"A short walk back in time to the stone shrines and monuments in the valley of the ghosts"
Walk directions
From the car park, visit Kilmartin church to marvel at the stones and see the Kilmartin Cross. Leave the church, turn left and walk along the road past Kilmartin House, exit the village and head downhill towards a garage on the left. Just before the garage turn left, go through a kissing gate and head across the field to the Glebe Cairn.
From the cairn head half right across the field to cross a stile. In wet weather this can be very boggy so stout footwear is advisable. Cross the stream by a bridge. Go through a gate and turn left on to the old coach road. Follow this to the next cairn. Go left over a stile and follow the path to visit the cairn.
Return to the road and turn left, continuing to the next cairn. After exploring this, follow the coach road to Kilmartin school, where the route becomes a metalled road. Go through a crossroads, past Nether Largie farm and, ignoring the cairn on the left, continue a short distance to Temple Wood ahead on the right.
Go through a gate on the right into Temple Wood, then return by the same route. Turn right on to the road and continue until you reach a T-junction. Turn left and walk along this road until you come to a sign on the right for Ri Cruin Cairn. Cross the wall via a stile and proceed along the well-defined path to see the ancient monument.
Return by the same route and turn right on to the road. Follow it to a T-junction then turn left and keep straight ahead until you reach the car park at Lady Glassary Wood. Opposite this, take a path to the left signposted to Temple Wood. Cross a bridge, go through a gate and head towards the standing stones.
Turn right and walk across the field away from the stones towards a wood. Go through a gate and follow the fenced path to Nether Largie Cairn. From here continue along the fenced path, go through another gate and turn right on to the road. Continue past Nether Largie farm and Kilmartin school and then retrace your steps back to reach Kilmartin church and the car park at the start.
Kilmartin Glen with its lush alluvial plains, easy landfalls on the coast near Crinan and an abundant supply of water has attracted human settlers since the earliest times. In around 5000 BC, nomadic hunter gatherers frequented this area but left little evidence of their presence other than piles... of bones and shells in caves. Early Settlers The arrival of small groups of Neolithic people from around 3000 BC provided the first lasting signs of habitation. These early settlers, farmers and skilled weavers and potters, cleared the ground for grazing and erected the first stone shrines and circles. What they were for is not certain, but they were probably an early form of astronomical calendar for determining when to plant and harvest crops or to move cattle. They were probably also part of religious rituals closely related to the seasons and survival. Around Kilmartin Glen, 25 different sites of standing stones have been found. Some are simple arrangements, others single stones, while in Temple Wood the monument consists of two stone circles. Great Monuments Later, Bronze Age people were responsible for the monuments that can still be seen in the prehistoric linear cemetery, built over the course of 1,000 years, that runs for a mile (1.6km) down the glen. Each of the huge stonelined burial chambers is slightly different in design and construction. The Glebe Cairn, which looks like a pile of boulders with a cap stone, is situated near the church and is typical of the burial cairns of the period 1700-1500 bc. At the centre of this cairn were two stone cists for the burials and these contained pottery and a necklace of jet beads. The next tomb south from here, known as the North Tomb, has been rebuilt over a modern shelter that allows access through a hatch and contains a large slab carved with pictures of axe heads and cupmarks. The last cairn in this direction, the South Cairn is the earliest and was originally a chambered tomb dating from 4000 BC. In the Iron Age, warring tribes ringed the glen with hill-forts and it was on one of these, at Dunadd, that the Scotti tribe from Ireland founded their capital in the 6th century AD. St Columba came to Kilmartin in the 6th century AD and established the first Christian church here. Within Kilmartin parish church can be found relics from a later age. The ornately carved Kilmartin Cross depicts one of the most moving images of Christ to have survived from the early Scottish Christian Church and the churchyard has one of the finest collections of ornately carved medieval gravestones in Scotland.
This is a county that’s all about awe-inspiring landscapes and unique island cultures. Ex-Beatle Paul McCartney put the area on the map when he wrote Mull of Kintyre, recorded in 1977 with the local pipe band backing his group.
