Callanish IV
Ceann Hulavig
Callanish IV
Callanish IV is located in Outer Hebrides
Callanish IV
Shown within Outer Hebrides
LocationLewis
Coordinates58°10′31″N 6°42′47″W / 58.17528°N 6.71305°W / 58.17528; -6.71305
TypeStone circle
History
PeriodsNeolithic, Bronze Age

The Callanish IV stone circle (Scottish Gaelic: Ceann Hulavig[1]) is one of many megalithic structures around the better-known (and larger) Calanais I on the west coast of the Isle of Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides (Western Isles), Scotland. It is a scheduled monument and its official name is Sron a'Chail.[2] The site was first surveyed and recorded by RCAHMS in 1914 and again in 2009, with another survey in the 1970s by other archaeologists, but no known archaeological excavations have taken place at the stones.[3][4]

Description

Callanish IV is around two miles southeast of the Callanish Stones, about 180 metres west of the unfenced B8011 road. The nearest settlement is Garynahine to its northeast.[5]

The stone circle forms a pronounced oval measuring 13.3 by 9.5 metres.[5] Only five stones currently stand, but there could have been as many as thirteen.[5] The stones range in size from 2 to 2.7 metres.[1]

In the centre is a dilapidated cairn.[5] A small slab, 60 centimetres high, is set on edge within the cairn.[1] To the south-east of the circle is a prehistoric quartz quarry.[6] To the south-west is a shieling.[7]

Scheduled Monument

The circle and cairn is a scheduled monument. It was scheduled in 1992 and the scheduled area is irregular, the longest aspect is 410m long, north–south. It covers the cairn and an area around those in which buried evidence may survive below the peat.[2] Though it may also be to preserve the sighting lines from the circle.[4]

The statement of national importance says of the site:

"The monument is of national importance as a very fine field monument, a small circle with central burial cairn. The undisturbed deep peat around it gives it the potential for recovery of information regarding contemporary landuse and economy, and possibly other structural evidence. It is also of national importance as a member of the Callanish group of circles, settings and cairns ('Callanish IV'). Together, this complex is one of the most remarkable Neolithic/Bronze Age site assemblages in N W Europe, and holds great potential for further studies into the date, nature and purpose of megalithic stone circles and settings."[2]

Images

Media related to Callanish IV at Wikimedia Commons

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Site Record for Lewis, Garynahine, 'Tursachan' Callanish Iv; Sron A'Chail; Ceann Hulavig; Calanais; An Ceann Thulabhig". RCAHMS. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 "Sron a'Chail,stone circle and cairn 450m SSE of Ceann Hulavig (SM5457)". portal.historicenvironment.scot. Retrieved 29 July 2021.
  3. ↑ "Lewis, Garynahine, 'tursachan' | Canmore". canmore.org.uk. Retrieved 29 July 2021.
  4. 1 2 "No title configured". smr.cne-siar.gov.uk. Retrieved 29 July 2021.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Burl, Aubrey (2005). A Guide to the Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany. Yale University Press. p. 151. ISBN 0300114060.
  6. ↑ "Vol 11 (2004): The worked quartz vein at Cnoc Dubh, Uig parish, Isles of Lewis, Western Isles: presentation and discussion of a small prehistoric quarry | Scottish Archaeological Internet Reports". journals.socantscot.org. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
  7. ↑ "Sron A' Chail | Canmore". canmore.org.uk. Retrieved 29 July 2021.

58°10′31″N 6°42′47″W / 58.17528°N 6.71306°W / 58.17528; -6.71306


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