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Tall standing slabs form the entrance to a chambered stone cairn, drystone walling curving around it on open grassland.
Dumfries and Galloway

Cairn Holy Chambered Cairn

Two Neolithic tombs on a hillside above Wigtown Bay, with the sea below.

Welcome

Two chambered tombs stand a few hundred yards apart on a hillside above Wigtown Bay, and the lower one is worth the walk on its own.

Cairn Holy I has a facade of tall thin pillar stones curving back from the entrance like a set of teeth, framing the chamber behind, and they were raised in the fourth millennium BC, which makes them older than the pyramids. It is a Clyde cairn, the type built all over south-west Scotland, and when it was dug the outer chamber gave up a ceremonial axe of jadeite, a stone that had come from the Alps by whatever means things travelled that far in the Stone Age. Cairn Holy II, up the track, is plainer, and is traditionally called the grave of Galdus, a king who may never have existed. Neither is fenced or ticketed, and the view over the bay is half the reason to come.

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Before you go

How long
Half an hour to an hour
Cost
Free
Getting there
Signed off the A75, then a narrow farm road to a small parking place and a short walk.

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Did you know

Tall standing slabs form the entrance to a chambered stone cairn, drystone walling curving around it on open grassland.
Did you know

Older than the pyramids.

Both cairns were built in the fourth millennium BC, and Cairn Holy I has a concave facade of tall pillar stones curving back from the entrance.

Tall standing slabs curve around the entrance to a chambered stone cairn on open grassland, wooded hills rising in the distance.
Did you know

An axe from the Alps.

A ceremonial axe of jadeite was found in the outer chamber of Cairn Holy I, and jadeite reached Britain only from the Alps.

Tall standing slabs form the entrance to a chambered stone cairn, drystone walling curving around it on open grassland.
Did you know

The grave of a king who may not have been.

Cairn Holy II is traditionally the tomb of Galdus, a king of Galloway, though more than one place in the region makes the same claim.

Emily Rose Mawson

From our guide to Dumfries and Galloway

Built more than 5,000 years ago and said to be the final resting place of the mythical Scottish king Galdus. Visit for lonely strolls and marvellous views over Wigtown bay.

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01 / 05

Where it is

On a farm track off the A75 between Creetown and Gatehouse of Fleet.

Close byThe rest of Dumfries and Galloway, near at hand.
  1. Mossyard BeachPale sand and water you can see the bottom of, on the Fleet.3 miles 8 min by road
  2. The Old Bank BookshopThe Old Bank BookshopA secondhand bookshop of six rooms in Wigtown's old Custom House and bank on South Main Street, with a whole room of sheet music.5 miles as the crow flies
  3. Inside ReadingLasses: shelves of new books by women writers on one side, and the café counter on the other, with cakes under glass domes, a chandelier and bottles on a shelf above.ReadingLassesA bookshop and café on South Main Street in Wigtown, specialising in books by and about women, with homemade cakes.5 miles as the crow flies
  4. A woman with grey hair and glasses smiles beside a large tree trunk in woodland, wearing a green jacket with a round embroidered badge.Freelance RangerA countryside ranger who will take you pond dipping, or out under the dark sky.6 miles 9 min by road
  5. Copper pot stills in a row in the still house at Bladnoch Distillery, under a timber ceiling, with the spirit safe beyond.Bladnoch DistilleryA Lowland malt whisky distillery on the River Bladnoch near Wigtown, with tours and a café.6 miles as the crow flies
  6. Cardoness CastleCardoness CastleA six-storey McCulloch tower above the Water of Fleet, with the estuary below.6 miles 9 min by road
Directions
Brick railway viaduct arches reflected in a misty river belowAttractionsBig Water of Fleet Viaduct3.3 miles as the crow flies
Aerial view of a rocky headland jutting into the sea near a coastal villageAttractionsCarrick Bay4.2 miles as the crow flies
ShoppingPA Pop Up, Mill on the Fleet7.1 miles
Toasted cheese sandwich with bramble jelly, knife stuck upright in the breadRestaurantsGalloway Lodge Preserves7.1 miles
Whisky barrels line a gravel path beside a distillery's glass-fronted timber buildingAttractionsGalloway Distillery12 miles

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