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Aviemore cairn, 25 metres south-west of 24 Muirton, is a funerary monument in Inverness-shire, built from stone gathered from the landscape above bedrock of Grampian Group psammite and semipelite, which was formed in the Neoproterozoic era. The cairn is part of a larger funerary landscape typical of prehistoric Scotland, where communities built these substantial stone mounds as permanent memorials to their dead. The local geology would have provided suitable stone for its construction, and the monument's position within settled terrain speaks to its importance as a focus for the community that built it.
The cairn is protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM889, ensuring its preservation as a record of burial practice and settlement patterns in the Highlands. Such monuments, usually dating to the Bronze Age or earlier periods, are distributed across the region and help archaeologists understand how prehistoric communities organised their beliefs about death and landscape use. Cairns like this one frequently contain evidence of cremated remains and associated grave goods, though these details are not recorded for this particular example.
The survival of the monument on the ground contributes to understanding the pattern of ancient use in the Muirton area. Its protection reflects the value placed on such structures as physical links to Scotland's deep past and as archaeological witnesses to the long human history of the Highlands.
Aviemore, cairn 25m SW of 24 Muirton is a scheduled monument protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM889. View the official record →
Aviemore cairn, 25 metres south-west of 24 Muirton, is a funerary monument in Inverness-shire, built from stone gathered from the landscape above bedrock of Grampian Group psammite and semipelite, which was formed in the Neoproterozoic era. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM889.
Aviemore, cairn 25m SW of 24 Muirton is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, legally protected by Historic Environment Scotland — the body responsible for designating and safeguarding heritage sites in Scotland. The official designation reference is SM889.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Rothiemurchus, palisaded enclosure to NW of Dell Farm (1.8 km), Loch Nan Carraigean, cairns 40m S of (2.3 km), Doune, motte, Rothiemurchus (3.8 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Aviemore, cairn 25m SW of 24 Muirton's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Aviemore, cairn 25m SW of 24 Muirton stands on Grampian Group, bedrock that formed in the Neoproterozoic. The rock here is psammite and semipelite.