About
Steinacleit stands on a low hill above Loch an Dùin at Shader on the Isle of Lewis, and was found in the 1920s by crofters cutting peat: it had lain under about a metre of peat for thousands of years. What survives is an oval walled enclosure with a large circular stony mound inside. It was first taken for a chambered cairn and stone circle of about 2000 BC, but it has never been excavated, and digs at similar sites in the Western Isles have shown them to be settlements of about 4,000 years ago, so Steinacleit may be an early farmer's house and yard. From the site there are views over the moor and down to the island dun in the loch. Reviewers find it much quieter than Calanais. It is a short uphill walk from the small parking area, very boggy after rain, and Historic Scotland currently advises against using the damaged access road from the A857.
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- Steinacleit Cairn and Stone CircleOpen all year; an unstaffed open site, no hours published
Opening times may change at short notice.
Historic Scotland: 'Steinacleit Cairn and Stone Circle are free to visit and open year-round.' The only notice on 20 October 2026 is the warning about the damaged access road from the A857.
A short uphill walk from the parking area through a gate; the ground can be wet and muddy, so strong footwear is recommended. No toilets or facilities.
Photo: Scattered and upright stones of Steinacleit on open moorland in the north of Lewis, with distant hills under a cloudy sky. Nessy-Pic, CC BY-SA 3.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Steinacleit_Cairn_and_Stone_Circle.JPG. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0. Resized and cropped for display; derivatives retain the source licence.
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