Cairny

This site is noted in the ‘List of monuments discovered during the survey of marginal land (1951-5)’ (RCAHMS 1957, xiv-xviii).

Information from RCAHMS (GFG), 24 October 2012.

NS86NE 1 8512 6651.

(NS 8512 6651) Cairn (NR)

OS 6"map, (1967).

A round, turf-covered cairn is situated on level ground on the summit of Cairny (259m OD), a conspicuous hill lying 3km ESE of Caldercruix. It measures 8.0m in diameter by 0.8m in height; the S quadrant has been mutilated.

Surveyed at 1:2500.

Visited by OS (AC) 13 April 1959.

This cairn, which was excavated by officers of the Commission in 1969, shortly before its complete destruction in quarrying operations, stood upon the summit of Cairny (259m OD), a conspicuous hill lying 3km ESE of Caldercruix. The following account is a summary of the excavation report (G S Maxwell 1978).

Probably once circular on plan, but trimmed by recent ploughing along its S side to an oval shape measuring 6.4m by 5.5m, the cairn proved to be of composite nature; the lower part, which formed the bulk of the cairn material, consisted of a well-built mound of boulders and earth 0.45m high, while over this was a capping of layered turf 0.18m in average thickness. Occupying what would have been a central position, had the original plan been indeed circular, was an irregularly-shaped cist measuring 1.17m by 0.84m along the axes and 0.35m deep. It had been constructed of a seemingly haphazard assemblage of slabs and rounded boulders resting directly on the old ground- surface, and had been filled with a mixture of black earth and stones, together with a few minute fragments of cremated bone. No capstone was discovered, and it would appear that the grave was sealed simply by the turf capping. Unfortunately a robber-pit had been driven down into the cist, severely disturbing the filling, and no relics were discovered inside, although part of a jet or lignite bracelet, found in topsoil on the N periphery of the cairn, may have been one of the associated grave-goods.

Immediately to the S of the cist, incorporated in the body of the cairn, was a pocket of cremated bone, identified as probably belonging to a young male adult, while fragments of cremation were also found scattered over the old land-surface beneath the cairn, together with a number of flint flakes, a flint scraper and several small sherds of coarse pottery; one of the latter, which bore traces of impressed decoration, may have been part of a Beaker. (The finds are now in the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland {NMAS})

RCAHMS 1978, visited August 1969; Proc Soc Antiq Scot 1979 (Donations).

This cairn has been completely quarried away.

Revised at 1:2500.

Visited by OS(BS) 8 August 1974.