Callanish Standing Stones

The standing stones of Callanish are a prehistoric complex of stone avenues and lines radiating from a central circle. Callanish stands on a high ridge overlooking Loch Roag, a site that outlines the standing stones against the skyline from several angles. The complex of standing stones was built around 3,000 BC on land that had already been farmed.

The stones were erected in several stages; the first stones erected were just a single line of stones running to the south. About 1000 years later a central cairn was added. Five centuries later the tomb was raided and then altered as part of a dwelling. Around 800 BC the peat began to encroach upon the site, gradually burying the stones to a depth of almost 2 metres in places.

Callanish consists of a stone circle with a double line, or avenue, of stones leading away to the north. Single lines of stones lead away to the other four points of the compass.

Most of the stones are slender slabs of Lewisian gneiss, set so that their long axes are oriented along the line they are part of. A very tall central monolith 4.75 metres high is surrounded by a circle of 13 stones ranging up to 3.5 metres high. This circle is approximately 5 metres in diameter.

The northern avenue is composed of 9 and 10 stones (east and west sides of the avenue respectively). The avenue stretches 82 metres, and the stones are irregularly spaced. The eastern single line contains 5 stones, the western line 4 stones, and the southern also has 5 stones. That southern line is oriented almost exactly on a north/south line.

The lower section of many of the stones is a slightly paler colour than the top. This is not natural, but the result of peat accumulation. When the peat was partially cleared in 1857 by the local landowner, Sir James Matheson, a small chambered cairn was found in the eastern part of the circle.

Kerb stones supporting this cairn can be seen, and two stones on the east side of the circle have been incorporated into the entrance passage to the cairn. The large monolith stands on the western side of the cairn. The cairn is divided into two chambers, with an entrance passage on the east side. Human bone fragments were found within the cairn.

Though this is the most widely known group of stones at Callanish, it is not the only one. Nearby is Callanish II, a group of 7 stones surrounding a ruined cairn. But there's more; five stones arranged in an oval shape form Callanish IV, to the west of the Uig road (B8011). Another small double circle, Callanish III, stands to the south-east of the main circle.

Courtesy of www.britainexpress.com