Dumfries and Galloway, Friday, 28th October, 2022…
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Càrn na h-ulaidhe – ‘cairn-of-the-stone-tomb’.
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This site had proved illusive for a number of years.
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In Twenty-Nineteen it had been an option
both on the way to and from, Callanish.
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And was a scheduled visit for April,
Twenty-Twenty-One.
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Could we but hazard the reasons
for not then, rather now?
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It would be useful!
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But without the Northern Ireland trip
we may well have been much more perplexed.
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What the authorities are calling
a ‘Clyde-type chambered tomb’
turns out to be an ‘Irish court-cairn’.
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Albeit using much thinner,
taller stones.
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Which would inevitably result
in a much larger mound.
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The ubiquitous hill on the horizon
was not too difficult to locate.
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When still intact
would the mound
have shadowed the hill?
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They usually do.
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The aperture into the mound
is as slender as the stones.
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More shadowing?
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As a defence though it proved ineffective
against the grave robbers…
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For some reason, ‘much-robbed’ recalls
‘Bombed-about-a-bit’ from the prologue
to, The Third Man, a classic film noir of the Nineteen-Fifties.
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Which may mean we need to consider
the aperture between facade and interior.
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Accurate technical drawings on site
are always welcome.
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Speculative propaganda,
not so much…
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I mean, really, what
is supposed to be going on here?
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France & Vincent 
1 thought on “Cairn Holy…”