Carn Ban, Glen Cochill, Perthshire

Cairn:  OS Grid Reference – NN 90728 41161

Also Known as:

  1. Canmore ID 26253
  2. White Cairn

Getting Here

White Cairn on the 1862 map
White Cairn on the 1862 map

Take the A826 road south out of Aberfeldy, uphill – and uphill.  Several miles up, past the roadside Loch na Craige, and past the solitary farmhouse of Scotston, you’re getting close.  A few hundred yards past here watch out for the small bridge over the small burn; and literally another half-mile past this, keep your eyes peeled for the small track on your right, onto the moors.  Walk 70 yards on the track and there, on your left, it rises from the heather!

Archaeology & History

Carn Ban, Glen Cochill (photo credit, Paul Hornby)
Carn Ban, Glen Cochill (photo credit, Paul Hornby)

This giant neolithic tomb in the middle of a beautiful nowhere is perhaps the tomb of an ancestral King or Queen, later idolised into creation myths by our heathen ancestors who, we know, lived across this huge moorland plain for countless centuries.  One account tells that “a circle of free-standing boulders set at irregular intervals” used to surround the cairn, but this seems to have gone.

Southeastern quadrant
Southeastern quadrant

Measuring 21 yards (19.2m) across east-west, and just over 21 yards (19.3m) north-south, this is quite a large construction made up of thousands of small stones in a near-perfect ring that measures 68 yards (62m) in circumference. The cairn seems to have been built in three layers, with its outer defining ring of medium-sized rocks, upon which a layer of typical cairn-spoil stones were laid.  A couple of yards within this, a second internal ring has been set consisting of much larger stones, more typical of those found in small stone circles or average ring-cairns.  Within this, the cairn seems to have been raised again and another large deposit of countless stones were scattered, with many pieces of white quartz (very common in this area) incorporated in the construction.

Capstone and outer ring
Capstone and outer ring
Section of internal ring
Section of internal ring

At the very centre of the cairn, at least one large central ‘tomb’ or cist is clearly evident.  Within this cist were found the severely damaged ruins of a small decorated beaker, in which, perhaps, the ashes of the dead might have once been found.  A very large and heavy capstone that covered the central tomb, has been rolled over and lays just off-centre.  No rock art seems visible on this capstone, but we were unable to check its underside.  When standing here at the middle of the tomb, you are four feet above the average ground-level of the surrounding moorland.

Section of cairn edge
Section of cairn edge
Imaginative reconstruction of beaker in central tomb
Imaginative reconstruction of beaker in central tomb

Curiously and erroneously reported by Margaret Stewart (1961) to have “been completely removed”, this large and very visible monument lives near the middle of a very large and extensive prehistoric enclosure, whose walled remains extend for some distance all round this section of the moors.  Within this arena we find large numbers of other architectural features, including many smaller cairns, some hut circles and additional lines of internal prehistoric walling.  Just a few yards south of the tomb itself, we can clearly see a length of walling running east-west and another seemingly reaching up to the White Cairn.  Whether these were built at the same time, or later, is difficult to say.

In the event that you visit this site, take your time!  All round here, mainly to the north and west, you will find masses of prehistoric remains, none of which has been adequately excavated.  A few hundred yards north is an extended necropolis that doesn’t appear to have been surveyed.

References:

  1.  Stewart, Margaret E.C., “Strath Tay in the Second Millenium BC – A Field Survey”, in Proceedings Society Antiquaries Scotland, volume 92, 1961

Acknowledgements:  Huge thanks again to Paul Hornby for his assistance with site inspection, and additional use of his photos.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Cairnbane, Portnacroish, Argyll

Chambered Cairn (destroyed):  OS Grid Reference – NM 925 473

Also Known as:

  1. Canmore ID 23301
  2. Karn Vain

Getting Here

Sadly this site can no longer be seen, but it was evidently something worth seeing in its day.  Twas found “on the north side of Loch Laich, opposite Castle Stalker.”

Archaeology & History

In 1758 W. Burrell wrote about “a very large circular heap of stones, called Cairnbane, in which are said to be several subterraneous apartments, the passages leading to them, supported by large beams of timber in some places, in others by large stones, the entrance is now closed with a stone.” But in 1760 Richard Pococke reported that he could enter the cairn, saying that,

“on the west side of it a little way up is a very difficult entrance which leads to a cell about two yards long and one and a half broad, a this by a sort of door place to another about the same dimensions. I observed in some parts the stones on the side are laid flat, in others edge way, and a little sloping, and large stones are laid across on the top; To the north of it is a low heap of stones, in which three mouths of entrances are very visible, and there seemed to be two more; …the large one is twelve yards long at the top and about a yard broad: It is not improbable that these cells were built all round and several stories of them one over another.”

Explorations here by A.S. Henshall and the Royal Commission for Historic Scotland were unable to find the site and it has been deemed missing or destroyed.  I have yet to seek out any folklore relating to this lost site, but would be very surprised if there wasn’t something loitering in some of the old tongues and tomes!

References:

  1. Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland, Argyll – volume 2: Lorn, HMSO: Edinburgh 1975.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian