Cairnholy

Cairnholy stands in Dumfries and Galloway, two Neolithic chambered tombs of the Clyde type on a hillside above Wigtown Bay. They sit beside Cairnholy Farm, reached by a minor road off the A75, with the tombs less than 150 metres apart. Most of their covering stones were taken long ago for field walls, leaving the chambers open to the sky. Stuart Piggott and Terence Powell partly excavated them in 1949, and finds went to the National Museum of Scotland. Cairnholy I is the larger tomb, measuring fifty by fifteen metres with a sweeping curving façade that once framed a forecourt. Excavation showed fires had been lit there, and the outer chamber held a jadeite ceremonial axe, Neolithic pottery and an arrowhead. Late grave goods included Peterborough-ware and Beaker-ware sherds plus a flint knife. The inner chamber was a closed box, roofed by a great slab, and held a secondary cist with food vessel sherds and a cup-and-ring carved stone. Cairnholy II lies north of the first tomb and is linked by local tradition to Galdus, a mythical Scottish king. It measures twenty by twelve metres and is less than sixty centimetres high, robbed of stones but still showing two portal stones. A shallow V-shaped forecourt fronts the tomb, which contains two chambers. The rear chamber had been robbed earlier, yet arrowheads, flint knives and Beaker sherds were found in the filling. Nearby are a small circular cairn and cup-and-ring marked rocks, while the ruins of Kirkdale Church stand about seven hundred metres west.