Scheduled Monument
Grey Cairn, cairn and long cairnSM4672
Status: Designated
Documents
Where documents include maps, the use of this data is subject to terms and conditions (https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/termsandconditions).
The legal document available for download below constitutes the formal designation of the monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. The additional details provided on this page are provided for information purposes only and do not form part of the designation. Historic Environment Scotland accepts no liability for any loss or damages arising from reliance on any inaccuracies within this additional information.
Summary
- Date Added
- 22/05/1989
- Last Date Amended
- 21/10/2024
- Type
- Prehistoric ritual and funerary: cairn (type uncertain); long cairn
- Local Authority
- Highland
- Parish
- Cromarty
- NGR
- NH 73366 62454
- Coordinates
- 273366, 862454
Description
The monument comprises the remains of a long cairn, built and used during the Neolithic period (4000 BC – 2500 BC) and an adjacent round cairn, probably dating to the Bronze Age (2500 BC – 800 BC). The long cairn survives as a low, trapezoidal shaped mound of stone and earth and the round cairn as a large round mound of stone. The monument is located on a prominent ridge at about 180m above sea level.
The long cairn measures 20.5m from east-southeast to west-southwest. It is 12m wide and 1m high at its east end, and 9m wide and 0.7m high at its west end. The round cairn lies about 16m to the northeast. It measures about 20m by about 18m and stands to a height of about 2m, with a small modern cairn on its summit. The round cairn is surrounded by a stony, subcircular, bank which defines an area measuring about 26m from northeast to southwest by 24.5m.
The scheduled area is irregular. It includes the remains described above and an area around within which evidence relating to the monument's construction, use and abandonment is expected to survive, as shown in red on the accompanying map. The above ground elements of all post and wire fences are excluded to allow for their maintenance.
Statement of National Importance
The monument is of national importance as a fine and unusual example of an unchambered long cairn and large round cairn next to each other. The round cairn is of particular interest because of the enclosure wall round it which may represent an earlier structure and the complex as a whole is of national importance to understanding of Neolithic and Bronze Age funerary practices.
References
Bibliography
No Bibliography entries for this designation
About Scheduled Monuments
Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating sites and places at the national level. These designations are Scheduled monuments, Listed buildings, Inventory of gardens and designed landscapes and Inventory of historic battlefields.
We make recommendations to the Scottish Government about historic marine protected areas, and the Scottish Ministers decide whether to designate.
Scheduling is the process that identifies, designates and provides statutory protection for monuments and archaeological sites of national importance as set out in the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.
We schedule sites and monuments that are found to be of national importance using the selection guidance published in Designation Policy and Selection Guidance (2019)
Scheduled monument records provide an indication of the national importance of the
scheduled monument which has been identified by the description and map. The description and map (see ‘legal documents’ above) showing the scheduled area is the designation of the monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. The statement of national importance and additional information provided are supplementary and provided for general information purposes only. Historic Environment Scotland accepts no liability for any loss or damages arising from reliance on any inaccuracies within the statement of national importance or additional information. These records are not definitive historical or archaeological accounts or a complete description of the monument(s).
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