Archaeology Notes

Event ID 732439

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/732439

NY48NW 1 4308 8545.

(NY 4308 8545) Cairn (NR)

OS 6" map (1957)

The ruins of a cairn occupy the summit of Tinnis Hill (1326 ft OD); all that remains is a low spread mound of small boulders measuring about 30 ft by 35 ft, on top of which a modern cairn has been built.

At a low level, the summit-knoll is encircled by a narrow terrace, faced with drystone masonry and carrying a slight turf bank. This is probably only a plantation bank, while a second enclosure immediately surrounding the cairn may have been intended to isolate the ruins within the planted area.

RCAHMS 1956, visited 1949

The 0.3m high cairn has been so spread that it is now indistinguishable from the low enclosing bank which measures approximately 18.0m by 17.0m. An Ordnance Survey triangulation pillar stands on the E side of the cairn and a crude stone shelter has replaced the modern cairn. The footings of a sub-oval stony bank, 60.0m by 50.0m, survive just below the summit area. Its origin and purpose are not clear and whether it is a plantation bank is a matter of conjecture.

Surveyed at 1:10,000.

Visited by OS (MJF) 31 July 1979.

The remains of a round cairn are situated on the summit of Tinnis Hill. It measures 19.5m in diameter but has been heavily robbed and is now no more than 0.6m high. An OS triangulation station on the NE edge of the cairn is enclosed by a low drystone wall.

The cairn has probably been robbed to provide stone for the now-ruinous wall that encloses the top of the hill.

Visited by RCAHMS (ARW, SPH), 27 April 1993.