian

Auchinellan, Ford, Kilmartin, Argyll

Standing Stone:  OS Grid Reference – NM 86681 03320

Also Known as:

  1. Achadh nan Carradh
  2. Achnacarra
  3. Canmore ID 22802

Getting Here

Two stones on 1875 map

Unless you’re venturing down the tiny Loch Awe roads, the easiest way here is to turn right off the A816 Lochgilphead-Oban road, 1½ miles north of Kilmartin.  Go along this winding minor road for literally 2½ miles where, after coming out the tree-lined road, just past the small Loch Ederline, the fields re-appear on both sides of the road.  Just here, where the trees end, just a few hundred yards before the hamlet of Ford, in one of the field on the left, you’ll see a tall upright stone.  That’s it!

Archaeology & History

I was very fortunate, many years ago, to live in the old farmhouse of Auchinellan in the trees by this ancient stone.  It became a companion of mine many-a-time, as I sat with it in rain and mist and darkness sometimes, beneath the bright Moon.  It always had a good feeling about it.  And so when a small bunch of us visited here again recently, it was almost as if I’d never been away.  Tis a magickal part of our landscape.

The old stone looking N
The old stone looking NW

Standing ten-foot-tall on a grassy plain with craggy hills all round, this old fella once had a companion close by its side—a stone one!  Accounts of it are curious to say the least, with one telling us that it was only “a few inches high” – which is just daft.  The now-lost stone was in fact about six-feet tall and the story of its disappearance was that it was moved into the grounds of Auchinellan House where I used to live, somewhere in the garden.  I could never find it, and local folk told me that the old fella who lived in the mansion would have known about it, but died shortly before I moved in.  Clive Ruggles (1984) told that it could be found at grid-reference NM 8653 0268, but that would be smack bang on the manor house.

As far as I can tell, the first written testimony of this stone was by the Ordnance Survey lads after they’d visited here in 1871 and, several years later, highlighted it on their maps. (above)  On this is clearly shown, just yards apart, the two standing stones.  Much later, when the Royal Commission (1988) doods did their survey, they described the stone in their usual brief way:

“Situated on the top of a slight rise in a pasture field 270m SW of the Ford Hotel, there is a standing stone which measures 0.7m by 0.55m at the base and rises with straight sides to a flat top at a height of 3m…”

The site was included in Thom’s (1990) major survey on prehistoric stone rows where, again, only a brief description is given, saying:

“On a terrace near Loch Ederline is a standing stone which leans to the E.  It is 9ft 6 (2.9m) high.”

It’s a beautiful place in a beautiful setting and is one of countless prehistoric monuments in this part of Scotland.  Well worth having a look at.

Folklore

The Gaelic names for this site—Achnacarra and Achadh nan Carradh—means “the field of the burial stone”, which relates to the folklore of the stones reputedly marking the place of an ancient grave.

References:

  1. Campbell, Marion, Mid Argyll – An Archaeological Guide, Dolphin: Glenrothes 1984.
  2. Campbell, Marion & Sandeman, M., “Mid Argyll: An Archaeological Survey,” in Proceedings Society of Antiquaries Scotland, volume 95, 1964.
  3. Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland, Argyll – Volume 6: Mid-Argyll and Cowal, HMSO: Edinburgh 1988.
  4. Ruggles, Clive L.N., Megalithic Astronomy, BAR: Oxford 1984.
  5. Thom, Alexander, Thom, A.S. & Burl, Aubrey, Stone Rows and Standing Stones – volume 1, BAR: Oxford 1990.

Acknowledgements:  Big thanks to Neens Harris, Paul Hornby & Frank Mercer.  And the stunning resource of Scotland’s 1st edition OS-maps is Reproduced with the kind permission of the National Library of Scotland

Links:

  1. Auchinellan (Ford) Stone on The Megalithic Portal

© Paul BennettThe Northern Antiquarian


Salachary Stones, Kilmartin, Argyll

Standing Stones:  OS Grid Reference – NM 8405 0403

Also Known as:

  1. Canmore ID 22831

Getting Here

Two of the Salachary stones

Roughly halfway between the staggering standing stone at Kintraw and the farmhouse of Salachary a coupla miles east along the A816 road to Kilmartin, a small overgrown car park nearly hides on the south-side of the road, just below the forestry.  50 yards west of this, a small track winds uphill.  650 yards (0.6km) up here, once it levels out, a hairpin in the track veers NW; ignore it, instead walking into the marshy grass in front of you (south) for 50-60 yards up and round the small rocky crag.  Once you get round the edge of this, immediately east, you’ll see one of the tall monoliths 50 yards ahead of you.

Archaeology & History

Rediscovered in recent times by Marion Campbell (1962), this damaged row of three tall standing stones is cited in Swarbrick’s (2012) poorly-arranged survey as being “difficult to find in broken ground”; although patience brings the stones clearly into sight for any explorer.   They’re big too!  Sadly only one of them still remains fully upright—but that one’s nearly 9 feet tall!

