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Byres, ring-ditch and souterrain is an Iron Age settlement monument located in Perthshire, Scotland, comprising a ring-ditch enclosure and underground stone-built chamber. The site occupies bedrock of the Arbuttnott-Garvock Group, a Pragian sandstone sequence interspersed with conglomerate, siltstone and mudstone that would have provided building stone readily available to Iron Age inhabitants. The ring-ditch represents the defensive boundary of a roundhouse settlement, a characteristic form of domestic occupation across Scotland during the Iron Age period.
The souterrain, an underground passage or chamber, represents a significant structure within or adjacent to the settlement. Such subterranean features served multiple functions in Iron Age communities, from storage facilities for provisions to refuges or ritual spaces. The sandy soils and accessible stone types of this Perthshire location made construction of both the ring-ditch and souterrain technically feasible for Iron Age communities.
The monument is protected by Historic Environment Scotland as a scheduled monument under reference SM7179, recognising its archaeological and historical importance as evidence of Iron Age settlement patterns and domestic life in central Scotland. The association of ring-ditch and souterrain at this single location provides valuable information about the integrated nature of Iron Age settlement design in the region.
Byres, ring-ditch and souterrain 330m NE of is a scheduled monument protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM7179. View the official record →
Byres, ring-ditch and souterrain is an Iron Age settlement monument located in Perthshire, Scotland, comprising a ring-ditch enclosure and underground stone-built chamber. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM7179.
Byres, ring-ditch and souterrain 330m NE of dates from the iron age period, and is classified as a ring-ditch and souterrain. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Byres, ring-ditch and souterrain 330m NE of 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 SM7179.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including New Scone,stone circle,Grey Stanes (6.6 km), Moot Hill royal assembly place and Scone Abbey, 100m NE of Scone Palace (6.7 km), Bonhard Park, unenclosed settlement SE of (6.9 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Byres, ring-ditch and souterrain 330m NE of'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.
Byres, ring-ditch and souterrain 330m NE of stands on Arbuthnott-Garvock Group, bedrock that formed in the Pragian. The rock here is sandstone with subordinate conglomerate, siltstone and mudstone.