Monument record MHG4431 - Loch Alvie

The site comprises a round earthen-clad stony bank situated on a shelf overlooking Loch Alvie in the south with the A9 corridor directly to the north. The overall daimeter is circa 12.3m. Around the western radius ia an inner and partial outer kerb of contiguous stones set on edge. Next to the ring-cairn to the N-E ia a small cairn that may ba a result of field clearance activity. An earthen bank extends south-eastwards until it meets a collapsed drystone-built wall some 20m away. The site is enclosed by a triangular configuration of fencing that hugs the edges of the monument.
Archaeological Management Plan, AOC. Dorothy Rankin, 1997.
J Aitken : 31/07/01.

A ring-cairn on a broad shelf overlooking Loch Alvie. It measures c 12.3m in diameter overall, with a slightly eccentrically placed internal area c 6.4m in diameter. Around the N half the inner kerb of contiguous stones on edge is well preserved and the outer kerb of bigger stones is also partially intact. In the E, however, both kerbs are virtually destroyed and in the W and S most of the stones have been displaced, those of the outer kerb being shifted slightly to face a late wall which utilizes the SW arc of the cairn in its construction. Much of the cairn infill survives, but rubble in the central area appears to be mainly field clearance, probably associated with a depopulated hamlet close by to the E. There is no evidence of there ever having been an outer circle of standing stones.
About 110 metres to the N are the remains of a possible hut circle c16.0m in diameter, crossed in the E arc by a fence. It is defined by a grassed bank of rubble stones spread to 3.5m around the N arc, but the remainder of the circumference is scarcely visible. A depression in the E may indicate an entrance. Nearby to the SW are three or four stony mounds which may be contemporary stone clearance heaps and a grassy mound outside the SE arc may be another.
G Harden and D W Ross 1979 (see archive MS/179).

A large granite boulder, 39.5m NNE of the cairn, stands 0.9m high and may be an outlying orthostat. It will be destroyed by the construction of the new road, but the ring cairn will be preserved.

Macbain, A, 1885, 'The "Druid" circles', Trans Gaelic Soc Inverness Vol. 11 1884-5, p.23-50, 28 (Text/Publication/Article). SHG1611.