Mid Gleniron

Last updated

Mid Gleniron
NX1861 Round cairn, Mid Gleniron by David-Baird.jpg
One of the six cairns
Coordinates 54°54′36″N4°49′43″W / 54.910121°N 4.828646°W / 54.910121; -4.828646 ,
OS grid reference NX 18769 60932
Designated24/10/1924
Reference no. SM1944
Dumfries and Galloway UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location of Mid Gleniron in Dumfries and Galloway

Mid Gleniron is a prehistoric site in Dumfries and Galloway used in the Neolithic and Bronze Age. The site is a scheduled ancient monument that comprises a group of six burial cairns. [1] Two of the cairns, Mid Gleniron I [2] and Mid Gleniron II [3] are chambered cairns of the Clyde tradition. These are of historic importance because of their multi-stage construction which provides evidence for the development of Clyde cairns at the beginning of the Neolithic period. [4] [5] [1]

Mid Gleniron I & II

The chamber cairns, Mid Gleniron I & II, were excavated by Corcoran between 1963 and 1966. [6] :29 These excavations revealed a multi-period construction. Mid Gleniron I was revealed to have been originally two separate, small (5m diameter) rectangular cairns, each with entrances into single chambers. These cairns were set in the same direction, with their cambers aligned. [7] :105 Thomas notes the close positioning of these two cairns implies that it was anticipated that they would be incorporated into a larger construction. [5] :10 At a later date, these cairns were modified and subsumed into a large trapezoidal cairn. A third chamber was added as well as a forecourt, typical of Clyde cairns. The facade marking out the forecourt was made of standing stones measuring over eight meters across. [7] :105

Mid Gleniron II also apparently began as a set of two smaller cairns. [7] :105 Like at Mid Gleniron I, this site was transformed into a large trapezoidal cairn with forecourt. However, here only one of the cairns was subsumed and altered by the new monument. The forecourt led into a new chamber which was blocked centuries later in the early Bronze Age. [7] :111

Historic Environment Scotland's Statement of National Importance for the site notes its potentially international significance for shedding light on "the sequence and development of funerary and ritual architecture during the Neolithic and early Bronze Age." [1]

Excavation at Droughdool Mote between 1999 and 2002 revealed a round cairn at the top of the mound, similar in construction to Mid Gleniron A. [8] [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chambered cairn</span> Burial monument (Usually Neolithic)

A chambered cairn is a burial monument, usually constructed during the Neolithic, consisting of a sizeable chamber around and over which a cairn of stones was constructed. Some chambered cairns are also passage-graves. They are found throughout Britain and Ireland, with the largest number in Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Court cairn</span> Type of chamber tomb found in Ireland and Scotland

The court cairn or court tomb is a megalithic type of chambered cairn or gallery grave. During the period, 3900–3500 BC, more than 390 court cairns were built in Ireland and over 100 in southwest Scotland. The Neolithic monuments are identified by an uncovered courtyard connected to one or more roofed and partitioned burial chambers. Many monuments were built in multiple phases in both Ireland and Scotland and later re-used in the Early Bronze Age.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kilmartin Glen</span> British Neolithic monument site

Kilmartin Glen is an area in Argyll north of Knapdale. It has the most important concentration of Neolithic and Bronze Age remains in mainland Scotland. The glen is located between Oban and Lochgilphead, surrounding the village of Kilmartin. In the village, Kilmartin Museum explains the stories of this ancient landscape and the people who dwelt there. There are more than 800 ancient monuments within a six-mile (ten-kilometre) radius of the village, with 150 monuments being prehistoric. Monuments include standing stones, a henge monument, numerous cists, and a "linear cemetery" comprising five burial cairns. Several of these, as well as many natural rocks, are decorated with cup and ring marks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Torhouse</span>

The Standing Stones of Torhouse are a stone circle of nineteen granite boulders on the land of Torhouse, three miles west of Wigtown, Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Luce</span> Civil parish in south-west Scotland

New Luce is a civil parish in Dumfries and Galloway, south-west Scotland. It lies in the traditional county of Wigtownshire, and is about 10 miles (16 km) in length and 5 miles (8.0 km) in breath, being the upper part of the original Glenluce Parish. New Luce is shown as a civil parish on John Ainslie's county map of 1782.

Dunragit is a village on the A75, between Stranraer and Glenluce in Dumfries and Galloway, south-west Scotland. Dunragit is within the parish of Old Luce, in the traditional county of Wigtownshire. The modern village grew up around the west gate of Dunragit House, an 18th-century country house, though there is evidence of Neolithic settlement in the area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parc Cwm long cairn</span> Burial chamber in Wales

Parc Cwm long cairn, also known as Parc le Breos burial chamber, is a partly restored Neolithic chambered tomb, identified in 1937 as a Severn-Cotswold type of chambered long barrow. The cromlech, a megalithic burial chamber, was built around 5850 years before present (BP), during the early Neolithic. It is about seven 12 miles (12 km) west south–west of Swansea, Wales, in what is now known as Coed y Parc Cwm at Parc le Breos, on the Gower Peninsula.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bargrennan</span>

Bargrennan is a village in Dumfries and Galloway, in the south west of Scotland. It is located 9 miles northwest of Newton Stewart by the River Cree and on the A714 road to Girvan. The Southern Upland Way runs through the village and the Glentrool Forest, managed by the Forestry Commission, is to the north-east of the village.

Old Luce is a civil parish in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It lies in the Machars peninsula, in the traditional county of Wigtownshire. The parish is around 10 miles (16 km) long and 8 miles (13 km) broad, and contains 40,350 acres (16,330 ha).

