Monument record 160 - 'TURSACHAN', BARRAGLOM, GREAT BERNERA

NB13SE 2 1642 3424.

(NB 1642 3424) Tursachan (NR). (Supposed Druidical Remains).
OS 25" map, 1897.

Three standing stones and a prostrate pillar stone occupying a very unusual position on a steep rocky slope ending in a cliff.
While the erect slabs form the northern arc of a circle, they are placed with their broad faces looking towards the water. The most westerly stone, which stands 61'6" from the most easterly stone measures 7'6" in height, 4' in width and 19" in thickness, while the latter, which is the smallest of the group, and is placed within 12' of the cliff edge, is 3' high, 4' broad and from 2" to 10" thick. The most southerly (northerly) stone, which stands 33'11" distant from the first stone and from the second, measures 9'1" in height, 3'6" in breadth and 13" in thickness, and the prostrate stone, which lies 9'2" distant between it and the smallest slab, is 8'3" long, 3'9" broad and 1'5" thick.
RCAHMS 1928, visited 1914; B Somerville 1912.

Three standing stones and one prostrate stone, as described by the RCAHMS and illustrated by Somerville. As all the stones face S, it cannot be assumed that this is a stone circle. Name 'Tursachan' still known locally.
Visited by OS (NKB) 22 June 1969.

Investigation in 1989 confirmed that the cobbled surface extended S to a built up retaining wall, itself built on bedrock at the top of a cliff. Two elongated stones, 1m and 1.6m long, were originally set upright on top of the cobbled platform. In antiquity most of the packing stones had been dismantled and set aside on the cobbles and the two erect stones dismantled.
The precise positions and orientations of the latter were determined, 0.8m apart, and some packing stones and a padstone under the larger stone were found in situ. These were reset in concrete and the two elongated stones re-erected.
The packing stones that had been set aside were also reincorporated in the structure, with concrete, but their exact positions remain conjectural due to the prehistoric dismantling and due to damage by an adjacent water pipe trench.
G Curtis and M Curtis 1989b.

Further investigation was undertaken in 1990 to establish relative stratigraphy of built-up platform areas. Another prone stone, erected and dismantled in antiquity, was confirmed.
G R Curtis and M R Curtis 1990b.

'The monument...comprises a prehistoric setting of standing stones, some of which have recently been re-erected. The area to be scheduled is approximately semi-circular on plan and 60m in diameter, bounded on the S by Loch Roag, to include the stone setting and an area around it in which evidence relating to its construction and use may survive.'
HS Scheduling Document 22 January 1993.

W M Mackenzie, 1903-4, Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 189-90 (Bibliographic reference). SWE4589.

B Somerville, 1912b, J Roy Anthrop Inst, 43-6 No. II.4 (Bibliographic reference). SWE7993.

RCAHMS, 1928, The RCAHMCS 9th Report & Inventory: Outer Hebrides, Skye and the Small Isles, 24, No. 86 fig. 34 (Bibliographic reference). SWE5587.

A Thom, 1967a, Megalithic Sites in Britain, 126, 128, 138 (Bibliographic reference). SWE7507.

M, G and G R Ponting, Ponting , 1976, Discovery and Excavation, Scotland, Callanish VIII: Bernera Bridge, 57 (Bibliographic reference). SWE13424.

G and M Ponting and Ponting, 1977b, The Standing Stones of Callanish, 30 (Bibliographic reference). SWE13307.

D C Heggie, 1981, Megalithic Science: ancient mathematics and astronomy in north-west Europe, 119 (Bibliographic reference). SWE9604.

G and M Ponting and Ponting, 1984a, The Stones around Callanish: a guide to the minor megalithic sites of the Callanish area, 27-8 (Bibliographic reference). SWE5376.

M R and G R Ponting and Curtis, 1985, Discovery and Excavation, Scotland, 64 (Bibliographic reference). SWE13426.

G R and M R Curtis and Ponting, 1987, Discovery and Excavation, Scotland, 61 (Bibliographic reference). SWE13421.

G R and M R Curtis and Ponting, 1988a, Discovery and Excavation, Scotland, 32 (Bibliographic reference). SWE13423.

G and M Curtis and Curtis, 1989b, Discovery and Excavation, Scotland, 72 (Bibliographic reference). SWE10427.

G R and M R Curtis and Curtis, 1990b, Discovery and Excavation, Scotland, 49 (Bibliographic reference). SWE11816.