Category: Cairns, Tombs, Tumuli

For those who may not know, the terms ‘cairns’ and ‘tumuli’ are just prehistoric tombs. Another word we find as we move further north into Scotland is ‘cist’, which has a similar affiliation. A cairn is a pile of loose rocks and stones, which tends to be erected over a single or multiple burial or cremation – though without excavation we can never be sure which one it’s gonna be! A tumulus meanwhile (‘tumuli’ is the plural) is a heap of earth piled up over a burial or cremation. Small cairns and tumuli tend to cover single graves; whilst larger ones can have multiple burials therein. However we sometimes find that huge tombs have only one or two burials/ cremations inside. In such cases it’s likely that the people entombed there were of considerable importance: perhaps a tribal chief, a king, a queen, or powerful shaman. In many places across northern Britain, where there’s a profusion of cairns/tumuli we tend to find a good examples of prehistoric rock art, or cup-and-ring stones.

Sauchie, St. Ninians, Stirling, Stirlingshire

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Cairn (destroyed): OS Grid Reference – NS 77 88

Archaeology & History

An impressive prehistoric cairn of some considerable size was in evidence on the lands of Old Sauchie, near Sauchie farmhouse, until the Industrial Age brought an end to its presence. First mentioned in the New Statistical Account (‘Stirlingshire’, volume 7), the Royal Commission lads reported,

“Nothing now remains of the cairn that once existed ‘on the lands of Sauchie’, about 3 miles SSW of Stirling. It was examined in the early 19th century and is said to have measured more than 20ft in height and 90ft in diameter, to have been made of stones, and to have contained two cists, one somewhat larger than the other. It is possible that Wilson (1863) is referring to this cairn when he mentions a quantity of ‘silver coins recently found in a cist exposed on the demolition of a cairn on the lands of Sauchie.’ The coins were very thin, and were described as having been ‘struck through from the back,’ with ‘figures’ on one side only. Some of them had loops for suspension, and there can be little doubt that they were silver bracteates. All have been dispersed and lost.”

If anyone has further information about this obviously important and seemingly lost site, please let us know!

References:

  1. Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments, Scotland, Stirlingshire – volume 1, HMSO: Edinburgh 1963.
  2. Wilson, Daniel, The Archaeology and Prehistoric Annals of Scotland – volume 2, Sutherland & Knox: Edinburgh 1863.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian 

Carleith, Crook of Devon, Kinross-shire

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Cairn:  OS Grid Reference – NT 0404 9877

Getting Here

Carleith Cairn, from roadside

Go along the A977 road out of Powmill village towards Crook of Devon, and as the road swerves uphill, past the Powmill Milk Bar on the right-hand side of the road, take your next right.  Go along this small country lane for a mile or so, past Maidenwells Farm; then as you go uphill, stop at the very top.  Look in the field on your left, where a small round clump of trees are surrounded by circular walling.  The cairn’s inside the protective walling.

Archaeology & History

This Bronze Age tomb sits quietly amidst the ring of trees and walling which give the site cover and protection and, of course, an excellent view of the landscape for the spirit of whichever ancestor lives here.  The place seems to have been described first of all in the Old Statistical Account of the area, in 1796, where they told:

“In the middle of Carleith are the ruins of an old building, perfectly circular, and nearly 24ft in diameter. Not long ago, the proprietor ordered this ground to be planted, and the stones were dug up to make a dyke. Two stone coffins were found each 4 feet long by 3 feet broad, and contained some human bones and teeth.”

The cairn’s within the trees…

Today, the overgrown remains of the cairn measure roughly 10 yards across, with the beeches reaching their great roots into and around the old tomb.  The sides of the stone cist are still visible amidst the undergrowth.  It was measured and described in a letter to the Ordnance Survey by J.S. Nichol in 1959, who thought there may have been more than one tomb here.

Folklore

Although we don’t know for certain, one of the legendary witches known as ‘Meg of Aldie’ was said to frequent an old site close to where she lived – perhaps the Carleith cairn.  The site is a damn good contender for such heathen rites!

References:

  1. Simpkins, Ewart, County Folklore – volume VII: Fife, Folklore Society: London 1914.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Cairnwochel, Ardoch, Perthshire

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Chambered Cairn (destroyed):  OS Grid Reference – NN 830 127

Archaeology & History

References to this site are few and far between.  I wandered past the place the other day on my way back from the megaliths of Dunruchan and Comrie without knowing anything about the place; but was, for some reason, drawn up the grassy hill slope towards the forestry plantation, where the scattered old walling implied (to me at least) the presence of some old prehistoric ruin… But as the daylight hours were fading, I had to head for home, wondering what it was that was pulling my nose to this place I’d never visited before.

