A visit to Corrimony chambered cairn, Scotland

Corrimony chambered cairn, not far from Loch Ness, is a great example of a Clava Cairn passage tomb. Although elements have been restored and consolidated, it is in many ways more complete than the more famous examples at Balnuaran of Clava.

Above: Corrimony cairn, showing the entance into the passageway (Photo: Aaron Watson)

The features which define Clava Cairns are all present here, with the cairn being surrounded by a ring of standing stones (not all of them original). This is the only Clava Cairn passage tomb where sections of the passage roof remain intact, since the lintels are now missing at all other sites. The entrance is low, requiring an uncomfortable crawl to access the corbeled chamber.

Above: The original passage roof very likely extended to the edge of the cairn (Photo: Aaron Watson)

The roof of the chamber does not survive, but there remains a distinct sense of enclosure. The overlapping courses of dry stone walling would have originally continued upward, gradually closing in towards the apex of the roof. A large stone slab which now lies upon the cairn may have been used to close the very top of the cairn. This boulder displays many cup marks.

The corbeled chambered walls inside one of the best preserved early Bronze Age Clava Cairns (Photogrammetry: Aaron Watson, August 2019) - Corrimony cairn chamber, Scotland - 3D model by Dr Aaron Watson (@aaronwatson) [4b8bafd]

Above: A photogrammetric model of the chamber walls within Corrimony. Please click on the arrow to navigate (Model: Aaron Watson)

A large stone slab displaying cup marks which may have sealed the roof of the chamber at Corrimony chambered cairn, a Clava Cairn near Inverness. The scale is 30cm (Photogrammetry: Aaron Watson, August 2019) - Corrimony cairn, cup marked capstone - 3D model by Dr Aaron Watson (@aaronwatson) [3bf1a86]

Above: Photogrammetric model of the large cup-marked slab at Corrimony. Please click on the arrow to navigate (Model: Aaron Watson)