Clava Chambered Cairns

A historical perspective, drawn from the Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical, edited by Francis H. Groome and originally published in parts by Thomas C. Jack, Grange Publishing Works, Edinburgh between 1882 and 1885.

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Clava, a dismal plain in the Nairnshire section of Croy and Dalcross parish, on the right bank of the river Nairn, 6 miles E of Inverness, and opposite Culloden battlefield. It contains a large and very striking assemblance of ancient Caledonian stone circles and cairns. The circles vary from 36 to 420 feet in circumference, and many of them seem unfinished. Four of the cairns appear to have been constructed out of pre-existent circles; and one of them, on being cleared away, was found to conceal a passage leading to a circular convex chamber, 12 feet in diameter and 10 feet high. In the summer of 1881 the fallen standing stones were again set up, and the ground was cleared around the largest circle, when causewayed paths were discovered, leading from the base of the cairn to three of the outer standing stones. A great number of ` cup-markings ' have also been recently found on stones in this locality.

An accompanying 19th C. Ordnance Survey map is available, or use the map tab to the right of this page.

Note: This text has been made available using a process of scanning and optical character recognition. Despite manual checking, some typographical errors may remain. Please remember this description dates from the 1880s; names may have changed, administrative divisions will certainly be different and there are known to be occasional errors of fact in the original text, which we have not corrected because we wish to maintain its integrity. This information is provided subject to our standard disclaimer

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