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Philla Cairn
Cairn (Prehistoric)
Site Name Philla Cairn
Classification Cairn (Prehistoric)
Canmore ID 36512
Site Number NO77SE 4
NGR NO 78936 71015
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/36512
- Council Aberdeenshire
- Parish Benholm
- Former Region Grampian
- Former District Kincardine And Deeside
- Former County Kincardineshire
NO77SE 4 7893 7102.
(NO 7893 7102) Philla Cairn (NR)
OS 1:10,000 map, (1973)
Philla Cairn: The remains of what appears to have been a large cairn.
Name Book 1863.
A circular, turf-covered mound, 12.0m in diameter and 1.2m high, centrally placed on a platform 21.0m in diameter overall, is situated on the false crest of a gentle SE-facing slope. The platform has been built up to provide a level base for the mound. A large flat stone, 2.0 by 1.0m, lies on the berm, at the SW side of the cairn. A slight mutilation on the S side reveals a content of rubble stones and earth. The name is not known locally. A bell-cairn.
Revised at 1:2500.
Visited by OS (NKB) 7 December 1967
Field Visit (March 1982)
Philla Cairn NO 789 710 NO77SE 4
This cairn measures 20m in diameter by 1.6m in height, and has a plantation-bank built on it. Situated 59m to the NW there are the remains of a second cairn which measures 14m in diameter by 0.4m in height.
RCAHMS 1982, visited March 1982
(Feachem 1972, 107)
Field Visit (13 May 2005)
Philla Cairn lies towards the leading edge of a SE-facing slope and is now situated in a clearing within deciduous woodland identified on the OS maps as Lady’s Plantation. The plantation was once more extensive and the clearing is not shown on the 1st and 2nd editions of the OS 6-inch map (Kincardineshire 1868, sheet xxiv; Kincardineshire [new series] 1904, sheet xxviii.nw). This accounts for the two tree stumps visible on the body of the mound. The cairn measures 22m in overall diameter by a maximum of 1.5m in height, but its profile is stepped, probably indicating at least two periods of construction. The surface of the lower tier rises only 0.3m above the surrounding ground level on the SW, but on the NE it is 1m high. The mound forming the upper tier is set slightly off-centre, and measures 11.5m in diameter, ranging in height from 0.5m on the NE to 1.2m on the SW. Lying flat on the SW of the lower tier, there is a large stone of grey schist with quartz inclusions; this measures 1.88m by 0.86m by 0.23m. Erosion hollows on both tiers reveal a core of stone and earth.
Visited by RCAHMS (ARG) 13 May 2005
Measured Survey (13 May 2005)
RCAHMS surveyed Philla Cairn on 13 May 2005 with plane table and alidade producing a plan and sections at a scale of 1:100. The survey drawing was later used as the basis for an illustration redrawn in vector graphics software at a scale of 1:250.
