Balnuaran of Clava

Balnuaran of Clava is a Bronze Age burial site with three stone cairns arranged in a triangle, each roughly 4000 years old. Each cairn is surrounded by a circle of standing stones that together create a distinctive pattern found nowhere else in the Scottish Highlands.

The site was built during the Bronze Age when people in this region created burial grounds marked with stone. Excavations in the 1800s uncovered cremated remains and pottery, revealing that fire burial was the custom here.

The stone circles surrounding each cairn show deliberate design, with heights decreasing from southwest to northeast in a pattern that clearly mattered to the builders. This arrangement suggests a meaning now lost to time, though visitors can still observe how carefully the stones were placed.

The site sits in an open field and is freely accessible year-round for visitors with no special requirements. The stones are mid-sized and surrounded by level ground, making it straightforward to walk around and explore.

The passages through the cairns are actually oriented so that at winter solstice, the low sun shines directly into the inner chambers, a subtle astronomical alignment the builders deliberately created. This shows how carefully they understood and incorporated the movements of the sky into sacred spaces.

Location: Highland

Location: Croy and Dalcross

Operator: Historic Scotland

Address: Inverness IV2 5EU, UK

Opening Hours: 24/7

Phone: +441667460232

Website: https://historicenvironment.scot/visit-a-place/places/clava-cairns

GPS coordinates: 57.47369,-4.07439

Latest update: December 8, 2025 19:49