Cairn O'Get
Cairn O'Get is a prehistoric chambered cairn located in Caithness, in the far north of Scotland, near the village of Watten. It is a Neolithic long horned cairn, a type of megalithic tomb constructed somewhere around 4000 to 3500 BCE, making it roughly six thousand years old. The monument is considered one of the more complete and accessible examples of this funerary architecture in Caithness, a county unusually rich in prehistoric remains thanks to its relatively undisturbed agricultural landscape and the abundance of local flagstone that ancient builders could use for construction. Cairn O'Get is listed as a Scheduled Ancient Monument, affording it legal protection under Scottish heritage law, and it is cared for by Historic Environment Scotland.
The cairn belongs to the tradition of communal burial monuments that were built across northern and western Britain during the Neolithic period. These structures were not simply graves but appear to have served as focal points for community ritual, ancestor veneration and perhaps territorial marking. The dead were placed in stone-lined chambers within the cairn, and evidence from similar monuments across Caithness and Orkney suggests bones were sometimes rearranged or selectively curated over generations, implying that the relationship between the living and the ancestral dead was an ongoing, active one rather than a single act of burial. While Cairn O'Get has not yielded the dramatic archaeological finds of some Orcadian sites, it sits firmly within the same cultural tradition that produced Maes Howe and the cairns of the Camster complex a few miles to the southwest.
Physically, the monument survives as a low but still imposing mound of stones, roughly trapezoidal in shape with the characteristic horned forecourt visible at the broader end. The facade and much of the body of the cairn is composed of dry-stone walling and heaped rubble, the grey flagstone of Caithness dominating the structure and blending naturally with the colours of the moorland around it. The chamber within is accessible and consists of a short passage leading to a central compartment, following a plan typical of the Camster tradition of Caithness cairns. Standing at the site, you are surrounded by the particular silence of the Caithness interior, a wide emptiness punctuated by wind across the heather and the occasional cry of a curlew or lapwing overhead.
The surrounding landscape is classic Caithness flow country, a vast and ancient peatland that is itself a site of remarkable ecological significance. This landscape feels remote and timeless, the horizon wide and low, with the sky dominating everything. The Flow Country to the west and south of Caithness is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, one of the most intact blanket bog systems in the world, and the prehistoric monuments scattered across this terrain feel deeply embedded in its character. Nearby landmarks include the Grey Cairns of Camster, perhaps the finest Neolithic monuments in mainland Scotland, located several miles to the southwest, as well as the town of Wick to the southeast and Watten to the west.
Visiting Cairn O'Get is straightforward and free, as it sits on open land accessible from a minor road in the Caithness interior. There is limited parking nearby and the walk to the cairn is short across rough moorland terrain, so sensible footwear is advisable. The site is accessible year-round, though the summer months offer the best combination of dry ground, long daylight hours and mild temperatures. Because it lies well off the main tourist routes, it is rarely crowded and offers a genuinely solitary encounter with deep prehistory. Those with an interest in Neolithic monuments would do well to combine a visit here with the Grey Cairns of Camster, the Hill o' Many Stanes near Mid Clyth, and the Yarrows Archaeological Trail, all of which lie within a comfortable drive and together paint a vivid picture of Neolithic and Bronze Age life in this remarkable corner of Scotland.