Cairn Holy Chambered Cairns

About Cairn Holy Chambered Cairns

This site dates from the late Neolithic period around 5000 years ago making it older than the Great Pyramids of Giza. Cairn Holy Chambered Cairns are an important historic site and are a must see when you are visiting Dumfries and Galloway.

Cairn Holy Chambered Cairn 1is accessed by a gate at the car park. You will immediately notice a large group of standing stones around the burial chamber. However when you look closely at the ground when entering the site you will see a pattern of stones still visible in the ground which clearly creates a forecourt for the burial chamber here. The burial chamber at Cairn Holy 1consisted of an outer and an inner compartment which are both clearly visible today as they are open to the elements. The inner compartment was roofed over by a large stone slab whilst the outer compartment was entered through the stones. Within the cairn, two of the stone slabs forming the burial chamber have clear cup-and-ring markings. Cairn Holy Chambered Cairn 2 sits about 100 metres further up the farm track and once again is accessed by a gate. This Cairn still has part of its cap stone still in situ and it is easy to imagine just exactly how the site would have looked in the stone age when it was first constructed.

A major archaelogical dig took place on site in 1949. Few human remains were found but some interesting artefacts including pottery and an axehead were recovered. It is considered that an ancient Galloway king called Galdus may have been buried here but this is not the only site in Galloway that claims this.