The Tombs of Man

26.06.2026

On the eastern side of the Isle of Man are three intriguing burial chambers, one on open farmland and the other two nestled between modern day housing. Unlike the circular layout of Cists at Meayll Hill these three are of the Clyde style type with a trapezoidal shape and linear passage graves.

The first of the three Cashtal-Yn-Ard, translates as ‘Castle of the Heights’ and sits high up above Ballaglass Glen. I decided the easiest route up was from the glen, so from the car park I followed the river down through the village of Cornaa and then up a steep fern hedged lane to a fingerpost and footpath leading to the cairn. The path flattened off and brought me out into open fields. Rising up to the west were the majestic peaks of Slieau Lhean and Ouyr, with Man’s highest mountain Snaefell beyond. Then along the edge of a long wall ahead the tall portal stones of the cairn’s forecourt came into view. The forty metre long site sits within a compound of two walls and a fence.

It was easy to see once inside the compound, the shape of the chamber was not defined by a mound but by the stones themselves, with the forecourt stones larger at the centre and then decreasing in size in a U-shape. The flat chamber area behind the forecourt consists of five directly connected linear Cists with their short upright slabs protruding up no more than half a metre or so. At the tail end, deposits of burnt charcoal had been found under a shallow mound. Back at the forecourt, one of the portal stones had a large deposit of quartz at an overhang above the entrance. As at Meayll Hill, I wondered if this was an intended feature to give protection to the dead, or could it yield some other significance ? The similarities to Cairn Holy in Dumfries and Galloway were obvious, which strongly indicates a shared culture by two lands separated by sixteen miles of sea.