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The Cairn Holy chambered cairns are a pair of adjacent ancient monuments dating to the neolithic period. They are located on a hillside near the village of Creetown overlooking Wigtown Bay and the Solway Firth in the council area of Dumfries and Galloway in Scotland.
The monuments are thought to have been constructed for the interment of human remains. Both take the form of a chambered cairn and both are now incomplete due to a combination of weathering and the deliberate theft of their stones.
Both monuments were excavated in 1949 and both are now administered by Historic Scotland, an agency of the Scottish Government. They are customarily referred to as Cairn Holy I and Cairn Holy II.
Cairn Holy I[edit]
Cairn Holy I is the larger and more sophisticated of the two cairns. It consists of a curving facade of eight standing stones with an entrance in its centre. This entrance led to an outer chamber and, beyond this, a sealed inner chamber. The two chambers are thought to have been originally roofed with stone slabs and the whole structure was probably covered with an earthen mound.
A recumbent stone now lies outside the entrance to the cairn. This may have formerly blocked the entrance.
Cairn Holy II[edit]
Cairn Holy II is smaller and simpler than its neighbour. Its entrance is framed by two tall monoliths leaning against each other. A small chamber lies beyond the entrance. As with Cairn Holy I the structure is thought to have been originally covered with an earthen mound.