Cairnholy - Carsluith, Scotland, UK - Wikipedia Entries on Waymarking.com

"Cairnholy (or Cairn Holy) is the site of two Neolithic chambered tombs. It is located 4 kilometres east of the village of Carsluith in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland (grid reference NX518540). The tombs are in the care of Historic Scotland.

Description

The Cairnholy tombs are situated on a hillside overlooking Wigtown Bay. They are situated next to Cairnholy Farm. The site can be accessed at the end of a minor road about 1 kilometre from the A75 road. The two tombs lie within 150 metres of each other.

Both tombs lie open to the sky as most of their original covering stones have been taken in the past to build field walls. Both tombs were partially excavated in 1949 by Stuart Piggott and Terence Powell. Finds from the excavations are in the National Museum of Scotland.

Cairnholy I

Cairnholy I (grid reference NX51765389) is the more elaborate of the two tombs. It measures 50 by 15 metres and has a monumental curving façade, that formed the backdrop to a forecourt in front of the tomb. Excavation showed that several fires had been lit in the forecourt.

The tomb itself has two chambers. The outer chamber, which was entered through the façade, contained a fragment of a jadeite ceremonial axe, together with sherds of Neolithic pottery and a leaf-shaped arrowhead. Late grave-goods comprised Peterborough-ware and Beaker-ware pottery sherds and a flint knife. The inner chamber was built as a closed box, and was inaccessible from the outer one. It was probably originally roofed by a great stone slab resting on the two taller end-slabs. The inner chamber contained a secondary cist, with food vessel sherds and a cup-and-ring carved stone.

Cairnholy II

Cairnholy II (grid reference NX51825404) is located to the north of Cairnholy I. Local tradition maintains that it was the tomb of Galdus, a mythical Scottish king. It is from this tomb that the nearby farm takes its name. It measures 20 by 12 metres, and is less than 60 centimetres high. It has been robbed of stones but there are still two portal stones in front of the chambered tomb. There is a very shallow v-shaped forecourt at the front of the tomb. The tomb contained two chambers. The rear chamber had been previously robbed, and the other disturbed, but an arrowhead and a flint knife were found within the filling, along with secondary sherds of Beaker pottery."

--Wikipedia (visit link)

Cairnholy I:

"The monument comprises a chambered cairn of prehistoric date. It is in the care of Scottish Ministers and is being re-scheduled to clarify the extent of the protected area.

The monument lies in arable farmland at around 120m OD. It comprises an oblong chambered cairn now measuring about 21m long by about 12m wide, although excavations in the 1940s demonstrated that the cairn had originally measured about 43m long and about 10m wide. At the E end of the cairn is a concave facade formed by eight upright pillars measuring between 2m and 3m in height, with the largest pillars at the centre of the facade. A slab-lined chamber measuring about 5.5m long and about 1m wide runs from the centre of the facade, between the two tallest upright pillars, into the body of the cairn. It is divided into an inner and outer chamber of roughly equal size by a transverse slab. Cairns of this type are burial monuments dating to the Neolithic."

--Historic Environment Scotland (visit link)

Cairnholy II:

"The monument comprises a chambered cairn of prehistoric date. It is in the care of Scottish Ministers and is being re-scheduled to clarify the extent of the protected area.

The monument lies on the summit of a low hillock in arable farmland, at around 135m OD. It comprises a roughly oblong chambered cairn now measuring about 21m NE-SW by about 9m transversely. The cairn has been extensively robbed for stone, so that it stands no higher than about 0.6m. The slab-lined chamber, at the NE end of the cairn, measures about 6m long and is divided into an inner and outer chamber of roughly equal size by a transverse slab. The inner chamber still retains its capstone. The entrance to the chamber is flanked by two portal stones, one of which measures 2.9m, the other possibly broken. Cairns of this type are burial monuments dating to the Neolithic."

--Historic Environment Scotland (visit link)

Wikipedia Url: [Web Link]

Visit Instructions:
To post a visit log to this waymark you need to visit and write about the actual physical location. Any pictures you take at the location would be great, as well.

Recent Visits/Logs:

There are no logs for this waymark yet.