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MHG8645 - Cairn - Carn A' Chait

Summary

Ruined cairn at Carn A' Chait

Type and Period (3)

Protected Status

Full Description

FE Management Plan reveived 30/03/01.
J Aitken : 30/03/01.

This is a circular cairn of bare rubble stone 16m diameter and with a max height of 1.5m. There is no sign of any chamber or cist. Apart from its circularity there is nothing visible to suggest that it had been a broch. There is no evidence of a wall nor of any of the stone being dressed, though position of cairn at head of the strath overlooking an area of cultivated land is, perhaps, not unsuitable for a broch.
Near the centre of the cairn an erect stone inscribed "C" on the West and "T" on the East is a boundary marker.
Visited by OS (R D L) 8 May 1963.

Not listed as broch or comparable structure.
A Graham 1949.

Carn a' Chait (NR) Supposed site of Pictish Tower (NR)
OS 6" map, Ross-shire, 2nd ed., (1909)

'A large cairn situated on parish boundary ... The Rev J M Joass states that cairn is supposed to mark the site of a Pictish Tower. Further that the name is not opposed to this view for almost all the Pictish Towers I know have passed into the state of cairns and are generally so called in the locality although their proper name Dun still clings to some.
The Parish boundary was probably adjusted to it as an old and well known land-mark'
Name Book 1874.

There is a broch the hill-track from Redburn (NH 72 83) to Scotsburn Road (NH 72 75)
J Anderson 1873.

In August 2015, a walkover survey was undertaken in Morangie Forest, Edderton by Anne Coombs on behalf of the Forestry Commission Scotland to identify and demarcate archaeological sites in advance of pre-thinning operations.

This cairn is a stony mound c.16m in diameter and c1.5m high. Roughly in the center of the mound is a later marker stone with the letters ‘C’ on the W face and ‘T’ on the E face indicating a boundary line. The lower c.0.5m of the stone is covered with heather and vegetation and there is bracken heather and grass around the cairn. The scheduled area has been defined by a circle of high tree stumps. Beyond the scheduled area there are conifer trees on the NE beyond an old track. In all other directions there is open ground now being populated with regen trees. There are a number of regen trees within the scheduled area between c.1m and c.2m high. The bracken is mainly on the south side of the cairn. <1>

Sources/Archives (6)

Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred NH 7168 8051 (70m by 67m) (2 map features)
Map sheet	NH78SW
Geographical Area	ROSS AND CROMARTY
Civil Parish	TAIN

Finds (0)

Related Monuments/Buildings (0)

Related Investigations/Events (1)

External Links (2)