Shawbost (Loch Raoinavat)
Stone Circle
NB 234 463
On the A858 just before you reach the village of Shawbost, coming from Callanish, you will pass a loch on the left. Turn left for the carpark for the Norse Mill and park beside the lake. Go through the gate and follow the north shore of the loch around for about a mile. (It can be boggy as there is a lot of peat here). The circle lies on the high ground just beyond the inlet where there is a small island with a cairn on it opposite. It is uphill from this inlet to the NW halfway up the hill. You should come across the two flat slab standing stones. (Most of the hilltops have glacial boulders on them and these can add to the confusion so I would recommend you buy the 50p leaflet about this circle by Margaret Ponting – it is very informative and brings the site to life with explanations about the visual evidence remaining. You can get this and other leaflets in the Tourist Info offices as well as a useful guide to the other Callanish sites she has written.
The circle has only two remaining stones standing and up to the end of the Second World War more were standing. After the war several slabs were removed to be used as lintels for house building. The holes beside the two remaining standing stones are probably abandoned attempts to dig them up. Two more complete but fallen stones can be seen about 30m to the NE, the largest is 2.4m (8ft). At three places around the line of the circle to the south and NE can be seen broken fragments of stone where they had been trimmed for lintels.
Another fallen stone is to the east where it has tipped over an edge and is partly buried in peat. Inside the ring to the SE is what appears to be possible cist box where two low slabs buried in peat are at right angles to each other so can’t be a natural formation.
Summer
2002
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