"A short walk back in time to the stone shrines and monuments in the valley of the ghosts"
Walk details
3hrs
Difficulty:
Easy
Gradient:
Flat
Distance:
3.5 miles (5.7kms)
Ascent:
0ft (0m)
Walk directions
From the car park, visit Kilmartin church to marvel at the stones and see the Kilmartin Cross. Leave the church, turn left and walk along the road past Kilmartin House, exit the village and head downhill towards a garage on the left. Just before the garage turn left, go through a kissing gate and head across the field to the Glebe Cairn.
1 of 6
From the cairn head half right across the field to cross a stile. In wet weather this can be very boggy so stout footwear is advisable. Cross the stream by a bridge. Go through a gate and turn left on to the old coach road. Follow this to the next cairn. Go left over a stile and follow the path to visit the cairn.
2 of 6
Return to the road and turn left, continuing to the next cairn. After exploring this, follow the coach road to Kilmartin school, where the route becomes a metalled road. Go through a crossroads, past Nether Largie farm and, ignoring the cairn on the left, continue a short distance to Temple Wood ahead on the right.
3 of 6
Go through a gate on the right into Temple Wood, then return by the same route. Turn right on to the road and continue until you reach a T-junction. Turn left and walk along this road until you come to a sign on the right for Ri Cruin Cairn. Cross the wall via a stile and proceed along the well-defined path to see the ancient monument.
4 of 6
Return by the same route and turn right on to the road. Follow it to a T-junction then turn left and keep straight ahead until you reach the car park at Lady Glassary Wood. Opposite this, take a path to the left signposted to Temple Wood. Cross a bridge, go through a gate and head towards the standing stones.
5 of 6
Turn right and walk across the field away from the stones towards a wood. Go through a gate and follow the fenced path to Nether Largie Cairn. From here continue along the fenced path, go through another gate and turn right on to the road. Continue past Nether Largie farm and Kilmartin school and then retrace your steps back to reach Kilmartin church and the car park at the start.
Kilmartin Glen with its lush alluvial plains, easy landfalls on the coast near Crinan and an abundant supply of water has attracted human settlers since the earliest times. In around 5000 BC, nomadic hunter gatherers frequented this area but left little evidence of their presence other than piles... of bones and shells in caves. Early Settlers The arrival of small groups of Neolithic people from around 3000 BC provided the first lasting signs of habitation. These early settlers, farmers and skilled weavers and potters, cleared the ground for grazing and erected the first stone shrines and circles. What they were for is not certain, but they were probably an early form of astronomical calendar for determining when to plant and harvest crops or to move cattle. They were probably also part of religious rituals closely related to the seasons and survival. Around Kilmartin Glen, 25 different sites of standing stones have been found. Some are simple arrangements, others single stones, while in Temple Wood the monument consists of two stone circles. Great Monuments Later, Bronze Age people were responsible for the monuments that can still be seen in the prehistoric linear cemetery, built over the course of 1,000 years, that runs for a mile (1.6km) down the glen. Each of the huge stonelined burial chambers is slightly different in design and construction. The Glebe Cairn, which looks like a pile of boulders with a cap stone, is situated near the church and is typical of the burial cairns of the period 1700-1500 bc. At the centre of this cairn were two stone cists for the burials and these contained pottery and a necklace of jet beads. The next tomb south from here, known as the North Tomb, has been rebuilt over a modern shelter that allows access through a hatch and contains a large slab carved with pictures of axe heads and cupmarks. The last cairn in this direction, the South Cairn is the earliest and was originally a chambered tomb dating from 4000 BC. In the Iron Age, warring tribes ringed the glen with hill-forts and it was on one of these, at Dunadd, that the Scotti tribe from Ireland founded their capital in the 6th century AD. St Columba came to Kilmartin in the 6th century AD and established the first Christian church here. Within Kilmartin parish church can be found relics from a later age. The ornately carved Kilmartin Cross depicts one of the most moving images of Christ to have survived from the early Scottish Christian Church and the churchyard has one of the finest collections of ornately carved medieval gravestones in Scotland.
This is a county that’s all about awe-inspiring landscapes and unique island cultures. Ex-Beatle Paul McCartney put the area on the map when he wrote Mull of Kintyre, recorded in 1977 with the local pipe band backing his group.