The following day when I was searching for information about the prehistoric archaeology of the area, I came across Audrey Henshall’s (1972) description of some giant cairns that once stood here, upon the hilltop – exactly where my nose had led me!  Sadly however, they have been all-but destroyed.

At least two prominent prehistoric cairns were to be found in relative proximity to each other hereby, each with their own name.  The site was first described in A. Gordon’s 1726 work, Itinerarium Septentrionale, where he wrote the following:

“On the hill above the moor are two great heaps of stones, the one called Cairnwochel, the other Cairnlee: the former of these is the greatest curiosity of its kind that I ever met with; the quantity of great rough stones lying above one another almost surpasses belief, which made me have the curiosity to measure it, and I found the whole heap to be about 182 feet in length, 30 in sloping height, and 45 in breadth at the bottom.  That at Cairnlea is not near so considerable as the former.”

Nearer to the end of the 18th century, Cairnwochel was mentioned again – this time in the Old Statistical Account (1793), where a description was given of some dig into the giant cairn, to see what lay beneath the mass of rocks.  The report told that,

“there was found a stone coffin, in which there was a skeleton 7 feet long.  The cairn lay from north to south and the coffin was nearly in the middle of it, with the head to the east. Most of the stones have been carried away to inclose the neighbouring farms; but the coffin, with a few large stones around it, has, by the order of Sir William Stirling, been preserved.”

When Miss Henshall explored the site in the 1960s, she found very little left of this once superb tomb, simply, “the only sign of any structure (were) a few laid stones on its S side, possibly part of a revetting wall-face.”

The sheer size of the cairn implies that it was probably Neolithic in origin (its description reminded me of the King’s and Queen’s Cairns near Skipton, Yorkshire).   We have hardly any information about the nearby Cairnlea site.  The intrusion of the forestry commission here has probably covered over a number of other important Neolithic and Bronze Age remains, but if anyone has further information on this site it would be hugely welcome.

References:

  1. Henshall, Audrey, The Chambered Tombs of Scotland – volume 2, Edinburgh University Press 1972.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Elistoun West, Tillicoultry, Clackmannanshire

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Cairn:  OS Grid Reference – NS 92220 99205

Also Known as:

  1. Canmore ID 48266
  2. Eliston Hill

Getting Here

Cairn, with Gannel Hill in the background

A helluva climb to get here.  Take the last road up towards Mill Burn at the west end of Tillicoultry and go to the picnic area & carpark, just below the footpath that takes you up the eastern slopes of the gorge.  Walk up and up the steep footpath for nearly a mile and, as the landscape begins to level out a bit and turns more into a slope, watch out for a split in the paths and make sure you hit the one that veers you to the right, towards King’s Seat instead of the one that runs alongside the edge of the Gannel Burn valley below you.  Walk along this path for a few hundred yards and you’ll come across a large pile of rocks placed atop of a much older and overgrown mass of stones, right by the path side. .

Archaeology & History

View of the green cairn, looking north

Due northwest of the curiously named Elistoun Hill, is this seemingly isolated overgrown prehistoric cairn.  Measuring some 8 yards across and more than a yard tall, this compacted fairy-mound of a hillock has the crown of many large, more recent blocks on top, thankfully highlighting it making it much easier to find!  But its isolation here is truly curious – as is the location halfway along hillside, quietly hidden away, calling out for no attention to any ancient traveller.  It was listed as an ancient monument when surveyed by Ordnance Survey in the 1970s, although I have to be honest in saying that I doubt the prehistoric prevenance of the site.  I may be wrong, but an excavation here would prove worthwhile.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Woofa Bank Cairn, Burley Moor, West Yorkshire

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Cairn:  OS Grid Reference – SE 1376 4542 

Getting Here

Newly found cairn, looking north

Follow the same directions to reach the Little Skirtful of Stones giant cairn.  From here, walk 200 yards straight north until you hit the footpath at the top of the Woofa Bank crags. Walk left along the footpath and where it begins to slope downhill, note the large boulder right by the path and another 30 yards further on.  Between these large rocks, turn left into the heather some 20 yards.  You’re damn close!

Archaeology & History

Close-up of covered tomb

Rediscovered on March 17, 2012, this small untouched prehistoric stone cairn, measuring 3½ yards by 2½ yards across and about 1 yard tall, was found thanks to the moorland heather being burnt, which has stripped the covering vegetation from the monument.  It rests just a couple of yards away from a small, almost dried-up stream, seemingly in isolation.  There are scattered remains of medieval workings nearby, between here and the Little Skirtful—some of which have intruded upon and destroyed earlier sites—but this particular cairn has a prehistoric pedigree.  An excavation here would be worthwhile sometime in the future; but the problem is, there’s so much neolithic and Bronze Age material all over this area, it’s hard to know where to start!

