Unchambered long cairns (sometimes also chamberless long cairns) are found in Scotland and
Northern England
Northern England, or the North of England, refers to the northern part of England and mainly corresponds to the Historic counties of England, historic counties of Cheshire, Cumberland, County Durham, Durham, Lancashire, Northumberland, Westmo ...
, and form a group of non- or semi-
megalith
A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. More than 35,000 megalithic structures have been identified across Europe, ranging geographically f ...
ic monuments. There are about 28 long cairns in north Scotland and 21 in south Scotland that show no evidence of internal stone chambers. However, proving the existence of wooden chambers under a
cairn
A cairn is a human-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the (plural ).
Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehistory, t ...
is not possible without excavation work. The exact classification of this group of monuments is therefore not easy. Three particularly noteworthy examples of these cairns are:
*Dalladies in
Kincardineshire
Kincardineshire or the County of Kincardine, also known as the Mearns (from the Scottish Gaelic meaning "the stewartry"), is a Shires of Scotland, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area on the ...
, with
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 ...
s
*Slewcairn in
Kirkcudbrightshire
Kirkcudbrightshire ( ) or the County of Kirkcudbright or the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright is one of the Counties of Scotland, historic counties of Scotland, covering an area in the south-west of the country. Until 1975, Kirkcudbrightshire was an ...
.
*Lochhill in Kirkcudbrightshire.
All have narrow rectangular chambers whose positions are marked by wooden posts. The last two are especially interesting, because stone chambers were built into the mound at a later date. These make the connexions and overlaps of ideas clearly visible, something which can otherwise only be imagined from their classification by type.
Although none of the northern cairns has been excavated, their existence is significant for the architectural history of Scotland. The north is a region where
passage tomb
Passage, The Passage or Le Passage may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Films
* Passage (2008 film), ''Passage'' (2008 film), a documentary about Arctic explorers
* Passage (2009 film), ''Passage'' (2009 film), a short movie about three sisters
* ...
s in circular cairns are especially common (the
Orkney
Orkney (), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago off the north coast of mainland Scotland. The plural name the Orkneys is also sometimes used, but locals now consider it outdated. Part of the Northern Isles along with Shetland, ...
-Cromarty type). Sites that span several periods of time, such as
Tulach an t'Sionnaich
Tulach an t-Sionnaich ("Mountain of the Fox"), is a cairn at the northern end of Loch Calder in Caithness, Scotland that has been expanded over time. It was partially excavated in 1961 and 1963. Before the excavations there was just a long and ...
, demonstrate that both forms were used by the same communities. Several round cairns, like those of
Camster had long cairns built over them, so that the round mound here retains its older shape. Many chamberless cairns and those with stone chambers have concave forecourts which are reminiscent of those that had been built earlier of wood (Haddenham and
Street House) in
Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...
.
See also
*
Long barrow
Long barrows are a style of monument constructed across Western Europe in the fifth and fourth millennia BCE, during the Early Neolithic period. Typically constructed from earth and either timber or stone, those using the latter material repres ...
References
General references
* Frances Lynch: ''Megalithic Tombs and Long Barrows in Britain.'' Shire Publications Ltd. 1997 .
Megalithic monuments
Tumuli in Scotland
Tumuli in England
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