Cairn: OS Grid References – NR 7801 8910
From Lochgilphead go north up the A816 for just over a mile, turning left going through Cairnbaan to Bellanoch, where the road bends left up the B8025 into the trees. Keep along here for a mile and when the small road appears on your left, follow it for just over a mile till you see the cottage on the roadside with the loch at tha far end of the garden. There’s a small path besides the cottage. Walk along here for 100 yards until you see the small cairn on your left.
Archaeology & History
This is a beautiful quite place with only a small pile of stones here, about 100 yards west of Gariob Cottage on the ridge overlooking Loch Sween. The remains of the cairn here are about 20 feet across (or were when I last came here nearly 20 years ago!). Excavations here in 1977 and 1978 found a small cist split into 2 sections, just off-centre, aligned northwest. The lower part of the cist was filled with small stones and charcoal; whlst the larger section had the same with additional quartz stones in it.
References:
- Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historic Monuments of Scotland, Argyll – volume 6, HMSO: Edinburgh 1988.
© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian