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Coldstone Beck Cairn (02), Burley Moor, West Yorkshire

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Cairn:  OS Grid Reference – SE 1421 4512

Getting Here

Small stone & cairn spoil, looking east

From Burley train station walk up the road, turning right as you meet the moorland road.  Go on for a couple of hundred yards until you run parallel with the Coldstone Beck stream. Walk up here for about 800 yards until the full moorland begins to open up ahead of you. Walk up the slope on your right (west) about 30 yards above the first of the ruined grouse-butts, towards the scattered mass of rocks before the small crags.  The small standing stone on the edge of the ruins will catch your attention!

Archaeology & History

A fascinating small cairn which initially had us puzzling as to its very nature. Was it a cairn? Or was it a section of prehistoric walling? The former would seem to be the more likely, though an excavation here would obviously be helpful.

Standing stone, cairn-spoil & Coldstone valley to rear
Coldstone Cairn 2, looking west

Scanning the Earth hereby we found no surface remains, merely a section of disturbed ground where the small stones were placed and, obviously, removed in some number not too long ago.  Stones from the cairn had obviously been robbed to construct the grouse-butts close by (something the local council officials seem to find acceptable).  It would appear to be consistent in structure with many of the other cairns on this moorland, some of which are neolithic, but the majority date from the Bronze Age.*  This particular cairn seems to be Bronze Age in nature.

The most defining element in the cairn is the small standing stone, less than two feet tall above ground level, within the southwestern area of the denuded tomb.  No carvings could be noted on the stone, nor marks of any significance on the other smaller stones.  Another cairn of similar age but in much better condition—the Coldstone Beck Cairn 01—can be seen when the heather’s burnt back, some 20 yards north.

* More than 100 singular small cairns exist around here, most of which have never been archaeologically assessed.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Coldstone Beck Cairn (01), Burley Moor, West Yorkshire

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Cairn:  OS Grid Reference – SE 1421 4514

Getting Here

Coldstone Beck Cairn 1, looking north

From Burley train station walk up the road, turning right as you meet the moorland road.  Go on for a couple of hundred yards until you run parallel with the Coldstone Beck stream. Walk up here for about 800 yards until the full moorland begins to open up ahead of you. Walk up the slope on your right (west) about 40 yards above the first of the ruined grouse-butts, towards the scattered mass of rocks before the small crags.  You’ll have to scout about a bit when the heather’s deep, but it’s there, hiding away!

Archaeology & History

Cairn in centre, looking east towards Otley Chevin

Like many prehistoric tombs on this moorland, this one has never before catalogued.  Found about 20 yards north of Coldstone Beck Cairn 02, this larger and more complete megalithic structure, probably Bronze Age in nature, is of the traditional construction for cairns in this region: of small to medium-sized rocks that can be carried quite easily and deposited over a specified site, beneath which we’ll find either a ruined clay urn, or skeleton, or ashes.

The cairn measures just over 3½ yards in diameter east-west, and 3 yards north-south; it rises nearly a yard tall above ground level at the centre.  Much of the internal construction has been compacted through centuries of soil and vegetational growth, with only the outer rocks of the structure being slightly loose.  There are several other prehistoric cairns of the same size nearby, none of which have been recorded by the regional archaeologist round here.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Thieveley, Holme Chapel, Lancashire

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Tumulus (destroyed):  OS Grid Reference – SD 873 277

Archaeology & History

A prehistoric cairn or tumulus could once be found close to the grid-reference cited here, but all trace of it has long since been destroyed.  The site was mentioned briefly in Thomas Booth’s (1899) short survey on the prehistoric tombs of the area, telling:

“I have omitted to mention in its proper place a find which took place at Holmes Chapel about the year 1826.  The particulars are very meagre but, according to a local journal published some fifty years ago, called The Comet (edited by the late Abraham Stansfield), some workmen who were engaged in pulling down a barn at Thieveley discovered an ancient urn, whose contents were of a similar kind to those of other urns of this class.”

The “other urns” he mentions are those that have been found in prehistoric tombs on the north side of the same valley, including those at Cliviger Laithe, at Catlow, at Delf Hill and other sites close by.  Remains of another prehistoric cairn can be found close by on top of the hill at Thieveley Pike to the south, where a beacon was built, damaging the original tomb.

References:

  1. Booth, Thomas, Ancient Grave Mounds on the Slopes of the Pennine Range, R. Chambers: Todmorden 1899.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Bul Barrow, Woolland, Dorset

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Tumulus:  OS Grid Reference – ST 7751 0574

Also Known as:

  1. Bulbarrow
  2. Bull Barrow

Archaeology & History

A prehistoric round barrow with an ancient literary pedigree, dating back to Anglo-Saxon records according to A.D. Mills (1989), when is was described in the boundary records of 833 AD as ‘on burg‘.  It was described again in local records as Buleberwe in 1270, then more like the form we recognize today as the Bulbarowe in 1545, and variants thereof many times since then.

Measuring about 18 yards across and standing four feet high, Grinsell (1959) defined the monument as a ‘Bowl Barrow’, due to the shape of the mound.  A brief description of the site by the Royal Commission (1970) lads told:

“Bulbarrow (77500574), bowl, lies at about 870ft above sea-level near the summit of the chalk escarpment, here known as Bulbarrow Hill. The centre of the mound has been dug into. Diameter 54tf, height 4ft.”

Grinsell and the Royal Commission both made note of a “sharpened bone of deer”, reported by Mr Woolls (1839), but pointed out there was an uncertainty whether the bone was dug “from this or the Bull Barrow in Holt” parish.

All early forms of the burial mound’s name strongly suggest it derived to a once great bull.  The reason for this cannot be known for certain, but if we follow Conrad (1959) or Eliade’s (1986) rationale, the animal here was very likely a sacred bull — akin to the more famous Bull of Minos, or Apis, or Nandi.  The religious importance of sacred animals was just as widespread in the British Isles as it was elsewhere in the world (examples of bulls relating to prehistoric remains scatter the British Isles with a similar association: see the Bull Stone, Guiseley; the Creagantarbh stones and hillfort, Argyll, etc.).  It would be good to know of any local folklore relating to oxen or other bovines in the Woolland area.

References:

  1. Conrad, Jack Randolph, The Horn and the Sword: The History of the Bull as Symbol of Power and Fertililty, MacGibbon & Kee: London 1959.
  2. Eliade, Mircea, Zalmoxis, University of Chicago Press 1986.
  3. Grinsell, Leslie V., Dorset Barrows, Dorset Natural History & Archaeological Society 1959.
  4. Mills, A.D., The Place-Names of Dorset – part 3, English Place-Name Society 1989.
  5. Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset – Volume 3: Central Dorset, Part 2, HMSO: London 1970.
  6. Woolls, Charles, The Barrow Diggers, Oxford 1839.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Sheep Scar Circle, Giggleswick, North Yorkshire

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Ring Cairn:  OS Grid Reference – SD 80519 66474

Also Known as:

  1. Borrins Top

Getting Here

Sheep Scar cairn circle, looking east

From Settle, take the same direction as if you’re visiting the giant Apronful of Stones cairn.  Walk past it, keeping to the walling for 350 yards (319m) until you reach the gate on your right.  Go through this and walk along the grassy footpath ahead of you for 75 yards (68.5m) and there, right by your left-hand side, you’ll see this low grassy circular embanked monument, or cairn circle.

Archaeology & History

This gorgeous, little-known cairn circle, hiding almost unseen beside the ancient grassy pathway that leads down to the haunted Borrins Wood, sits innocently, forgotten by those who would claim its importance.  When this overgrown ring of stones was first built, the trees of Borrins Wood grew around the sacred court of this monument, watching rites committed to the ancestors, annually no doubt at the very least, under guidance of the Moon.  But now such ways have been swept from the memory of those living, into worlds made-up of artifacts, linear time and dualist ideals, and our thoughts when brought here are encloaked by beliefs not worthy of such a place.  Like many other small rings of stone, this was important for the rites of the dead.  For here we can see a small stone-lined cist (grave) near the middle still growing from the Earth, with the small outer ring encircling the place of rites.  It was obviously of ‘religious’ importance to those who lived here, probably even centuries after initial construction.

Embankment and central ‘grave’
Central & southern section of the ring

Similar in size and structure to the Roms Law Circle on Burley Moor, this site on the hills above Giggleswick seems to be Bronze Age in nature.  From outer-edge to outer-edge the rough circular monument measures approximately 14½ yards (13m) north-south, by 15½ yards (14m) east-west, with an outer circumference of about 49 yards (43m).  The edges of the ring, as you can see in the photos, is made up of an embankment of thousands of small stones and rubble, measuring between 1-2 feet high and between 2-3 yards across.  The old cist in the middle of the ring—about 1 yard by 2 yards—has been dug into at some time in the past and a small mound of stones surround this central grave.  The entire monument is very much overgrown, but still appears to be in relatively good condition.  A new excavation of this and nearby prehistoric monuments would prove worthwhile.

The ruined circle has a tranquil spirit, enclosed within a rich green panoramic landscape, enhanced with the breaking of old limestone and gnarled hawthorns.  Other prehistoric cairns can be found nearby and the remains of a previously unrecorded prehistoric enclosure stands out on a small rise 164 yards (150m) southeast.  We’ve found other unrecorded prehistoric remains in this arena which will be added to TNA, as and when…

References:

  1. Speight, Harry, The Craven and Northwest Yorkshire Highlands, Elliott Stock: London 1892.

Links:

  1. Images & Walk to the Sheep Scar Circle and Nearby Sites

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian