Cairnpapple, West Lothian

I recently visited the site with the kind help of friend and tutor Leesa. We found the visitor centre closed but were able to walk freely around the hilltop and appreciate the stunning 360 degree view, I found it less easy to contact a ready response to the mound itself. I first learned of its existence many years ago by seeing a photo of it taken at sunset which gave it a mysterious quality and evoked a sense of the ancient. Visiting on a breezy spring day I was mainly conscious of the human interventions of my own time. Everything was extremely tidy including the small stone circles marking the sites of early Christian burials towards the outer ring of the site. They surely hadn't been like that through the long centuries?

I tried to imagine the burials within the mound itself but have yet to register their presence fully. I could look through a hazy glass panel in the skylight near the summit but couldn't make out any forms.

An interesting fact about the site is that it is thought to have started as a ceremonial place and only after some time but still in prehistoric times) to have been used for burials. Later still came the early Christian burials. The archaeological evidence poiints to these facts but leaves open the question of whether the phases were clearly separated or whether there was some intermingling of practices.

Although at the time I felt disconnected from the site, I can evoke it more vividly in imagination, I can add in some of the wildness that is less in evidence nowadays. Bringing to mind the beings who visited and presumably stayed around the site during ancient gatherings and rites brings a richness to it. I plan to do some visual work on the mound itself.