In Miss Campbell’s initial description of the site, following their rediscovery, she told how,

“A chance sighting led to the discovery of a group of three monoliths, one erect, one sloping and one prostrate, on the West side of a wide glen leading S from the upper part of the Bealach Mor; the site commands a fine view into the northern hills. The spot is about 550ft above sea level and this is therefore the highest group of standing stones so far recorded in the area.

“The erect stone is 8ft 4in x 2ft x 1 ft, lozenge-shaped in section, with a pointed top. The leaning stone, also lozenge-shaped, is 10ft x 1ft 8in x 1ft, and pointed. The fallen stone is over 11ft x 2ft wide, too deeply buried in turf for the thickness to he measured. The stones appear to have stood in line, the nearest points of the first and third stones 9ft apart and the line joining them running north and south.  Along a ridge running S behind the stones are a number of small ruins, oval and rectangular, in old cultivations. No surviving placename has been recovered for the site so far.”

Section of the fallen stone
Looking west

Indeed, no subsequent investigation has led to either an early name nor any traditions about the site, and the stones cannot be found on any early maps of the area.  A pity, as they’re quite impressive stones and would have had some old stories known of them in ages gone by.

Twenty years after Miss Campbell’s discovery, in May 1982, the stones were visited and surveyed by the Royal Commission lads.  Their description very much tallied with Miss Campbell’s, but it’s worth citing anyway.  They told us that:

“On a terrace on the W side of an unnamed valley to the S of Bealach Mor and about 850m SW of Salachary, there is a setting of three large standing stones which is aligned from N to S.  Only the N stone is still upright; it measures 0.7m by 0.72m at the base and rises with straight sides to a pointed top at a height of 2.75m.  The central stone is of similar proportions, but it now leans to the NE at an angle of about 15° to the horizontal.  The S stone, which measures 3.4m by 0.65m has fallen with its top to the SE.”

Royal Commission plan
Alexander Thom’s plan

Around the same time, Clive Ruggles (1984) assessed the Salachary stones for any potential astronomical alignments and found—as Alexander Thom & Aubrey Burl did in their own survey (1990)—that as they pointed virtually north-south they stood beyond any solar or lunar functions.  Thom found the stones align almost perfectly north-south, with a notch in the southern horizon at 178°, and on the northern horizon the hilltop of Meall Reamhar at 2° west of north.  This northern line may relate to the airt of death, although no other immediate archaeological remains have been found to fortify this idea (however, other unrecorded standing stones are close by and their relationship with Salachary has yet to be adequately assessed).

Aubrey Burl’s first description of this stone row told us:

“There are three stones in a N-S row situated on a terrace on the W side of a glen.  The N stone, with a pointed top, stands 8ft 4 (2.5m) high.  The central stone leans dramatically at 20°.  It is 10ft (3m) in length.  The S stone is prostrate and half-buried.  It is 11ft (3.4m) long.  The row is about 13ft (4m) long.  From the site there is a fine view of the northern hills.”

Looking north

In truth, the main north-south axis relates to the more open geological avenue of the landscape.  Both the east and west are all but blocked by crags and hills, and the stones seem to have been positioned to echo the hollowed section of the landscape.  The land runs in curious geological folds and has a distinct genius loci which I enjoyed in differing (usually wet) conditions when I used to live nearby.  The site is well worth a walkabout if you’re in the area – and there are more unrecorded stones still hiding in Nature’s rocky folds nearby.

References:

  1. Burl, Aubrey, From Carnac to Callanish, Yale University Press 1993.
  2. Campbell, M. & Sandeman, M., “Mid Argyll: An Archaeological Survey,” in Proceedings Society Antiquaries Scotland, volume 95, 1964.
  3. Campbell, Marian, Salachary, Kintraw’, in Discovery & Excavation Scotland, 1962.
  4. Ferguson, Lesley, “A Catalogue of the Alexander Thom Archive Held in the National Monuments Record of Scotland,” in Records in Stone (ed. C. Ruggles), Cambridge University Press 1988.
  5. Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland, Argyll – volume 6: Mid-Argyll and Cowal, HMSO: Edinburgh 1988.
  6. Ruggles, Clive L.N., Megalithic Astronomy, BAR: Oxford 1984.
  7. Ruggles, Clive L.N., “The Stone Alignments of Argyll,” in Records in Stone (ed. C. Ruggles), Cambridge University Press 1988.
  8. Swarbrick, Olaf, A Gazetteer of Prehistoric Standing Stones in Great Britain, BAR: Oxford 2012.
  9. Thom, A., Thom, A.S. & Burl, Aubrey, Stone Rows and Standing Stones – volume 1, BAR: Oxford 1990.
  10. Weston, Garth, Monuments and Mountains, Ashridge: Bakewell 2007.

Acknowledgements:  This site profile could not have been written without the help and of Nina Harris, Paul Hornby, Frank Mercer and Belinda Sales.

© Paul BennettThe Northern Antiquarian