stirling-1963-vol-1/05_096

Transcription

No. 11 -- CAIRNS, CISTS, ETC. -- No.12

Gordon ¹ also refers to an "artificial Tumulus or Mount"
at Carlestown".

623746] -- NS 67 SW (unnoted) -- 19 June 1954

11. Cairns and Barrow, Blochairn. (i) A denuded
round cairn (Fig. 5, no. 1), erroneously marked on the
O.S. map as a "Long Cairn", occupies two-thirds of an
oval, rocky outcrop a quarter of a mile WNW. of Low
Blochairn farmhouse. It consists of an uneven, stony
mound 60 ft. in diameter. Numerous boulders lie on the
surface of the cairn and on the exposed part of the out-
crop lying immediately E. of it.

577755 -- NS 57 NE ("Long Cairn") -- 18 June 1952

[Map inserted]
Fig. 5. Cairns and barrow, Blochairn (No. 11)

(ii) Very little now remains of the cairn (Fig. 5, no. 2)
situated 340 yds. WSW. of North Blochairn farmhouse
at an elevation of a little over 400 ft. O.D. It lies on a
piece of ground now used as a midden. The O.S. 6-inch
map ² records the discovery of an urn in this cairn.

578760 -- NS 57 NE (unnoted) -- 18 June 19532

(iii) A third cairn (Fig. 5, no. 3) is situated on a small
bluff 370 yds. NW. of Low Blochairn farmhouse at a
height of about 360 ft. O.D. Circular on plan, it measures
about 55 ft. in diameter at the base, has a flat top 14 ft.
in diameter, and stands to a height of 7 ft.

579755 -- NS 57 NE -- 18 June 1952

(iv) A fourth cairn (Fig. 5, no. 4), which lies within a
walled enclosure 260 yds. SSE. of High Blochairn farm-
house, has been almost entirely destroyed, but several
stone slabs which remain appear to have been parts of a
large cist.

582754 -- NS 57 NE -- 18 June 1952

(v) A fifth cairn (Fig. 5, no. 5) has almost disappeared,
its position being marked only by a slight swelling in the
ground at a point 230 yds. SE. of High Blochairn farm-
house. The O.S. 6-inch map ³ records the discovery of
two urns in this cairn.

582755 -- NS 57 NE -- 18 June 1952

(vi) When the road was being widened in the 19th
century, at a point 330 yds. ESE. of Low Blochairn
farmhouse, an earthen barrow (Fig. 5, no. 6) was removed
and in it were found three urns, a riveted bronze dagger
and some bones. ⁴ The urns were about one foot apart
and stood upon a flagstone but not within a cist. One urn
was described as measuring 7 in. in diameter and 8 in.
in depth, narrowing at the mouth and very slightly
ornamented with scratches and a small bead-moulding.
The dagger is now in the Hunterian Museum. ⁵

584752 -- NS 57 NE -- 18 June 1952

12. Chambered Cairn, Stockie Muir. This cairn is
situated on almost level, open ground between the steep-
sided channels of two small streams which run for three-
quarters of a mile NW. and W. across Stockie Muir. It
lies 140 yds. S. of the more northerly stream, which is
nameless, and 60 yds. N. of the other, the Cairn Burn,
at a point 300 yds. ENE. of its confluence with Burn
Crooks at White Haughs.
The cairn, which has been disturbed and mutilated by
the collapse of internal chambers or cists and by the
construction of huts or shelters along its flanks, is now
reduced to a disorderly heap of boulders and stones. Its
long axis lies a little N. of E. and S. of W., but for
convenience of description is regarded as lying E. and W.
Originally the cairn may have measured about 60 ft.
in length from E. to W., and about 30 ft. and 22 ft. in
width respectively near its E. and W. ends. Near the E.
end of the cairn, two earthfast columnar stones can be
seen in the debris; one of them is broken off while the
other leans at a considerable angle. A few feet further W.
the remains of a narrow, straight-sided chamber can be
distinguished. This is about 13 ft. long from E. to W.,
measured from the earthfast stones referred to above,
and 3 ft. wide. One or two fallen lintel-stones are visible
among the blocking of the chamber, while another

1 Itin. Septent., 21.
2 Edition of 1923, N xxvii S.W.
3 Edition of 1923, N. xxxii N.W.
4 T.G.A.S., i (1868), 227.
5 P.S.A.S., xxii (1887-8), 350.

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