Carse Megaliths (Loch Stornoway)

All pictures copyright © 1999 Martin McCarthy

Looking southwest into Loch Stornoway and the open sea. The stones in the foreground are just field-clearance. Large Image (42kb 703x403) The paired stones are very well aligned north-south. The compass Large Image (87kb 438x698) Looking southeast Large Image (60kb 667x460) Looking southwest Large Image (88kb 468x700)

Carse is at the south west edge of the South Knapdale peninsula. Three megaliths stand here, two close together and aligned north-south with a third some hundred yards away. CANMORE reports that fragments of Bronze Age plates were found at the base of the stones in the mid-19th century, but that these have since apparently disintegrated (that is, no-one can find them any more). The tall-thin stone is ten feet tall and two and a half feet wide, the wide stone being eight feet tall and four feet wide. Both are a little over one foot thick. There is a local tradition that at this spot there was a battle between the Clans Campbell and McIver. The story goes that a number of McIver chiefs were killed by the Campbells when they were caught on a cattle-stealing expedition. Early in the nineteenth century, the land a little away from the stones was being drained and a helmet, inlaid with gold, and several ornamental sword hilts were found.