Scotland
Craignaw
540M
1772FT
About Craignaw
This rugged granite heart of the Dungeon Hills offers a much rougher character than the Southern Uplands' typical grassy slopes. Its summit is a chaotic maze of slabs and crags, featuring the 'Deil’s Bowlin’ Green' erratics and a poignant air crash memorial, providing a wild, atmospheric sense of isolation.
Key Statistics
Rank
153rd Highest in Region
Parent Range
Galloway Hills
Prominence
?
61
Nearest Town
Caldons
Geology
You are walking across layers of muddy sandstone. These rocks are occasionally cut by veins of speckled volcanic stone.
Classifications
Nearby Fells
Find It
OS Grid Reference
NX413767
Latitude
55.0601°N
Longitude
4.4852°W
Did You Know?
- •The name is derived from the Gaelic Creag na h-Eighe, meaning 'Rock of the Echo', a fitting title for a hill whose eastern face drops away in a series of steep, sound-reflecting granite crags.
- •The Deil’s Bowlin’ Green sits on the northern ridge, a bizarre natural pavement where massive, rounded granite boulders—left behind by retreating glaciers—look as though they were dropped mid-game by a giant.
- •A small memorial on the western slopes marks the site where a US Air Force F-111E Aardvark crashed during a night exercise in 1979; despite the passage of time, fragments of the aircraft remain scattered among the heather.
- •The summit offers an unparalleled view across the 'Silver Flowe', a rare and ancient peat bog system to the east, flanked by the steep walls of the Rhinns of Kells.
- •Navigating the summit plateau in thick mist is a masterclass in frustration, as the Deil’s Bowlin’ Green provides dozens of identical granite boulders that all seem perfectly positioned to lead you in the wrong direction.