The Pettigarths Field Cairns is a Neolithic site in the parish of Nesting, northeastern Whalsay, in the Shetland islands of Scotland. It is located approximately 140 metres (460 ft) to the northwest of Benie Hoose. The site contains upright stones as well as masonry. The south cairn is roughly 6 metres (20 ft) square, with an eastern entrance passage and circular chamber about 2 metres across. 4 metres (13 ft) to the north is a round cairn, 4.5 metres (15 ft) in diameter, with a rectangular cist. The two cairns are located on a rise, about 140 metres (460 ft) northwest of Benie Hoose.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cairnholy</span> Archaeological site in Scotland

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carn Ban, Arran</span>

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bargrennan chambered cairn</span>

Bargrennan chambered cairns are a class of prehistoric chambered cairns found only in south-west Scotland, in western Dumfries and Galloway and southern Ayrshire. They form a separate group from the Clyde cairns which are found along the coast of western Britain. Unlike Clyde cairns, Bargrennan monuments are passage graves, with one or more chambers set into a round cairn. As well as being structurally different, Bargrennan cairns are separated from Clyde cairns by their siting and distribution; they are found in upland, inland areas of Galloway and Ayrshire. Murray suggests that there are around twelve Bargrennan monuments in south-west Scotland. She also notes that as sheep rees are often built into and over these types of cairns, more are likely to have been lost under shepherd's buildings.

Pict's Knowe is a henge monument in the parish of Troqueer, Dumfries and Galloway. It is one of a small group of henge monuments around Dumfries which includes Broadlea henge near Annan. Pict's Knowe is located 4 km SW of Dumfries on a small sandy bank in the peat covered valley of the Crooks Pow stream.

Curriestanes cursus is a large neolithic ditched enclosure on the outskirts of Dumfries, in the parish of Troqueer, Dumfries and Galloway. It is visible only from aerial photography. It is, along with Pict's Knowe, one of two scheduled monuments in Troqueer parish.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Droughdool Mote</span> Historic site

Droughdool Mote is a Neolithic round mound in the parish of Old Luce, Wigtownshire, Dumfries and Galloway. The mound is oval in plan, measuring 60m by 50m at its base and rises to 10m in height. It is located 400m south of the late neolithic palisaded enclosure at Dunragit. It has been suggested that the mound may have been used as a viewing platform for activities at Dunragit complex of monuments. The most well known parallel the site has is Silbury Hill in Wiltshire, but is closer in size to the less well known sites at Conquer Barrow, Willy Howe and Wold Newton. The mound was originally built with stepped sides on top of a sand dune. Excavation between 1999-2002 revealed a round cairn at the top of the mound, similar to the nearby Mid Gleniron A.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cairnderry chambered cairn</span> Pre-historic burial site in Scotland

Cairnderry chambered cairn is a chambered cairn in Dumfries and Galloway. It is a Bargrennan cairn, a type of Neolithic or early Bronze Age monument only found in south west Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Huntersquoy chambered cairn</span> Neolithic chambered cairn in the islands of Orkney

Huntersquoy chambered cairn is a Neolithic chambered cairn located on the island of Eday, in Orkney, Scotland. The monument dates from the 3rd millennium BC and is an Orkney–Cromarty type chambered cairn. Huntersquoy is a distinctive two-story burial monument with overlapping chambers. Historic Environment Scotland established the site as a scheduled monument in 1936.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Braeside chambered cairn</span> Neolithic chambered cairn located on the island of Eday in Orkney, Scotland

Braeside chambered cairn is a Neolithic burial monument located on the island of Eday in Orkney, Scotland. It is an Orkney-Cromarty type stalled cairn, similar in construction to the Midhowe Chambered Cairn on the island of Rousay. Because of prior robbing, the Braeside cairn has been reduced to a few upright stones at the ground level, covered with turf and heather. The cairn is located on the Eday Heritage Trail.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Mid Gleniron, chambered cairns and cairns (SM1944)". portal.historicenvironment.scot. Archived from the original on 23 November 2018. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  2. "Mid Gleniron | Canmore". canmore.org.uk. Archived from the original on 7 June 2020. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  3. "Mid Gleniron | Canmore". canmore.org.uk. Archived from the original on 7 August 2020. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  4. Stell, Geoffrey (1996). Dumfries and Galloway. Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (2nd ed.). Edinburgh: The Stationery Office. p. 172. ISBN   0-11-495294-9. OCLC   36079767.
  5. 1 2 Thomas, Julian (2015). "Context: The Prehistory of Luce Bay". In Thomas, Julian (ed.). A Neolithic Complex in Galloway: Excavations at Dunragit and Droughduil, 1999-2002. Oxford & Philadelphia: Oxbow Books. pp. 8–16. ISBN   978-1-78297-970-8.
  6. Corcoran, J. X. W. P. (1969). "Excavation of Two Chambered Cairns at Mid Gleniron Farm, Glenluce, Wigtownshire" (PDF). Transactions of the Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society. Third Series. XLVI [46]: 29–90. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 July 2019.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Noble, Gordon (2006). Neolithic Scotland: Timber, Stone, Earth and Fire. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. ISBN   0-7486-2698-0. OCLC   71000487.
  8. Thomas, Julian; Sanderson, David; Kerr, Colin (2015). "Droughduil Mote". In Thomas, Julian (ed.). A Neolithic Complex in Galloway: Excavations at Dunragit and Droughduil, 1999-2002. Oxford & Philadelphia: Oxbow Books. p. 97. ISBN   978-1-78297-970-8.
  9. Thomas, Julian (2015). "Discussion". In Thomas, Julian (ed.). A Neolithic Complex in Galloway: Excavations at Dunragit and Droughduil, 1999-2002. Oxford & Philadelphia: Oxbow Books. pp. 172–173. ISBN   978-1-78297-970-8.