Scheduled Monument

Lawers Burn, peat stores, huts and trackways, and cup-marked stonesSM6170

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
13/03/1995
Last Date Amended
17/10/2002
Type
Prehistoric ritual and funerary: cupmarks or cup-and-ring marks and similar rock art, Secular: settlement, including deserted and depopulated and townships
Local Authority
Perth And Kinross
Parish
Kenmore
NGR
NN 67621 41411
Coordinates
267621, 741411

Description

The monument comprises the remains of a group of peat stores and shieling huts, dating probably from the 17th and 18th centuries. The structures are aligned along an embanked and braided trackway that climbs the slope above the E bank of the Lawers Burn. The area also includes three cup-marked rocks of prehistoric date.

There are at least forty-five subrectangular open-ended structures, which have been interpreted as peat stores, and at least five shieling huts, all disposed along a 550m-long stretch of the trackway above the E bank of the Lawers Burn. This stretch of trackway is severely braided, with up to six separate strands visible.

The peat stores are elongated subrectangular enclosures, measuring between 3.6m and 12.7m in length and between 1.2m and 2.4m transversely, within drystone rubble walls (in some cases reduced to stony banks), standing up to 0.7m high. Most of the peat stores lie perpendicular to the slope and, with one exception, they are open at the upslope end. Several of them have been built up at the lower end to provide a level interior; and thirteen examples have internal partitions.

It is noticeable that some of the least well-preserved stores lie alongside the westernmost braid of the trackway, while those standing on a slight ridge to the E of the easternmost braid are in better condition. It is possible that those to the W have been robbed to construct later huts and, therefore, that the development of braiding here has been from W to E.

The huts are clustered towards the N end of the group of peat stores at NN 6757 4152. They measure between 2.3m and 3.6m in length and between 1.5m and 2.2m in width within turf walls reduced to banks no more than 0.2m high. There are two cup-marked rocks situated at NN 6761 4130. The more prominent rock is a large erratic boulder immediately to the E of a trackway. It bears at least ten cupmarks on its sloping upper surface, the largest of which measures 80mm in diameter and about 20mm in depth.

At least three cups have slight indications of rings, the largest measuring about 160mm in diameter. Immediately to the SE, a single cupmark, measuring about 50mm in diameter and 10mm in depth, is visible on the exposed upper surface of a partially buried erratic boulder. Finally, there are at least five cupmarks on the flat upper surface of a boulder situated at NN 6765 4149, at the NE edge of a large group of peat stores. The largest cup measures about 40mm in diameter and 10mm in depth.

The area to be scheduled encompasses the visible features and the area immediately around and between them in which related remains may be expected to survive. It is irregular on plan with maximum dimensions of 585m from N to S by 110m transversely, as marked in red on the accompanying map.

Statement of National Importance

The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of the social and economic conditions of the 17th and 18th centuries in this rural location. Its importance is enhanced by its association with contemporary structures which survive in excellent condition in the wider landscape, and with the fine collection of contemporary plans and documents in the Breadalbane Muniments.

References

Bibliography

RCAHMS records the monument as NN 64 SE 3.

Reference:

Farquharson, J. (1772) Plan of Deshoir (National Archives of Scotland, RHP 369).

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).

The format of scheduled monument records has changed over time. Earlier records will usually be brief. Some information will not have been recorded and the map will not be to current standards. Even if what is described and what is mapped has changed, the monument is still scheduled.

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Printed: 05/11/2026 06:24