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MHG13034 - Chambered cairn - Lon Laith

Summary

A chambered cairn at Lon Laith.

Type and Period (1)

Protected Status

Full Description

A chambered cairn at Lon Laith.

NC 225 115. A large chambered tomb with few features visible apart from a great volume of loose stone.
Information contained in letter from R le N Noble to J Close-Brooks, 10 December 1979.

A bare stone cairn, at NC 2253 1120 on a shelf in an E-facing hillside, measuring 11.5m in diameter by 0.8m high; no chamber is evident.
Surveyed at 1:10,000. Visited by OS (J M) 11 August 1980.

Historic Assynt surveyed this site in October 2015.

Chambered Cairn with shieling huts built into it and others close by. The cairn has been recorded but it has not previously been noted that, like other Neolithic cairns in Assynt, it consists of predominantly quartzite cobbles which must have been carried a considerable distance. It is among the smaller Assynt cairns at approx 12m in diameter. Built close to the 200m contour like several other cairns in the Elphin/Ledbeg area but sited on a prominent spur with even more spectacular views in all directions except due north west. Although there are still signs of robbing it still stands to a considerable height and has minimal signs of internal collapse with just a small amount of hollowing at the highest point, so the chamber(s) may still largely survive.

Around the edges of the cairn, particularly to the west, a number of small shieling huts (average diam 1.5m) have been built into its lower fabric. To north and south west others can be found, all utilising quartzite stones from the cairn and this may well be the only damage the cairn has sustained. Whereas most of these presumed shieling structures consist of one or two courses of stone surrounding a hollow, one to the SW is mounded within and looks like a very small kerbed cairn ?! <1>

The chambered cairn was Scheduled by Historic Environment Scotland with effect from 24/10/2018. <2>

GIS spatial data amended in 2019 according to location of site as seen on 2009 vertical APs. <3>

Sources/Archives (3)

Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred NC 2253 1120 (20m by 20m) (2 map features)
Map sheet	NC21SW
Geographical Area	SUTHERLAND
Civil Parish	ASSYNT

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