Monument record 1309 - BEINN A'CHLAIDH, BORVE, BERNERAY

NF98SW 1 9108 8056

(NF 9108 8056) Bernera [Cladh Maolrithe]: A chambered cairn, situated at just over 100ft OD, on the hillside above Loch Borve. The hillside is pasture scattered with rocky outcrop and immediately around the site there are old lazy-beds. the monument has been so greatly robbed that the only vestige of cairn material is a few stones to the S of the structure. A group of slabs represent the ruins of the chamber; this was mutilated at the end of last century. The main feature is a pair of stones on the S side which appear to have formed the entrance to the chamber. They are 4ft 6in and 4ft 11in long, set on their long edges, their S ends 2ft 7in apart but diverging northwards to 5ft 5ins apart. The W stone is 3ft 5in high, its pointed tip having been broken off; the E stone is 2ft high having split vertically and its top having been broken. The chamber seems to have been 19ft 3ins long, for at this distance behind the entrance a low earthfast slab can just be seen, probably the stump of the end-slab. On each side of the chamber lie two large flat slabs, presumably fallen side stones, partly turf-covered; the S pair measure 5ft 7in by 2ft 2in and 7ft 4in by 4ft 8in. twewlve feet NW of the chamber there is a small upright stone projecting 1ft.
RCAHMS 1928; Information from MS of A S Henshall's 'Chambered Tombs of Scotland', vol. 2.

There are no certain indications that this structure is a cairn. It is situated on a steep slope, an extremely unlikely position for a cairn. No definite traces of cairn material or of a surrounding kerb remain, and the large stones in the centre alleged to be the remains of a chamber, with the exception of the upright 'pair of stones', are aligned with, and resemble the surrounding rock strata. The upright stones are probably a fortuitous arrangement; there are many similar stones in the area.
Visited by OS (N K B) 20 June 1965.

RCAHMS, 1928, The RCAHMCS 9th Report & Inventory: Outer Hebrides, Skye and the Small Isles, 40-1, No. 126 (Bibliographic reference). SWE5587.

A. Henshall, 1972a, The Chambered Tombs of Scotland, 429, no. HRS 1 plan, p. 430 (Bibliographic reference). SWE3275.