Black Park

NN60NE 15 6702 0752.

This cairn is situated on the highest point of a ridge to the E of the Coillechat Burn. It measures 21m in diameter by 1.5m in height. The SE side of the cairn has been reduced and there is a robber-trench around the S and SW arcs, presumably marking the line of a kerb. A second cairn (NN60NE 16) is situated on a knoll along the ridge to the SE.

(BOD 3)

Visited by RCAHMS (DCC) 8 April 1992.

Thirteen round cairns were recorded during the survey, all probably of Bronze Age date. These are all situated towards the western part of the survey area, most of them sited at between 190m and 300m OD and showing a similar distribution to that of the neolithic tombs, with a concentration of five monuments at Black Park on lower ground, between 150m and 165m OD. All but one of the cairns are located either on prominent knolls or ridges or in situations offering an extensive outlook (although afforestation now makes this difficult to appreciate at Black Park), the exception being Annet Burn (NN60 NE 33), which sits on a level terrace beside the burn.

The cairns all appear as grass- or heather-covered mounds, most of them disturbed or robbed to some extent. In no case can an enclosing kerb be identified with certainty, although a robber-trench around the S and SW arcs of one of the Black Park cairns (NN 60 NE 15) may indicate the course of such a feature. On the basis of their size, two groups can be identified. Eight cairns measure between 4.5m and 8.5m in diameter and between 0.45m and 0.9m in height; the others range from 12.5m in diameter and 0.4m in height (Ballachraggan) to 21 m in diameter and 1.5m in height (Black Park, NN 60 NE 15). All but one are circular, the single exception being The Judge's Cairn, an oval mound measuring 20m in length by 17.5m in breadth and 1.8m in height, although here the shape may be the result of stone-robbing, The two groups show different patterns of distribution. With one exception, the smaller cairns are all to be found in areas of heather covered, often boggy, moorland; the example at Waterside, however, the smallest of all, sits on a prominent knoll which may belong to the Bronze Age. At Cromlix House in 1902 a damaged short cist was found during drainage operations, while the Statistical Account records that in c. 1783 'several cists' were found in a mound at Rosehall (Stat. Acct.; XX, 90), and stones 6ft (1.8m) long by 3ft (0.9m) wide were also discovered there around 1859 (Name Book 1863, No. 21, p.22).

RCAHMS 1994