The Cairns of Camster - 5,000 year old burial chambers close to my place of birth !

I was born in the very far north of Scotland in the town of Thurso. Its right on the north coast and looks out across the north Atlantic Ocean towards the Orkney Islands. Thurso is in the county of Caithness, and the county has lots of history dating back thousands of years. One of my favorite places in Caithness is the Grey Cairns of Camster.

In Scotland, the word cairn generally refers to some kind of monument built out of stone. In the case of the Grey Cairns of Camster, they are ancient burial chambers.

They are considered to be 5,000 years old, so built just a little before I was born ! They are considered to be amongst the oldest structures in Scotland, and at 5,000 years old, it puts them at about 500 years older than the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt - which helps to put a little context to them !

There are around 3 or 4 together all in one construction, in a row, and then another one of to the side on its own. They have actually been re-built, following archaeological excavation - as they had not lasted intact all this time.

They are free to enter, and you can get right inside them. Although the passageway is small, so you pretty much have to crawl through that, and then in each one it takes you into a central chamber.

The chambers are quite small - maybe 5 or 6 feet across, but tall enough to stand up in (say 7 feet tall).

I've visited them between 5 and 10 times. I no longer live in that part of Scotland, but when I travel up to see my dad, I will stop in at them now and again if I have the time. I find them completely fascinating.

Between the road and the cairns is a large area of bog land, so a wooden walkway has been constructed out to them. Thats my daughter in the foreground and my dad in the background, on our last visit to them. My dad is up by one that sits off to the side on its own.

They are great to explore, and there is hardly ever anyone there. Its in quite a remote part of the county - although very easy to get to by car, and I am just amazed that the county does not do more to promote these for tourism. I mean - 5,000 year old cairns - who wouldnt want to see that !

In construction they would have built the main passageways and central chamber. They used large slabs to span the walls to make the roofs, and then as can be seen below, covered all of that with rocks for additional protection.

There are some information boards as well for any visitors which is quite handy.

The effort in creating these would have been colossal back in those days. They would not have had the tools that the Egyptians used to construct the pyramids, so these would have been built by hand, including finding the material, which probably was not quarried, and taking it to the construction site. A herculean effort, however, still standing all these years later !

So if you are ever in Caithness, I'd highly recommend these - lovely to explore, and considerably ancient !

I'll certainly be making another stop in to see them, hopefully this year when I'm back in the north to see my dad this summer !