South Yarrows South

South Yarrows South is a Neolithic long cairn of the Orkney-Cromarty type standing beside the Loch of Yarrows in Caithness. Its stone mound runs for about seventy-three metres and once formed a round cairn before later enlargement. Two horn-like ends mark the longer eastern side and the shorter western end of the structure. The cairn was first examined in 1865 by Joseph Anderson and described a generation later by Tress Barry. Surface hollows show where burial chambers have collapsed, while the wider eastern end still holds an intact triple chamber. A second, smaller chamber that opened from the south has been destroyed, leaving only its entrance passage visible today. A short walk leads from the cairn to South Yarrows North, a less well-preserved neighbour. The Yarrows Archaeology Trail also passes a broch and an underground souterrain, linking several prehistoric monuments across the moorland. The path crosses open ground where heather and grass cover the remains of earlier centuries.