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How and why the ancients enchanted Great Britain and Brittany

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<< Our Photo Pages >> Nether Largie Mid - Cairn in Scotland in Argyll

Submitted by jeffrep on Thursday, 15 February 2001  Page Views: 7602

Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Nether Largie Mid
Country: Scotland County: Argyll Type: Cairn
Nearest Town: Lochgilphead  Nearest Village: Kilmartin
Map Ref: NR8303798309  Landranger Map Number: 55
Latitude: 56.128042N  Longitude: 5.492614W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
3 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
5 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
3 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
5

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Uralsdaughter visited on 19th Aug 2018 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 4

Anne T visited on 17th Jul 2018 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 4 Nether Largie Mid-Cairn: This cairn is not quite as impressive as Nether Largie South, but we found it fascinating to look at. Reading Webb's "In The Footsteps of Kings" she says the cairn was originally placed on a slightly raised terrace, but its position has been exaggerated because the ground beyond the fence has been ploughed, and reduced in height over time." The course of the Kilmartin Burn has also been straightened; it once would have meandered around all these cairns in this 'linear cemetery'. By the time we'd reached this cairn, the stream of visitors had slackened off, and we had time to sit and admire this glorious glen. Despite searching for some time, we didn't find the axehead carving or the cup mark in the southern cist, nor could we seen the cup marked rock 10m to the north west. I did take a number of photos inside the cist, including the inside of the capstone, as sometimes faint carvings show up better on the photos, but nothing was visible. We tried! The notice boards on site read: “Nether Large Mid lies at the midpoint of Kilmartin Glen’s line of cairns. Its edge is marked by kerbstones. Two important people were buried here 4,000 years ago. In 1929, archaeologist James Hewat Craw found two empty stone graves or ‘cists’ underneath this Bronze Age cairn. The bodies they once contained had dissolved away in the acid soil. An axehead is faintly carved inside the southern grave. Concrete posts show the position of the northern one.” “The line of cairns stretches for more than 2.5 miles (4km). Look up the glen to Nether Large North and Glebe. Look down to Nether Large South and Ri Cruin, surrounded by trees. A sixth cairn between here and Nether Largie South was destroyed in the 1880s. This was the burial place of the elite. Their power had probably been based on controlling the flow of metal from Ireland up the Great Glen to bronze-working centres in north-east Scotland.”

SandyG visited on 16th Apr 2015 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 5 Access: 4

SolarMegalith visited on 27th Apr 2013 - their rating: Cond: 2 Amb: 4 Access: 4

markj99 visited on 30th Apr 2010 - their rating: Cond: 2 Amb: 4 Access: 4 Nether Largie Mid Cairn is the least impressive of the group. It has been extensively robbed leaving a cist and large capstone exposed in the S Arc of the cairn.

macd visited on 10th Sep 2007 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 3 First visit Sep 2007, second visit 2014. Glorious Kilmartin Glen.

coin visited - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 4

hidebasket visited - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 5 Access: 4

Catrinm jeffrep have visited here

Average ratings for this site from all visit loggers: Condition: 3 Ambience: 4.25 Access: 3.88

Nether Largie Mid
Nether Largie Mid submitted by jeffrep : View from the North of Nether Largie Mid Cairn in Kilmartin Glen. (Vote or comment on this photo)
Cairn in Argyll

Situated between the Nether Largie North and South Cairns in the Linear Cemetery in Kilmartin Glen, Nether Largie Mid, which dates from the Early Bronze Age, was originally almost 10 feet high. Since many of its stones have been removed for building purposes over the centuries, it now is a little more than three feet high and almost 100 feet in diameter.

This cairn is recorded as Canmore ID 39493 which adds that before the 1920s, this cairn stood as much as 3 metres in height, which illustrates the amount of stone removed. The cairn is now an irregular platform of stones, and several of the kerbstones can be see in an arc on its southern side. The cairn today is protected by a railed fence. Excavation revealed two cists. A 1982 report in the Canmore records says that the most northern of these is indicated by low concrete posts; the other is still visible at the southern end of the cairn.

Canmore adds "About 9.5m NE of this (southern) cist, there is a slab measuring 0.95m by 0.63m and 0.21m in thickness, and bearing five cupmarks up to 50mm in diameter and 10mm in depth."
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Nether Largie Mid
Nether Largie Mid submitted by coin : The cist (Vote or comment on this photo)

Nether Largie Mid
Nether Largie Mid submitted by PaulH : Kilmartin Valley Nether Largie mid cairn NR830983 (Vote or comment on this photo)

Nether Largie Mid
Nether Largie Mid submitted by macd : Notice Board Nether Largie Mid Cairn - sorry I snipped a bit off! (Vote or comment on this photo)

Nether Largie Mid
Nether Largie Mid submitted by macd : Nether Largie Mid Cairn. What a setting in Kilmartin Glen! (Vote or comment on this photo)

Nether Largie Mid
Nether Largie Mid submitted by Aska : Nether Largie Mid & North, Glebe cairns and the village of Kilmartin can be seen. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Nether Largie Mid
Nether Largie Mid submitted by Aska : Nether Largie North and Glebe cairns can be seen far beyond.

Nether Largie Mid
Nether Largie Mid submitted by Anne T : Sitting in the middle of the cairn, looking across the north eastern end, picking up part of the ring of outer kerbstones.

Nether Largie Mid
Nether Largie Mid submitted by Anne T : Standing just south of the southern cist of Nether Largie Mid Cairn, looking north. Nether Largie North and Glebe Cairn can be seen in the distance. Kilmartin, with the church and modern day cemetery, are towards the top right hand side of the image.

