Tulloch of Assery

Nearest town:
Thurso (8km NE)
OS reference:
ND06826188
OS sheets:
11, 12
Latitude:
58° 32' 6.75 N
Longitude:
3° 36' 2.17 W
Added to TMA by

Images

Image of Tulloch of Assery (Chambered Cairn) by GLADMAN

Tulloch of Assery B across Loch Calder.... had to wade across to see it up close. The hill fort and chambered cairn at Ben Freiceadain etc can be seen beyond.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Oct 15, 2015
Image of Tulloch of Assery (Chambered Cairn) by GLADMAN

Tulloch of Assery ‘A’ (flooded) chambered cairn......

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Feb 10, 2013
Image of Tulloch of Assery (Chambered Cairn) by GLADMAN

Tulloch of Assery “B”........ worth getting the feet wet for.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Feb 7, 2013
Image of Tulloch of Assery (Chambered Cairn) by GLADMAN

Tomb ‘B’ from tomb ‘A’.....so near, yet so far.... The only option when the loch is this high is to take off the boots, roll up the trousers and wade (out of shot to right) across the flooded peninsular. It has to be done.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Jan 15, 2011

Articles

Tulloch of Assery

GLADMAN
GLADMAN Jun 6, 2009

The most picturesque site possible on a beautiful sunny evening to find two relatively well preserved chambered cairns – there’s another nearby, by the way. Also the reason I thought it’s high time I began to contribute to TMA – this is what TMA’s all about.

I would re-enforce the ‘wellies needed’ bit – even my winter mountain boots were no match for Loch Calder and I ended up in way past my knees trying to cross to cairn B after taking them off..... much to the amusement of local fishermen.

I’d say your best bet is to use the concrete ‘dam’ wall and advance to each site through the trees -but watch your eyes!

An exquisite site, even coming after the Warehouse cairns.

Tulloch of Assery

postman
postman Sep 24, 2007

Wellies needed !
Visible from the road, go down the hill through the gate into the woods then slowly pick your way through the trees. Two cairns right on the edge of the loch . Couldnt get too close because of the water and we were running out of time. Oh where does the time go?

Miscellaneous

Tulloch of Assery
Chambered Cairn
postman
postman Aug 29, 2007

A well-preserved, short, horned cairn , probably
the earlier of the two chambered cairns known as the Tullochs of Assery . Excavation by Corcoran in 1961, in advance of the raising of the level of Loch Calder, revealed an apparently unique plan of two chambers set back to back and approached by passages through the north and south facades. Finds from the excavation are in the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland (NMAS).
Visited by OS 3 November 1964; NMAS 1977.

Corcoran’s excavation remains open but otherwise the cairn is well-preserved although the waters of the loch lap the margins and have caused some damage.
Visit by OS 17 August 1981.

Link

Tulloch of Assery
Chambered Cairn
Rhiannon
Rhiannon Jan 15, 2011
National Museums Scotland

From the ‘B’ cairn – a piece of human vertebra with a stone arrowhead firmly stuck in it. Nasty. You can weave a story around it of murder or warfare or daft accident, a human story from the Neolithic. But one thing is sure, it can’t have been a very pleasant incident for the poor beggar that got shot, can it.

(And I suppose they had to label it somewhere. But did they really have to label it right there?! No sense of aesthetics.)

Sites within 20km of Tulloch of Assery

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