Archive briefing
The Darkives lists 35 burial cairns & tombs where our community has documented paranormal phenomena. They span 2 countries, led by the United Kingdom (34) and Barbados (1), and the most-recorded areas are Orkney (7), Gwynedd (6) and County Armagh (3).
The phenomena most often recorded at these burial cairns & tombs are high strangeness (34) and other unexplained phenomena (1).
United Kingdom
34
High StrangenessAghanaglack Dual Court Tomb
Enniskillen, County Fermanagh
A Fermanagh burial monument with two chambered galleries arranged back to back. Excavation recovered burnt human remains, Neolithic pottery and later…
Burial Cairn / TombOpen file
High StrangenessAnnaghmare Court Tomb — The Black Castle
Newry, County Armagh
A well-preserved court tomb near Crossmaglen, known locally as the Black Castle. Excavation in 1963–64 exposed its forecourt and masonry, leaving…
Burial Cairn / TombOpen file
High StrangenessArthur's Stone, Herefordshire
Dorstone, Herefordshire
A Herefordshire chambered tomb with a massive capstone and later Arthurian associations. Recent excavation has identified an earlier stone monument…
Burial Cairn / TombOpen file
High StrangenessBallowall Barrow — Carn Gluze
St Just, Cornwall
A complex burial monument on the Cornish coast, exposed beneath mining debris in 1878. Its surviving stonework reflects prehistoric construction…
Burial Cairn / TombOpen file
High StrangenessBallykeel Dolmen and Cairn
Newry, County Armagh
A portal tomb near Mullaghbawn, traditionally called the Hag’s Chair. Its capstone stands at the end of a long cairn whose surviving edge stones and…
Burial Cairn / TombOpen file
High StrangenessBallymacdermot Court Tomb
Newry, County Armagh
A Neolithic court tomb on the southern slopes of Ballymacdermot Mountain near Newry. Three burial chambers survive in a setting overlooking the Ring…
Burial Cairn / TombOpen file
High StrangenessBarclodiad y Gawres Chambered Tomb
Llanfaelog, Gwynedd
A coastal Anglesey chambered tomb containing carved stones with spirals and zigzags. Its surviving prehistoric passage and chamber lie beneath a…
Burial Cairn / TombOpen file
High StrangenessBlackhammer Chambered Cairn
Brinian, Orkney
A Rousay stalled cairn divided into seven compartments. Its decorated outer masonry, internal alterations and deliberate entrance blocking record…
Burial Cairn / TombOpen file
High StrangenessBodowyr Chambered Tomb
Llangaffo, Gwynedd
A small Anglesey tomb with a distinctive mushroom-shaped capstone. Its original mound has disappeared, and the absence of excavation leaves its…
Burial Cairn / TombOpen file
High StrangenessBryn Celli Ddu Chambered Tomb
Llanddaniel Fab, Gwynedd
An Anglesey passage tomb constructed on an earlier henge and stone circle. Excavation revealed human remains and a decorated stone; the passage…
Burial Cairn / TombOpen file
High StrangenessCamster Long Chambered Cairn
Thrumster, Caithness
A long cairn in Caithness containing two burial chambers. It may incorporate earlier round cairns; excavation and modern reconstruction have shaped…
Burial Cairn / TombOpen file
High StrangenessCamster Round Chambered Cairn
Thrumster, Caithness
A round chambered cairn in Caithness with exceptionally well-preserved internal stonework. Nineteenth- and twentieth-century excavations recovered…
Burial Cairn / TombOpen file
High StrangenessCapel Garmon Chambered Tomb
Capel Garmon, Clwyd
A Neolithic tomb near Betws-y-Coed with three burial chambers and a five-metre passage. Its architectural links with the Cotswold-Severn tradition…
Burial Cairn / TombOpen file
High StrangenessClava Cairns — North-East Passage Cairn
Newlands of Culloden, Inverness
The north-east passage cairn within the Balnuaran of Clava cemetery. Its chamber, surrounding stone circle and south-west-facing passage belong to a…
Burial Cairn / TombOpen file
High StrangenessCorrimony Chambered Cairn
Braefield, Inverness
A Highland passage cairn encircled by standing stones. A cup-marked slab and traces of a crouched burial survive in a monument whose date is inferred…
Burial Cairn / TombOpen file
High StrangenessCuween Hill Chambered Cairn
Finstown, Orkney
An Orkney chambered tomb with four cells opening from a central room. Investigations found human remains and dog skulls, while later burials suggest…
Burial Cairn / TombOpen file
High StrangenessDin Dryfol Chambered Tomb
