OS1/22/5/42

Continued entries/extra info

[Page] 42

Druidical Circles - About 4 miles south of the church is
Clava in Gaelic Clavalag, remarkable for its many Druidical circles
and cairns. The place is the most dreary and bleak the imagination can
conceive. These circles vary from 1.40 to 12 yards in circumference,
and many appear not finished; five of them are of very considerable size,
Four of them have been diverted from their original design
and converted into cairns of remembrance of either good or evil.
Mrs. General Campbell, Kilravock Castle, lately caused one of
them to be cleared of the stones, following a passage from the 2nd Circle
to the centre, where a circular cover chamber, 12 feet in diameter and
about 10 feet in height, was discovered. There was no cement used
in building, and the materials were of the very rudest description
In the centre of this singular building, and a few inches from the
surface, there was found Vase bedded in blue clay, containing ashes
and calcined bones. In the ensuing spring, young shoots of rasps grew
up luxuriantly on the very spot from which the urn was dug, so that the
seeds or roots of the rasps must have lain in the ground.
There is another Druidical circle of extraordinary dimensions, perfectly
entire in Midleys, surrounded by a deep fosse. The stones are all
such prodigious size, that it is difficult even to imagine how, without
the combination of great mechanical powers, they could be carried up
the steep ascent.
The only even worthy to be recorded, is the battle of Culloden
fought 16th April 1746, on a bleak morn 5 miles S.W. [South West] of the church
The Castle of Kilravock, built by permission of the Earl of Ross,
stands upon a Cliff rock, rising abruptly from a beautiful plain
to the South of the castle, through which the river Nairn winds its
way. At first, it consisted of a massive lofty tower with the
usual appurtenances, to which, from time to time, additions, not in perfect
Keeping, have been made.
Sir John Rose of Holm, has an elegant modern Mansion house in
this parish: the property has been in the family since 1541.
Davidson Esqr. of Cantray, has erected an elegant mansion
almost surrounded in the south by the River Nairn.

Examiners replies to the underlined portions
Eight of these
circles are shown
on the plans.
There are also
the remains of
two on three more
of these temples
on the opposite
bank of the river
they too are
shown on the
plans. In addition
to these is another
Circle near Dalcross Castle
Diag [Diagram]/Teace and N [Name] Book
There is a circle
nearly answering to
this description at
Druidtemple farm
which see

The site of the Battle
Field is wholly in
the Ph. [Parish] of Daviot for
description of which
see Name book
of that parish.

Transcriber's notes

1. Have transcribed the left hand side of page, then right
2. Unable to transcribe words at bottom of page which is folded over, ripped.