Nether Largie Mid
Nether Largie Mid submitted by Anne T : A look inside the southern cist. We spent ages looking for the carved axehead and cup mark. Thinking we might pick something up on photographs, we took other photos, with and without flash, but nothing stood out [note: having seen an image of the capstone of Nether Largie North Cairn, I think there might be a glimpse of an axe head under the fern leaf on the vertical slab on the right hand side]

Nether Largie Mid
Nether Largie Mid submitted by Anne T : The southern cist, now propped up with iron bars.

Nether Largie Mid
Nether Largie Mid submitted by Anne T : Standing at the mid-western side of the cairn, looking directly east across the mound.

Nether Largie Mid
Nether Largie Mid submitted by SandyG : Cairn and outer bank. View from south east. (16th April 2015).

Nether Largie Mid
Nether Largie Mid submitted by SandyG : View from south west. (16th April 2015).

Nether Largie Mid
Nether Largie Mid submitted by SandyG : View from the north. (16th April 2015).

Nether Largie Mid
Nether Largie Mid submitted by SandyG : Cist in foreground with cairn material behind. Nether Largie North in the background. (16th April 2015).

Nether Largie Mid
Nether Largie Mid submitted by SandyG : Cist with capstone. (16th April 2015).

Nether Largie Mid
Nether Largie Mid submitted by coin : Linear cemetery.

Nether Largie Mid
Nether Largie Mid submitted by SolarMegalith : Central part of Nether Largie Middle - view from the SW (photo taken on April 2013).

Nether Largie Mid
Nether Largie Mid submitted by SolarMegalith : Concrete posts mark location of the northern cist (photo taken on April 2013).

Nether Largie Mid
Nether Largie Mid submitted by SolarMegalith : Southern burial chamber of Nether Largie Middle, at the time of its discovery it was empty (photo taken on April 2013).

Nether Largie Mid
Nether Largie Mid submitted by SolarMegalith : Southern burial chamber of Nether Largie Middle cairn and view of Kilmartin Glen valley (photo taken on April 2013).

Nether Largie Mid
Nether Largie Mid submitted by crannog : Beautiful in the rain....

Nether Largie Mid
Nether Largie Mid submitted by crannog : For some reason i really wanted to tie brightly coloured ribbons around the metal pole.... or tinsel hehe

Nether Largie Mid
Nether Largie Mid submitted by jeffrep : View from Northwest of Nether Largie Mid Cairn, Kilmartin Glen.

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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 161m N 2° Nether Largie Cup Marks North Rock Art (NR83059847)
 169m NNE 15° Nether Largie North* Cairn (NR8309098470)
 172m SSW 200° Nether Largie Lost Cairn* Cairn (NR82979815)
 427m SSW 202° Nether Largie South* Chambered Cairn (NR8286097920)
 589m SW 217° Temple Wood N* Stone Circle (NR8265997856)
 626m SW 217° Temple Wood S* Stone Circle (NR8263197830)
 628m SSW 200° Nether Largie standing stone* Standing Stone (Menhir) (NR82799773)
 669m NE 35° Kilmartin Churchyard (Lapidarium)* Sculptured Stone (NR8344898839)
 673m NNE 20° Glebe Cairn* Cairn (NR8330098930)
 683m NE 36° Kilmartin Churchyard (Poltalloch Enclosure)* Sculptured Stone (NR8346798842)
 692m NE 35° Kilmartin Churchyard* Sculptured Stone (NR8345998859)
 701m NNE 31° Kilmartin House* Museum (NR8343298890)
 728m SSW 193° Nether Largie Stone Row* Stone Row / Alignment (NR8283197610)
 991m N 1° Upper Largie Burial Chamber or Dolmen (NR831993)
 1.0km SW 223° Bruach-na-cuirte* Cist (NR82309760)
 1.3km SSW 199° Ri Cruin* Cairn (NR8254897119)
 1.3km SSW 201° Ri Cruin* Rock Art (NR825971)
 1.3km SW 221° Cnoc-an-teallaidh* Cist (NR82129735)
 1.3km S 173° Baluachraig Rock Art* Rock Art (NR8312696966)
 1.5km WSW 247° Ballygowan Rock Art* Rock Art (NR8162097782)
 1.5km SSE 167° Dunchraigaig Cairn* Cairn (NR8330796811)
 1.5km SE 133° Dun Mor, Dunchraigaig Stone Fort or Dun (NR841972)
 1.5km SW 218° Poltalloch Cist* Cist (NR82049714)
 1.7km WSW 256° Dun Ballygowan Stone Fort or Dun (NR814980)
 1.9km WSW 252° Barr A Chuirn Cairn (NR812978)
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"Nether Largie Mid" | Login/Create an Account | 3 News and Comments
  
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Re: Nether Largie Mid by coldrum on Sunday, 04 April 2010
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Re: Nether Largie Mid by jeffrep on Saturday, 15 March 2008
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Condition: 3
Ambience: 5
Access: 3
Accuracy:
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Re: Nether Largie Mid by jeffrep on Saturday, 15 March 2008
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Situated between the Nether Largie North and South Cairns in the Linear Cemetery in Kilmartin Glen, Nether Largie Mid, which dates from the Early Bronze Age, was originally almost 10 feet high. Since many of its stones have been removed for building purposes over the centuries, it now is a little more than three feet high and almost 100 feet in diameter.
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