Graves where giants were buried or where giants buried their victims? Neither, it turns out, and I still haven’t discovered how these Neolithic burial cairns on Arran came to be associated with giants.
These two chambered cairns (there are over twenty others on Arran) are in a clearing on Forestry land above Whiting Bay. Built around 5,700 – 5,000 years ago they’re of the Clyde type – so called because a separate group of burial cairns found in the Firth of Clyde region were identified. They are considered to be the earliest chambered cairn tombs in Scotland, and their construction technique was probably carried from Scotland to Ireland.

Holy Isle in the background
The burial chamber was usually located at one end of a rectangular or trapezoidal cairn, while a roofless, semi-circular forecourt at the entrance provided access from the outside. Forecourts are typically fronted by large stones and it is thought the area in front of the cairn was used for public rituals. The chambers were created from large stones set on end, roofed with large flat stones and often sub-divided by slabs into small compartments. They were intended for the community’s ancestors and not for individuals – and it would have taken considerable community effort to construct them.
Before being placed in the cairn, bodies would be left outside for ravens to strip away the flesh from the bones and different parts of the skeleton may have been placed in different parts of the chamber. The chambers were not permanently sealed and were used again and again over many years.
It all looks a bit of a jumble and quite hard to picture how they would have looked over six thousand years ago. Many of the stones have been removed and incorporated into local buildings and dry stane dykes and many other stones lie below the turf. The Giant’s Grave (North) is the larger with the main axis north-south while the smaller grave (South) is at right angles to the northern cairn with its east-west axis. As I don’t know my right from my left never mind east west, I took these details from the information board on the site.
Excavations in 1902 recovered pottery shards, flint knives, and leaf-shaped arrowheads in the larger cairn but only soil and stones in the smaller. During a later excavation in1961-2 nine shards of a round-based vessel and fragments of burnt bone were found.
Much more information about Arran’s Neolithic chambered tombs can be found here which is also where I found this image of how the chambered cairn would have looked.
Such wonderful ancient history, Mary. Those burial places have a spiritual feel, in my experience. Some of those in Wales are still in much the same condition as when they were being used. I went to this one in the 1980s.
https://www.britainexpress.com/attractions.htm?attraction=402
Best wishes, Pete.
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Thanks for the link. It’s in a much better state of preservation than this one on Arran, which still has the same spiritual feel.
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I love visiting sites like this. Perhaps the folks buried there were just bigger than the local people so they called them giants. I guess we will never know. It certainly sparks the imagination.
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Thanks, Darlene. I did find something when browsing the internet about a link with Irish giants but now I can’t find it!
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Great post 🙂
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Thank you. I’m glad you enjoyed it.
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No problem 🙂 check out my blog when you get the chance 😄
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I’ve just been reading yours posts about Iceland – a place I really want to visit one day.
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I agree with Darlene and Pete. The only large stone site I’ve visited is Stonehenge, and that place sucked me in with its spiritual energy or vibration or WHATEVER it was that affected me into shocked (and appreciative) silence. I think I’d feel the same way in the presence of these stone cairns. Fascinating history. I like to close my eyes and imagine what it was like there “in the day.”
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Thanks, Pam. I think you can’t help but fall silent in these places.
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Well done, Mary. An ineresting read.
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Thanks, Lynn. It’s time you got back to your blog 🙂
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This looks an incredible place, Mary. Burial sites and standing stones seem to have a particular ‘feel’ about them.
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They do, don’t they? I think in part it’s the realisation we are linked to those people who lived so many thousands of years ago.
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How fascinating, Mary. How it could have looked is so impressive for the time.
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Incredible really, Robbie, especially when you think about what primitive tools they had. I like that the burial chambers were for all the community regardless of what social position anyone might have had.
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Yes, I noticed that aspect too. It was very communal.
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We’d have a field day on Arran…. 😉
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Oh, Sue, you would! Everywhere you turn there’s a standing stone or a burial cairn. The Giants’ Graves are a tiny part of Arran’s prehistory. The huge complex at Machrie Moor could keep you busy – and squeaking – for days.
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*runs off to look up the Moor* 😉
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Yep. I need to go to Arran 🙂
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You definitely do.
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🙂
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And Barb will be delighted to see you there 🙂
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She probably wouldn’t see me in one place for long with so much to see 🙂
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How interesting, Mary! The images are quite breathtaking. It is hard to reconcile the way mankind has changed with our thoughts of dealing with the end of life. It feels like a place of peace.
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Thank you, Maggie. Yes, it does feel like a place of peace, and of acceptance.
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Oh, those pictures. How fab to see these, Mary! When I visit places like this I always put my hand on them and have wild fantasies about being transported back in time to when they were built. If only, eh?
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Thanks, Terry. Arran is stuffed full of places like this and standing stones. And more modern stuff like iron age forts! It’s incredible how much there is on such a small island. I’d like to go back in time as an onlooker.
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Pingback: The Giants’Graves ~ Mary Smith #Arran | Sue Vincent's Daily Echo
This is a fascinating post, Mary, and the pictures of the stones in their breath-taking setting truly set the scene and give us a tantalising glimpse of how life – and death – all that time ago. I agree with the other bloggers who have commented – I’d love to somehow travel back there and see it in it’s heyday. If it looked anything like the image from the Forestry and Land Scotland site it must have been an impressive feat of engineering. 🙂
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Thanks, Alli, glad you enjoyed the post. I think it’s incredible what they achieved only the primitive tools they had.
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Wow! Would love to visit it someday ❤
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This is only one, Alethea! There are over twenty others on the island plus stone circles. It’s truly amazing what is on this small island. It’s 56 miles to drive round the island. I hope you get to visit one day.
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Sounds amazing and my idea of heaven! Someday!
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Thank you, Mary. It looks like sacred ground.
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Yes, and it really feels like it. I felt respectful.
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A fascinating post and place to visit, Mary. The last image was one of enlightenment and I can begin to fathom how the various stones built up to this chambered cairn. What was the atmosphere like at this location? Having visited various cairns in England as well as Ireland, Scotland and Sweden I feel they exude peace and often feel they are sacrosanct ground.
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Thanks, Annika. I was glad to find the picture of the recreation of the cairn as I find it difficult to imagine how it would have looked when there are only a few stones seemingly in a jumble. It was a peaceful place, making you (me) want to stay quiet and absorb the atmosphere.
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Now I know I have to go back to Arran again. I missed these completely!
We hiked down to the Kings Caves, and then out to the enormous standing stones, which were truly awesome (and I mean that with the most correct use of the word, as opposed to the glib comment) – did you get out to these?
https://deborahjayauthor.com/2018/11/12/holiday-touring-the-inner-hebrides-isle-of-arran-continued-scotland/
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Yes, we have visited the stones on Machrie Moor and you are right – awesome is the correct word for them. I put a couple of pics up on my latest post. I’ve just read your blog post and left a comment. I looked to see if you’d written one about Islay but couldn’t see it. I was born there.
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You can find the whole trip here: https://deborahjayauthor.com/category/scotland/
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Thanks – just been over to read the Islay one. It’s time I went back to visit. My sister has been a couple of times in the last year. In fact, she was on Ilsay when I was on Arran this year 🙂
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