Bethel, Gwynedd
An Anglesey burial complex extending along a narrow rocky ridge. Surviving chambers and entrance stones indicate several phases of construction, with…
Burial Cairn / TombOpen file
High StrangenessFive Wells Chambered Tomb
Taddington, Derbyshire
A Derbyshire tomb with two back-to-back stone chambers and opposing passages. Stone removal and repeated excavation exposed its structure, while…
Burial Cairn / TombOpen file
High StrangenessHob Hurst's House
Beeley, Derbyshire
An unusual rectangular burial monument on Harland Edge. Thomas Bateman found cremated remains in 1853, but its square plan makes its date and…
Burial Cairn / TombOpen file- High Strangeness
Knockoneill Court Tomb
Magherafelt, County Derry / Londonderry
A court tomb near Swatragh with an unusual subsidiary chamber entered from the side. Excavations revealed cremated remains and Bronze Age pottery…
Burial Cairn / TombOpen file 
High StrangenessKnowe of Yarso Chambered Cairn
Brinian, Orkney
A communal tomb on Rousay with a passage and divided burial chamber. Excavation recovered the remains of at least twenty-nine people alongside deer…
Burial Cairn / TombOpen file
High StrangenessLegananny Dolmen
Ballynahinch, County Down
A County Down portal tomb whose capstone rests on three tall uprights. Only traces of its former cairn survive; early accounts and photographs…
Burial Cairn / TombOpen file
High StrangenessLligwy — Llugwy Chambered Tomb
Llanallgo, Gwynedd
An Anglesey chambered tomb dominated by a broad, heavy capstone. Excavation in 1908 recovered human and animal remains alongside pottery, shells and…
Burial Cairn / TombOpen file
High StrangenessMaeshowe Chambered Cairn
Stenness, Orkney
A monumental Orkney chambered tomb whose passage admits the setting sun around midwinter. Norse visitors later broke into the cairn and carved runic…
Burial Cairn / TombOpen file
High StrangenessMidhowe Chambered Cairn
Brinian, Orkney
A large stalled cairn on Rousay containing a long chamber divided by upright slabs. Excavations found numerous human remains and evidence of repeated…
Burial Cairn / TombOpen file
High StrangenessMinning Low Chambered Tomb and Barrows
Parwich, Derbyshire
A Peak District burial complex containing a multi-phase chambered cairn and two later bowl barrows. Excavation revealed prehistoric burials and…
Burial Cairn / TombOpen file
High StrangenessNether Largie South Cairn
Slockavullin, Argyll and Bute
The earliest cairn in Kilmartin Glen’s linear burial cemetery. Its Neolithic chamber was originally enclosed by a long mound, later enlarged into a…
Burial Cairn / TombOpen file
High StrangenessPentre Ifan Chambered Tomb
Eglwyswrw, Dyfed
A Pembrokeshire chambered tomb dominated by a massive capstone on upright supports. Its original covering mound has disappeared, leaving the stone…
Burial Cairn / TombOpen file
High StrangenessSimon Howe Cairn, Barrows and Stone Row
Goathland, North Yorkshire
A ridge-top cairn accompanied by two round barrows, a standing stone and a stone row. Extensive flint finds show that people returned to this…
Burial Cairn / TombOpen file
High StrangenessSt Lythans Chambered Tomb
St Nicholas, South Glamorgan
An exposed stone chamber near Cardiff that once stood within a substantial cairn. Research in 2012 clarified the lost mound, while the unexcavated…
Burial Cairn / TombOpen file
High StrangenessTaversoe Tuick Chambered Cairn
Brinian, Orkney
An unusual two-level tomb on Rousay, discovered during work for a garden seat in 1898. Excavation identified separate chambers and passages…
Burial Cairn / TombOpen file
High StrangenessTinkinswood Chambered Tomb
St Nicholas, South Glamorgan
A Vale of Glamorgan communal tomb with an exceptionally large capstone. Excavation recovered many human remains and artefacts, while later folklore…
Burial Cairn / TombOpen file
High StrangenessTrefignath Chambered Tomb Complex
Trearddur, Gwynedd
A three-phase burial complex near Holyhead. Its western, central and eastern tombs were built successively, preserving evidence of an expanding…
Burial Cairn / TombOpen file
High StrangenessUnstan Chambered Cairn
Clouston, Orkney
An Orkney communal tomb combining a divided rectangular chamber with a separate side cell. Its distinctive pottery finds gave their name to Unstan…
Burial Cairn / TombOpen file
Barbados
1Continue exploring
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