In Search of a Battlefield - 3

This is the third post on this subject (see previous post here), so The Diary apologises to those of you who have, ever since your schooldays, stifled a yawn whenever any topic relating to history is raised. The reason for returning to the subject is that M E M Donaldson clearly stated in her description of West Ardnamurchan that the cairn raised by local people over the bodies of John MacIain and his two sons after the battle of Creag an Airgid, which took place in 1519, was still visible - thought she herself couldn't find it - and our failure constitutes a continuing challenge.

So, on Thursday, we decided to search again, this time the slopes of Craig an Airgid itself, MEM having led us to believe that the cairn was on a neighbouring knoll. We therefore walked the lower slopes of the hill, starting on the southeast side where the cairn is supposed to be. We worked our way steadily up the south side to the summit where, despite the grey weather, we were treated to some wonderful views. The top picture shows the summit of the hill with, in the right distance, the township of Achnaha, the peak called Meall Sanna and, to the left, part of the township of Portuairk, while the above picture looks northward to the abandoned village of Glendrian, visible just beyond the greens of the grass and the browns of bracken, and the Isle of Eigg.

It was only as after we had checked the eastern and northern slopes, and were moving along the western slope on our way back to the car, that we stumbled across this scattered pile of rocks. It isn't at all the neatly-built cairn we had expected, and many of the larger rocks couldn't have been moved by even the strongest group of men, but it has a number of features which suggest that this might be where the old chieftain was buried. While the outer rocks are massive, the area within them is filled by boulders which, while a good size, could have been piled there to cover the bodies - some might have been rolled down from the slope above and then manoeuvred into position. It stands on a slope immediately above, and with a fine view over the flat land where the battle is supposed to have taken place.

Perhaps significantly, this 'cairn' is also immediately above the huge boulder by the side of the Sanna road on which people still place stones when they pass, apparently to bring good luck - the boulder is at bottom left of the picture, the cairn at top right, with the road running along the bottom.

If this is the cairn - and it is a big 'if' - we still have to find the other cairn, which is supposed to be close by, where the ordinary soldiers killed in the battle were laid to rest.