Mysterious Britain & Ireland

Category: Ancient Sites

Ancient Sites / Burial Mounds

Giant’s Graves

The Giant’s Graves are actually early Bronze Age horned galley graves with a central chamber. The covering mound has long since weathered away, leaving the inner chamber as a jumble of upright stones standing over a narrow stone lined depression in the ground.

Ancient Sites / Burial Mounds

Corrimony Chambered Cairn

The passage grave of Corrimory in Glen Urquart, consists of a circular mound of river pebbles enclosed by an outer kerb, and a ring of 11 standing stones. The construction of the cairn is of the Clava style, as the cairns at Bulnaraun of Clava are used as a standard for cairns of this period and region.

Ancient Sites / Burial Mounds

The Grey Cairns of Camster

The Camster Cairns are some of the best-preserved Neolithic burial mounds in Scotland. They date from around 3500BC, and are developed sites, in that they were used over a long period of time.

Ancient Sites / Standing Stones / Stone Circles

Stemster Hill Standing Stones

The standing stones below Stemster Hill, are unusual in that they consist of a U shape, rather than the traditional stone circle. Their real purpose is unknown but they may have had an astronomical usage.

Directions: On a minor road off the A9 and the A99

Ancient Sites / Standing Stones

The Hill O’ Many Stanes

This ancient site of worship is similar to Carnak in Brittany in its concept, but on a much smaller scale.

250 stones are set into 22 rows, which sweep in a fan formation down the hillside. The stones are set in a North South alignment, and are quite small in size, all standing under 3 feet in height.

Ancient Sites / Folklore / Wells

St Fillan’s Chair and Well Dunfillan

A rocky seat on top of the Dunfillan, is the place where St Fillan is said to have sat and blessed the surrounding lands. The chair was thought to be able to heal rheumatism of the back, although you had to be dragged back down the hill by your legs to affect a cure. This would certainly cause enough bruising to allow you to forget about your rheumatism for a while.

Ancient Sites / Black Dogs / Fairies / Folklore / Scottish Fairies / Wells

Schiehallion

The dark brooding presence of Schiehallion (pronounced She-hal-e-on)- the fairy hill of the Caledonians – looms over the Eastern end of Rannoch moor like a voluminous guardian. The mountain is one of the traditional haunts of otherworld beings.

Ancient Sites / Earth Works

Cleaven Dyke

Cleaven Dyke was thought to be a Roman defensive structure until excavation revealed that it was in fact a Neolithic Cursus (a ceremonial earthwork), which must have been one of the largest – and most