Cnoc Freiceadain Long Cairns

On the skyline above rural Caithness, 6 miles south-west of Thurso, two long-horned Neolithic burial cairns lie at right angles to each other, about 60 m apart, on the edge of a hillside. They were probably built in the mid-fourth millennium BC, about 5,500 years ago, as burial monuments for early farmers, and may have been altered or reused over many years. They have never been excavated, which makes them especially important for what they might yet reveal. Similar tombs that have been dug contain long, low chambers with corbelled roofs and lintelled entrances, set in mounds with horned ends. One of the cairns here has been robbed, exposing its chamber. Reviewers value the quiet views as much as the grassy mounds; wind turbines now stand around the hill, and the Dounreay nuclear site can be seen on the coast. The site is signed from the A836, with a small car park at the foot of the hill about 300 m away and further trails from it. Wear strong footwear.