"Grey recumbent tombs of the dead in desert places,
Standing stones on the vacant wine-red moor,
Hills of sheep, and the howes of the silent vanished races,
And winds, austere and pure."
Robert Louis Stevenson
yarrows trail
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The Yarrows archaeological landscape blends imperceptibly into that of the Warehouse plateau and Loch Watenan which lies to the south. The landscape of the Yarrows basin takes the form of a saucer shaped area of land rising from the shores of The Loch of Yarrows south to a ridge, that frames the Yarrows basin. The ground rises more gradually to the west to a plateau that extends to the Hill of Warehouse and gradually falls away to the coast.​​
The Yarrows and Watenan areas are rich archaeologically, with monuments and other archaeological sites dating from the later Mesolithic through to Defence of Britain sites. The number, density and long chronology of these monuments is an archaeological phenomenon in itself, which invites exploration and understanding. The Yarrows Trail started in the 1970's when a Highland Council archaeologist, Bob Gourlay, recognised that a designed walk through this landscape would make it accessible to the public.
The natural environment is also a key element of the landscape with some areas being sites of special scientific interest (SSSI's). The UNESCO World Heritage Site of The Flow Country is just to the west.​
The Yarrows Trail is depicted to the right. The particular features of archaeological interest are numbered. Clicking on the links below takes you to a page where each feature is described in more detail. A fascinating website produced by AOC showing the landscape and archaeology of the Yarrows Basin can be found here:
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