Clava Cairns

The three main cairns at Balnuaran of Clava were built around four thousand years ago and sit in a line, each surrounded by a ring of standing stones. Two are passage graves with a corridor into a central chamber, and both passages are aligned on the midwinter sunset, so light enters along them at the solstice; the third is a ring cairn with no passage, a chamber open to the sky. The stones are graded in height, taller toward the southwest, and some carry cup marks. A row of kerb cairns lies nearby, and a later Pictish burial and a chapel were added to the site. The trees around them are Victorian planting, which changes the setting considerably from the open landscape they were built in. Access is free and unrestricted.

What you actually see

• The two passage cairns - corridors aligned on the midwinter sunset.
• The stone circles - rings graded in height around each cairn.
• The cup marks - carved depressions on several of the stones.
• The ring cairn - a central chamber built with no way in at all.

When to go

Year-round and free at any hour; midwinter is the alignment but the site draws numbers then. The Victorian beeches make autumn the most atmospheric season. Morning and evening give raking light on the stones.

Honest expectations

The lane in is single track with a very small car park that fills quickly, partly because of Outlander tourism attaching to the site. The cairns are low and grassy and need interpretation to read. There are no facilities.

Nearby

Culloden is a short drive; Inverness lies west and Cawdor Castle east.