Cairnholy (or Cairn Holy) is the site of two

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

chambered tombs of the Clyde type. It is located 4 kilometres east of the village of Carsluith in

Dumfries and Galloway Dumfries and Galloway (; ) is one of the 32 unitary council areas of Scotland, located in the western part of the Southern Uplands. It is bordered by East Ayrshire, South Ayrshire, and South Lanarkshire to the north; Scottish Borders to the no ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. The tombs are

scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage, visu ...

s in the care of

Historic Scotland Historic Scotland () was an executive agency of the Scottish Government, executive agency of the Scottish Office and later the Scottish Government from 1991 to 2015, responsible for safeguarding Scotland's built heritage and promoting its und ...

. The name Cairnholy represents

Gaelic Gaelic (pronounced for Irish Gaelic and for Scots Gaelic) is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". It may refer to: Languages * Gaelic languages or Goidelic languages, a linguistic group that is one of the two branches of the Insul ...

''*Càrn na h-ulaidhe'' ‘cairn of the stone tomb’.

Description

The Cairnholy tombs are situated on a hillside overlooking

Wigtown Bay Wigtown Bay is a large inlet of the Irish Sea on the coast of Galloway in southwest Scotland. Its coastline falls entirely within the modern administrative area of Dumfries and Galloway and shared between the historical counties of Wigtownshire a ...

. They are situated next to Cairnholy Farm. The site can be accessed at the end of a minor road about 1 kilometre from the A75 road. The two tombs lie within 150 metres of each other.Cairn Holy Chambered Cairns
Historic Scotland, accessed 6 February 2014 Both tombs lie open to the sky as most of their original covering stones have been taken in the past to build field walls. Both tombs were partially excavated in 1949 by

Stuart Piggott Stuart Ernest Piggott, (28 May 1910 – 23 September 1996) was a British archaeologist, best known for his work on prehistoric Wessex. Early life Piggott was born in Petersfield, Hampshire, the son of G. H. O. Piggott, and was educated ...

and Terence Powell. Finds from the excavations are in the

National Museum of Scotland The National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, Scotland, is a museum of Scottish history and culture. It was formed in 2006 with the merger of the new Museum of Scotland, with collections relating to Scottish antiquities, culture and history, ...

Cairnholy I

Cairnholy I () is the more elaborate of the two tombs. It measures 50 by 15 metres and has a monumental curving façade, that formed the backdrop to a

forecourt Forecourt may refer to: * a courtyard at the front of a building * in racket sports, the front part of the court * the area in a filling station containing the fuel pumps * chamber tomb forecourt This article describes several characteristic arch ...

in front of the tomb. Excavation showed that several fires had been lit in the forecourt. The tomb itself has two chambers. The outer chamber, which was entered through the façade, contained a fragment of a

jadeite Jadeite is a pyroxene mineral with composition Na Al Si2 O6. It is hard (Mohs hardness of about 6.5 to 7.0), very tough, and dense, with a specific gravity of about 3.4. It is found in a wide range of colors, but is most often found in shades ...

ceremonial axe, together with sherds of Neolithic pottery and a leaf-shaped arrowhead. Late grave-goods comprised Peterborough-ware and Beaker-ware pottery sherds and a flint knife. The inner chamber was built as a closed box, and was inaccessible from the outer one. It was probably originally roofed by a great stone slab resting on the two taller end-slabs. The inner chamber contained a secondary cist, with food vessel sherds and a cup-and-ring carved stone.

Cairnholy II

Cairnholy II () is located to the north of Cairnholy I. Local tradition maintains that it was the tomb of Galdus, a mythical Scottish king. It is from this tomb that the nearby farm takes its name. It measures 20 by 12 metres, and is less than 60 centimetres high. It has been robbed of stones but there are still two portal stones in front of the chambered tomb. There is a very shallow v-shaped forecourt at the front of the tomb. The tomb contained two chambers. The rear chamber had been previously robbed, and the other disturbed, but an arrowhead and a flint knife were found within the filling, along with secondary sherds of Beaker pottery.

Other prehistoric monuments

Around 160 metres to the east of Cairnholy farm is the remains of circular cairn less than 15 centimetres high (). When stones were being removed from it some time before 1849, it was found to contain human bones. The area is surrounded with rocks bearing

cup and ring mark Cup and ring marks or cup marks are a form of prehistoric art found in the Atlantic seaboard of Europe (Ireland, Wales, Northern England, Scotland, France (Brittany), Portugal, and Spain (Galicia (Spain), Galicia) – and in Mediterranean Europe ...

Kirkdale Church

Around 700 metres to the west are the ruins of Kirkdale Church. The church was dedicated to St Michael. Kirkdale, which belonged to

Whithorn Priory Whithorn Priory was a medieval Scottish monastery that also served as a cathedral, located at 6 Bruce Street in Whithorn, Wigtownshire, Dumfries and Galloway (54.7357N, 4.415954W; OS grid reference NX445405). History The priory was founded ...

, was originally a separate parish, which united with

Kirkmabreck Kirkmabreck is a civil parish in the historic county of Kirkcudbrightshire in the Dumfries and Galloway council area, Scotland. Situated in the historic Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, and centred on the small town of Creetown on the east bank of ...

in 1618. The church is enclosed by an overgrown burial ground.

References

External links

* *{{Historic Environment Scotland, num=SM90050, desc=Cairn Holy, chambered cairn 190m SSW of Cairnholy, fewer-links=yes Archaeological sites in Wigtownshire Historic Environment Scotland properties in Dumfries and Galloway Neolithic Scotland Scheduled monuments in Dumfries and Galloway Chambered cairns in Scotland