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Blacksidend is a cairn located in Ayrshire, Scotland, and is protected as a scheduled monument by Historic Environment Scotland. The monument sits upon bedrock formed from Silurian mudstone, siltstone and sandstone, geological deposits laid down over 400 million years ago. These fine-grained sedimentary rocks characterise much of the underlying landscape across this part of southwest Scotland, providing the local stone from which the cairn was constructed.
Cairns of this type typically date to the Bronze Age, serving as burial monuments or territorial markers across the Scottish uplands and moorlands. Built as substantial mounds of stone gathered from the surrounding landscape, they would have been conspicuous features in the Bronze Age settlement pattern, visible from considerable distances across the Ayrshire terrain.
The monument remains largely as it stands today, a testament to the enduring construction methods of prehistoric communities who exploited the readily available stone. Its protection under scheduled monument legislation ensures the preservation of this important archaeological feature and any evidence it may hold of Bronze Age activity and burial practice in the region.
Blacksidend,cairn is a scheduled monument protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM2924. View the official record →
Blacksidend is a cairn located in Ayrshire, Scotland, and is protected as a scheduled monument by Historic Environment Scotland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM2924.
Blacksidend,cairn 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 SM2924.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Glen Garr,cairn (1.8 km), Chapelhouse,chapel and farmstead (5.4 km), Catrine, water works for Catrine Mill 30m S of 9 St Cuthbert's Street (6.1 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Blacksidend,cairn'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.
Blacksidend,cairn stands on Silurian Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Silurian. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone and sandstone.