Monument record 1038 - STIARAVAL, BENBECULA

NF85SW 4 8121 5260.

(NF 8121 5260) Stone Circle (NR)
OS 6"map, Inverness-shire, 2nd ed., (1928)

The stone circle noted on the OS map on the southern slope of Stiaraval (or Steinieval) is, in fact, a ruined chambered cairn about 3-4ft high at the centre. The bulk of the stones have been removed and there are several ruined shielings built partly on and in immediate vicinity of the cairn. The cairn was probably about 60ft in diameter originally. The entrance, on the south-east side, led to a circular chamber (now defined by five upright slabs) by a passage of which only the north-east side remains.
RCAHMS 1928; Information from TS of A S Henshall's 'Chambered Tombs of Scotland' Vol. 2, 59-60.

As described above.
Surveyed at 1/10560.
Visited by OS (R D) 26 May 1965.

The monument known as Siarabal, chambered cairn and shielings, Griminish, Benbecula, comprises a Neolithic chambered cairn of the Hebridean passage-grave type. It is sited on a prominent rocky knoll on a morrland hillside, overlooking Loch Ba Una and Loch nan Clachan and intervisible with the nearby chambered cairn of Airidh na h'Aon Oidche (sic.). The area to be scheduled is a circle of diameter 60m centred on the centre of the cairn, to include the cairn and later structures and an area around in which evidence relating to their construction and use may survive.
HS scheduling document 5.11.2003

RCAHMS, 1928, The RCAHMCS 9th Report & Inventory: Outer Hebrides, Skye and the Small Isles, 103, No. 351 (Bibliographic reference). SWE5587.

R W Feachem, 1963b, A Guide to Prehistoric Scotland (Bibliographic reference). SWE2141.

R Miller, 1967, Scot Stud, 214 (Bibliographic reference). SWE5595.

A. Henshall, 1972a, The Chambered Tombs of Scotland, 527-8, UST 29 (Bibliographic reference). SWE3275.